Hi,

Just wanted to share an event that happened to me a few months ago which shows how Austrian Airlines treats its passengers.

I was transiting thru Vienna to my final destination Belgrade, Serbia. Not the first time, as I do it quite often. I find their schedules to Eastern Europe quite good, and convenient. It's one of the airports with best connections in terms of time spent between the flights. For this particular flight, I had a 35 minute wait between the flights, which you must say is perfect, unless things start going wrong.

Not that it matters, as all passengers should be treated equally in these occasions, but just to show how OS appreciates their business class passengers and elite (in status terms) passengers.

At my origin, we were informed that due to weather conditions at Vienna airport, the flight would be delayed. Given my short connection time, I requested to crew (we were already inside the OS plane) to allow me to change flights, to go on another airline so that I could make it to Belgrade. I explained to them that if I didn't make it, I would have to spend the night in Vienna as the connecting flight was the last flight of the day to Belgrade (OS7133/JU313). The cabin crew said that all flight at Vienna would be disrupted and that I should not worry.

With permission (as the doors of the plane were already closed) I even made a few calls to Belgrade airport to inquire about the flight from Vienna, and they said that according to their information the flight in question would be on time.

I mentioned this to the crew, but they refused to do anything (my origin flight was still on tarmack 40 minutes after scheduled take-off), saying that I would additionally delay the flight, and not to worry, as everything would be fine.

We eventually took-off, and a few minutes before landing in Vienna, the pilot informed us that unfortunately, the passengers for Belgrade (and I believe Oslo) had missed their flights, whereas everybody else was fine. The crew said that there is nothing they can do, and to go to the transfer desk in Vienna and check with them.

So I did, and here comes the best part.

The first reaction of the transfer desk staff was that there were no other flights (connecting/non-connecting) to Belgrade for that night, and that given it was weather, they were not to be held responsible, and that I was out of luck. I have the names of the people who said that.

I explained to them that as I was transiting I didn't have a visa to enter Austria (Serbian nationals need a visa for Austria, and mine had just expired, as I didn't need it for transit), and asked for their assistance to explain to the border authorities to let me out for one night until the next morning flight to Belgrade (just one note: I had credit cards, international health insurance, money, everything that you would need), and they refused! After lots of discussions, calling my travel agent... they accepted to go to the border guys, BUT WITHOUT ME, and to ask them to let me sleep over in a hotel for the night. In a few minutes they came back saying that it would not be possible.

Long story short, I stayed in the airport lounge until it closed sometime before midnight, and afterwards I was escorted out, and seat on a bench for some 12 hours until the first flight which was around noon the following day...

I wrote to Austrian, and never even got an apology from them for this event. And I pay them a lot of money every week.

I know people choose companies depending on the service provided by the airline, but one should also think about how they treat you when things come to worst. Austrian surely wouldn't make the tops on that list, and for this reason, whenever possible I try to avoid flying with them.



I spoke with representative of other airlines in Vienna, and they told me that in cases such as this, they would (and have) provided guarantees for passengers for overnight stays and that the border authorities have never refused them. I have renewed my visa, so I would not need such an assistance any longer, but the sour memories of this event remain.