dat4life

With the COVID 19 Epidemic sweeping the globe, I’ve been holed up at home with nothing but time on my hands so I figured why not take another whack at a trip report. It’s sad to think pretty much every single aircraft I flew on this trip and probably every agent/flight attendant I interacted with would be grounded indefinitely just 14 short months later. Amazing how the entire world has changed at the drop of a hat.



Trip Report Index
United Airlines Boeing 767-300ER Polaris Business Class Houston to Washington Dulles
Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus A350-900 Business Class Washington Dulles to Hong Kong
Renaissance Hong Kong Harbour View
Air Asia Airbus A320NEO Economy Class Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur
JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur
Thai Airways Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok
EVA Airways Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Bangkok to Vienna
Austrian Airlines Boeing 767-300ER Business Class Vienna to Newark

Travel is supposed to be a happy occasion. My early 20s seemed to be a perfect example of this as I seemingly spent every weekend crisscrossing the country to be there for my friends’ most joyous occasion. It got to the point where I stood in so many weddings my friends started calling me “27 Tuxes”. As the years past, those wedding invitations slowly evolved to ultra sound pictures posted on social media, and the monies I used to spend going to weddings was now spent on gifts for the newborns. All good natured whining aside, it truly was a happy time and a honor to play a small part in my friends’ big life moments. Things took a more somber turn once I hit my 30s, having to attend an ever increasing number of funerals. It’s all part of the great circle of life, I suppose.

Things are a little more complicated with the modern family, especially those of us in a multi-continental family. Far too often over the last few years, I had dash across the Pacific because one of my relatives had passed away. Just a week after after we got back home from Asia in December 2018, my mom and I got a dreaded WhatsApp message from a relative in Hong Kong that one of my grand-uncles had passed away.

His funeral was slated for late January, which gave us a little bit of time to make arrangements. With work in full swing, it was a little tough for me to take off but I managed to swing it. Getting to Hong Kong was easy as Business Class award space was plentiful on Cathay Pacific’s new service to Washington DC. I was able to secure two seats using 50,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles each. And to get to Washington, I was able to find two relatively cheap tickets on United.

Getting home was more of an issue as award space was non-existent. My mom was eventually able to find a reasonably priced Business Class fare on EVA from Hong Kong to Taipei and then back to Houston on EVA’s daily non-stop service. As for me, it was a bit more complicated for me as I had to be back in Washington DC for work the following week. I could have just flown back with my mom and then headed to Washington DC a couple of hours later. But I would prefer not to part with that much cash if I could help, especially when I had some miles I could burn. I had to get creative if I wanted save a few bucks. After an exhaustive search, I was able to get as close to DC as Newark. The was I would have to depart from Kuala Lumpur and connect in both Bangkok and Vienna on Thai Airways, EVA Airways, and Austrian Airlines all in Business Class. It cost 90,000 MileagePlus miles to secure that, which was a pretty good deal that looked even better after United destroyed award charts completely later in 2019. On the bookends of that ticket, I was able buy a cheap ticket on Air Asia from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur and another on United from Newark back to Washington DC.

For our one night in Hong Kong, I booked a room at the Renaissance Harbour View in Wan Chai using a free night certificate and upgraded us to a suite using a Suite Night Award.

And there you have it, four days and an unexpected 22,000 miles

Previous Trip Reports:
2018: Pilgrimage to the Fatherland (CX/MU J; CX W; WN/MU Y)
2017: The Ultimate Flake (AA F; SQ F and Suites; CX/MS/CA/MH/KL/JL J; TK Y)
2017: The Earth IS Round (UA/LH/HU/CZ/TR Y; CX/BR J)
2017: Something Old and Something New (SQ A350 J / AA J)
2015: Christmas in Asia (AA/CX/UA J; BA/AA/CX Y)
2015: A Manic Fall(AA/WN/UA/CX/FD Y; CX F; AA F)
2015: An Apartment in the Sky (Etihad Apartment First Class, AA Y, BA J/Y, QR Y)
2014: The End of An Era (JL/CX/TG/QF A380 F, OZ J, KA Y, and a Chinese Bullet Train!)
2014: A Tale of Two Cities (AA 77W J BA Y IB Y AF J)
2013: It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year (AA/MQ F AS Y)
2013: Geeking Out Across America (AA F)
2012: Around The World and From Sea to Shining Sea (AA F/Y, CX F, SQ F, UA F, DL F, WN Y)
2011: Everybody look at me because I'm sailing on a boat (KL J and DL Y)

