curt

As many of you know, Miles&More is not only the FF program of LH, but also of the OS group. This gives you a nice flexibility as status counts on LH, OS, NG and VO. So, when deciding on my flight to IAD, I chose OS.

At the airport, HAM
The weather the night before was horrible: freezing rain. The roads were covered with ice and driving was nearly impossible. I decided to arrange for a really early taxi pickup. It normally takes 25 minutes from my house to the airport so 60 minutes should do the job. Surprise, surprise! When I woke up the next morning, an unexpected weather change had taken place and all the ice was gone. Trip to the airport took only 22 minutes. It could have slept longer, grr
Went to the check-in counter, presented my M&M card, agent swept it… and said “I can see your reservation but the system does not let me check you in. Could you please go over to the ticket counter and let them sort things out? After you are finished with them, please come right back to the counter.” So I went over to ticketing and they, too, could see my reservation but were not able to check me in… Hmm. Supervisor came, printed out my PNR, went to the back… and was gone for 15 minutes. I was getting nervous but suddenly there she was, two boarding passes in hand. The problem was that OS e-ticket database was corrupted and while they could link PNRs and e-tickets, the system didn’t allow check-in. They had to do a manual override to issue boarding passes. Back to the check-in counter, dropping of bags, through security and down to the bus gates. All in all, the LH ground staff handled this situation really well. In retrospect, it was a good thing that I arrived at the airport so early because I barely made the flight.

OS 7252 HAM-VIE, operated by LH CityLine
Boarded the CRJ7 and went to my favorite seat 2D, which gives plenty of legroom. The flight took off on time. I actually like CLH’s C service on these short European flights. They handed out a decent breakfast and after a short 75 minutes flight, we touched down at VIE airport.

Transit at VIE
I went to the OS Business Lounge and met with a colleague who joined me for my transatlantic flight to IAD. I know that most FT’ers find the LH lounges in FRA and MUC quite shabby, but compared to the VIE lounges, they are better, IMHO. We had a few drinks and proceeded downstairs to our gate, where secondary screening led to a long line. Fortunately there was a SEN/*G/Business Class line, so we were through in a breeze.

OS 93 VIE-IAD
We boarded our A332 through the second door, and after an immediate turn to the left, we reached our seats 2EF. OS has a two-class product, so Grand Class is their premium cabin, and it shows. Seat pitch is very generous, the seat has decent recline, footrests go up all the way, albeit too short, and the LCD monitor is pretty big. There are only 24 seats in the C cabin (12 of them were occupied on this flight), they are served by 3 FA’s.
Coats were taken and when we sat down, one FA came around with pre-departure drinks. From this moment on, the FA’s always addressed us by name. Immediately after that, amenity kits were handed out. Flight left on time. After takeoff, the FA came around, offered another drink and handed out the menus.

Menu
Amuse Bouche
Potato and Smoked Salmon Roll with Chicory

Hors d’oeuvre
Shrimp Tartlet with Fennel Mousse

Soup
Chicken Consommé with Lovaga-Semilona Dumplings

Main Course
Veal Medallions with Variation of Topinambur
or
Roast Loin of Lamb on Parsley Cabbage with Parmesan Flan
or
Gilt Head Bream Fillet in Curry Vegetable Gravy and Cous Cous with Red Pepper

Cheese
“Kracher Grand Cru” in Puff Pastry with “Rossini”-Jelly

Desert
Chestnut Mousse with Glazed Figs
or
Coffee Soufflé with Chocolate-Orange Sauce

Coffe or Tea

Snack
Smoked Duck Breast with Beluga Lentils Salad
Dessert
Coffee or Tea

Beverages
Champagne
Domaine Laurent-Perrier, Brut Vintage 1993

Prosecco
Case Bianche, Martino Zanetti, Prosecco Extra Dry

White Wines
Weingut Dr. Unger, Grüner Veltliner Classic 2001
Weinguth Leth, Chardonnay Classic 2001
Weingut Repolusk, Weissburgunder 2001

Red Wines
Weingut Netzl, Rubin Carnuntum Zweigelt 2000
Domaine Bismarck, Blaufränkische Baronesse 1999
Bouchard Aîné&Fils, Mercury 1er Cru 1998

Dessert Wine
Weinlaubenhof Kracher, Kracher Cuvée Beerenauslese 2001

Spirits included Glenfiddich Single Malt, Campari, Bacardi, Bombay Saphire Gin, Hennessy XO, Cockburn’s Port and a really nice Calvados Père Magloire.

When the FA’s set up the tables, the apologized for the “FAA Gedächnisbesteck” It totally ruins the experience if you have to look at tastefully designed chinaware, nice silverware and this crappy plastic knife.

The meal was superb. I couldn’t decide between the veal and the lamb, so the FA suggested that I should try both… Same with the Dessert… After the meal, the Purser came around and chatted with every passenger in C-Class. All in all, it was a really personal service touch. The remaining flight time passed by really quick. After a refreshing nap, I plugged in my laptop and worked during the remaining flight.

Arrival
We landed on time in IAD and taxied to some of the D gates. The moonrovers docked right at the plane and we were bussed to the international arrivals facility. It was a complete zoo. I just can’t understand why in the world the Immigration service is so bad with staff scheduling! They had only 6 lines open at a timeframe, when most europen flights land at IAD. OS should use some of the C gates, at least one could then use the UA immigration facility which tends to be a lot faster than the central one.

