Review of Austrian Airlines flight Chicago Vienna in Economy

Airline Austrian Airlines
Flight OS66
Class Economy
Seat 15A
Aircraft Boeing 777-200ER
Flight time 09:00
Take-off 21 Mar 19, 17:20
Arrival at 22 Mar 19, 08:20
OS   #79 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 353 reviews
NewYorker
By 4177
Published on 14th May 2019

Welcome to part 3 of my recent trip to the Midwest! After 2 weeks in Michigan and 3 glorious days in Chicago, it was time to fly back to Europe. As a reminder, the itinerary looks like this:


Routing


I was quite excited for this flight, as I hadn't crossed the pond in a 777-200 since 2015.

I took a taxi from my hotel in the Loop and arrived at O'Hare around 35 minutes later.


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Unlike it's mother-company Lufthansa, Austrian uses Terminal 5 in Chicago.


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My flight is scheduled on-time.


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Right after I got my Boarding Pass, the gorgeous CX crew arrived.


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Then I headed to Security.


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5 minutes later, I was airside and foud myself in the relatively small Duty-Free store while the Hainan crew passed me. Am I the only one who loves their uniforms?


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My flight would be departing from gate M10.


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Instead of visiting the lounge, I decided to planespot and eat. At the gate next to mine, a Qatar 777-300ER (A7-BER), which just arrived from Doha.


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And next to it, an Air India 777-300ER (VT-ALN 'Jammu and Kashmir') which arrived from Delhi, via Vienna.


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The SAS Lounge.


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BA First Louge.


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BA Terraces Lounge.


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And the reason I passed a lounge: Tortas Fronteras by Rick Bayless. OMG, this place has some good Mexican.


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I found myself a place with a nice view of an Air France A330-200 and a Hainan 787.


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My lunch consisted of Chips with Guac and Salsa…


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…and a Choriqueso sandwich.


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Oh yeah!!!


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Needless to say, it was all gone 15 minutes later, when this United 767-300 (N648UA) passed by.


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Passing the SWISS Lounge.


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Air France-KLM Lounge.


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What once was the Korean Air Lounge.


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A look across the tarmac at the American terminal and two beautiful Dreamliner in a beautiful livery.


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B-1543 taxiing.


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Speedbird 747-400 (G-BYGB) arriving from Heathrow.


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Something nostalgic.


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Aer Lingus A330-200 (EI-FNG 'Colmcille') preparing to fly to Dublin.


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A look inside Terminal 5.


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My two favorite aircraft in one shot.


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Unfortunately, this was the best shot I could get of my 777 at O'Hare. Flying me across the pond was OE-LPC, named Dream of Freedom, a 17-year old Boeing 777-2Z9(ER) delivered to Austrian in 2005 after flying with Lauda Air for two years.


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Trans States Embraer 145 (N842HK) off to Memphis as UA4784.


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Flight info.


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Gate lice has formed, which means boarding is near.


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Boarding was a free-for-all, where priorities weren't respected. Really? At O'Hare?


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Down the jetbridge.


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Our fuselage.


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The entry way.


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Passing through the Premium Economy cabin.


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My seat, 15A.


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The cabin before it filled up.


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Waiting for me at my seat: a pillow and blanket.


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Our Emirati neighbor.


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Great legroom here at the bulkhead.


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TV on the bulkhead.


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No air nozzles :(


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Austrian logo on the bulkhead.


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Dopey headphones.


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TV located under the seats. Note that there are no power outlets.


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Basic remote.


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Despite the fact that it is under the seat, the TV itself is the same size as all other TVs in Economy.


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Safety video…


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…which was barely audible and has really creepy graphics. Kind of reminds me of United's first Airbus safety videos.


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(is it just me?)

Pushing back.


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Nothing beats the sound of a GE90 start up, am I right?


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American 737-800 (N983AN) off to Charlotte as AA55.


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United A320 taking off.


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United 777-200 (N788UA) just arrived from Tokyo/Narita as UA882.


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ANA 777-300ER (JA734A) taxiing to Terminal 1.


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Final look at Terminal 5.


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Downtown Chicago in the distance.


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Lining up on Runway 28R.


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Rolling.


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Rotate!


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Notice the Spirit A320 taking off?


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Turning east.


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Full takeoff video:



Lake Michigan.


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Time to check out the IFE.


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Boring airshow.


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OK selection of movies and TV shows.


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I settled on Dunkirk.