dat4life

I spent a few hours in the office wrapping up a few things before dashing across town to my parents’ place to pick up my mom and going to IAH. This was all accomplished in short order, thanks to light traffic, and we had time for a bite at the Centurion Lounge before our flight.

While United runs mostly E jets with an odd 737 or A319 to both Reagan and Dulles, I was able to book us on noon-ish departure to Dulles which was operated by an internationally configured Boeing 767-300ER.

A generous coworker gifted me a couple of RPUs and our upgrades were confirmed immediately. This was very much appreciated as the wide-open First Class cabin was suddenly sold out a week before departure.

United Airlines 2091
Houston (IAH) – Washington DC (IAD)
Depart: 11:55AM
Arrive: 3:49PM
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300ER
Seat: 5L (First Class)

I was thrilled to seat map showing the new Polaris Business Class configuration when I check in the evening. Of course, nothing was certain until we actually departed. I might have fist pumped (just a little) when I saw N647UA, one of the reconfigured aircraft, waiting for us at the gate.

The new Polaris Business Class was in a far superior 1-1-1 configuration that allowed for direct aisle access for every seat. I had picked seat 5L in the old configuration, which carried over despite the swap.





A side table, reading lamp, USB and AC charging outlets, and the controller for the IFE system were on my left.



There was a good sized storage compartment above the side table equipped with a hook for the headset.



The seat controls are located on the right side of the seat.



There is a small literature pocket to the right.



I didn’t put the seat into bed mode, but the footwell did look to be big enough for fairly big feet. There is a sliver of storage underneath the seat that’ll fit nothing bigger than a small backpack.



This was my first experience with any of United’s new Polaris products and color me impressed. Very impressed, in fact. The seat was a fantastic pad for this 3-hour flight, and I definitely wouldn’t mind it for a much longer flight. The seat is wide and well padded making for a comfortable place to sit and likely a great bed as well, and the controls are intuitive and easy to use. There’s plenty of storage space to stash all of the essentials needed for a longhaul flight. What’s not to like?

The crew working this flight was great. They did a full pre-departure beverage service for the massive cabin while fighting the throng headed to the back of the bus. In the air, they made short work of serving lunch and constantly roamed the cabin offering refills. Unfortunately, they weren’t given much to work with as the offerings consisted of the super processed charcuterie plate and something else equally unappealing. At least the fruit, almonds, and egg were decent.



I just stuck with water, which was kept topped off, and passed time watching the RBG documentary on United’s excellent entertainment system. It seemed appropriate given our immediate destination and was a lot more interesting than I expected.



The parking brake was set and engines shutdown a few precious minutes ahead of schedule. After thanking the crew, I entered the brave new world that is Washington Dulles International Airport. Despite frequent trips to Washington DC over the last ten years, I’ve flown to or out of Dulles a whopping two times preferring the much more convenient Reagan. And had I decided on the aforementioned dinner plans before I booked our tickets, I would have probably flown into DCA as our dinner was going to be smack dab in the middle of DC. But hey, I hitched my first ride in a new Polaris seat and got another moon buggie ride under my belt. Totally worth it.

