Review of Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to Frankfurt in Economy

A very warm welcome to part 2 of 3 of this Flight-Report series! This was a trip I took to Bulgaria and Austria back in 2017. As a reminder, the itinerary of this trip is:

I took a taxi from my hotel in the center of Vienna at the ungodly hour of 5:00 AM, and was curbside at Terminal 3 about half an hour later.

I explored the empty landside portion of the terminal for a bit and then checked-in.

When I originally booked this flight, it was supposed to be operated by a 777, then the night before departure it switched to a 767, but then at check-in I was informed that the flight was going to be operated by an A321. I'm sure you can imagine the disappointment I felt at that moment :-( On the plus side, I managed to snap a window seat in row 4, the first row of Economy. Security was a breeze, and I was airside in less than 5 minutes.

My flight was departing from gate F08, and I waited in the gate area until boarding commenced.

At the gate next door, an Austrian A320 was pushing back.

My bird for the short hop to Frankfurt would be OE-LBA, a 1995-build A321-100 named Salzkammergut and wearing the special myDreamteam livery.

Flight info at the gate.

Boarding the A321.

This livery is sponsoring ÖFB, Austria's national soccer association.

Great view from my seat.

The Austrian-branded cabin divider.

VIE's control tower.

Closeup of our wingtip.

Older style Airbus window.

Red antimacassar.

Austrian Fokker 70 (OE-LFQ 'Dornbirn') from to Innsbruck as OS914.

Around that time, Captain Uwe made his welcome announcement and apologized for the delay, which was caused by some kind of loading issue. The issue was fixed, and he promised that we'd pushback very shortly. Indeed, 2 minutes later, we pushed back.

Slats down.

Austrian A320 (OE-LBS 'Waldviertel')

Lining up for takeoff.

V1.

Rotate.

Making the standard left turn after departure.

Good morning, Vienna!

Flaps up.

Downtown Vienna…

…and Donau City

Schloss Schönbrunn

Last look at Vienna.

Climbing into the clouds.

Out of the clouds shorty after.

The Flight Attendants were released and immediately started the service. Every coach passenger got the same sponge cake, as well a drink of their choice. I just went with water.

Cruising over Germany.

Nürnberg, Germany.

Shorty after we commenced our descent, First Officer Jonas came on the PA to once again apologize about the delay, but assured us that all connections would be reached. He also informed us that the weather in Frankfurt was nice but very windy.

First sight of land near Frankfurt.

Turning towards the airport.

HOP! E190 from Paris/Charles de Gaulle.

Slats down.

Mainhattan.

Frankfurt Airport.

Air Namibia A330 being towed.

Over the runway.

Very smooth landing despite the strong wind.

Lufthansa CityLine E190 taking off.

Lufthansa 747-8i (D-ABYQ 'Schleswig-Holstein') landing.

Lufthansa A319 landing.

This morning's Lufthansa widebody lineup, including the 747 that would fly me back home.

The reflection of our tail. Apparently Austrian decided to be cheap and only painted one side of the aircraft in the special livery.

Lufthansa CityLine E190 (D-AECD 'Schkeuditz').

Lufthansa A320 (D-AIPM 'Troisdorf') to Paris/Charles de Gaulle as LH1028.

Lufthansa A320 (D-AIPR 'Kaufbeuren').

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Lufthansa A320 (D-AIPE 'Kassel')

Deplaning.

One last look at OE-LBA.

After a very uneventful transit, I found myself at the gate for LH490 to Seattle, which is where I'll see you for the next installment!