Route taken: New York to Vienna
What it costs: $5,400, round-trip.
What you get: Most notably, a lie-flat bed and an onboard chef preparing regional specialties. After a satisfying meal, you’ll be treated to selections from the onboard “Viennese Coffee House” that put traditional airline drip coffee (not to mention Starbucks) to shame.
What you don’t get: A posh lounge. Austrian shares the United/Star Alliance lounge at Washington, D.C., which is large and spacious, but sorely lacking in premium snacks, drinks or atmosphere. Check-in, however, is a snap, lasting all of 15 minutes, even if there are slight delays caused by software glitches, as there were on our visit. In Vienna, Austrian's business class lounge is small and crowded — especially when compared to the lounges of other major European carriers — and includes a frustratingly intrusive smoking section. The breakfast snacks (rolls, jams and eggs) and chocolates, however, are addictive.
Make yourself comfortable: Austrian's podlike business class seats are spread out in 2-2-2 configurations on the carrier’s long-haul 777 and 767 fleets, and have a classic dark-wood and blue-upholstery decor. Because they’re smaller in size than their competitors, there’s not the same sense of total privacy found on similar carriers. Still, seats recline to full 180-degree flat beds with a single button, which also controls an in-seat massage feature and a midlevel “relaxation” position. There are 10.4-inch personal video screens with 12 channels of newly releases and classic movies (in English, French and German) and PC plugs at each seat. Come bedtime, passengers tuck themselves into thick duvets and rest their heads on linen pillows.
On the menu: The selections celebrate the best of Austrian food and drink. Meals are catered by Do+Co, the hot Vienna-based caterer, restaurateur and hotelier, and then prepared by one of forty onboard chefs now flying fleet-wide. Dinners on long-haul flights are five-course affairs. Highlights from a recent Vienna-New York flight included Viennese-style morel soup, monkfish medallions with lentils, spinach and roast potatoes and a buttery almond-cherry tart. A wide range of French champagne and Austrian wines are served, like the meal, with precision and grace.
What wowed us: Viennese coffee house-style drinks are an authentic touch. Served at the very end of the meal, choices include 10 different drinks, ranging from a simple short shot of black coffee to Fiaker (coffee with cognac and whipped cream), Einspanner (black coffee with whipped cream and powdered sugar) and a towering Wiener Eiskaffee (double espresso served with vanilla ice cream and fresh whipped cream) — all presented in tall glass mugs.
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