Review of Austrian Airlines flight Berlin → Vienna in Economy

Airline Austrian Airlines
Flight OS276
Class Economy
Seat 19A
Aircraft Airbus A320
Flight time 01:20
Take-off 30 Jun 15, 19:55
Arrival at 30 Jun 15, 21:15
OS   #78 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 353 reviews
Jetset
By 2341
Published on 27th July 2015
This is the report of my flight back to Vienna. To cast a glance on my outbound flight visit my profile and search for OS271.

For pictures in motion scroll down to the YouTube movie.

First of all, this is not Tegel Airport but the construction site of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport.
I took a guided tour to glance around this place.

photo ber

I really like the wooden boarding in the departure area. Haven't seen this before anywhere.

photo ber2

This is some special kind of art The magic carpet by Pae White.

photo ber3

The still empty ramps of BER (former BBI)



photo gear

I watched the happenings at Tegel Airport at the day before from the visitor platform. Do you notice the different attrition of the two tyres?

photo oelbi

This is the plane to Vienna which arrived 24 hours before mine. (Airbus A320 OE-LBI)



photo alex

I stayed in the Park Inn by Radisson hotel which …

photo txl

… was in proximity of the station of the Tegel Express (TXL). You just need a normal ticket for 2,70€ for the ride.

photo hbhf

As you can see, travelling by train is almost more progressive than anything else in Germany. This is Berlin main station.

photo checkinphoto 276

My boarding pass

photo txl2

On the way to the gate. Interesting design of the glass roof.

photo rittersport

Ritter Sport is a famous German chocolate brand.

photo gate

At the gate (A15) waiting until the passengers for the flight to Brussels are gone.

photo heinemann

That's probably the smallest Duty Free shop I've ever seen. Generally Heinemann stores are often very big.

photo aircraft

Our plane just arrived and is being directed into position by the marshaller.

photo OE-LBN-Austrian-Airlines-Airbus-A320-200_PlanespottersNet_450285

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-214 with the registration OE-LBN. In 1998 it entered service and since then it is part of the Austrian Airlines fleet. It is configured with 168 seats.

photo busphoto walkaround

The captain is inspecting the front wheel during his walkaround.

photo brakefan

The thing you see on the side of the wheel is the brakefan to cool the brakes down.

photo engine

Where is the a? They probably changed the panel.

photo aircraft2

In the jetbridge during boarding.

photo sitz

My seat (19A) for this flight was right behind the left wing.

photo airberlin

During taxi

photo skylines

As long as they don't have movies and flight information on short-haul flights anymore there was just their board magazine.

photo info

… just in case somebody is interested into it.

photo essen

The standard food for this flight was not so impressive. But there is the possibility to upgrade one's meal for 15€ at https://alacarte.doco.com.

photo wingphoto sunset

Unprecedented sunset approach, do you see that departing Airbus in front of us?

photo wing2

Flaps full

photo gate2photo oelbq

Another Austrian A320. This one took me to Frankfurt some years ago.

photo app

We landed 17 minutes early. The app showed the number of the baggage carousel to go.

photo ausgangphoto baggage

Here we go. My bag arrived after just one minute.

photo app2

Then I checked out what the fastet way to the city was: The Vienna Airportlines.

photo towerphoto bus2photo anzeige

They depart every 30 minutes to 3 different stations in Vienna.

photo ticket

I recieved a 2€ discount by showing my OS boarding pass to the driver.

photo bus3

Here my trip ended.


If you still have some time you could have a look on the video.
See more

Verdict

Austrian Airlines

4.9/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew7.0
Entertainment/wifi2.5
Meal/catering2.5

Berlin - TXL

3.9/10
Efficiency1.5
Access3.0
Services3.0
Cleanliness8.0

Vienna - VIE

7.9/10
Efficiency7.5
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

Well, Berlin is a wonderful city but it's airports are lousy. They are very old and overstretched.

Tegel was built for about 11 million passengers/year. Today there are more than 20 million passengers/year.
I already thought it is better to fly to Hamburg or Leipzig and take the ICE to Berlin rather than the Tegel Express.

Nevertheless I arrived at my destination on time and experienced a breathtaking sunset approach!

Related

3 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 142852 by
    KL651 TEAM 4534 Comments
    Thanks for this FR.

    BER really looks fantastic, too bad the opening keeps getting delayed.

    Average service on OS, LX provides a better catering. However it's better than offering a BoB only.
  • Comment 142876 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6739 Comments
    Nice Report and video report! Kind of funny that the boarding pass still says non smoker...it's been that way for a looong time, lol. Yum, I love Ritter Sport. The new BER airport really needs to open soon--TXL won't be able to handle it much longer. I like the color of the seats with the mix of grey and red, but they look really thin and uncomfortable. Though, I'm sure it's fine for a short flight. I guess every airline in the Lufthansa group has those same NEK slimline seats. Beautiful pics, especially the sunset. Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 322065 by
      Jetset AUTHOR 52 Comments
      Thank you very much for your feedback! I appreciate it (especially if it's from a frequent flyer). Yes, I agree, the design of the seats makes a friendly cabin atmosphere. Oh yes, they are thin, definitely. But they managed to get a comfortable legroom. I found a video they published some years ago to promote the seat (https://youtu.be/eHhB_7cLG68) when they still had B737. I don't know if LH and LX have the same model, but I think so.

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