Review of Austrian Airlines flight from Sofia to Vienna in Business

Routing :

CDG – MUC / Airbus A320-214 CEO SL D-AIUT Lufthansa LH2239 Economy K / 6 AM Beer City Flug [THERE]
MUC – SOF / Airbus A320-214 CEO SL Lufthansa LH1702 Economy K / Eastern Orient Express [THERE]
> SOF – VIE / Airbus A320-200 CEO OE-LBP Austrian OS796 Business C / Vienna coffee [YOU ARE HERE]
VIE – FRA / Airbus A319-100 CEO OE-LDG Austrian OS125 Business C / Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 [THERE]
FRA – JNB / Boeing 747-8i D-ABYO Lufthansa LH572 Business C Upper Deck / I’m leaving on a jet plane, (I know) when I’ll be back again [THERE]

JNB – SZK / Embraer 135 ZS-SWN South African Airlink SA8865 Economy Q / A different kind of animal [THERE]
SZK – MQP / Cessna Caravan C208-B ZS-MLT South African Airlink SA8930 Economy Y / Dreaming of Cessna [THERE]
MQP – JNB / Embraer 140 ZS-ALR South African Airlink SA8828 Economy Q / Outclassing the road [THERE]
JNB – DUR / Airbus A330-200 ZS-SXV South African Airways SA559 Business C / Comfy old cabin [THERE]
DUR – CPT / Boeing 738WL ZS-ZWU British Airways by Comair BA6310 Business U / On the ‘Business’ again [THERE]
CPT – GRJ / Embraer 135 ZS-SWN South African Airlink SA8631 Economy Q / Lost Garden route flightpath [THERE]
PLZ – JNB / Boeing 737-800 Split Scimitar winglets ZS-ZWH British Airways by Comair BA6242 Economy O / From PE with chill [THERE]
JNB – FRA / Boeing 747-8i D-ABYR Lufthansa LH573 First C Nose / "Luck" [THERE]
FRA – VIE / Airbus A320 CEO OE-LBL Austrian OS128 Business C / Good Morning Austria
VIE – SOF / Airbus A320 CEO OE-LBM Austrian OS795 Business C / Foodstock
SOF – MUC / Embraer 195 D-AEMD Lufthansa LH1705 Cityline Economy K / …6.5 hours later
MUC – CDG / Airbus A319-100 CEO D-AILY Lufthansa LH2238 Economy K / Clap-my-end or "I (don't) love Paris, in the summer…"

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After arriving from Flight LH1702 this morning, we went to get our bags on the carousel and cleared customs quickly.
Then started our walk towards the Check-in desk number 18 located on the other side of the Terminal 2, the newest in SOF, opened in 2006.
The agent was friendly and handed us our 6 BPs to JNB. On my request, she gave me the lounge's name : "Aspire", except she pronounced it "Inspire".
Airside, a lot of light comes into the terminal but it does not feel very modern, despite not being built a long time ago. It does not "shine".

To process through security, you have to climb upstairs with treadmills but before that, an agent checks your BP.
Queues at security are generally speaking reasonable, not longer than 10 minutes.
The thing you cannot find anywhere in SOF except when you just cleared passport control : FIDS ! Hell, there are numerous TVs for advert but no FIDS ! Very impractical.

The Swissport lounge bears two names,"Aspire" and "Vitosha", after a Bulgarian mountain.

Although I had read many comments complaining the staff was rude and not welcoming, this was absolutely not the case when I was there, maybe because I was being polite in the first place.
Seeing how many passengers behave with just any personnel that they talk to, it is not surprising to see these personnel starting to look unfriendly, after all.
The lounge offering,

This coffee machine worthes more than 2k€ VAT exluded. Now, I don't drink coffee but my mother, who was travelling with me, said it was actually pretty good.

The offering is obviously in correlation with the flights operated from SOF, most of them are short or medium haul not exceeding 3hrs. It is thus not suprising to notice that it is more a relaxation area than a restaurant. And the chairs are indeed real comfy.
I treated myself to an italian industrial flavoured box of bites which tasted nice. Thing is, as there is no washrooms in the lounge (they are located across the lounge entrance), it can be difficult having to deal with the grease those bites generate.

The personnel kept passing through the lounge to collect waste left by pax.
From the lounge, there is a small tarmac view but I haven't had enough time to take any picture as my flight to VIE had already started boarding when I realized we did not had a lot of time to spare because there is a different timezone in SOF (almost missed the flight).
Something bad about SOF airport : the downstairs gates are not well indicated when you clear passport control.
If you do not realize that your gate is downstairs, you will walk for a long time before asking your way to Sky Café, where a nice waiter will point you the treadmills across saying "downstairs" and you will feel stupid not to know how to get around in such a small airport… But having spent hours in SOF on the way back, this is a very common mistake, the airport authorities should definitely do something about it.
We did not use priority boarding because we were in the last to board, by bus… meaning spotting opportunities !
A QR A320

A former Norwegian 737-300 with winglets

LH A321

Bright flight AN-26B

A Bulgarian Eagle A319 still wearing the Germania livery from its delivery a few days before

And finally, our beast, OE-LBP, an Austrian (OS) A320 painted in their 1958 retro colour scheme.

Upon our arrival on board, a fellow J pax had decided to occupy our seats. Thus, I was forced to ask him to move, not knowing if any other pax would come, which was not the case in the end. Out of 8 seats, 3 were occupied.
The front row was empty

Safety card
Front

Rear

The wifi offering

Magazines

Air sickness bag :

The cabin is fitted, both in Business and Economy, with the same Recaro seats the LH group chose for all of its subsidiaries.

The layout is exactly the same in J or Y, a 3-3 configuration with the only difference being the middle seat blocked for comfort.

One can see the cabin was perfectly clean.

The only advantage I see with this layout is being able to place carry on items under the middle seat upfront and the extra space on your left or right hand side, depending if you're seated at a window or on the aisle.

The overhead panel shows the aircraft's age.

As we taxied to the runway, I could do what I try to do best : spotting

A Yak-40 ! First time I ever see one

Same for the Mil Mi-8, what a trip!

A319 from the Republic of Bulgaria

VIP Terminal

Plane cemetery

Now comes the time to take off (terrible job at filming, sorry… :/)

We were that high when the meal was brought on a tray.

There is no choice of meal but the FA in charge of the J cabin asked us several times (at least 3 that I can remember) if we wanted something to drink. She did not just served the tray and disappeared like it happens sometimes.

The presentation is not what one would call "gorgeous", but surprisingly, it tasted way better than it looked. Unfortunately, no menu or oral description was given.
The main course consisted of a chicken dish accompanied by what I think would be between gnocchis and omelette

(I know it's not that accurate^^)
The chocolate/raspberry cake was very nice.

Also, I forgot to precize that you get real solid cutlery and a white polyester napkin along with a small clothes peg to tie it to your shirt instead of the usual hole for buttoning it.

All in all, this tray was astonishingly quite filling and the nice female FA brightened up the Soviet morning. The refreshing tissue is well needed after this meal.

Much nicer weather here in Vienna !

Landing ahead of schedule

The nice touch to end ;)

We arrived on stand at 14:04, one minute ahead of schedule, great job !
Exiting on the concourse, only to find out VIE is the worst airport I've been in. Everything is miles and miles away and not very well indicated.

A terrible experience that completely shaded out the Austrian Airlines Business Class experience.
Some pictures along the way helped me relaxing a bit :