Austrian Airlines - AUA

...Tirana on business. I chose Austrian is it was a colleague's preference and best suited the dates we needed to be in Tirana. It also provided me with a chance to travel on the Brussels (where I had to be immediately after my business in Albania), Austrian had an ideal connection (in fact they were offering two flights a day between Vienna and Tirana when I travelled). For convenience the BA flight direct from London to Tirana that commenced in Spring ...
...I was pleased to fly Austrian on this occasion, as I was interested to see how their business product compared with BA's club Europe. In terms of price they were considerably more expensive, but this was in partly due to the fact I needed two single tickets (as explained above).
The Airline

Austrian is what I would define a middle sized European Airline. As noted, it is part of Star Alliance and it seems to have quite close ... more

Introduction

I had to travel to Tirana on business. I chose Austrian is it was a colleague's preference and best suited the dates we needed to be in Tirana. It also provided me with a chance to travel on the Brussels (where I had to be immediately after my business in Albania), Austrian had an ideal connection (in fact they were offering two flights a day between Vienna and Tirana when I travelled). For convenience the BA flight direct from London to Tirana that commenced in Spring 2006 was more attractive but it does not operate daily and is also heavily booked. A few other airlines such as Malev also serve Tirana quite regularly.

I was pleased to fly Austrian on this occasion, as I was interested to see how their business product compared with BA's club Europe. In terms of price they were considerably more expensive, but this was in partly due to the fact I needed two single tickets (as explained above).
The Airline

Austrian is what I would define a middle sized European Airline. As noted, it is part of Star Alliance and it seems to have quite close ties with another Star Alliance member, Lufthansa.

It has an impressive network for its size offering flights to a range of destinations with limited services including of course Tirana and several other Western Balkan region; Yerevan (capital of Armenia) and ever Erbil, a town in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Austria also offers some fairly competitive economy priced flights to South and South East Asia and (far less practical from the UK) America (I understand there will be some reduction in longer haul routes). The airlines has a fleet of 30 jets but has two main partners (Lauda Air with 12 short - medium range jets and Austrian Arrows with 58 propeller aircraft including a total of 23 Foker 70s and 100s) providing additional capacity.

Check in (outbound)

I got to the airport early, I wanted to work in the lounge safe in the knowledge I would not be caught in some unforeseen delay. The check in desk for Austrian at London Heathrow Terminal 2 seems to he open pretty much UK as they have sufficiently frequent departures to justify this. However, it was not busy and I passed through security quite quickly; I did not get directed to any fast track facility and do not think this was available for business passengers.

The lounge (outbound)

Business passengers and qualifying Star Alliance FFP members have access to the Lufthansa lounge at terminal 2, a relatively soulless place with a far more limited selection of food (essentially just savoury snacks) and drinks (especially short on wine) as compared to that available in the BA Terraces lounges in Terminals 1 and 4. I did however consider it better than the BMI lounge in Terminal 1 about which I have commented in my BMI review.

Boarding

This was a little chaotic as I was called from the lounge and confronted with a delay at the gate. Two planes were going to Vienna at almost the same time from adjacent gates. There was no preferential boarding (which to my mind is not really needed when the aircraft is small and people block passage down the aisle when getting into their seats up front). Upon boarding there was a choice of newspapers and a crew member to welcome passengers aboard in a more business like than friendly manner.

The flight to Vienna

The flight to Vienna was operated by Tyrolian Airlines, in turn a partner of Austrian Arrows. The branding of the aircraft was that of Austrian Arrows. The crew did not wear the distinctive red seen on some Austrian operated flights which I saw on the second leg, but there own corporate colours.

The delay in boarding the Fokker 100 was explained as being due to technical problems with the bridge. Once on board business passengers in seats on the A side had the same space as those in economy, those on the other side had a spare seat between them. Due to the configuration on the Fokker aircraft whereby there are 2-3 seating configurations throughout with the two on the A-B side and three on the right D-F side it is unavoidable and if flying with a partner you would probably go for the 2 seat option (indeed in Economy it would be a bonus). Economy/Business space is flexible and adjusted for each flight. As I was sat on the A side I was happy when the person beside me moved to the only other spare seat in the business section on the opposite side so as to give us both more room.

Once in the air I was served a canapé (a piece of dried beef with horseraddish source on a spoon) followed by drinks. Thereafter we had a very pleasant 3 course meal featuring a smoked salmon salad to start, beef schnitzel as the main course, and a fruit salad to finish with the most delightfully tasting passion fruit sauce; further drink flowed freely followed by coffee and chocolates presented to each business passenger in a small box. I was impressed with the meal and service overall; I hear that they have a chef on all long haul flights in the business cabin and the food on those flights is very good quality (maybe I will discover for myself one day).

