Another Atlantic crossing complete. For personal reasons (not related to penguins, polar bears only) I had to go to Austria for a few days. I’ll be weird and cover the return first because there is much more to be said about the outbound. I asked Anna if she wanted to come, but she doesn’t like polar bears, so I did this one alone.
I flew from Vienna (VIE) to Chattanooga (CHA) via Chicago O’Hare. The first leg was on Austrian Airlines (for some reason OS, maybe “Oh my god thiS is fun”?) and the puddle jump was on United (UA, which stands for Unknown Airline).
OS 65 Vienna (VIE) to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) in Austrian Business
UA 3491 Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to Chattanooga (CHA) in United First
I managed to get upgraded 3 weeks before departure, so I was flying Business and First.
Vienna Airport
After our most recent adventure in Oz (see here), I am going to share a little secret. In Vienna, the international and domestic/EU departures are in separate gate areas, and you have to pass Passport Control to get from one to the other. Because most US-bound flights leave at the same time, the bathrooms in the international part get very busy (and gross) right before you are (supposed to) get on your Kiwi (of course the bird, not the fruit – don’t be silly). Well, there is a secret special bathroom right after Passport Control. Typically European, you have to walk through a duty free (misleading, I asked and everything there costs something – nothing is free) shop to get to the gates. If you take a left right before the shop, there is a big bathroom that almost nobody uses (might have to do with the signs I hid on my last trip 😛 ). I don’t think I have ever seen anyone else using it.
Aside from that little secret, there is not much to talk about in Vienna. The OS lounge in the international part is still closed due to COVID, and the domestic one operates at 50% capacity and only offered drinks, no food.
The Plane
This flight was operated by a 777-200. It’s a little bigger than the little CRJ I took on the last Delta trip. Austrian has 2 sections of business on this plane: the first section to the right of the boarding door has 7 rows of seats arranged in a 1-2-1 and 2-2-2 pattern, and the second section to the left of the door has 1 row of 2-2-2.
I wasn’t able to pick a seat online (a little kiwi – the fruit of course – told me “You Shall not Pass” when I tried) so I (randomly) ended up in 7D. This ended up not being a big deal, since there were only 7 people (including me) in the forward cabin, and 1 person in the second cabin. So with that poor man’s business seat (whole row for yourself) in a rich man’s business seat (the actual Business seat), it really didn’t matter.
I do have to say that the new (ok – not so new anymore) Polaris seats that United has installed are a little more comfortable than these.
The footwell of the seat goes under the seat in front so it does feel very cramped. Otherwise it is a solid seat, and when put into flat bed mode it is long enough for me to lay down (which, considering I am about the length of a emu, is pretty long).
The pillow and blanket provided are ok. Nothing special, but once I stole 4 more pillows from the empty seats around me, it was pretty nice. The seat has a USB plug and a standard 220/110 plug to charge stuff, and those worked pretty well the entire flight. There is also a little pocket next to those where you can store your phone when charging.
Seat controls are on the side of the table. It’s pretty self-explanatory, the only downside is if you are working or eating, it’s easy to accidentally touch those buttons and start the massage function.
Austrian has a 15-inch touchscreen in Business. The entertainment selection was alright, with a mix of old and new movies and a couple of TV shows. Although there were no movies that recently came out, so I had seen most of them before (but that’s really more Hollywood’s fault).
The moving map with all kinds of speed and height indications was pretty nice, although I think that’s standard on most transatlantic flights these days. Unfortunately, Austrian has not installed tail or belly cameras on these Austriches.
The Service
The highlight of the flight (as usual on OS) was the service and food. I boarded somewhat late (due to my allergy to lines…. I really don’t like those) so everyone else in Business had already boarded. I tried to put my laptop bag in the overhead bin, but for some reason the bin was stuck close. Within a few seconds, one of the flight attendants came over and opened it for me. This is one point where the age of these Kiwis is showing.
After I sat down, I was presented with a bottle of water and the menu for lunch.
