rabingham89

After thoroughly enjoying all of the journeys this community has taken me on vicariously over the past four years while my own ability to travel has been limited (3 kids under 5 will do that!) I am hoping I can provide you all with a quick enjoyable trip report on my recent adventure. It was a quick journey to Vienna (new city/country for me) and Amsterdam but one that I am glad I made.

The genesis of this trip was a combination of factors:

• Best friend is currently on an ex-pat assignment in Europe for a two year period with limited ability to return stateside
• I completed my MBA in December. I had hoped to do a 2 week study abroad to Budapest/Prague in January 2023 but that fell through given the familial obligations.
• The stars aligned for me to get a 72 hour hall pass to plan the trip while my kids immune systems cooperated and they remained healthy the week of my trip.

With that out of the way, below is a summary of the trip:

• Outbound Flight: ORD > FRA > VIE
  • Booked using previously transferred Aeroplan points for 70K.
  • ORD > FRA - UA 787-10 Polaris incl trip to Polaris lounge
  • FRA>VIE - OS A320 Business
• Intermediate Flight: VIE > AMS
  • Booked using Aeroplan points for 7.5K on OS in economy
• Return Flight: AMS > ORD
  • Booked using previously transferred Flying Blue miles for 50K + $250ish? in taxes and fees
  • KLM 787-10 Business

For the two nights we stayed in hotels we booked the following:

• Vienna Marriott Hotel (not sure on cost as my friend booked)
• Renaissance Amsterdam (~$250)

Thanks for reading along, I hope to get the report up in full in the next 2-3 days!

rabingham89

"When will you realize, Vienna waits for you"

Given that there was limited time for this trip, my friend and I wanted to check off a new city/country that neither of us had been to. With both of us having an appreciation for history, Vienna fit the bill as our destination. We originally planned to stay in Vienna two nights and try and make it to Bratislava on day 2 however work got in the way and my friend had to get back to the Netherlands on Thursday night so that he could go into a meeting on Friday morning at his local office.

Fortunately, award space was plentiful for a Tuesday departure in January. However, given the compressed timeframe, I prioritized the most efficient routing that got me into Vienna early Weds morning. I targeted UA/LH so that it would be easiest to take advantage of the Polaris lounge to eat prior to the flight. Of course, two days prior to departure, LH F space opened up for 100K Aeroplan points. However, since my friend was due to land at 8:45am Vienna time, I did not want to switch and end up landing at 11am and kept my UA metal routing.

Living in in the Milwaukee area, I anticipated a relatively easy journey down to O'Hare for my 2:30pm departure. However, mother nature had other plans as there was a 'mixed precipitation' of snow, rain and ice the morning of departure. Fortunately the interstate was cleared in good order and it only took me slightly longer than the normal 75 minutes to reach O'Hare. While the award space may have been plentiful, the parking at O'Hare was not. My initial attempt to park in Lot F the covered economy parking garage with direct people mover access were of no avail. Given my short trip I opted to throw caution (and money) to the wind and go to the lots connected to the terminals... only to still end up in the outdoor uncovered parking. With departure approaching 2.5 hours out, I gave up my pursuit of the optimal parking space and was quickly through security in Terminal 1. A short 7 minute walk later and I was greeted by a very quiet and calm Polaris Lounge.


I went straight to the dining room where there was plentiful space. Below is the menu that was on offer:


The first order of business, a glass of bubbles to officially start the trip.


I opted for the Beet Salad, Squash Bisque, Burger and "Carrot Cake"

Beet Salad was very cheese heavy - good flavor but unbalanced Soup was very good and something I would order again

Burger was solid overall. A masterpiece compared to what would be served on board in a few hours

"Carrot Cake" LOL - compared to some other photos shared in the UA thread I don't think this was properly plated/served.

I enjoyed another glass of bubbles during my meal and then with 15 minutes before boarding decided to see how their bartenders skills are holding up by ordering a classic bourbon old fashioned.

Overall a solid drink, nice presentation and good balance. Only critique is that it could have been stirred more to chill the drink before serving.

