tomashi
Mar 1, 04, 2:10 pm
Hi!
Just wanted to share some (or many) thoughts about my last trip to New York City. Normally I travel alone but this time I had some travel companions: Mom and Dad. Which was quite nice because I could show them all the interesting spots I discovered on my three former stays in nyc. We booked about four weeks in advance and the ticket price was 349 EUR + Tax, which is usually the cheapest fare to travel to the US from my hometown. OK. Thatīs it for the introduction. Now please make sure you reclined your seat to a comfortable position and enjoy my report!
I woke up at 06:00 and at 07:15 a cab took me and my Mom to our tiny little airport in Graz (second largest city in Austria) and Check-In was a breeze (as always). On the way to the airport we called Dad to make sure his feeder-flight from the small airport of Altenrhein (Switzerland) was on-time. It was. So weīd meet him in Vienna. Later at the gate I checked the flight-status of our flight to JFK at one of the public internet-terminals. Unfortunately OS87 was delayed and the new estimated departure-time was 13:50 instead of 11:20!
February 7, 2004
GRZ-VIE / OS5970
Sched: 08:40-09:25
Actual: 08:50-09:30
Dash 8/Q-300
OE-LTH
Seat 5F
Boarding for our flight to Vienna started soon and we took off some minutes later. I hate those turboprops. When you sit right next to the engines the sound during take-off is almost unbearable. Donīt know why Dash is promoting this plane as "quiet". Anyway! The 00:40h flight was uneventful except of a pretty bumpy descent into Vienna due to heavy crosswinds.
Dad was waiting for us in the transit-area and I informed him about the delay. Together we decided to ask one of the ladies at the counter if our information about a delay of flight 87 to JFK was correct. "Yes" was the short answer. By the way: throughout the day nobody told us why the flight was delayed and everyone we asked was quite rude and unfriendly! Austrianīs customer-service and customer-friendliness definitely needs major improvements. One hour later I went to another counter to ask about snack or drink-coupons. This OS ground staff-member was a little bit friendlier and informed us that each of us gets one sandwich and one drink at the small "Air Quick" restaurant. There was no public announcement about that, so I donīt think many of the other passengers did know about the offer. So we spent the next 30 minutes eating our tasteless snacks and staring out of the window. Which was very depressing, because we realized that almost every other flight took off precisely on-time. At noon we heard the first announcement about a further delay of OS87 to JFK. The new "estimated departure time" was 14:30! ...And the program for our first afternoon in New York vanished from my travel-itinerary...
February 7, 2004
VIE-JFK / OS87
Sched: 11:20-14:55
Actual: 14:45-17:55
Airbus A-330-200
OE-LAN
Seat 31AB
I donīt now how but we managed to survive and proceeded to our gate at about 13:30. And thanx god! A big yellow boarding-sign appeared on the displays very soon. Security was tight as always but this time they really tried to speed up the process. At 14:10 we finally entered our plane. It was OE-LAN. The only OS A332 already painted in the new Austrian-colors (by the way: I donīt like them). The seats in economy-class are OK and come with PTVīs (old system; not on- demand) and adjustable leg- and headrests. The load on this flight wasnīt that high (about 60% in both classes) and each of us got two seats which made the flight very comfortable. Push-back commenced at 14:35 and we finally took-off three hours and 25 minutes late at 14:45. Flight-time was announced with 09:20h and the captain apologized for the " major departure-delay". Again no reason was given. Todayīs routing: Vienna-Czech Republic-Kassel (Germany)-Dusseldorf-Amsterdam-Manchester-Belfast-south of Greenland-Labrador/Northeastern Canada-Boston-Long Island-JFK; nothing unusual;
Some minutes after we reached our final cruising-altitude of 38000 feet, service started with "Soletti"-pretzels and drinks. The FAīs on this flight were rude, arrogant and didnīt smile, like most Austrian-employees. I understand that the atmosphere within the Austrian Airlines Group is difficult nowadays but thereīs absolutely no reason to blaim the passengers! Anyway! When they activated the entertainment-system I started to watch "Runaway Jury" (based on a novel by J.Grisham). Not bad. Forty minutes later they served the hot-meal. Choices: Pasta (with Mozarella cheese and a creamy sauce) or Chicken (in a pumpkin-sauce with Tagliatelle-noodles). I opted for the chicken and It was good. Side "dishes": Tuna-salad, bread/butter and a small piece of cake; Side note: no hot-towel service on this flight and the bread was not warm and crispy as it should be; After I finished the meal, it took ages until they came by to collect the empty trays.