One of my favorite spots in DC is Old Ebbit Grille. With a ton of time to kill before our flight to Hong Kong, I figured I’d introduce my mom to The Whale. The Whale is a massive piece of seafood heaven, and it’s even tastier during happy hour as it’s half off. Happy hour ended at 6pm, we just squeaked in under the gun. Needless to say, we both enjoyed The Whale immensely.

dat4life

We headed back to Dulles after a quick stop to drop some stuff I needed the following week with a friend. Cathay Pacific check in opened by the time we got back. Online check in wasn’t cooperating the night before, so we stopped to get our boarding passes printed before heading to security and then to the lounge. Cathay used oneworld partner British Airways’ lounge at Dulles. My experience with British Airways lounges have been pretty consistently very meh, but their Dulles lounge was surprisingly nice. It’s a large, comfortable, and attractive facility.









The selection of vittles was limited to sandwiches, soups, and some munchies. It wasn’t an issue for us as we had just eaten, but anyone who came to the lounge hungry would probably be disappointed. But there was plenty of comfortable seating which is just what we needed to kill a couple of hours.

We left the lounge a bit early for a few laps around the terminal before heading to the gate.

Cathay Pacific Airways 861
Washington Dulles (IAD) – Hong Kong (HKG)
Depart: 12:15AM
Arrive: 5:40AM+1
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Seat: 21K (Business Class)

Boarding began a few minutes late, but soon enough I was back in the familiar confines of Cathay Pacific’s Airbus A350-900. My mom and I ended up being the only ones in the Business Class mini-cabin.



I was back in the same seat I had on my flight last month, 21K, while my mom was right behind me in 22K.













Menus were already placed at each seat when we boarded



Everything was buttoned up quickly, thanks to the light load, and we roared into the night sky right at stated departure time.

Given the late night departure, meal service was a much lighter and abbreviated which was perfect for me as I wasn’t in the mood for anything terribly heavy. But I couldn’t pass up a glass of delicious Cathay Delight first, which was served with a small ramekin of warm nuts.



As for my midnight snack, I went with the fish ball noodle soup. I was shocked and disappointed to find out that the plane’s provision was already gone after the first drink service. But I got over it and ordered an Oriental Breeze, Cathay’s other signature non-alcoholic drink, with my snack instead. Everything was served on one tray, which was plopped on my tray table an impressive 45 minutes after take off.



The noodles were good as was the Oriental Breeze, but I far prefer the Cathay Delight.

Midnight snack finished, I “made my bed” with a push of a button and went to sleep. I conked out and slept well for a solid seven hours waking up just before we went feet dry over the coast of Russia.



One truly first world problem of frequent longhaul flights is running out of movies I haven’t seen before, which was a dilemma I found myself in on this trip. So I dug deeper into Cathay’s excellent entertainment system and found documentary on a couple of top ramen chefs in Japan, which was surprisingly entertaining. Of course, I got a little hungry while watching the documentary. Fortunately, I had access to an extensive snack menu. Unfortunately, nothing sounded terribly interesting. So I rang the call button to see if any cheese plates were left. A smiling flight attendant appeared in nothing flat and happily confirmed there were indeed cheese plates available. The cheese plate was well presented and tasty.



Later on when I went to the lavatory, I noticed a small display of packaged snacks setup in the galley.



Breakfast was served as I watching what was then latest Avenger’s movie, Infinity War, which was actually pretty good. Like my flight the previous December, orders were taken via hotel style breakfast hang tags and the options were exactly the same. I remembered the quiche was awful, so I went with the Chinese congee option instead. The pork congee was served with a small plate of stir-fried noodles, fruit plate, and croissant. Everything was pretty good, and definitely leaps and bounds better than the quiche.



Engines were shutdown a whopping hour early at gate 4, which meant a short walk and a deserted immigration hall.

offerendum

The Whale is impressive! Is it regularly for 2 people? What's the price?

LondonElite

I’ve had the Whale with business colleagues. Can recommend it! Great trip report!

lamphs

Old Ebbit Grill is my favorite in DC; I visit roughly monthly. 1/2 price raw bar for happy hour is great. While some of the other menu items are just OK, it is 170 years old and the ambiance is fantastic. The Willard IC is a block away. All of Washington 's major sites are within walking distance.

dat4life

It can easily feed 3 to 4! Regular price is ~$160, but it's half off during happy hour.

Thanks, LondonElite!

