Trip Report: Austrian Airlines, Frankfurt to Vienna (August 2018)

Trip Report: Austrian Airlines, Frankfurt to Vienna 
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I was traveling from New Orleans to Vienna via Frankfurt.  My travel had been booked through Condor (see review here), with the first leg from New Orleans to Frankfurt being operated by Condor and the second leg from Frankfurt to Vienna operated by Austrian Airlines.  After the ticket had been booked, I received both my Condor and Austrian booking numbers.  As my flight was booked through another carrier, I could see my reservation online but could not manage it nor do anything else so in order to make any changes I had to call the airline directly.  In late July 2018, I had tried to call the US-toll free number of Austrian only for the number to be disconnected.  For two days straight the number was disconnected; the airline was quick to respond on social media, but they did not provide detailed answers.  As this was my first interaction with the airline, it was not a positive one.  

24-hours prior to my flight, I was able to check-in and receive both boarding passes.  I tried again to call Austrian and finally got through and was able to change my seat assignments.  Once our plane landed in Frankfurt, we had about 1hr30min to transfer between flights.  Most of the time was spent going through security and transferring from one gate to the other.  When I got to the other gate, I thought they would need to recheck my boarding pass or issue a new one (as most other international connections have done) but nothing like that occurred here.  Boarding was scheduled to commence at 12:15pm while the flight was scheduled to take off at 12:50pm; however, the boarding time came and went and we were still at the gate.  Boarding finally commenced, but there was no order.  First and Business Class plus high frequent flyers were allowed to go first, and then it was a free-for-all; it was extremely chaotic.  Adding to the chaos was that passengers scanned their own boarding pass to open the gates and the technology took a long time and some passengers were not used to it.  Once through, passengers boarded buses to be bused to our gate (which was at the other end of the airport).

Originally an Airbus A319 was scheduled to fly the route, but when the bus pulled up to the plane it was actually a Boeing 767-300.  Given the flight time is 1h20min, I was surprised such a big plane was being used on a short flight.  The flight was completely full, so given the number of passengers and given that boarding started late, it was given that we were not going to make the scheduled departure time (the airline did not seem to be in a rush to keep on schedule nor did they make any announcements regarding the delay).  Once all passengers were on board and once the paperwork was completed, the boarding doors closed, we finally pushbacked, a safety video was shown, and we took off for Vienna.  

The Boeing 767 was into three classes - business, premium economy, and economy; I was allotted a seat in premium economy.  The premium economy seat could also be a business class seat, except that it did not recline all the way.  The seat itself was very nice and spacious, both width wise and length wise.  The premium economy was laid out in a 2-2-2 configuration so the passenger at the window had to cross the aisle passenger to get to the aisle, but there was plenty of room to cross.  The seat itself was nice, comfortable, and was wide enough for premium economy.  The two seats shared a middle console, which contained individual armrests, a place for your drinks, as well as the tray table.  On either side of the console, each seat had a USB port plus the remote for the PTV and entertainment screen.  The bottom of the middle console also contained two universal plugs.  On the seatback in front, in which the legroom was very generous and almost like business class, the seat contained a large PTV screen and underneath a pocket which contained the safety card, the airline magazine, and the airline duty free magazine.  Overall, the seat was very nice and comfortable especially for the short-haul flight.  On a longer haul flight, the legroom would be really nice and the entertainment options would be sufficient but the seat comfort would probably hurt after 5+hours. 

Most passengers were not aware of the delay as the PTV screens were on and available for passengers once they sat down.  It was a nice bonus that for a short flight passengers would have PTV screens and access to the full selection of entertainment.  The entertainment selection was varied and included a lot of good movies and some TV shows (the movie selection was definitely better than the TV selection).  Once we passed 10,000ft, the attendants started their inflight service.  A complimentary snack plus complimentary drinks were provided, while other food and drink items were available for purchase.  The complimentary snack was some chocolate/candy that is famous in Vienna and along that complimentary soft drinks, water, juice, tea and coffee were provided.  Given the number of passengers and the short flight time, the attendants clearly looked and acted as if they were in a rush (and thus were not very customer-oriented/friendly).  The flight time quickly passed as passengers watched their screens and enjoyed the complimentary snacks, and then it was time for the plane to start its decent into Vienna.  We landed in Vienna late and had a quick taxi to the gate.

Overall, it was an interesting flight with Austrian.  The plane change was a nice bonus as I got to try a a plane usually reserved for long-haul flights and got to enjoy the perks of the long-haul planes, including more spacious seats and better seat options such as PTV screens.  The downside was the customer service as the attendants neither seemed friendly nor customer-oriented.  They were not smiling, never really interacted with the customers, and seemed rushed and frantic to complete the inflight service in the time given.  It was my first time flying with Austrian and I wanted to try their short-haul product before deciding whether to give their long-haul product a try; and after this experience I would say that flying with Austrian again would not be at the top of my list.  While I would not avoid the airline, I would not go out of my way to fly with them again (as for me, the soft product matters as much as the hard product).