The following six hours were quite uneventful and I did the following things: I walked around the cabin, counted the passengers, watched Airshow, "Freaky Friday" (stupid little movie) and various documentaries, read a book, "slept" two hours on three empty seats,...; Business (actually Economy) as usual.
Ninety minutes prior to our arrival at JFK a snack, consisting of a fresh and tasty Ciabatta-bread-sandwich and a blueberry muffin, was served by the FAīs. Soon after that they announced that we already had started our descent into JFK.
The sun just disappeared at the horizon as we flew over Long Island, and our wing reflected the majestic redness of the sky which looked awesome. At 17:55 we touched down on JFKīs runway 31L and after a short-taxi we arrived at our gate at Terminal One. All in all the flight was pretty comfortable and smooth. Only annoying things: the three-hour-delay and the behavior of the FAīs;
Immigration was a breeze, bags came out five minutes later and the customs-guy just collected our declaration-form. We jumped in a cab and arrived at our hotel one hour after touchdown at JFK.
New York City, February 7-14, 2004
In the following six days I met some friends from Austria (they travelled with Lufthansa via Frankfurt) and did all the usual New York-stuff with Mom and Dad. Shopping (Midtown, SoHo, Lower East Side, Nolita, Williamsburgh,...), gallery-hopping in Chelsea, visiting some of the bigger art-museums with interesting special-exhibitions, enjoying the atmosphere of Central Park and eating great food at great restaurants. Also the weather was quite nice. We got plenty of sunshine and mild temperatures in the mid 40īs Fahrenheit (around 5-10°C).
February 14, 2004
We spent the last day of our trip in Midtown and went back to the hotel at 14:00 to eat at a nearby "Diner". Our pre-booked black Lincoln Town Car already waited for us in front of the hotel when we got there at 15:00. We grabbed our bags and ten minutes later we left Manhattan on the Queensboro bridge. Traffic was low, so we made it to JFK in just 40 minutes.
I entered Terminal One and couldnīt believe my eyes when I saw the departure-panel. All flights on-time with one exception. Guess which flight? Right! OS88 to Vienna DELAYED from 18:45 to 20:10. "What the hell is going on with Austrian?" I said to myself. However! Off to the ticket-counters to check the status of our connecting flights. The old lady gave us an "OK" for the VIE-GRZ flight. But Dad was rebooked on the next available flight to Altenrhein (ACH; Switzerland). Next stop: the Check-In area; WIth just three or four people in the Economy-line we got our boarding-passes within two minutes.
We spent the next hour in the crowded food-court on the upper floor of Terminal One and I did some plane-spotting at the big-windows. Not much to see. There only were two Air France planes (777 and 744), a Lufthansa 744 (no scheduled flight; flight number LH423; according to the timetable thatīs a BOS-FRA flight; diversion? But why to JFK?), a Royal Air Maroc 763 and one Alitalia 777. The terminal is pretty empty since Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines transferred their operations to Terminal Four.
At 18:00 we went through security. This time they performed no additional controls like bodysearch, just the usual stuff. Another boring hour later, we slowly moved towards gate 8 to wait for the boarding-announcement.
