Hello everyone and welcome to my trip report of Austrian Airlines flight OS602 from Moscow (DME) to Vienna (VIE).
I have bought tickets 2 weeks prior departure. Nowadays there are 4 airlines flying from Moscow to Vienna - Aeroflot, S7, UTAir and Austrian. Since the last year I always choose Austrian because they are best in terms of service (they offer hot meal with dessert or you can order Do&Co meal for 15 euros) and have the same price with Aeroflot, which offers only a sandwich of bad quality. Another bonus is that Austrian flies out of Terminal 3 in Vienna. Unfortunately, sometimes they may send you to the older gates D of Terminal 1 and that happened on the way to Moscow but that's another story.
1. Moscow-Domodedovo Airport
I reached DME from my district in about 40 minutes. Now there is only one terminal, but until summer a new international terminal will be opened and the current will become fully domestic. Also departures and arrivals will be separated in two levels (now the entance to the airport is crowded because the flows are not separated), that's why I had to walk a little bit to the terminal.
Then I entered the terminal, passing a small security check (you just need to put off your telephone, watch and any metallic items from the pockets) and then proceeded to Lufthansa Group check-in desks (83-90).
Then I got my boarding pass and proceeded upstairs to the security check and passport control…
The security check was very strict because 10 days before my flight Saratov Airlines' aircraft crashed right after take-off. I didn't try to take photos there due to such conditions.
Passport control was pretty quick, right after having it passed I was able to take some apron photos.
Then I proceeded straight through the second floor of the pier.
Passing Austrian Airlines' Lounge which serves all business class passengers except Swiss which have their own lounge on the first floor between gates 7 and 14. Lufthansa used to have its own lounge which now serves only Priority Pass.
In the end of the corridor there is Julius Meinl Cafe.
I decided to visit a renovated S7 Lounge with Priority Pass.
There is a bar with some alcohol drinks…
Catering in this lounge is excellent - there is a big choice of different snacks and hot dishes that taste fine.
Of course, you can also make tea, coffee and take some cakes for dessert.
Departures board is creatively designed with pictograms showing how you'll enter the aircraft - by bus or by jetbridge.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do lots if spotting due to oncoming sunlight that day. Also the windows were closed with automatic curtains so it was difficult to move them aside.
Of course, I spotted the arrival of my aircraft. Today I'll fly the only A319 with myAustrian titles.
The boarding was about to start so I went downstairs.
I'll board my flight through gate 12.
Unfortunately, you can't see the whole aircraft from there.
Next to us stands JAL B787-8.
E195 of now defunct Saratov Airlines:
Boarding started with a delay of about 15 minutes:
2. Moscow - Vienna flight
Aircraft info:
Type: A319-112
Registration and name: OE-LDE "Baku"
First flight: 08.06.2005
Delivery date: 22.06.2005
Test registration - D-AVYL
Flight info:
The route passed such cities as Kaluga, Smolensk, Minsk, Lublin, Krakow and Bratislava.
Let’s return to the flight.
Business class seats are the same as in Economy.
Then I proceeded to Economy to my seat 20F.
Next to us a EK’s A380 was standing.
Also there were some rare aircrafts for Europe - for example, Yak-42 of now bankrupt Saratov Airlines, Uzbekistan Airways B757-200, Nordavia B737-500.
New international terminal is still not finished. Only its arrival zone will be opened in 2 days for flights, whose passengers arrive by bus.
With a delay of 10 minutes, the taxiing started.
From all of Moscow airports, Domodedovo is most interesting considering the diversity of airlines flying there.
Montenegro Airlines E195, Lufthansa A321 and Pegasus A320neo:
The domestic sector is full of S7 and Ural Airlines:
IL-96 of now bankrupt Domodedovo Airlines:
British Airways B777-300ER:
Red Wings TU-204
Then we parked for de-icing procedure:
Nearby were some Yamal’s A320s and SSJ-100:
With a delay of 35 minutes we finally took off.
Let’s check the front seat pocket, there were:
1) Skylines inflight magazine
2) Safety instruction
3) FlyNet connection instruction
4) Fly&Buy catalogue
Soon my pre-ordered a la carte meal was distributed. It consisted of cucumber and potato salad, two Wiener Schnitzels, chocolate mousse and a bottle of Vöslauer water. The cutlery was steel. It was very tasty and really worth 15€.
Now let’s have a look at the cabin.
Some general views:
The seatbelt, armrest and antimacassar were in a good condition, nothing surprising, as the seats are new.
The overhead bins and panels were typical for A320 family until mid-2005. The bins’ handles were renovated as you can see.
20 minutes before arrival we started our descending into Vienna. Oops! I really didn’t expect the same weather in Vienna as I left in Moscow.
We arrived in Vienna right on time - 4 minutes before scheduled.
The terminal is full of OS aircrafts - there was no free jet bridge left for us…
So we parked on a remote stand opposite the terminal.
Disembarking started…
While leaving the aircraft, I took some shots from the apron and bus:
3. Vienna - Schwechat airport
After a short bus ride we arrived in the terminal and took escalator up to the passport control.
Passport control was quick as it is always in Schwechat, then we went down to baggage claim.
I got my luggage on the belt 7.
Everything was very quick as always in VIE. In few minutes I was already outside.