At the time I flew Austrian were charging economy passengers for food on flights in Europe but I understand that since I flew this policy has been reversed and all passengers again get a free meal. The whole issue of charging passengers for food and/or drinks is something I personally do not like; I will always opt for a full service airline if I can. I know many other regular travellers who share that view and others who could not care less. Still, it is important to know before you fly and if it increasingly challenging to keep track of each airlines policy.

Transit in Vienna and lounge facility

Transit in Vienna was very simple and the Austrian lounge (one of two available) was far more pleasant that the write ups I had previously read suggested. The one we opted to frequent was a huge facility with effectively two distinct areas each with a different feel to it. One part had a huge panoramic the full length and the other had only artificial light and the most comfortable of a vast range of seating (though both areas had quite wide ranges from basic tables and chairs to softer furnishings.

As in London, food was quite limited though to be fair there was a little more choice (with various types of sweet snacks complimenting the savoury offerings. There was a greater variety of drinks here though. When we arrived in the late afternoon the lounge was very busy but as time passed by it quickly thinned out. Eventually, we were the only customers left as the connecting flight was delayed and all we got by way of information in the lounge was that we would be advised of the departure time at the time the plane was due to have departed. We eventually got called to board the plane an hour later than we were due to have departed making for a very late arrival in
Tirana.

Second flight

Boarding was not dissimilar to the chaos in London (except there was just the one departure). We were called to the gate much earlier than we needed to be but then left to sit there with little information before boarding was announced and everyone went forward at once.
The second flight was in a smaller Fokker 70, though there were only 5 business passengers they had not bothered to reduce the capacity of the section greatly and we were accommodated over 4 rows providing a lot of space. This flight was operated by Austrian Arrows, but aside from the aforementioned red uniforms featuring and, I felt, slightly more engaging crew (though I had no real gripe with those on the first flight) the format of the meal was similar.

To eat this time, following a different beef based canapé the starter was a crayfish salad, the main was again a beef schnitzel dish of similar composition to the earlier flight and the desert some kind of cake. It is to be noted that there was no choice of meal unless you had pre-ordered a special meal. A decent red wine was available (I am sure it was Austrian - they produce quite good wine but rarely export) and I was given a good brandy to enjoy with my coffee and more chocolates, this time individually wrapped.

The crew (two served in business class even though there were so few of us) were very attentive. We arrived in Tirana over an hour late, but well fed and watered.

Arrival

Tirana is a small airport and bags came through quickly though there was no evidence of who would have helped sort out matters had they not done so. To be fair on Austrian, it was by now almost 1-00AM and I was probably not at my most observant.

Return Journey

Check in was smooth thanks to our being among the few business passengers the desk was not busy - unlike the queue for economy check in. This brought us time in one of the smallest lounges I have ever seen with a very limited range of drinks. In fact it was so claustrophobic in there (as it was a time of day several airlines were leaving) that I found it preferable to shop for some Albanian souvenirs. Boarding was again a bit chaotic.

The flight to Vienna itself was very similar to the outbound flight except it was in a Fokker 100, Tyrolian operated, and following a repeat of the first outbound canapé the meal included a very tasty mozzarella and tomato terrine as its starter. A third near identical beef schnitzel dish within 36 hours followed and another fruit based desert with that passion fruit sauce I took such a liking to travelling out. Another feature of all Austrian Airline meals is that the bread rolls' are accompanied by a herb butter giving it a distinctive green colour (see front right of meal picture).

Connection in Vienna was smooth, the lounge again being busy and with slightly more snacks to choose from. Then for the final of my four Austrian flights I boarded (after a very long queue for boarding) the first jet of my Austrian Airlines experience for what was the shortest of the four journeys. I think it was an Airbus 321 (but it might have been a 320) that took us to Brussels. We still had time for a full meal and on this flight was…yes, you guessed it - the now obligitory beef schnitzel dish. Desert was some green concoction that looked nice enough but probably had a greater milk content than I could stomach so I had an extra Egger beer - served in a bottle.

Conclusions

Overall, the service on Austrian (and its partners) impressed me considerably, delays can of course happen to anyone and were annoying, but not the end of the world. Austrian is probably the best Star Alliance member I have used in Europe. Its crew could be a little more friendly overall (the different crews on the flights I took did vary); I did not encounter any passengers with visable disabilities to assess how well they were provided for but general safety procedures were well managed.

The price, well I was going on business, but nevertheless it was more than a little high. The situation seems to differ in economy class where shome decent fares can be found. I must also record that the reason for the size of my fare was, aside from buying two singles, the need for a flexible ticket. If you can match BA on a return to Vienna I would certainly plump for Austrian again if the in flight meal is important to you.

As good as the food was (in my view well above the standard of BA on a comparable length journey) and as much as a like beef the menu served was too repetative. I would like to try them long haul though as there are apparently six choices in business cabins. This confirms I would use this airline again though probably not on the Tirana route if the BA schedule suited as direct flights are always preferable. I might also like to give Malev a try on this route if I am required to go to Albania again. 

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