February 14, 2004
JFK-VIE / OS88
Sched: 18:45-09:15
Actual: 20:15-09:45
Airbus A-330-200
OE-LAM
Seat 32K
Boarding started at 19:15. Before that, they apologized for the delay and explained the reason: The flight crew of the previous day arrived some hours too late (so another late arrival from VIE!) and now they had a problem with the minimum crew-rest-time and so on, which sounded plausible. Back to the boarding-process. Everything was very orderly and they precisely announced which passengers are allowed to board the plane. Cause our seats were in the rear part of the Economy-cabin our rows were called first. Boarding was completed 20-30 minutes later. The flight was completely full this time. At least the Y-cabin. The captain informed us about the quite short flying time of 07:30h (strong jetstream) and also apologized for the delay. Push back commenced at 19:55 and just 20 minutes later we took off from runway 31L.
Service started soon with drinks and those little pretzels. Dinner was served one hour after our departure. Choices: Chicken with potato-noodles and vegetables in a creamy sauce or Penne-pasta with tomato-sauce. I donīt like most airline-pasta-dishes so I took the chicken. The chicken was OK but everything else was tastelesss and boring. One year ago (February 2003) I flew the same route also with Austrian and the food was gorgeous (a tasty salmon-dish with fresh spinach if I remember correctly; accompanied by a small bottle of sparkling wine). Back in 2003 catering was done by Do&Co. Today I think itīs LSG Sky Chefs (the Lufthansa-company; probably cheaper).
After another drink service they collected the trays and dimmed the cabin-lights. I watched "The In-Laws" (funny movie with Michael Douglas), enjoyed my Baileyīs on the rocks and tried to sleep. My "overnight-equipment" (eyeshades, inflatable neck-pillow, warm slippers) was quite useful and I managed to sleep for two or three hours. When we reached the European-continent the cabin-lights were switched on again and the captain made his "Good morning"-call. Some minutes later the FAīs appeared with hot-towels (the only hot-towel-service on this flight). The breakfast tray was served soon after that. It consisted of a dry ham- and cheese sandwich, a small piece of cake with almonds and fruit-yogurt. I wasnīt hungry at this time of the day/night, so I just ate the cake and drank some orange juice. One hour later we started our descent into VIE and landed at 09:45 local time. After a short taxi we arrived at our parking-position at gate A07. OE-LAN, the plane that carried us to New York one week ago occupied the gate next to us.
The transit-area at VIE was crowded and cigarette-smoke was everywhere. Very annoying, especially when you arrive from (almost) smoke-free New York City!
February 15, 2004
VIE-GRZ / OS5963
Sched: 10:45-11:25
Actual: 11:30-14:00
Dash 8/Q-300 / Bus-service
Thirty minutes later the boarding-sign for our flight to Graz appeared on the screens and we said "Goodbye" to Dad. After another (rude) security check we arrived at our bus-gate B32. Some seconds later, the boarding-sign suddenly disappeared and they announced that they had some technical problems. "Not again!". Too much problems on this trip donīt you think? Another half an hour later our flight was cancelled. We proceeded to a information counter and they told us that they arranged a bus-service to Graz for us. GREAT! 2.5 hours on a bus instead of 30 min on a plane! What a nice surprise! We got our bags at one of the baggage-belts and carried ourselves and our bags to the waiting bus. Forty minutes later we were on the highway to Graz/Hell. Did I mention that I hate long bus-journeys? Especially when the bus has no toilets! At least we got something to eat (one apple, a small sandwich and a chocolate-bar) and a tiny little pre-packaged orange-juice. At 14:00 we arrived in front of the departure-building of Graz-Airport! We jumped in a cab and at 14:30 we finally arrived at home. Home sweet home!
Conclusion:
As you probably can imagine I was not very happy with this Austrian Airlines trip. Two days after our arrival I contacted the customer-relations department and sent them a nice long E-mail with all my complaints. New York was great as always but Iīll definitely try to avoid Austrian-flights in the future. IMO: Too much technical problems (you probably remember the almost-crash of a Fokker 70 near Munich earlier this year?), too much delays and last but not least unfriendly employees and bad service. So take my advice: take Lufthansa whenever you can. No PTVīs in Y but better service!
Regards,
Thomas
Some pics:
http://photos.yahoo.com/tomashi84
[This message has been edited by tomashi (edited Mar 02, 2004).]