Having enjoyed a little under two hours in the lounge it was time to make my way to the gate where the production that is UA boarding was about to begin.

rabingham89

Flight UA 944 - ORD > FRA
Departure Scheduled: 2:30pm
Gate Departure Actual: 2:35pm
Takeoff: 3:10pm
Arrival Scheduled:5:45am
Arrival Actual: 5:33am

This was actually my first flight in true UA polaris. My prior times flying United Business/Polaris were on the old 2-4-2 777 config as well as the 2-2 757 layflats. Needless to say my expectations for the hard product was that it would be the best product offered by our domestic US airlines.

Fortunately even though I booked within 20 days of departure there were still some odd numbered window seats available for selection. I chose 9L which I was happy with for my flight being that I was flying solo.


Home for the next 8 hours

Pre-departure beverage options were water/bubbles. I did not ask if there were other options. I was pleased to see glassware used to serve the bubbles as well as a healthy pour as well. Perhaps the FAs realized if they wanted us to go to sleep on a 2:30 departure that a little extra sauce may help their cause. Menus were waiting at the seat and are as pictured below.




We pushed back into a dreary midwestern winter day and had to do the requisite deicing and wait for our takeoff roll. I settled into watching a movie (Fast 9 - my guilty pleasure movie series for watching on planes. Family forever IYKYK)

Some fellow heavies in the distance


Sunlight, a welcome sight

Around 3:45pm, 75 minutes after gate pushback and ~30 minutes after getting airborne, nuts and drinks were served. I requested more bubbles and some sparkling water as my goal was to stay hydrated given that I would be landing around 10:30pm departure time and wanted to give my body a shot at not being a wreck the next day. At this time the FA in our aisle took orders and acknowledged my pre-order. Given that I was going to the land of the famous Wiener Schnitzle, I decided to see how the fine culinary staff UA contracts would fare against the local delicacy. Spoiler: a better competition would have been UA catering versus a hospital cafeteria.

Given that I wanted to try and get some sleep, I skipped the starters and requested my meal on a single tray.


The star of the dining experience.

What to say about the meal? The garlic bread was tasty. I thought the salad was fresh and the dressing had a kick that I enjoyed. The schnitzel was warm? Not much good to say about the schnitzel. I also noticed that in Vienna no one puts a 'gravy' on the schnitzel which is also a little suspect on UA's part in that they're not willing to let the schnitzel stand on its own.

There was a 0% chance I was going to skip the sundae experience and fortunately it lived up to my expectations. However, there was no port to accompany it! Alas, I settled for a final glass of champagne which concluded my dining experience.This was the second UA wine catering miss as they also did not have the Burgundy wine and offered a Cab instead.

I do want to acknowledge the service from purser Joan and the rest of her senior crew. They proactively offered refills and checked in often and were happy to fulfill customer requests.

I then reclined and flipped on the moving map. I managed to get 2.5-3 hours of sleep which I felt was pretty good given the circumstances and awoke when we were passing Ireland.


Shortly after waking up it was time for breakfast. I went for the "creamy" eggs which were the texture (and taste?) of a sponge. I enjoyed the fruit, coffee, OJ and a few bites of sausage / mushrooms before deciding I would save my appetite for the remainder of the day.


During breakfast and for the remainder of the flight I flipped on the movie 1917. Sadly I only got ~60% of the way through the film and was not able to finish later in my journey. Before long we were touching down in Frankfurt.

As someone who has over 500K lifetime miles on Delta, the majority of my flying pre-pandemic and pre-kids was on Skyteam. As such I had never transited through Frankfurt. Reading up on the connection process on flyertalk made it seem daunting but thanks to my 5:30am arrival I found it to be a breeze to clear immigration and make the walk to the schengen gates.

My early arrival also meant that I might have time to get onto the earlier OS flight from FRA to VIE that departed at 6:50am. I made my way to the gate and got there around 6:00am. There the friendly gate agents sympathized that since my ticket was booked via Aeroplan there was not much they could do on their end to move me to the earlier flight but suggested I might have better luck with the Lufthansa customer service who were located a 15 minute walk away. Given the short trip, I was also fortunate that my only luggage was a relatively light duffel and that I did not have checked bags which would have made it impossible to switch flights.

