Review of Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to Frankfurt in Economy

introduction

Bok, dear Flight-Report community, and welcome to this brand-new series of mine! I'm very excited to share these next few reports with you, as this trip was my first to a new destination (and new country) since the pandemic began! This trip also marked the beginning of Vienna Airport's tenure as my home airport, as I'll be attending university in the wonderful capital of Austria beginning in September. These flights are a part of my "Maturareise", which is a tradition in Austria. Upon finishing high school, classes go to some sunny destination to celebrate their graduation and the start of a new chapter in their lives. After much debate and discussion, my class settled on Istria, Croatia, partly due to the fact that there is an airport in Pula (I, of course, made it clear that I had to fly and earn miles to get to the destination, instead of driving with the rest of the group ?). So with that out of the way, let's get started!

trip information

I booked these flights as a multi-city itinerary. As I needed to be in Sofia on July 19th, I terminated the trip there. The trip would include 4 flights on 3 different airlines, flying on 4 different aircraft types, and passing through 5 different airports. The routing is as follows:

Of all these flights, 1 would be a new aircraft-airline combination for me (leg 3), and legs 2 and 3 would cover a new airport for me: Pula.

the morning of departure

My journey started around 7 AM. I took an U-Bahn to Wien Mitte, from where I took the S7 to the airport.

Most Austrian regional trains are fairly new, and this one was no exception.

The legroom was more than sufficient for the 22-minute journey to the airport, and I enjoyed the view out the window for the ride.

Soon enough, I arrived at Vienna Airport and headed towards Terminal 3.

vienna international airport (vie)

Even though I had checked in online, German regulations require that all passengers boarding a flight to the country (even transit passengers) go to a counter at the airport to receive their boarding passes and show a proof of vaccination or a negative test. Luckily, there wasn't much of a line and the process took about 5 minutes.

With my boarding passes in my hand, I made my way to the security checkpoint.

VIE was very efficient that day, and I was airside a mere 15 minutes after my train pulled into the station.

I was ecstatic to see that the duty-free shop was fully open again!

There were also a sizable number of departures that morning. For the first time since February 2020, it felt to my like air travel was back to normal! (Well, minus the masks ?)

Not having any lounge access due to losing my UA Premier status, I made my way down the pier to find a cozy place to sit and wait for my flight.

Along the way, I passed the gate from where a flight to my former home airport would be leaving from ?

I settled on making Gate F16 my home, at least until the passengers for the Ryanair flight to Barcelona showed up for boarding.

The round seats were pretty comfy, but what drew me to them was the access to a USB charger.

Unfortunately, the Ryanair passengers showed up fairly soon after I had made myself comfortable. As they had formed a long line close to my seat, I bailed and decided to walk around until it was time to board.

An expanded look at the first part of the day's departures.

For the first time since my visit in September, I saw that the Jamie Oliver restaurants were open.

I wasn't hungry enough to buy anything, so instead I headed to Gate F7 to be gate lice for my flight.

boarding + initial impressions

I got a bit confused when I looked out the window and saw an Austrian Embraer instead of the scheduled A319, but I soon realized that our bird was parked at a remote stand. Priorities were respected, but that of course doesn't matter when everyone ends up in the same bus.

Priority boarding with a bus gate only means that the first ones on can snag a seat, but that wasn't a problem for me either.

On our way to the aircraft, we passed this sexy EVA 787…

…as well as a boring Austrian A320.

Soon enough, we pulled up to the A319 that would fly me and ~130 other passengers up to Frankfurt.

Doing the honors would be OE-LDF, named 'Sarajevo'. The Sarajevo was delivered new to Austrian Airlines in August 2005, making her just shy of 16-years-old at the time of my flight. Unfortunately, she'll soon be leaving Austrian Airlines to start a new life with Lufthansa CityLine.

The purser seemed stern and serious, but still politely greeted all passengers with a "Guten Morgen" and a disinfecting wipe.