Totally agree! Other than the raw bar happy hour and the crab cakes, there's nothing else too special on the menu. Love the old school ambience though. I've been going to Jaleo quite a bit lately haha.

dat4life

After breezing through immigration and customs, we were in a taxi heading to Hong Kong an impressive 20 minutes getting off the plane.

With just one night in Hong Kong, I was just looking for hotel that was reasonably priced and located as we wouldn’t be spending much time in the room anyways. The Renaissance Harbour View fit the bill rather nicely especially since I was able to use an expiring free certificate. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived at the hotel, so we headed over to Causeway Bay to walk around and eventually picked some pretty tasty goodies.





By mid-morning, the room was ready. We were upgraded to a nice harbour view suite on account of my Titanium status.





There was a little half bath in the living room.














Of course the rest of the day was spent with family, before turning in for a less than fitful night of sleep

dat4life

With as much time I’ve spent on my hind parts the last couple days and the time I would be spending on those same parts the next couple of days, the first order of business the next morning was a much needed date with the gym. The Renaissance shares a very nice gym with the Grand Hyatt next door. I spent what felt like 6 hours questioning the meaning of my life as I tortured myself again and again.

We checked out after breakfast and went to the Central Airport Express station to free us of my mom’s bag. Then we spent the better part of an hour hunting for souvenirs for friends back home in the IFC. Now that I type that out, it was a smidge farfetched a high-end shopping mall would have a shop selling “you are here” trinkets. No cigar at the little shops at the Central Pier either, so we hopped the Star Ferry over to Tsim Sha Tsui to try our luck there.







Luck was indeed on our side, as we stumbled onto a little shop right off the pier that sold exactly what we were looking for. Since we made it to Tsim Sha Shui, we went to say good bye to one of my cousins before heading back to Central to catch the Airport Express.

We alighted at Hong Kong International Airport 24 minutes after leaving Central as advertised, and I walked my mom over to the exit immigration entrance before schlepping off to find mythical Terminal 2. Other a sign or two here and there, I had doubts Terminal 2 actually existed as I’ve never laid eyes on or set foot it in it despite flying out of HKIA dozen of times over the years. It’s apparently where the check in counters for low cost carriers, like Air Asia, are housed. Online check in failed me for the second time this trip, so I had find Air Asia’s counters to get my boarding pass printed. It took a solid few minutes, but I eventually was able to locate Terminal 2 and Air Asia’s counters.

Before I could get my boarding pass, I had to pass muster with the check in agent. It took ten minutes of grilling and the most intense doc check I’ve ever experienced before I was deemed worthy of a boarding pass. I then went to pry my mom from Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Lounge as I was persona non grata from there flying Air Asia. We headed to the Centurion Lounge for pre-flight drinks. More accurately, it was me drinking and my mom nagging me about drinking. Oh mothers…

Then we were off after a pleasant couple of hours at the lounge. My mom was heading back home to Houston via Taipei on EVA Airways. As for me… Well, I had to find my gate first. Up until last December, I managed to avoid bus gate at HKIA. Today, another first was awaiting me as my flight to Kuala Lumpur was departing from gate 211, which is at the newish Midfield Concourse.

The Midfield Terminal is just a short train ride from the main terminal. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and impressed. Sure it lacked concessions or any sort of lounge, but the Midfield Concourse was a bright, airy, and modern facility. Gate areas were large with plenty of seating, and there were quite a few charging stations as well. I was thrilled to see an observation deck at one end of the concourse, but I was less than thrilled to see it packed with smokers ignoring the no smoking signs to get their nicotine fix before hopping on a plane.



Air Asia 137
Hong Kong (HKG) – Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
Depart: 6:10PM
Arrive: 9:15PM
Aircraft: Airbus A320 NEO
Seat: 14D (Economy Class)

Ideally, I would have been able to tack on a Cathay Pacific flight to Kuala Lumpur on my Alaska award ticket, but award space was zilch. So enter AirAsia, which at $220, including an exit row seat and pre-ordered meal, wasn’t exactly cheap. But it was by far the most reasonable and well timed option, and I got hitch my first ride on a new Airbus A320 NEO.