I made the trek to the Lufthansa customer service who was scheduled to open at 6:15am. However, my impressions of German punctuality were dashed as 6:15 came and went. Then 6:20. Around 6:25am we were let in and as customer 2 I was quickly at the desk. The friendly (and competent!) agent pulled up my ticket and after punching a few keys on the keyboard said I was good to go on the flight that departed at 6:50.. that was supposed to board at 6:20... that was a 15 minute walk away. She did assure me that if I did not make the flight I could come back and she would switch my ticket back. With the clock striking 6:30 I made a beeline back to the original gate running through the Frankfurt airport. Needless to say, after 2.5 hours of sleep, 1 or 6 drinks in the past 8 hours and my ~20 lbs duffle bag, I was feeling more winded than normal when I got to the gate at 6:36am... only to find that no one was boarding yet. Boarding started 5 minutes later and was done efficiently with everyone on board by 6:50am.

I slept during the quick 1 hour flight and as such passed on breakfast / did not capture any pictures of the euro business class. They had the standard 1-1 seating in aisle / window but there were no tray tables blocking the middle seats.

After deplaning, I explored the OS Vienna airport terminal while I waited for my friends arrival and researched our options for making our way into the city. Vienna offers the "CAT" (City Airport Train) with direct service from the airport to city center on the :08 and :38.

His flight ended up landing at a bus gate and by the time he entered the terminal it was 8:56. We hustled through the airport and encounterd a friendly agent for CAT who quickly issued our return tickets and made sure we knew where we were going. At 9:06 we were on the CAT ready to see what Vienna had to offer for the next 32 hours.

Next Up: Vienna

rabingham89

Exploring Vienna

As advertised, the CAT delivered us to the Wien Mitte station close to city center 16 minutes after departing the airport. The train was clean and had plenty of room, I wholeheartedly endorse this method of travel for those visiting Vienna and staying near city center in the future. Below is a quick map of the proximity of the station to our hotel.


We went straight to the hotel where we were pleased to learn that they had an upgraded room ready for us that we could access well before the normal check-in time (~9:30am). In addition they graciously offered us some coffee which I did not turn down given that my body was telling me it was around 2:30am departure time. The upgrade was to a standard two-bed ("full" size) room facing the park that you can see in the map above. Given our short stay and goal to spend as much time exploring the city as possible, the upgraded view was more than appreciated on our end. FWIW both my friend and I are Lifetime Titanium and as such had access to the other perks offered to Bonvoy elites. After a quick shower to freshen up, we set out to see what Vienna had to offer.


View from room

Our first stop was to visit the magnificent St Stephan Cathedral. There is no charge to enter the cathedral but if you want to access the section with the pews there is an entrance fee. As the saying goes "they don't make em like they used to".




One of if not the most impressive organs I've ever seen

After checking out the Cathedral we meandered down the Karntner Strasse a large pedestrian mall and decided that we were starting to get hungry for a second breakfast. Fortunately, there were plenty of street vendors nearby. We settled on some Curry Wurst which was "mid" as the kids these days say. It did tide us over to do some more exploring though.


We ended up walking towards the Hofburg palace and admired the grounds and the architecture of years past.


After some more meandering through the city, we set out for some Elevenses. Prior to the trip, I had solicited the sage wisdom of Reddit for the must-try foods of Vienna and was pleased to see that many folks felt you could get a reputable Doner in the city. We made our way to Brutal Doner and I opted for the Doner Duram wrap given its ability to be eaten on the go.


With our bellies full and feet starting to feel the stress of the morning's adventures, we decided it was prime time to wet our whistle and found the 1516 Brewing Company was close to our hotel. I failed to grab any photos but enjoyed the bier and ambience that it offered. Definitely worth checking out for those who enjoy a locally brewed bier.

At this point, the lack of sleep, amount of walking and pint of lager caught up with me and we made our way back to the hotel to take a quick nap before venturing back out for the evening.

Vienna Part 2 to Follow

rabingham89

After a quick two hour nap, I went up to the lounge and procured some water. Interestingly, they do not have bottled water but do offer carafes to take with you. However, there aren't any lids or the like to make sure you don't spill. Oh well, it served its purpose. The lounge had other snacks and was a generally well appointed space. I wouldn't plan to seek out the lounge but for those with access it does offer more than what you would find in most US based Marriott lounges including a respectable breakfast spread.




Feeling recharged, we decided to take the metro a few stops away to walk along the mighty Danube river. I was impressed by the Vienna metro as it was very clean and modern as well as easy to use/navigate. Again my picture taking skills failed me as I only captured this photo looking back towards the city as we approached the river walk.

