NIKI, Abu Dhabi-Vienna (or vice versa) in Y - what's it like?
 

I'm interested to know what this flight is like. I have just booked AUH-VIE for next year but information seems a big scarce, they don't even say on their website if food is served (I presume it will be!).

This is a night flight on a A320 departing at 2:45 am and arriving at Vienna at 7 am, so I imagine that they'll just serve breakfast before arrival.

Anyone done this flight? I'm all ears! :D

Very good question. I will also be on this route in June but frankly am quite scared about the discomfort element of that overnight flight back to Vienna. I once flew through the night from Istanbul SAW to BSL and swore I would never do something like that again. It took a surprising number of days to recover and very much reminded me of taking the overnight bus between Edinburgh and London in my student days.

So I personally only took the Vienna to Abu Dhabi flight and I wrote about it on my blog. If you read the report, it should give you an idea about the hard product.

My dad took the AUH-VIE flight and said that the seat was extremely uncomfortable for sleeping - really no surprise. In addition, the flight sometimes has to make an extra stop en-route if the winds are bad. If you can I woud avoid the AUH-VIE flight, the VIE-AUH is OK as it is a day-flight. There is no IFE but they do have WiFi and Entertainment on your personal device if I am not mistaken.

Great report LukasVIE, lovely pictures too!

I didn't know about the unscheduled stop, so that would be a novelty!

Did your dad mention what time they serve a meal?

Anyway, besides the uncomfortable seats, I'm quite looking forward to it! This was a 28 EUR reward booking, so I can't expect too much. :)

But your original post was about travel in Y, wasn't it? The trip report of LukasVIE, which I have now read twice, was about J class. I will be in Y next June, on the VIE-AUH flight. Will the flight still be coded as a NIKI (HG) flight?

Yes, I'm travelling in Y Concerto. It seems that nobody has done it from this forum or elsewhere on the internet, we'll be in uncharted territory! :D

My flights booked as HG7087, and it's next September! Who knows what it will be by then!!! :D

HG code should remain as AB does not have traffic rights for AT-UAE.
The unscheduled stops should be minimized now as they are exclusivley using the D-ABNJ A320 with Sharklets which gives them a better range instead of the older OE-LEL without sharklets. I guess only in winter season in case of stronger headwinds there might be one or the other unscheduled stop in OTP or CND.

In Y you will not notice much difference between a A320 and A330.

But an A320 is narrowbody, isn't it? In LukasVIE's trip report, I seem to remember pictures of a single aisle aircraft.

I am sure Y will be survivable, I did ROM-AUH in Economy a couple of years ago and it was more than fine, it was one of my best economy class flights ever (on AZ).

If we're the only people here who have ever flown in Y on that route (VIE-AUH) then it shows what a small group we are, because thousands of people fly Y every day!

I'm going to do this flight in Y (!) in the next weeks so I can report also about the meals. If you want to have more legroom you should book the XL seats.

I flew both VIE-AUH and AUH-VIE earlier this month on Niki, both times it was D-ABNJ A320 as mentioned by gkl.

The VIE-AUH flight was fantastic. We were served drinks first and then again Lunch with drinks. Before landing in AUH another round of drinks with Milka cookies and mozartkugeln (chocolate) was offered while disembarking.

No IFE, only overhead screens but you can download Air Berlin app in your device before departing and stream entertainment on your device. The streaming starts after flight has reached 10000 ft altitude. Somehow I could not get the streaming work on my Android device but the live news feature did work (I learned about Trump's win on air that day).

The AUH-VIE was in the night. After reaching cruising altitude we were offered drinks and a sandwich and before landing in VIE a small breakfast. No extra round of drinks, Milka cookies or mozartkugeln this time though.

Both in VIE and AUH we did not get the arm like the review from LukasVIE, we had to take the bus.

AB/HG they have concept of XL (exit rows 9-10) seats with extra pitch which you can buy as an extra (don't know the price details on that one). Also, you can upgrade yourself to Business onboard. I heard the announcement that you can upgrade to business with 89 Euros one way but I am sure I mis heard it, it can't be that cheap.

We could get the XL seats without paying anything by changing our seats in the lounge in AUH while returning. The Y seats are very similar to LH/OS intra european flights with A319/320/321. Not the most comfortable ones out there but not bad.

If you have status with EAP and have connecting flight with one of the partners then you can also use lounges. Our connection was with Etihad, with my Alitalia Platinum we could access Etihad First Class lounge in Terminal 3 both ways.

Niki being a budget airline we did not expect this kind of service so it was a pleasant surprise and not to forget the staff was very friendly and helpful.

Brilliant, thanks for the review travelhits ^

Just one question, was it a cold breakfast on the AUH-VIE flight or was there a hot element?

But are we talking about economy class here? If we are, it sounds really good. The short NIKI flight I did were really good (CDG-VIE; VIE-LIN), with decent, free catering. If NIKI is going to get merged with TuiFly, we'd better hurry up and enjoy it while it's still there!

It was hot. We were give 3 choices pancakes, scrambled eggs or omelette. Frankly I didn't need it since I had very nice meal before boarding in Etihad First Class Lounge. I see that you have AZ Freccia Alata Plus status, you will be entitled for this lounge as well. If you already don't know about it... check this out.

Yes my travels were in Y both ways. The AZ Freccia Alata Plus status made it much nicer it terms of priority check in and lounge accesses.

I will be doing this flight in early March now. It seems to not exist later on, so it might be cancelled from that time, but I only checked once for later flights. So you'll get feedback from me earlier than planned.

By the way, the XL seats are surprisingly expensive at EUR89. With status, I get a discount obviously, but it's still quite a lot of money.