Trip Reports - The new European travel reality

People in Europe have long criticised the U.S. airlines of poor customer service when it comes to onboard catering. Looks like a new reality is dawning there as LCCs take a bigger bite of the intra-European market.

11 March BD AMS-LHR

After 2 days at the Hilton AMS (UG'd to exec floor as Hilton Gold), I checked out and walked to AMS. With the Word Trade Centre at AMS completed since my last visit in 2001, walking to the terminal is rather pleasant with 4-5 automated walkways (which connect the parking lot too).

Check-in at the BD counter was fairly quick (though my ticket was sold as a LH one by AA.com when that was still possible). There's always a line but it is short and moves quickly.

Tried to get an A-C seat in the row after business class as that's always configured for the wide seats but BD seems to block this off. Next step was going through the 1st of 2 security points which was not too long of a wait.

After going through, I decided to find the lounge BD uses (as afforded my lifetime (?) OZ *G status). Couldn't find it so eventually used one of the KL lounges in the Schengen area. The attendant took my expired 2004 card even though she could verify I was a 2005 PE. I briefly got the card back from her to get my 30 minutes of internet connection as accorded KL PEs.

After boozing, surfing and snacking, I found the *A lounge which was contracted out. It's used by all airlines except SQ which has its own in the non-Schengen area. Lounge was fairly quiet and also used by aircrew of some airlines.

Getting to the gate involved going through passport control where it can be long or short. It was a 5 minute wait today. Gate of course had another security checkpoint. Boarding, as in Europe, does not really accord any preboards except to those needing extra time.

The flight was not full today and I got a DEF row behind BC to myself. Some woman took the A-C row as soon as boarding of the 320 was complete. Pushback was slightly delayed due to a late incoming flight from LHR (perpetual ATC delays) but conveniently the takeoff was from a nearby runway.

Flight was uneventful. Refreshments were offered which was a choice of 2 prepackaged sandwiches and drinks. Wine was available but you had to know to ask for it as there was no guide to what was offered. The sandwich turned out to be a cheese sandwich with the thinnest and most tasteless slice of cheese imaginable, with too much of some Branston-style pickle which was too sweet, one brown bread that was dry and akin to sawdust. I guess this is a vestige of what was once superior European levels of service before this disappears completely.

No 2nd round of beverage service as the flight was less than an hour. The flight was rather direct and only one circling hold around London was required.

Heading for T1, the randomness of British gate assignments reared its ugly head. The a/c was to be used for a domestic flight next so even though we parked at a gate, pax had to descend through the rear stairs to be bussed through immigration. Fortunately the line for non-EU/EFTA citizens was short and I had no checked bags to wait for.

Taking the tube to Olympia, I was pleasantly surprised that the fares from Zone 6 (LHR) to zones 2-4 have been unified so my fare was only GBP 2.10 while it cost well over GBP3 to go onward into zone 1 or beyond.

12 March OS LHR VIE

After being dropped off, checkin at the OS counter was quick, followed by security into terminal 2. I wonder what the checkin area of LHR 2 was meant for as it's been there as long as I know (since the '70s), with its low low ceilings. Going towards the gates (the BAA doesn't want you to go there eaqrly lest you leave the shopping area and don't spend money), I found the LH lounge also used by OS.

Didn't know I could use the Senator side so I just used the BC side. Not much of any good healthy snacks here. OJ was good though.

Departure was again slightly late (15 minutes) due to late incoming a/c from VIE. A/c was a 320 named "Waldviertel" which is some area north of Wien over the Donau.

Getting seated just behind BC, again with the whole DEF row to myself, I picked up the inflight menu to find that all food and most beverages are for sale. Nothing's complimentary except a bottle of water and tea/coffee on request. The FAs made one pass and only offered water though tea/coffee was available on the cart. Food was also sold but they didn't look appetising enough at the price offered.

Due to strong tailwinds, the flight to VIE was fairly fast if it did not offer any scenery. The area around Vienna was snow covered which was the same for my 2 previous trips.