It wasn't long until I found my window seat in row 4, directly behind Business Class.

The legroom was quite good at my row (I'm 5'8 or 176cm).

The seatback pocket was very stretchy.

In the literature pocket were the usual contents: the safety instructions card and the Melangerie menu.

The aforementioned disinfecting wipe.

Antimacassar.

Older Airbus PSU and the cabin divider.

I was impressed by the overall freshness and cleanliness of the cabin of an aircraft that was almost 16! I wouldn't have guessed it was that old based on the cabin.

austrian 129 - vienna to frankfurt

Once all the passengers had boarded and the doors were closed, the captain welcomed us on board and announced a flying time of 1h10m.

After that, our engines fired up, and we began our journey to Frankfurt!

As we were holding short, the Turkish A321 ahead of us aborted its roll and taxied back to the holding position.

departure from vienna

I had hoped that we would be able to cut in front of them, but that didn't happen. After a few minutes, they took off, and we lined up.

Rolling.

Airborne.

Flying the famous VIE left turn.

An overview of the OMV Schwechat Refinery…

…and a glorious morning view of Vienna, my new home! ?

Cabin after departure. Looks like the Austrian arrow may have shifted a bit since it was installed ?

Takeoff video:

Last sights of Vienna.

mid-flight

Nice view of our CFM56 engine from my seat.

As soon as the seatbelt sign was switched off, the crew sprung into action and passed around chocolates, as well as asked if we'd like to purchase anything.

Having learned after my previous Austrian water request was denied that a small bottle is free of charge, I politely ask a flight attendant for one. She looked confused and then said "oh like a small one?", which I confirmed. "Ok" was her response. Then she left and never returned. Oy, if anyone from Austrian is reading this, PLEASE train your crews to give out water on flights!! So far, out of 7 flights in OS Y since the Melangerie menu was introduced, I've only gotten water on 1 (that report will come out after the next series). That's unacceptable for a full service airline. But I digress, and hope that in the meantime they've gotten their game together.

While there was internet on the flight, I didn't feel like purchasing it, so instead I just looked out the window. The best form of entertainment during short flights!

Nuremberg, Germany, below those clouds.

Kitzingen, Germany.

arrival into frankfurt

Shortly after we commenced our descent, the Dutch First Officer provided us with a weather update and informed us that we'd be landing towards the east on Runway 07L.

Hello Frankfurt!

Flying our downwind leg.

Turning right base.

Established on our approach.

Slowing down a bit.

Passing the towns of Rüsselsheim…

…and Raunheim.

Short final.

Over the runway.

And touchdown at 11:33 AM, 7 minutes early, after being airborne for 1h7m.

Decelerating.

Vacating the runway.

Landing video:

Taxiing past the Lufthansa Cargo Terminal.

It's always nice to be back in Frankfurt, especially after a hiatus of over a year! I had actually been back in Frankfurt a week earlier, but that series (which includes the OS flight on which I received water ?) will as stated above come after the next one.

Passing a duo of Lufthansa Airbuses.

A Condor 767, and a beautiful 787 operated by my favorite airline! ?

Lufthansa A320neo and A350 (little did I know at the time, I'd be flying on a Lufthansa A350 from FRA exactly 2 weeks later… stay tuned for that in the next series!).

Lufthansa A340-300. I hope to fly one of those before they are retired ??

Air Canada 787-9.

Entering the apron of the A pier…

…and pulling into our gate next to a Lufthansa A321.

One last look at my home of the past hour and a half.

Deplaning an Austrian flight for the last time in a while. Hopefully, next time I fly them in Y, they would have solved their water crisis! To end this report, one final peek at Sarajevo before heading into the terminal.

routing of os129

After departing Vienna via the LUGIM 1C departure, we flew direct to Frankfurt via Regensburg at 34,000ft. We landed on Frankfurt's runway 07L.

Thanks for reading the first report of this journey. I hope to see you again in the next installment. Cheers and happy flying until then! ✈️