You want to go where?
Aug 5, 05, 4:18 pm
Having been told that it is better to give than to receive, I thought my first post to Flyertalk should be a trip report. As my handle suggests, my work takes me to a variety of places that my travel agent has to look up on a map. I took this particularl trip in late winter 2005.
This service is offered between Vienna and Chisinau, Moldova byTyrolean airways using a CRJ. As the service is identical on both flights, I am doing a combined trip report which covers both equally.
Airport:
In Vienna, lounge access was provided to business class passengers. The lounge was small and quite dull, at least, until I discovered an entire second section down a non-descript hallway which had a panoramic view of the runway and another bar. It wasn’t as crowded as the LH lounges in Frankfurt but it was light and pleasant.
Chisinau is a very small airport with no lounge. The departure area had long rows of metal chairs, a small bar and several duty free shops, which had large offerings (at least for the size of the airport) of duty free, consisting mostly of foreign and domestic liquor, Moldovan wine, cigarettes, and western European candy bars. The departure area did have a nice view of the loading area, somewhat diminished by visibility of less than one hundred yards, and the fact that Chisinau airport probably averages about one flight an hour of generally small planes.
Boarding
In both Vienna and Chisinau, boarding was done by bus. I presume this is a necessity of the CRJ aircraft, although there was no option in Chisinau as it did not have jetways.
On board
Seats are typical of CRJs - two by two, and rather narrower than the seat in a larger plane. I felt like the seats, at least those in business class had a little more padding than in the few CRJs on which I have flown in the United States. Business class seating was also constructed two by two, although business class passengers were encouraged to spread out so that it was one person per two seats. On the flight out, one of the business class passengers sat in the first row of what was demarcated coach but of course received full business class service.
Service began with a canapé presented on a spoon. Outbound, it was smoked salmon and salmon caviar. The return was smoked sturgeon.
Lunch on the outbound was a salad of black beans, corn, and salad cream, trout with boiled potatoes and custard for dessert. Drinks provided included wine, water, soda, and beer.
Dinner on the return was a smoked salmon appetizer, and an unidentifiable sausage entrée with dumplings and a similar custard for dessert.
The trout provided on the outbound was particularly good. Because trout is small and not very oily, it is particularly easy to overcook. This was not a problem on this flight.
The return dinner was less satisfying, although I will acknowledge that I was suffering from a cold, so my tastebuds were not particularly functional. Certainly, I did not find the sausage objectionable, merely bland.
I am unlikely to return to Chisinau, so I can’t say that I would take this flight again, but it was a reasonably pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. On the down side, the flight in business class is quite expensive, no doubt due to the popularity of flights into Chisinau. : )
This service is offered between Vienna and Chisinau, Moldova byTyrolean airways using a CRJ. As the service is identical on both flights, I am doing a combined trip report which covers both equally.
Airport:
In Vienna, lounge access was provided to business class passengers. The lounge was small and quite dull, at least, until I discovered an entire second section down a non-descript hallway which had a panoramic view of the runway and another bar. It wasn’t as crowded as the LH lounges in Frankfurt but it was light and pleasant.
Chisinau is a very small airport with no lounge. The departure area had long rows of metal chairs, a small bar and several duty free shops, which had large offerings (at least for the size of the airport) of duty free, consisting mostly of foreign and domestic liquor, Moldovan wine, cigarettes, and western European candy bars. The departure area did have a nice view of the loading area, somewhat diminished by visibility of less than one hundred yards, and the fact that Chisinau airport probably averages about one flight an hour of generally small planes.
Boarding
In both Vienna and Chisinau, boarding was done by bus. I presume this is a necessity of the CRJ aircraft, although there was no option in Chisinau as it did not have jetways.
On board
Seats are typical of CRJs - two by two, and rather narrower than the seat in a larger plane. I felt like the seats, at least those in business class had a little more padding than in the few CRJs on which I have flown in the United States. Business class seating was also constructed two by two, although business class passengers were encouraged to spread out so that it was one person per two seats. On the flight out, one of the business class passengers sat in the first row of what was demarcated coach but of course received full business class service.
Service began with a canapé presented on a spoon. Outbound, it was smoked salmon and salmon caviar. The return was smoked sturgeon.
Lunch on the outbound was a salad of black beans, corn, and salad cream, trout with boiled potatoes and custard for dessert. Drinks provided included wine, water, soda, and beer.
Dinner on the return was a smoked salmon appetizer, and an unidentifiable sausage entrée with dumplings and a similar custard for dessert.
The trout provided on the outbound was particularly good. Because trout is small and not very oily, it is particularly easy to overcook. This was not a problem on this flight.
The return dinner was less satisfying, although I will acknowledge that I was suffering from a cold, so my tastebuds were not particularly functional. Certainly, I did not find the sausage objectionable, merely bland.
I am unlikely to return to Chisinau, so I can’t say that I would take this flight again, but it was a reasonably pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. On the down side, the flight in business class is quite expensive, no doubt due to the popularity of flights into Chisinau. : )