Landing at Schwechat, the a/c taxiied to the Schengen gates which meant yet another bus ride to the immigration. The Austrian immigration line is surprinsignly a bit chaotic (bit less so than France) with no formalised lines - which I guess goes to prove Austrians aren't Germans. Again, I had no bags so it was a quick walk out.


Note: The Nederlands and Austria have abolished landing cards for non-E.U. member citizens arriving from outside Schengen.

Return trip to come

Note: The Nederlands and Austria have abolished landing cards for non-E.U. member citizens arriving from outside Schengen.


Thanks for the reports. The Netherlands hasn't had landing cards at least for the last 20 years or so.

14 March VIE-LHR NG 737-300 Bob Marley

After checking out of the Vienna Hilton (UG'd as gold to exc floor), I walked across to Wien Mitte station and down the platform to wait for an S7 line train to the airport - literally less than a 2 minute walk from the Hilton's front desk. Forget about using the CAT airport express, it's 9 EUR vs. 3 EUR for the S7 and only saves you 9 minutes at best, and it's also a slightly longer walk from the Hilton.

Note: If you want to buy Viennese coffee (I bought an absurd 5 kg of the stuff), there is a SPAR supermarket in Wien Mitte.

The train ride to Mitte only takes 26 minuts or so. Bit of a wak to the OS checkin areas. Lots of e-checkin machines but my paper tickets wouldn't work and I had *G privileges anyway. It seems OS is hiring a lot of staff who appear to be Eastern European (non-Germanic names) not that it matters.

Note: If you don't like a bright red, don't fly OS. Uniforms for female FAs and GAs are all red except for their blouses and scarves.

Next was to go through the shopping arcade, a.k.a. airside. Surprisingly, this flight left from the Schengen gates and I was surprised there wasn't exit controls (more to come on this).

I found the OS Senator lounge and went inside. Bars of Lindt easter chocolates were there for the taking. The food and beverage bar was self-serve and well stocked. Ignoring the biscuits and dried snacks, I started off with a vegetable soup with croutons, and Austrian beer (matching branded glasses with the 2-3 brands of beer served), followed by turkey loaf from a huge loaf one carved one's own portion accompanied by carrot and potato salads. If you've never tried a German/Austrian potato salad, do so. You'll never want the creamy one again. Had to follow this up with 2 glasses of fruit schnapps (obstwasser of whatever) and was suited to board the plane.

Walking to the gate, I found the catch in passport controls as it's done at the gate, followed by (a 2nd round of?) security. The flight was already boarding. I had expected the flight to be on an OS 320 but due to the light loads, a NG (Lauda Air) 737-300 named for Bob Marley was substituted instead. Though EC didn't start until row 11 today, there were only less than 6 pax in BC. I had 12C but sidled over to 12A with its endless legroom (no 11A or 11F). NG surprisingly has a different menu to OS. It's also catered by Do & Co. which I understand does a lot of quality inflight and other catering. Just complimentary water was offered again though tea and coffee were supposed to be complimentary too. I had enough to eat so i couldn't be bothered. The food looked quite good but wasn't worth the price to me after dining in the Senator lounge. The flight took slightly longer than the inbound from LHR due to headwinds. Noted that the flight into London came over NE London and Suffolk. Not much of an ATC hold again and a quick taxi to T2. Not much of an immigration line again for non-E.U./EFTA (now it's often longer for E.U./EFTA at LHR as passports have to be scanned) and my bags didn't take too long to come out.

16 March LHR AMS BD 320

Got to LHR T1 to check in. BD is trying to get people to use the self-serve checkins but bag drops still have to be done so there's quite a wait for both a kiosk and for bag drops. Wasn't too bad a wait (next to none) for checkin as *G.