St Francis of Assisi Church

After getting some fresh air on the river walk it was time to refuel with some food. I was insistent that dinner involve Wiener Schnitzel. After some googling my friend confidently said that I could find some at the House of Schnitzel. My summary description is that this place would likely make the same claim as the coffee shop in the movie "Elf" which proclaims to serve the worlds best coffee. It was fine... but not what I was after as they did not even offer veal schnitzel.


Rinse and repeat... our bellies full, it was time to satisfy our thirst. My original plan was to have some dessert at the Hotel Sacher in order to have some Sacher Torte, however, when we noticed that the Blaue (Blue) Bar had space available, we went for the detour. The space was very intimate as this was the only picture I could take without including others. It had room for maybe 20-25 people in total and a cocktail menu that had both classics and their own concoctions. Before we knew it we had tried four different drinks each and begrudgingly decided that we should continue our adventure lest we unintentionally make the Blaue Bar our last stop of the evening.


After leaving the Blaue Bar we headed to the Casino Wien which we had passed earlier in the day on the Karntner Strasse. As expected, it was a tourist trap. We knew this going in but were still dismayed to find out that our normal game of blackjack would be akin to the Charge of the Light Brigade given the house rules of 6:5 payout on blackjack and the more egregious dealer push on 22. After donating ~150 euro each to the casino for an hours worth of entertainment we made our way back towards the hotel and a pitstop at the Champions Sports Bar in the lobby of the Vienna Marriott for a final snack & beer before turning in for the evening. Overall the food (sliders + sausage) was excellent given our expectations at that point of the evening. After that it was some much deserved rest as my watch told me we walked just under 12 miles total during the day.

A final shot of the magnificent St Stephans:



Next Up: Vienna (Half) Day 2

ianassum

Really like your writing style
You like what you like
You don't like what you don't like
More importantly you use a fact based approach to expand on this
Great read

Fabo.sk

I would advise against the use of CAT, actually. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but there's no shortage of alternative trains like S7 and REX7 to Mitte and Railjets to Hauptbahnhof. Advantage of these trains is that they are cheaper as such, and you can buy a day ticket for the public transport with airport trains at a small surcharge over regular day tickets.

CAT is quicker, but only by a few minutes, although it does have the advantage of offering city checkin for some airlines.

rabingham89

Interesting! I did some reading on options before the trip and most recommended the CAT but I'm sure it was mostly from a convenience standpoint. We ended up buying separate day tickets for the public transport which did add a little to the cost. Hopefully this will help the next person who is heading to Vienna and reading this report.

JapesUK

Did you ever make it to the Hotel Sacher for the torte? I have very fond memories of both the Sacher Torte and thr jazz evening during which it was consumed.

rabingham89

We physically made it to Hotel Sacher but only stayed in the Blaue Bar area. Feeling full from dinner I didn't have room for both the Torte and the beverages although I do regret not grabbing a slice the next day. I have a sweet tooth and the reputation of the Sacher Torte made it seem like a must-try when in Vienna.

rabingham89

Thank you, Ianassum! Writing this up has given me a new appreciation of the effort required by the most frequent posters. Glad to hear it has been a worthwhile read for you so far.

HawaiiTrvlr

I liked the start of your trip at ORD. I am flying Polaris Class through Chicago on my way to Paris. I am hoping I have time to check out the Polaris lounge. I am thinking of changing my flight to ORD so I get a bit more time there (2.5 hours vs half hour or so).

VorelNaCestach

Schnitzel - checked ✔️
Forget Sachertorte, that's overrated. Apple strudel (Apfelstrudel) or Kaiserschmarrn is a way better choise. Also they are both very traditional Austrian desserts.

offerendum

Indeed! Sachertorte is one of my less favorite cakes.
A good Kaiserschmarrn and Apfelstrudel are the way to go and delicious. Perhaps also some Marillenknödel, Gugelhupf or Palatschinkenk

rabingham89

Alas we skipped desserts entirely during our short time in Vienna and instead opted for the liquid dessert of a Boulvardier, Manhattan and the classic Old Fashioned. I will keep that in mind though should I ever find myself passing through Vienna again!