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Just about as comfortable as you can get in Economy.


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Left turn near Jackson, MI.


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Pre-meal snack.


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As we passed north of Pontiac, MI, Captain Hans made a very long and informative announcement. He said that our routing would take us past Montreal, Gander, Shanwick, Liverpool, and Frankfurt before commencing our descent over the Czech Republic.


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Cabin before the meal service.


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The TV on the bulkhead showed the map for the duration of the flight.


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The sun is setting.


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The meal has arrived!


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Included: some kind of mousse…


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…a little salad…


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…and the main, a pasta dish.


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Unlike Lufthansa and SWISS, Austrian doesn't give you real cutlery.


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Quite a good meal!


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Cruising in near-darkness.


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Aft cabin.


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Premium Economy.


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Some traffic cruising alongside us.


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I fell asleep here…


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…and woke up to a beautiful sunrise over Ireland.


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Bright outside again.


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Breakfast, if you can call it that. At least the muffin was bigger and much fresher than the one Lufthansa offers.


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Over Europe.


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One final look at the cabin.


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The view from door 3R.


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As we were descending, the captain made another announcement, and said that we'd be landing in 20 minutes, and that the weather in Vienna was nice.


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I forgot to show you the movable headrest.


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Large mountain on the other side of the aircraft. Can anyone identify it?


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Our reflection.


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On final approach.


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The Danube.


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Over the runway.


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Super smooth landing!


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Taxiing off the runway.


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Landing video:



Passing Runway 29.


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Eurowings A319 (OE-LYY) just arrived from Stuttgart.


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Pulling into our gate.


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Deplaning through Business Class. I flew Austrian Business Class in 2014 from Bangkok to Vienna, and really enjoyed it, so I'd like to try it again.


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Into the jetbridge.


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A good view of the nose of the 777 that brought me back to Europe.


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And of course, our final routing across the pond.


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Thanks for reading, and see you in the next part!

See more

Verdict

Austrian Airlines

7.8/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi6.5
Meal/catering7.5

Chicago - ORD

8.1/10
Efficiency7.5
Access8.0
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.5

Vienna - VIE

8.1/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.5
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

Overall, a very enjoyable TATL flight with Austrian!

+ Comfy seat with good legroom
+ Very friendly service
+ Tasty dinner
+ Super smooth landing
- Mediocre IFE
- Lackluster breakfast

I wouldn't hesitate flying them across the Atlantic again.

Related

7 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 502881 by
    KL651 TEAM 4534 Comments
    We don't get a lot of reviews on OS long haul economy class for some reason, so this is a welcome FR, thanks :)
    The dinner is okay and nicely presented but the AC like "breakfast" is way too basic.
    I do like the cabin with the grey and red.
  • Comment 502953 by
    JW19 120 Comments
    Nice review although just a point to note, the 777s that OS operates are 200ers not LR and does not use the GE90s.
    • Comment 503174 by
      NewYorker AUTHOR 194 Comments
      Thanks for reading, but some 777-200s do have GE90s. Take a look at the Engine portion of this page:
      https://m.planespotters.net/airframe/Boeing/777/OE-LPC-Austrian-Airlines/bK2NHo69
      Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed the report and see you again!
  • Comment 502961 by
    757Fan 632 Comments
    Nice report! Looks like you had a good flight with Austrian Airlines. I have been actually thinking of taking a flight with them to Vienna later this year - and so enjoyed reading a flight about the experience in Economy. Thank you for sharing!
    • Comment 503175 by
      NewYorker AUTHOR 194 Comments
      Thanks for reading! I did enjoy flying Austrian, but you should also fly SWISS/Lufthansa one way too, so you can compare the 2 of the 3 main LH Group airlines. Enjoy your time in Vienna, and see you in the next report!
  • Comment 504155 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Oops, somehow I missed this one! Been a crazy few weeks.

    Nice that you were able to get a bulkhead seat--one of the perks of being UA 1K.

    TV located under the seats. Note that there are no power outlets.

    Good to note--those there's a USB port in the PTV, so there's that at least. And yuck...it's gross down there.

    Just about as comfortable as you can get in Economy.

    LOL yep, except maybe getting a whole row to lay across...i.e. ghetto lie-flat seats

    The meals look delicious...for some reason those triangular plates just make things look more fancy, lol. But of course, Do&Co catering has a deservedly good reputation.

    Nice report as always! Thanks for sharing

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