Security was the usual circus which makes LHR more irritating and aggravating than most TSA security points on the U.S. One's waiting time in line depended entirely on the idiots who man it. There were 4 stations: on for BC pax, two for regular pax, and one for crew. One could wait in line for a long time but periodically, some security staff would open a gate to people who had just come into line for those who had joined the line to go to the aircrew line while those who had waited in line longer had to wait for the very very slow and tedious regular lines. No wonder LHR is dreaded by so many FTers who have a choice of transit points.

After going through yet another shopping arcace, I managed to find my way towards the BD lounges which are inconveniently located halfway down one pier. Signage is also poor and confusing and if you walk too far, you end up missing the lounge which could require you go landside if really unlucky to access it, or go through another security checkpoint if you are more fortunate. The BD Diamond lounge was a little bit better stocked than the LH BC lounge in T2 but not much better. Not as good as the OS Senator in VIE.

This flight was again delayed. At the time boarding should have commenced, the incoming flight had just come in and apparently pax were bussed to the terminal even though the a/c had come to a jetway'd gate. There were a couple of elderly pax, apparently unable to handle the stairs, who had to be offloaded by an air ambulance (these lifted up like a catering truck) which came to 1R. This of course delayed catering a little bit which set back departure some 20 minutes.

This flight was yet another one which wasn't too full. Short taxi to takeoff behind a UA 747 and AA 777 among other a/c. Short flight to AMS. Asked for a bottle of wine this time and got an egg salad sandwich which was quite an improvement over the cheese pickle one coming in from AMS. No 2nd drink service as usual.

Landing was into the Polderbaan, the far out runway at AMS that requires a 10 minute or so taxi in. The well-padded block time ensured an ontime arrival. The a/c even went to a non-Schengen gate so no bussing required.

FWIW, OS has IFE (audio) for the short LHR-VIE flight, and headsets (earclip ones) were complimentary on the A320 even if one had to put the foam pads on. Can't remember if there was any offered on the NG 733.

Thanks for the report ^

For next time: the SQ lounge in AMS is a *G lounge. You have to do the Schengen thing but if it's not too busy it's worth it. Although not spectacular it's infintely better than the crappy shared lounge.

Thanks for the report. The Senator Lounge at VIE is indeed one of the better ones around, although at one point I ended up in the standard OS lounge, and even that was pretty good. And catering in C on OS can be very good indeed, although I've had the occasional inedible meal too.

The train ride to Mitte only takes 26 minuts or so. Bit of a wak to the OS checkin areas. Lots of e-checkin machines but my paper tickets wouldn't work and I had *G privileges anyway. It seems OS is hiring a lot of staff who appear to be Eastern European (non-Germanic names) not that it matters.


The names don't necessarily mean much in Vienna. Dating back to the old Habsburg days, there's been a lot of cross-pollination between the various parts of the old empire. As a result there are a lot of Austrians whose names have clearly Slavic or Hungarian origins; in the surrounding countries too, you'll find many Czech, Slovaks or Hungarians with Germanic family names. Their first names are more likely to be an indicator of their nationality.

Didn't know I could use the Senator side so I just used the BC side. Not much of any good healthy snacks here. OJ was good though.

Senator Lounge has breakfast and excellent sandwiches/wraps in the evening. You should bring your own chair though.

Nice reports, thank you ^
BD lounges which are inconveniently located halfway down one pier. Signage is also poor and confusing and if you walk too far, you end up missing the lounge which could require you go landside if really unlucky to access it, or go through another security checkpoint if you are more fortunate.
:confused:

The lounges are in fact at the beginning of the pier, just past the (many) shops. They are located next to the gates that BD uses most often. Where do you suggest they be located? I cannot think of a physical space along that pier that would make a better location for the BD lounges. In addition to the illuminated BD signs there is also the Star Alliance sign and airport terminal signs. Again, I cannot think of where else it would be feasible or useful to add yet more signs in that corner of T1.

But I would agree the method of separating arriving and departing passengers on that pier is farcical and extremely inconvenient. And security at all BAA airports sucks.