It was a bit anticlimactic when I boarded as the cabin looked exactly like any other non-NEO Airbus. 9M-RAH was delivered to AirAsia just two months before my fight, and everything was still fresh and new.



Pitch was tight as expected for most seats, though I was pleasantly surprised to see AirAsia installed slightly more humanely padded seats than the wafer thin slimline seats most airlines seem to favor on newer planes. Speaking of more humane options, the few extra bucks I spent for an exit row seat was money well spent.









Not much to talk about on this flight. The service cart was whipped into the aisle seemingly seconds after rotating off the runway, and the flight attendants got hard at work hawking buy on board like their jobs depended on it because their jobs probably did. I was an easy mark as I had pre-ordered nasi lemek, which was handed over with a pretty smile.

The nasi lemek didn’t look like much, but it was quite good.



I passed time with episodes of The Office on my iPad, and we arrived at Kuala Lumpur on time.

My choice of venue to lay my head that night was pretty easy as the JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur set me back just 10,000 Marriott points. With the advent of the bovine feces “Bonvoy” program, it was hard to find a decent place to spend points at. Color me surprised and impressed how nice the JW was for what really is a bargain basement price especially compared to the $250 revenue rate that evening.

Figuring I would be tired and not in the mood to deal with a cab in an unfamiliar place, I opted for the meet and greet offered by the JW Marriott. Of course, the service cost quite a bit more than a cab, but the price was fairly reasonable I thought. A hotel representative met me just outside of immigration and walked me briskly to the pickup area where a white Maserati Ghibli. Welp, this ain’t something I see or do every day. Most impressive, and appreciated as it took a solid hour to make it to the hotel.

Even more impressive was that the duty manager was waiting for the car when we pulled up. After exchanging pleasantries and a quick glance at my passport, She handed over my room key and benefits letter then walked me over to the elevators and sent on my way.

Apparently, I was “upgraded” to a deluxe king room. I wasn’t entirely sure what made it “deluxe”, but the room was fairly large, clean, and comfortable.

dat4life

I had the entire day to explore, and I spent it taking in the various sights around Kuala Lumpur. Fortunately, the hotel graciously let me check out at 6pm so I was able to get a much needed hot shower trudging around in the humidity of KL most of the day. I’m sure my soon to be fellow passengers also appreciated it as well! Traffic was a madhouse when I left the hotel, but once we got clear of the downtown area we were going against traffic. It took just a smidge over an hour to get to the airport.

One of the reasons I waited until the very last moment to head to the airport was that the lounge situation at KLIA was marginal at best. And I’m glad I did pretty much the moment I stepped into the tiny, dim, and depressing Thai Lounge. At least there were still some comfortable seats left, and I staked out one of the seats with my backpack so I could grab a drink. By the time I returned, a middle aged Chinese lady had tossed my bag aside and spread out her crap over the entire four seat section. She pretended to not understand me when I told her off in my best Mandarin, only to yak loudly to her hubby on the phone about that horrible mean man in… wait for it… Mandarin a few minutes. Oy vey

Thai Airways 418
Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Bangkok (BKK)
Depart: 9:05PM
Arrive: 10:10PM
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 19A (Business Class)

It’s been a good minute since I’ve last flown Thai Airways with my last and only Thai flights back in 2014 from Tokyo to Sydney. My memories of those flights are fond, and I was very much looking forward to this short hop. Doing the honors down to Bangkok this evening was one of Thai’s very nice 777-300ER. The heavy was overkill that evening as the plane was less than half full, but I certainly didn’t mind as heavies are a rarity on such routes back home.

Several smiling flight attendants were waiting at the door to greet and direct passengers down the appropriate aisle. Business Class on Thai’s 777-300ER is arranged in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration. It goes without saying that it was uber comfortable for this short op over to Bangkok.



I selected 19A which is a bulkhead window seat of the main Business Class cabin.





















Hot towels were offered shortly after I sat down followed by drinks, which was the standard choice of champagne, orange juice, or apple juice.