Just wanted to share some (or many) thoughts about my last trip to New York City. Normally I travel alone but this time I had some travel companions: Mom and Dad. Which was quite nice because I could show them all the interesting spots I discovered on my three former stays in nyc. We booked about four weeks in advance and the ticket price was 349 EUR + Tax, which is usually the cheapest fare to travel to the US from my hometown. OK. Thatīs it for the introduction. Now please make sure you reclined your seat to a comfortable position and enjoy my report!
I woke up at 06:00 and at 07:15 a cab took me and my Mom to our tiny little airport in Graz (second largest city in Austria) and Check-In was a breeze (as always). On the way to the airport we called Dad to make sure his feeder-flight from the small airport of Altenrhein (Switzerland) was on-time. It was. So weīd meet him in Vienna. Later at the gate I checked the flight-status of our flight to JFK at one of the public internet-terminals. Unfortunately OS87 was delayed and the new estimated departure-time was 13:50 instead of 11:20!
February 7, 2004
GRZ-VIE / OS5970
Sched: 08:40-09:25
Actual: 08:50-09:30
Dash 8/Q-300
OE-LTH
Seat 5F
Boarding for our flight to Vienna started soon and we took off some minutes later. I hate those turboprops. When you sit right next to the engines the sound during take-off is almost unbearable. Donīt know why Dash is promoting this plane as "quiet". Anyway! The 00:40h flight was uneventful except of a pretty bumpy descent into Vienna due to heavy crosswinds.
Dad was waiting for us in the transit-area and I informed him about the delay. Together we decided to ask one of the ladies at the counter if our information about a delay of flight 87 to JFK was correct. "Yes" was the short answer. By the way: throughout the day nobody told us why the flight was delayed and everyone we asked was quite rude and unfriendly! Austrianīs customer-service and customer-friendliness definitely needs major improvements. One hour later I went to another counter to ask about snack or drink-coupons. This OS ground staff-member was a little bit friendlier and informed us that each of us gets one sandwich and one drink at the small "Air Quick" restaurant. There was no public announcement about that, so I donīt think many of the other passengers did know about the offer. So we spent the next 30 minutes eating our tasteless snacks and staring out of the window. Which was very depressing, because we realized that almost every other flight took off precisely on-time. At noon we heard the first announcement about a further delay of OS87 to JFK. The new "estimated departure time" was 14:30! ...And the program for our first afternoon in New York vanished from my travel-itinerary...
February 7, 2004
VIE-JFK / OS87
Sched: 11:20-14:55
Actual: 14:45-17:55
Airbus A-330-200
OE-LAN
Seat 31AB
I donīt now how but we managed to survive and proceeded to our gate at about 13:30. And thanx god! A big yellow boarding-sign appeared on the displays very soon. Security was tight as always but this time they really tried to speed up the process. At 14:10 we finally entered our plane. It was OE-LAN. The only OS A332 already painted in the new Austrian-colors (by the way: I donīt like them). The seats in economy-class are OK and come with PTVīs (old system; not on- demand) and adjustable leg- and headrests. The load on this flight wasnīt that high (about 60% in both classes) and each of us got two seats which made the flight very comfortable. Push-back commenced at 14:35 and we finally took-off three hours and 25 minutes late at 14:45. Flight-time was announced with 09:20h and the captain apologized for the " major departure-delay". Again no reason was given. Todayīs routing: Vienna-Czech Republic-Kassel (Germany)-Dusseldorf-Amsterdam-Manchester-Belfast-south of Greenland-Labrador/Northeastern Canada-Boston-Long Island-JFK; nothing unusual;
Some minutes after we reached our final cruising-altitude of 38000 feet, service started with "Soletti"-pretzels and drinks. The FAīs on this flight were rude, arrogant and didnīt smile, like most Austrian-employees. I understand that the atmosphere within the Austrian Airlines Group is difficult nowadays but thereīs absolutely no reason to blaim the passengers! Anyway! When they activated the entertainment-system I started to watch "Runaway Jury" (based on a novel by J.Grisham). Not bad. Forty minutes later they served the hot-meal. Choices: Pasta (with Mozarella cheese and a creamy sauce) or Chicken (in a pumpkin-sauce with Tagliatelle-noodles). I opted for the chicken and It was good. Side "dishes": Tuna-salad, bread/butter and a small piece of cake; Side note: no hot-towel service on this flight and the bread was not warm and crispy as it should be; After I finished the meal, it took ages until they came by to collect the empty trays.
