Review of British Airways flight Vienna → London in Economy

Vienna Airport Experience

Alas, I finally got to visit Vienna and Austria! Something I had meant to do in 2020 before the pandemic scuppered plans.

I had to get to Vienna Wien Airport for me to get back to London that evening, so I opted to go for the Green CAT or "City Airport Train" as my preferred method. It wasn't too bad an option for travelling from Vienna City to the Airport. I arrived the previous evening and got a combination ticket which included 24 hours travel on the city metro system. However I accidentally got myself a single ticket instead of a return, which was not the smartest move. However I can recommend getting this service and the Metro ticket included as its convenient and I had no issues travelling on this arrangement.

I quite liked the CAT Airport Express for my City-Airport transit in Vienna.

After arriving, I opted to visit the Airport's Observation Deck for an hour to get an idea what it was like, as I would like to come back to Vienna and do a proper day trip to enjoy a day's plane spotting in nicer weather! I had a bit of trouble finding it, but when I finally found it I wasn't let down for the views!

The Observation Deck at Vienna has a small entry price of €5 (£4.30p/US$4.90) and you have to go through a quick security check- but its not an inconvenience and if you spent a few hours here, its really good value. Though the time I visited was quite quiet for traffic, however I did see some pan-European activity from Austrian Airlines, Lauda Europe (for Ryanair), Wizzair and the Turkish based budget airline FlyPGS.

Something shamefully lacking in the UK nowadays, but quite a few European Airports still offer Observation Decks!

I had to go airside, I wanted some Lounge time so I went to the area used for British Airways and some of their OneWorld partners and I went airside through the Priority Security lane, which didn't take too long. I followed a sign for an Airport Lounge and found the "Vienna Lounge", getting to the entry desk- I quickly found out this was the Lounge for BA Flights and their OneWorld partners (Iberia & Finnair mainly). First impressions was that the Lounge was quite big for a contract lounge as well as being quite nice in terms of decor.

The Lounge is a short walk from the Security Check-Point, is it worth €48? You decide!

I found an empty seat by the Window and was offered an amazing view of some Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s in between their European flights. The light reflection was not too much of a problem with my camera, but my phone picture (below) shows what its like from where I was sitting. 

The Lounge offered a good selection of food ranging from hot and cold items, drinks including alcohol, hot drinks and cold soft drink offerings. I wasn't too interested in the hot food offerings, but I happily started off with a citrus cheesecake and hot coffee. The charging points offered me a good opportunity to boost up my GoPro and mobile phone whilst I passed the next 90 minutes before my flight would be called. Exploring the lounge just before I left I checked out some of the nice artwork and posters placed around the Lounge.

Shower facilities are available but I didn't know about that at the time and I didn't need to use them that evening anyway.

I grabbed a second round of snacks; mainly a bread roll, banana and a whiskey & cola.

If you don't have airline status or Business Class tickets you can also access this Lounge with a Priority Pass or pre pay entry for €49 (£42.50p/US$48), however it appears they do provide offers on sales promotions for the lounge.

Flight: BA705

I went through the passport control to the non-Schengen Area where my flight was awaiting for boarding next to a Turkish Airlines Boeing 787-9. Our flight to London Heathrow would be served by Airbus A320 G-EUYN, this A320 was delivered to BA on January 12th 2012 making it just over 10 years old. Apparently its first service was the Barcelona and photos of it in 2012 show it wearing stickers by the rear door advertising the London 2012 Olympics that were occurring the year of its entry to service. This aircraft appears to have not been put into storage during the Pandemic.

2012 built Airbus A320-ceo G-EUYN would operate this British Airways flight to London Heathrow.

I was originally due to sit in Seat 8A, but there was an extension to the Club Europe cabin on this flight and I was bumped out my seat and originally given an aisle seat, but I enquired if a window seat was available and sure enough one remained- Seat 15A! What luck, the nuisance got worse at the end of the flight when I found out that Seat 8A was unoccupied that flight, so BA could have been nice to offer me an upgrade given I've done nearly 100 flights with them! *Joke*

I got comfortable in Seat 15A, someone joined me in Seat 15C and as luck would have it- no one joined us in the middle seat which was a decent bonus! BA seats on the Airbus A320-ceo offer USB ports for you to charge devices in flight, something all airlines I think should introduce on all aircraft as its safer than using portable charging blocks given the potential fire hazard the airlines are worried over.

Overall I was quite happy with the view of the wing, though I wouldn't see much of it during the flight as I was on an evening flight.

Night flights can be essential to get your days worth in a city, but they make filming/photos almost non-existent.

We had a short taxi from our stand to the Runway and in no time at all we were departed from Vienna and headed for the UK. Our route would take us over the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands, also passing over Belgium briefly a few times as we flew along the boarder. The flight quickly made it to cruising altitude and the mood lighting was off in favour of the standard white lights as the crew began the on board service.

British Airways offers Euro Traveller passengers a bottle of water & a snack (usually Crisps or a Cereal Bar) as well as the option of buy from their Speedbird Cafe, which is done electronically via the website before flight or via the BA WiFi page in flight. I opted to go on the Speedbird Cafe and try out this new snack box they offered which included two types of crackers, two soft cheeses, chutney and biltong.

Have you tried anything off the Speedbird Cafe? What do you like on the menu?

I couldn't get many inflight photos as it was dark outside, but we eventually passed the two hours flying time and began to descend into London Heathrow. Overall a very smooth and uneventful flight once we had boarded.

We arrived into London Heathrow a few minutes behind schedule, but it wasn't a huge worry as it was only minutes behind. I'm sure anyone with onward connecting flights wouldn't be affected if they decided on reasonable connecting times. We taxied over to Terminal 5A and parked on stand, due to the ongoing travel restrictions at the time, BA had moved all flights into Terminal 5, including Vienna which is usually served out of Terminal 3.

Welcome to London Heathrow's Terminal 5- The Home of British Airways!

Bonus : Click here display hide

A Day's Affairs in Vienna

One of the biggest highlights of Vienna was getting a chance to finally visit the Museum of Military History, which houses an impressive collection of artefacts dating to the Napoleonic Years to the end of WW2. A Saab 35 Draken fighter guards the entrance of the museum, Austria was the last air force to operate the Swedish built aircraft type in 2006.

One of the exhibitions I was most intrigued by was the Exhibit of the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, this event would spark of WW1 and change the course of the 20th/21st Century as we know it. The exhibit holds the car he was shot in, the blood stained uniform he was wearing as well as the chaise lounge he passed away on.

This leads into an interesting WW1 exhibit focusing on the War from the perspective of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

World War Two is also featured as Austria spent effectively all of the War under German occupation, it was annexed before 1939. Some Tanks are on display outside. One interesting exhibit is the flight deck panel of a Messismitt ME-109.

Headed further back in time in the Museum there is a lot of art and military weapons from the Napoleonic Wars and the years around them when Austria was a monarchy prior to merging with the Hungarian Empire.

Getting around the city offered some good photo opportunities from the streets as I strolled between my chosen locations and the Metro stations to get around.

Of course a visit to the Vienna Hard Rock Cafe was needed for me, always nice to add a HRC Location as I travel the world.