Thai pours Veuve Clicquot even on this short regional flight, which is pretty solid in my eyes.



Doors were buttoned up ahead of schedule, and we were soon winging toward Bangkok, which was a scant 754 miles due north. Despite the relatively short flight, a proper dinner was to be served. So let’s have a look at that menu, shall we?











The chicken pa-neang curry was the natural choice. I love curry. Curries and other meat based stews tend to reheat and taste fantastic at altitude in my experience. Also, I was flying Thai Airways and I was confident at the catering kitchen in KUL could put out a heck of a curry. The other entrees sounded marginal at best, making it a very easy decision.

A round of drinks kicked off dinner service. With a ton of flying ahead of me, I decided to play it cool and just order a glass of water and iced tamarind tea, which was very refreshing.



Dinner was a one-tray affair as expected for the short flight. The curry was excellent. It was flavorful and a nice amount of kick to it, which is pretty unusual for airplane food. My only complaint was there was not enough rice for the curry, but then came garlic bread to the rescue! The fruit was also good, but the rest of dinner was just ok. Dessert tasted a bit funky. Other than that, it was a rather pleasant meal. Service was great throughout as the flight attendants regularly patrolled the aisle for refills and the like.



A remote gate was in store for us at Bangkok. Score! It was pretty cool deplaning from the massive 777-300ER using airstairs, and really put into perspective how big the plane is.

dat4life

While it would have been nice to be whisked off to Thai’s awesome Royal First Class lounge like my last transit in Bangkok, I didn’t have such luck this time and all I wanted at this late hour was quiet place to hangout. EVA’s lounge offered just that. I could do without the awful blue and orange color scheme. Overlooking that it was spacious and comfortable lounge. Food and drinks were nothing to write home about, but they did have fresh coconuts on offer, which is a first for me at an airline lounge.



EVA Airways 61
Bangkok (BKK) – Vienna (VIE)
Depart: 2:35AM
Arrive: 7:00AM
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 6K (Business Class)

My only other experience with EVA came back in 2017 on a pair of flights that brought me back to Houston. Both of those flights were pleasant, and I was looking forward to seeing what was in store for me on the way to Vienna.

I’m one of the few persons on the planet that prefers and even enjoys redeyes. But I don’t think I had a flight departing this late ever. It had been a long day, and I was half asleep by the time I found myself in the familiar confines of EVA’s 777-300ER.

Flight attendants immediately swung into action when I stepped board, with immediately offering to showing me to my seat. On the way, she introduced herself as Blair and offered to fetch me a drink while me got settled







EVA poured the La Grand Dame 2006 at the time, and I was happily settled in 6K with a glass of the good stuff in no time. Even if pushed, I couldn’t tell the difference between two champagnes. But I certainly can tell what’s drinkable and what’s not. La Grand Dame was certainly very drinkable. Along with the glass champagne came a hot towel and a piece of chocolate.



Impressively, boarding was completed in just 20 minutes despite what appeared to be a fairly full load and we were underway just a couple of minutes later. Also impressive was the number of departures at that hour. It was solid 30 minutes after pushing back from the gate before the plane taxied into position on the runway.



Just after 3AM, the massive GE 90-115Bs were throttled up and the massive plane sped down the runway before climbing into the darkened skies over Bangkok. Flight attendants were dinged out of their seats pretty much the same moment the landing gear was retracted. I caught Blair racing up the aisle from the corner of my eye to take drink and dinner orders. Given the late hour, her haste was certainly understandable. Better take a look at that menu now…







Surprisingly, most of the cabin wanted to eat at the late hour. I was toying with the idea of just getting some sleep, but my stomach got the better of me and I decided to go with the beef dish to Blair’s delight.

Minutes later, another flight attendant came to lay EVA’s signature tablecloth on the tray table.



First up were the canapés, which I asked to be accompanied with another glass of champagne. It was all very tasty.