The following six hours were quite uneventful and I did the following things: I walked around the cabin, counted the passengers, watched Airshow, "Freaky Friday" (stupid little movie) and various documentaries, read a book, "slept" two hours on three empty seats,...; Business (actually Economy) as usual.
Ninety minutes prior to our arrival at JFK a snack, consisting of a fresh and tasty Ciabatta-bread-sandwich and a blueberry muffin, was served by the FAīs. Soon after that they announced that we already had started our descent into JFK.
The sun just disappeared at the horizon as we flew over Long Island, and our wing reflected the majestic redness of the sky which looked awesome. At 17:55 we touched down on JFKīs runway 31L and after a short-taxi we arrived at our gate at Terminal One. All in all the flight was pretty comfortable and smooth. Only annoying things: the three-hour-delay and the behavior of the FAīs;
Immigration was a breeze, bags came out five minutes later and the customs-guy just collected our declaration-form. We jumped in a cab and arrived at our hotel one hour after touchdown at JFK.
New York City, February 7-14, 2004
In the following six days I met some friends from Austria (they travelled with Lufthansa via Frankfurt) and did all the usual New York-stuff with Mom and Dad. Shopping (Midtown, SoHo, Lower East Side, Nolita, Williamsburgh,...), gallery-hopping in Chelsea, visiting some of the bigger art-museums with interesting special-exhibitions, enjoying the atmosphere of Central Park and eating great food at great restaurants. Also the weather was quite nice. We got plenty of sunshine and mild temperatures in the mid 40īs Fahrenheit (around 5-10°C).
February 14, 2004
We spent the last day of our trip in Midtown and went back to the hotel at 14:00 to eat at a nearby "Diner". Our pre-booked black Lincoln Town Car already waited for us in front of the hotel when we got there at 15:00. We grabbed our bags and ten minutes later we left Manhattan on the Queensboro bridge. Traffic was low, so we made it to JFK in just 40 minutes.
I entered Terminal One and couldnīt believe my eyes when I saw the departure-panel. All flights on-time with one exception. Guess which flight? Right! OS88 to Vienna DELAYED from 18:45 to 20:10. "What the hell is going on with Austrian?" I said to myself. However! Off to the ticket-counters to check the status of our connecting flights. The old lady gave us an "OK" for the VIE-GRZ flight. But Dad was rebooked on the next available flight to Altenrhein (ACH; Switzerland). Next stop: the Check-In area; WIth just three or four people in the Economy-line we got our boarding-passes within two minutes.
We spent the next hour in the crowded food-court on the upper floor of Terminal One and I did some plane-spotting at the big-windows. Not much to see. There only were two Air France planes (777 and 744), a Lufthansa 744 (no scheduled flight; flight number LH423; according to the timetable thatīs a BOS-FRA flight; diversion? But why to JFK?), a Royal Air Maroc 763 and one Alitalia 777. The terminal is pretty empty since Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines transferred their operations to Terminal Four.
At 18:00 we went through security. This time they performed no additional controls like bodysearch, just the usual stuff. Another boring hour later, we slowly moved towards gate 8 to wait for the boarding-announcement.
