johnirvine

My 20-year old daughter flew OS business class BER-VIE-LCA this week. After she sat down in seat 1A on the VIE-LCA leg, the purser came to her and asked brusquely if she really should be sitting there. This is hardly good customer relations - there are other ways of checking for interlopers in premium cabins. The staff member was subsequently aloof and unfriendly throughout the flight, especially after a SEN passenger sitting in row 5 loudly complained about DYKWIA and that he should be sitting in the first row. The interaction was so brazen that my daughter thought for a moment about offering to change seats, but decided in the end not to respond to such pressure. I do not believe this would have happened on a Lufthansa flight.

gojko88

Why does this stuff never happen to me? I'd LOVE to have such an interaction.

behuman

It may not happen to you because it possibly neither happened exactly like reported to the daughter of johnirvine. The story is so gross (two incidents, first with the FA then with another passenger) that there is almost certainly another side to it. Not to put in doubt the words of a 20 years old women, but she might have been oversensitive (with a FA used more to deal with rogue SEN's than with young well behaved people). This of course does not excuse unprofessional behavior of the FA.

She will learn not to care abour such things.

andywaw

What's the big deal about sitting in the first row in Business Class on intra-European flight like OS? This is most often a cramped bulkhead row where you can't stretch your legs, and as a SEN I deliberately avoid the first row.
Unless it's A321 on LH where there is no first row on the right side, and thus row 2 has lots of legroom.

behuman

1 A looks good on the boarding pass . When I was young I thought that too. This said nowadays I have to remove myself constantly from the first row to row 2 or 3 where I can actually store my stuff under the seat.

SUPERTRAVEL

What about that crispy weinerschnitzel I hear advertised over and over on the Austrian reservations on-hold loop?

(If you know, you know.)

thbe

It‘s not about the quality.

Due to Austrian laws everyone on board of an OS flight has to wear a FFP2 or N95 mask. Some people don‘t like it and blame the airline for that.

Another point is that food and beverage are good, but with a focus on Austrian dishes. I like that, but some passengers complain about the lack of international dishes. With international dishes they mean dishes from their home country.

TomMM

This is what I like about flying on a non-US based airline.

kochleffel

Hmm... I'm American but if I could live in Vienna, I would. Not solely for the food, but partly.

beachfan

I'll be flying CDG-VIE in business class.

Would you recommend Air France or Austrian?

I assume lounge is better for Air France, but not sure.
On board food seems to have gone downhill on OS, they don't use Do & Co anymore? I loved it when I flew them pre-pandemic - even VIE-MUC was a nice meal.

fransknorge

It would be very much comparable. The food on AF short haul can be quite bad too (the latest flight I did with them was at breakfast time and this was not great). I have not flown OS since the pandemic so can not comment on catering going downhill, however I have seen pictures and reviews of the lounge at VIE and they have improved a lot.

weero

So the polar opposite of the lounge in ZRH then .

That is so sad. Envious DYKWIAs are second in creating pleasure only to true schadenfreude (or "karma" how it is called in American English) ...

theKrafty1tar

I would just choose the cheapest option. Would not base the decision on in-flight or ground service as they will both be disappointing. Only thing that could sway the decision is status miles if you're aiming for that

Ber2dca

I always assumed that at this point of time it's pretty much accepted conventional wisdom that most of the EU flag carriers are pretty interchangeable short-haul and even Y long-haul. The real distinction factor is J long-haul and there the difference can be found primarily in the seat/cabin configuration.

Fabo.sk

I would not agree to that. There are still holdouts who have not gone BoB in intra-EU Y, and AF is one of them. The quality of catering in J can vary, I am not sure about OS in this regard. I prefer LH to AF let alone for example KL.

Another factors would be lounges (AF (CDG) good, KL (AMS) meh, LH (FRA, MUC) is OK so is OS (VIE), haven't been in ZRH lately) and transfer experience (MUC>VIE>CDG(T2F)>AMS>FRA>CDG(other than T2F)) if applicable