After the canapés were cleared, the table was set for the rest of the meal. Again, I’m not a fan of the blue and orange color scheme but the settings did pretty cool. In particular, the rock shaped salt and pepper shakers were pretty nifty.



The herbal soup was served next. It was pretty good.





For my main course, I opted for the stir-fried beef tenderloin cubes in Shaanxi style. It was perfectly edible, but not particularly memorable.



A fresh fruit plate was offered for dessert. The fruit could have been a little more ripe, but it was refreshing and a nice light way to cap off the meal.



Water bottles and hot towels were provided after the last of the dishes were cleared. I “made” my bed after hitting the lavatory, and promptly conked right out. I managed several hours of solid sleep waking up while we were speeding over Afghanistan.



Feeling hungry for no reason at all, I took a quick glance at the snack menu.

LEISURE DELIGHTS
Fried Chicken Wrapped in Pandan Leaf
Shrimp Cucumber Quiche with Salad in Aioli Dressing
Hot Chocolate and Cookies; Instant Noodles

I opted for the instant noodles, which was served in short order and very well presented I must say. And yes, even for just a quick snack Blair insisted on making sure I had a tablecloth. The noodles were simple and satisfying.



The next few hours flew by with episodes of The Big Bang Theory on the entertainment system and editing pictures on my laptop. The quiet clinking of dishes and chatter from galley signaled it was almost chow time again as the day broke outside the plane.



Blair soon came by armed with a hot towel to wish the cabin good morning and to take breakfast orders. Now where did I stash that menu…



I started with a cup of green tea, which was disappointingly weak.



I went with the Chinese breakfast, which was pretty tasty.



A cappuccino rounded off breakfast.


The plane was speeding high above the Black Sea by the time breakfast was cleared away.



About an hour from Vienna, we were treated to some amazing views of the snowcapped Carpathian Mountains in Romania.



The main gear gently thumped down onto the runway in Vienna and the big plane slowed to a near halt a few minutes ahead of schedule. After a short taxi, we pulled in right next to a China Airlines A350-900 that also hailed from Taipei.

dat4life

Austria definitely earned a spot in my heart as one of the worst airports in the world to transit through. Strike one was the poor signage. I had to double back several times to get my bearings before I could figure out how to get to transit security. Strike two was the crazy labyrinth of hallways that were required to get to said security. Strike three was the five miles I had to walk to get to transit security, which in retrospect probably was what the doctor would order.

My next speedbump was the lounge. I didn’t really pay attention when I got my boarding pass in Kuala Lumpur, but I was flagged with the dreaded SSSS. Because of that, the less than friendly lounge dragon wouldn’t let me in until I went through secondary screening. I was annoyed, but it didn’t seem like I was missing out on much as the lounge looked to be cramped, spartan, and crowded facility. It was another hike to the secondary screening area, but at least it was close to my gate. There, a humor impaired agent then proceeded to give me a pat down of my life and then through every single thing I had in my backpack right down to the last piece lint. Eventually he deemed me a good egg and sent me on my way. I wasn’t in the mood to make the trek back to the lounge, so I stopped at one of the few vendors dotted around the terminal for a delicious pretzel to munch on and a few Fantas for later before heading to the gate.

Austrian Airlines 89
Vienna (VIE) – Newark (EWR)
Depart: 10:25AM
Arrive: 3:10PM
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300
Seat: 2D (Business Class)

Out of all the flights on this particular little jaunt I was looking forward to this one the most. This was my very first flight with Austrian Airlines and quite possibly my last if the current situation keeps up. That said, I was just hoping the flight lived up to my high expectations derived from favorable trip reports I’ve read here and elsewhere on the interwebs.

Doing the honors over to Newark that morning was OE-LAX, a Boeing 767-300 that rolled off the assembly line at Boeing’s widebody assembly line in Everett, Washington in 1992. To put it in perspective, I was in 1st grade when the plane rolled off the assembly line. OE-LAX was delivered new to Lauda Air and then Austrian picked it up in 2007. Today, it looked as fresh and clean inside and out as it did 27 years prior.