February 14, 2004
JFK-VIE / OS88
Sched: 18:45-09:15
Actual: 20:15-09:45
Airbus A-330-200
OE-LAM
Seat 32K
Boarding started at 19:15. Before that, they apologized for the delay and explained the reason: The flight crew of the previous day arrived some hours too late (so another late arrival from VIE!) and now they had a problem with the minimum crew-rest-time and so on, which sounded plausible. Back to the boarding-process. Everything was very orderly and they precisely announced which passengers are allowed to board the plane. Cause our seats were in the rear part of the Economy-cabin our rows were called first. Boarding was completed 20-30 minutes later. The flight was completely full this time. At least the Y-cabin. The captain informed us about the quite short flying time of 07:30h (strong jetstream) and also apologized for the delay. Push back commenced at 19:55 and just 20 minutes later we took off from runway 31L.
Service started soon with drinks and those little pretzels. Dinner was served one hour after our departure. Choices: Chicken with potato-noodles and vegetables in a creamy sauce or Penne-pasta with tomato-sauce. I donīt like most airline-pasta-dishes so I took the chicken. The chicken was OK but everything else was tastelesss and boring. One year ago (February 2003) I flew the same route also with Austrian and the food was gorgeous (a tasty salmon-dish with fresh spinach if I remember correctly; accompanied by a small bottle of sparkling wine). Back in 2003 catering was done by Do&Co. Today I think itīs LSG Sky Chefs (the Lufthansa-company; probably cheaper).
After another drink service they collected the trays and dimmed the cabin-lights. I watched "The In-Laws" (funny movie with Michael Douglas), enjoyed my Baileyīs on the rocks and tried to sleep. My "overnight-equipment" (eyeshades, inflatable neck-pillow, warm slippers) was quite useful and I managed to sleep for two or three hours. When we reached the European-continent the cabin-lights were switched on again and the captain made his "Good morning"-call. Some minutes later the FAīs appeared with hot-towels (the only hot-towel-service on this flight). The breakfast tray was served soon after that. It consisted of a dry ham- and cheese sandwich, a small piece of cake with almonds and fruit-yogurt. I wasnīt hungry at this time of the day/night, so I just ate the cake and drank some orange juice. One hour later we started our descent into VIE and landed at 09:45 local time. After a short taxi we arrived at our parking-position at gate A07. OE-LAN, the plane that carried us to New York one week ago occupied the gate next to us.
The transit-area at VIE was crowded and cigarette-smoke was everywhere. Very annoying, especially when you arrive from (almost) smoke-free New York City!
February 15, 2004
VIE-GRZ / OS5963
Sched: 10:45-11:25
Actual: 11:30-14:00
Dash 8/Q-300 / Bus-service
Thirty minutes later the boarding-sign for our flight to Graz appeared on the screens and we said "Goodbye" to Dad. After another (rude) security check we arrived at our bus-gate B32. Some seconds later, the boarding-sign suddenly disappeared and they announced that they had some technical problems. "Not again!". Too much problems on this trip donīt you think? Another half an hour later our flight was cancelled. We proceeded to a information counter and they told us that they arranged a bus-service to Graz for us. GREAT! 2.5 hours on a bus instead of 30 min on a plane! What a nice surprise! We got our bags at one of the baggage-belts and carried ourselves and our bags to the waiting bus. Forty minutes later we were on the highway to Graz/Hell. Did I mention that I hate long bus-journeys? Especially when the bus has no toilets! At least we got something to eat (one apple, a small sandwich and a chocolate-bar) and a tiny little pre-packaged orange-juice. At 14:00 we arrived in front of the departure-building of Graz-Airport! We jumped in a cab and at 14:30 we finally arrived at home. Home sweet home!
Conclusion:
As you probably can imagine I was not very happy with this Austrian Airlines trip. Two days after our arrival I contacted the customer-relations department and sent them a nice long E-mail with all my complaints. New York was great as always but Iīll definitely try to avoid Austrian-flights in the future. IMO: Too much technical problems (you probably remember the almost-crash of a Fokker 70 near Munich earlier this year?), too much delays and last but not least unfriendly employees and bad service. So take my advice: take Lufthansa whenever you can. No PTVīs in Y but better service!
Regards,
Thomas
Some pics:
http://photos.yahoo.com/tomashi84
[This message has been edited by tomashi (edited Mar 02, 2004).]