Holiday season! Whole year of bad weather and planning to get away seems fading away. And I am going to visit my parents! Where? Ukraine, Kharkov. It is not a capital as it used to be, there are not a lot of airlines that use its airport. And the prospective to fly to Kiev and have an overnight train home does not excite me. So, after a bit of searching around I found the solution! Austrian Airlines flight from London, Heathrow to Kharkov with the stopover in Vienna. It is certainly faster and more bearable than the other routs.
Well, here I am, sitting in the economy class flight from Heathrow and having a bit of Gordon’s with the slight hint of tonic. Boeing takes you from Heathrow to Vienna and then a smaller aircraft, much smaller in fact and I could not remember the model, takes you to Kharkov.
So what is good about Austrian Airlines? The leg space! Being on the big side myself I always have problems fitting my feet and knees between the seats. And economy class syndrome is a big issue these days. You will have a lot of leg space even in the economy class of Austrian Airlines. Do not fear all those blood clots! Then comes the service. Very friendly, polite and smiley. Food is average, no big points here then. And the timing of arrival and departure to and from Vienna is as tight as possible. No time wasters!
The downside. Yes, there is a downside. It is more expensive than taking flight to Kiev and then paying for the overnight train. I my case I paid £60 more. Anyway, it is up to you to decide whether saving your day costs £60 or not. And another thing – on my way back my luggage was left in Vienna for some reason. The airline’s staff was quick to locate it and next morning my bag was delivered straight to my door. Is it a disadvantage? I am not sure. At least I was travelling light!
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An interesting opinion, I agree and I disagree. Like yourself I am very satisfied with AUA, but for different reasons. A few remarks on your op: 1. AUA don't fly any Boeings, unless you mean the McDonnell aircraft which were taken over by Boeing. 2. The seat pitch is in fact a problem on most of their aircraft, you must have been very lucky to have a good seat. 3. The flights to Karkov are operated with narrow Fokker 70 planes. 4. Fully agree on the excellent stopover times in Vienna. /// Although an interesting contribution, your unfortunately lacks detail (meals, ground service). It appears that you haven't flown with them very often. I would generally recommend that you read some other ops in the same category before posting your own op, to verify your opinion (I don't want to plug my own AUA op, you can read any of the other five ops in this category). Cheers, Hans
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Jul 24th, 2001
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