Boarding was done through door 2L, which was a first for me while boarding a 767. It was my understanding that attaching a jetbridge to door 2L even for the longer 767-300 was not possibly given how close the door is to the engine. But apparently the Austrians figured out something out.

Austrian outfitted their 767s with 1-2-1 staggered seating in Business Class, that quite a few airlines use.















The seat was just marginally comfortable as padding was on the thin side and it was a bit narrow. But it did have most of the basics covered charging ports (USB and AC), intuitive controls, and a decent quality screen. Storage space was lacking, but there was just enough space to stash a phone and a few other small items. Certainly not the best Business Class seat that I’ve experienced, but it certainly wasn’t the worst either.

After most of the cabin settled in, flight attendants came around with a silver trays bearing champagne, water, and a strange looking blue drink. I chose the blue drink for the novelty. Per the flight attendant, it was champagne mixed with blue raspberry. Nothing to write home about, but at least it looked cool.



After the onboard “chef’ handed out menus, the captain came on the horn to give his welcome spiel and announced a flying time of 9.5 hours. Pushback was right on schedule, and the engines roared to life after a short takeoff and the venerable 767 rattled down the runway gathering speed and eventually soared into the clear blue skies over Vienna.

I already fired up the IFE system while we were still on the ground. The selection of content was much better than I expected which plenty of recent and classic movies and TV shows to choose from. After spending much of the last few months listening that song on the radio over and over and over again, I ended up settling on A Star Is Born, which wasn’t awful I have to admit. Who knew Lady Gaga could actually act?



Austrian’s meals always looked amazing on the trip reports I’ve seen. Austrian uses DO&CO for catering. My first brush with DO&CO was aboard a pair of Turkish Airlines flights back in 2017. It was by far some of the best food I’ve ever had on a plane, and I was only flying economy then. Needless to say, I was really looking forward to what Austrian had in store that day. Funny enough, the menu that the chef handed out was for the Vienna to Dulles flight, which was my final destination for the day. Quite a few folks must have noticed the mistake, as the chef got on the horn to assure us the menu was correct despite the incorrect destination.







And of course, again there is the all important matter of liquid nutrition.

















Showtime started roughly an hour after takeoff, and like any self-respecting airline lunch began with a crisp tablecloth placed on the tray table followed by the table settings placed directly onto the tablecloth itself. A drink service immediately followed. I ordered a glass of the Reisling Kamptal Dac Zobing 2017, which was delicious. It was served with a ramekin of mixed nuts. Salt and pepper shakers, a dish of butter, and a bread plate was also placed on my tray table.



The appetizer trolley was wheeled into aisle just moments later. All of the appetizers were right up my alley, so I asked for a little of everything. The flight attendant happily obliged. It was indeed delicious.



Up next was the Viennese style potato soup with rye bread croutons. It was lukewarm, perhaps by design, but it was also tasty.



Trollies were once again wheeled into the aisle this time with the main courses displayed.



While I like appreciated the display, I already had my heart set on the stuffed chicken breast with truffle brioche filling. It was excellent.



Stuffed to pretty much to the brim, I passed on dessert but I couldn’t resist a cheese plate and something tasty off the coffee menu.



Not sure if it was wine, copious amount of food, or all that flying or more than likely a combination thereof, I pretty much conked out right after lunch and slept clear through the rest of the flight. We were just off the cruising high above the Labrador Sea approaching the coast of Newfoundland. I started watching Dunkirk on the IFE system, and before long chow was served again.



I went with the selection of sausages along with an Austrian beer. It was all very tasty.



Of course, I couldn’t end the flight without another one of Austrian’s oh so delicious ice coffees.



Not long after the last of the dishes were cleared, the familiar ballet of the cabin crew scurrying about readying the cabin for landing, overhead bins being slammed shut, and seatbelts clicking happened in perfect sequence. Flight attendant hurried to take their seats after the double bong and announcement of final approach. Landing gear dropped and settled on to the runway in Newark several minutes later.

And that was it, my last longhaul flight in what is already quite a long time and now probably even significantly longer.