This isn’t anything against Austrian Airlines by any means. Business class on short-haul European flights is just different than what we are used to in the US. The hard product is the same as Economy, so it’s solely up to the service to make or break the flight. Luckily for me, the crew was fantastic on this short hop, leading to a positive overall experience.

Connecting in Lyon

After arriving late, a few passengers connecting onwards to Brussels had under an hour to make their connections. Staff was there to meet all connecting passengers and guide them through dedicated lanes to clear immigration and security. Honestly, I was quite shocked I even had to clear security again in Europe, since I recall connections were all considered sterile. While immigration was painless, the security line was, to phrase it mildly, an absolute zoo.

You were dumped outside of the sterile area and mixed with the general passengers. Each line was already snaking around the terminal, so everyone glared at you as you were escorted ahead of everyone. But even though I got to the x-ray quickly, it was a crawl to just get my stuff onto the belt. (Boy did I miss my beloved TSA PreCheck at this moment).

Lyon operates CT machines similar to the ones debuting across the US. It’s easier because you don’t technically need to remove liquids and laptops (they made me remove mine anyways). Plus, four (sometimes up to eight) people can start putting their stuff into bins at the same time.

However, if you’ve had the misfortune of using these machines, you would know that they are SLOOOOOOOW. After putting my bag into bins, it took a long time to get it onto the belt (from the volume of 4 at once) and then about another 3-4 minutes for it to come out the other side. The belt was just designed to be a crawl. Slow in the front, slow to scan, and slow because everyone is waiting for their bags at the end. In all, it took me about 12 minutes to clear security from the front of the line. Sacrebleu!

There was only one working stall in each bathroom I tried, and the terminal itself had a “hub and spoke” model to it, which I didn’t appreciate. I did get to meander off into a very empty pier.

Boarding

By the time they finally released the gate information, we were already just 15 minutes away from departure time. Boarding commenced around 5 minutes after the scheduled departure time, with multiple groups boarding at the same time (to minimize delays).

The Seat

Business class in Europe is different from the premium cabins in the US. While you might get a comfortable and larger seat on Delta or United, European carriers (Austrian Airlines included) just have regular economy seats with the adjacent seat blocked off.

Normally that means blocking off the middle seats in each row. But since we were flying the Embraer today in a 2-2 configuration, that just meant everyone in Business class got a row to themselves. And by everyone, I meant me, as I was the only passenger booked in Business that day (what a treat!)

The seats themselves were the exact same as regular economy. Same seat, same pitch, same everything. There was a set of small curtains to divide the two cabins, but they did very little. The idea is that if nobody is booked in business, those curtains can be moved to accommodate more economy passengers.

In-Flight Service

The crew on this flight was fantastic also. The flight attendant servicing the business class cabin repeatedly asked if I wanted more bread, food, drinks, etc. She was super attentive and always had a smile on her face.

She handed me a water bottle and chocolate before we left the gate. I guess she must have seen me chugging the water as she then brought 2 more right after the safety demonstrations. Again, super attentive!

We pushed back around 25 minutes late, and after a short 10-minute taxi we were in the air. This was when the inflight meal and beverage service started. I ordered a Sprite for my beverage, which was served in proper glassware.

For lunch, the airline served a chicken and pasta dish, as many warm bread rolls as I wanted, and a Sacher Torte for dessert. Everything was presented as one tray with silverware. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until the food appeared before me. The dish overall was very flavorful. I’m a sucker for warm rolls too, so that made me very happy.

Again, I had initially gotten just one bread roll, but she brought out two more after I finished the first one rather quickly. I was starting to get a bit self-conscious…what if she thought I was just a ravenous monster?!

Jokes aside, I finished every last bit of the meal with about 35 minutes left in the flight.

Bonus – The Views

Our flight today took a perfect flight path that brought us right over the Swiss Alps. I think this might have been my second favorite flight in terms of scenery in my whole life. It comes second only to flying over Greenland on my way back from Iceland.

Pictures don’t do the Alps justice, and words can not describe how pretty that was. I was astonished at just how vast the mountain ranges were before us.

But before we knew it, we began our descent into Vienna. After nearly 14 hours of travel and a short 4 hour power nap, I’ve finally reached Austria! But navigating Schewat airport proved to be another challenge. To get to baggage claim I had to walk down a narrow pathway, up a narrow escalator, down a long path, then down another small door with escalators leading down again.

Confused yet? I sure was.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed the short flight. The plane was a little old and the seating is not as good compared to the US, but the service I received was fantastic! The catering was quite good too, so Austrian Airlines gets a high mark from me!