Note that the menu is the same as last time I flew that route (2-ish moths ago). Shortly after takeoff, the purser stopped by and introduced herself – a nice touch and probably not much effort with only 7 passengers. She also asked what I would like to drink (the traditional Campari Orange of course :P). A few minutes later, a flight attendant came through the cabin with the tablecloth and a little bag of crackers. Since we are still in the middle of a pandemic, they were served in a bag, but it’s still way better than most US airlines that just throw a bag of pretzels at you at this point. As soon as I got my drink, I knew this was going to be an excellent flight – they even added an orange slice.
About 10 minutes later (the perfect amount of time to peck at some crackers – leave me alone, I am a bird, so clearly I peck) they came around with trays containing the appetizer. I chose the smoked salmon, which did not only look delicious, but also tasted delicious.
Before I could even take my mask off to start eating, the flight attendant came back with a bread basket and asked if I would like some bread (which of course I did).
Turns out with 7 passengers (yes this is unusual and exciting, so I will keep mentioning it) service is incredibly personal. As soon as my glass was empty, a flight attendant came over with a bottle of red wine and asked if I would like some with my entrée. And as soon as I emptied my plate, she came by to pick up the plate and bring over the main dish. I chose the pork this time, since I think fish on a plane always ends up too dry.
Of course throughout the meal, I got several (read: 5) refills of wine and water. Pretty much as soon as I finished, they offered me some cheese or fruit and came back around with the bread basket.
One of the best things about meals on Austrian is the coffee menu they have. After dinner, they came around asking if they could offer a coffee. Of course I chose an “Eiskaffee” (not to be confused with an iced coffee – very different).
They also brought around a tray with a choice of chocolate mousse or almond cake, but I was so excited I ate half of it before I remembered to take a picture (but I bet you can still guess which one I got).
After this delicious dinner, I put my seat halfway down and ended up falling asleep with the moving map on.
After waking up from my unexpected nap, I tried to get some more coffee, but when I walked up to the forward galley it was empty. I know some people think it’s ok to push the call button, but I feel incredibly rude doing that, so I ended up walking all they way to the back of the plane (this should really be included in the Olympics – I’d watch the 777 Relay).
The flight attendant gave me a (paper) cup of coffee – and that’s when I learned they will make a fresh pot if you ask in the front, but in Economy they’ll just give you the powdered stuff (I’m not complaining….).
A little later when the purser was passing through the cabin, she noticed the paper cup and told me (of course in Austrian) to just push the call button next time – I still don’t think I’ll ever get used to that). And she also got me another Mélange which (again not complaining) tasted way better (10,000 ft of difference).
1 hour before landing, they started the snack service with a drink and setting the table. I chose the Leberkaese (mostly because no one sells any in the US) and it tasted delicious. For the uninitiated: Leberkaese is translated to “meatloaf” on Austrian’s English menu, but don’t be fooled – it is nothing like American meatloaf. It looks like spam, but tastes way better, and I highly recommend trying it sometime if you can find some authentic Leberkaese.
After the meal, they came through the cabin with tea and coffee service. With about 20 minutes to landing, we were passing over the Great Lakes and you could feel the descent (surprisingly slow for a flightless bird…). I asked if I could have another cup of tea, and ended up having my cup until 5 minutes before landing, which is pretty impressive considering American takes away all service items 45 minutes before landing.
After landing, we had a quick taxi to the gate, and I was the first person off the plane. Since I have Global Entry, I did not have to stand in line, and I quickly got through immigration and customs. Now getting to the domestic terminal at Chicago is a whole other story. Currently the tram is not operating. They still have signs up that it will have been back in service 1.5 years ago (not sure how the grammar works here? Past future?) but they still drive the bus around. During COVID, they only put ~30 people on the bus – makes it a little less crowded (3 inches to someone else’s face provides more protection than touching their nose I guess?) but it also means there is always a line to get on that bus.
For that reason, I highly advise not to book anything with a layover less than 4 hours at Chicago if you have to change terminals. A few weeks after the trip, I found a great cheat code for this airport – the bus to the car rental facility is always empty, so if you take the bus from the terminal to the car rental place, you can then pretend you dropped off a car and just take the shuttle back to another terminal. I wish I had known that.
Mostly because this post is already really long, I’ll skip the domestic segment for now but it wasn’t very eventful, so you are not missing much.