After spending 4 days in Washington, we were off to Europe again. We took a shuttle to IAD and arrived with plenty of time to spend.

At the airport, IAD
I like IAD because of the architecture. This separates me from the majority of FT’ers, bit I can’t help it. OS has own check-in counters, staffed by UA employees. I had expected a joint LH/OS check-in area. Check-in for me was quite complicated again. The nice but somewhat incompetent UA GA didn’t have a clue so I asked for the station manager. He showed up, tried unsuccessfully to check me in, took my M&M card and escorted me to the LH First Class check-in where it took him and the LH supervisor 18 minutes to produce two boarding passes. Because they were issued at the F/Cl check-in, they were red! After clearing security, I decided to give it a try and we went to the UA First Class Lounge in D to check that one out. It was a good idea but bad timing because the lounge was closed, so we ended up in the RCC. What a pit! Fortunately our flight to VIE boarded pretty soon after we entered the lounge.

OS 94, IAD-VIE
We were greeted by the Purser who escorted us to our seats 3EF. Coats were taken, pre-departure drinks offered, amenity kits handed out etc. etc. After browsing through the impressive menu again, I decided to opt for a quick meal in order to get more sleep. The FA gladly combined my selections from the menu and served it to me really early. While still of good quality, the food quality was significantly below the quality of the food on VIE-IAD. After the meal I went to sleep and was woken up by some galley noise when the FA’s prepared breakfast. We were already over the Netherlands, so I managed to get 6 hours of sound sleep on a plane, which is unusual for me. Shortly before we reached VIE, the captain came on the PA and told us that due to heavy snow we had to fly waiting patterns. This pushed back our arrival, so that we landed 40 minutes late. During the waiting patterns, the Purser came around and told us that the incoming flight from HAM was late as well, so that we should nevertheless make our connection.

Transit VIE
Unfortunately snow slowed things down so much on the ground that it took us 20 more minutes from touchdown to our parking position. OS had arranged for a small bus for their Business Class pax, so we were in the Terminal really fast. We dashed through immigration (there were no waiting lines for EU citizens while non-EU citizens had an estimated wait of 15 minutes), I said goodby to my colleague and I ran to the commuter gates. I managed to get on the bus shortly before they closed the gate.

OS 7253, VIE-HAM, operated by LH CityLine
The load was really light on this CRJ7 flight. We really nice crew served breakfast and I sat in 2F, looked down to the snow-covered landscape. The flight went by quickly and after only 70 minutes we landed in a sunny but cold HAM.


All in all, it was a really enjoyable flight experience. OS has by far the best C Class product out of the 4 *A carriers I have flown this year (LH, UA, SK, OS). The food is fantastic, seats are really good, crews are nice and they feature one extraordinarily good audio channel, the Club tunes, compiled and mixed by Kruder und Dorfmeister.


[This message has been edited by curt (edited 08-12-2003).]

PresRDC

Very nice report, curt. I gather by the freezing rain and snow that this trip was taken quite some time ago. I have heard nothing but good things about OS' Grand Class (and their economy product as well). I'll have to give it a try sometime.

Shareholder

Thanks for the report. I have been trying to get an award seat on OS's J-class all summer but nothing is available when I can travel. Will get to try it some day, but in the meantime, thanks for the report. BTW, what are the amenity kits like? Contents, bag/container.

BigBadJohn

Excellent report, I am flying with OS to Bangkok in October does anyone know what the difference in service is like between flights on OS metal and flights on NG Metal both in business.

Uli

no non-fish alternative for the first two courses?

mjm

Thank you for the excellent report. Nice level of detail and having just spent a few days in VIE myself can believe it must be a fantastic product. Austrian wines and Austrian food took my fancy for sure in VIE. The lounge is pretty rough as you say, but a minor inconvenience just before enjoying Kracher wine after a meal at 36,000 feet I look forward to flying this product soon.

Mike

RTW4

I have been in VIE three times in the past couple of years. This has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. If you love Mozart and Strauss you must go!!

Frequent_Flyer1

I'm glad to hear that everybody loves the capital of the country I live in ...

daysleeper

Interesting that they still have this channel. I already listened to it 3 years ago on my Lauda Air flight to SYD.

[This message has been edited by daysleeper (edited 08-17-2003).]

curt

Aliminum container with the usual socks/eyeshades/lip balm/toothbrush/toothpaste things. Nothing to write home about.
No.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it! OS has Kruder&Dorfmeister, LH has Blank&Jones. K&D is way superior, though.

Carfield

Thanks for the report! I also enjoyed OS meal services... catering is excellent in J. Of course, it will be nice if a better sleeper seat can be offered.

Although NG is part of the OS group, services are completely different. I gave NG higher (only slightly higher) marks for the meals and presentations are excellent, but NG seats are not as good as OS, especially of NG's Boeing 767s, However, service seems to be more personal and better on the smaller J cabin of Boeing 767 than the large J cabin of Boeing 777.

777Brit

Nice report curt.

In true FlyerTalk style!!

Buster CT1K

Great job! Enjoyable reading. Pity about the ticket snafu and IAD immigration.