Review of Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to London in Business

Time to head back to London from Vienna, again in business on Austrian.

Vienna

I had made my way from my friends' apartment, where I had spent a few hours after checking out of my hotel (the excellent DoubleTree by Hilton Vienna Schonbrunn - discussed in the tourism bonus section of my previous review) to the nearest tram stop but unfortunately a fault meant that I ended up walking quite far to get to the nearest U-bahn stop. As usual, a trip on the S-bahn to the airport meant I made it with plenty of time, with check-in and security taking only 10 minutes.
Soon I was through into the Austrian Business Lounge (Non-Schengen) at the G-gate pier. I took advantage of the lounge being quiet to nab a table and get some hot food from the lounge. This turned out to be quite a good idea, as there was soon an announcement of a delay. The lounge was well-stocked and the bathroom facilities were clean, even if they are quite small to navigate.

boarding

At about 20:30, with the delay being either non-existent (according to the screens in the lounge) or 30 minutes (according to the Austrian app), I decided to head to the gate just in case. Unfortunately that meant I was sat on an uncomfortable worktop for 30 minutes whilst waiting for boarding to commence, which it did at the scheduled departure time of 20:50.
As far as I can remember, no reason was ever given for the delay. It looked like it may have been due to the outbound flight being late but I am not sure what the minimum turnaround times at Vienna state.
On-board I took my seat in 1F, chosen for hopefully some good views of Vienna and London.

Again, I chose this row for the good legroom and speed of exit at Heathrow. It looked like 1D would be empty until one of my lounge-mates ran down the jet-bridge. Boarding complete was called as they stepped onto the aircraft - they had not even sat down before the door was closed.

the flight

Our departure from Runway 11 meant quite a lengthy taxi but it was 21:19 before we were rolling down the runway, with the A320neo's bright navigation lights illuminating the surrounding snow for quite a distance.

Unfortunately OE-LZQ, at the time a barely 6-month old A320neo, did not seem to have USB sockets fitted between the seats, instead there was a blanking plate. Annoying if you needed to charge anything, which thankfully I had done in the lounge.

As on the outbound flight, there was no WiFi onboard. Thankfully I had no work obligations on my way home, so I took the time to listen to music and look at passing cities out of the window.

As on the outbound flight, a full in-flight service commenced, which was even harder to photograph in the dark cabin. This time I didn't take any photos of my meal.
The crew came round both before and after the meal service to offer drinks.

Unfortunately a thick layer of low cloud on both departure and arrival meant my plan to get a good view of Vienna and London was foiled!

arrival and onward travel

A late landing meant that it was 22:20 before we were off the plane and I took advantage of having long legs to make a beeline for the UK Border - and eventually my bed.

By 22:40 I had received my bags and was on my way out of the terminal to my lift home - remarkably efficient for Heathrow.