Trip Report – Austrian Airlines JFK-Vienna in the New Business Class – B777-200

This is part two of a twelve part trip report from my current travels to Kiev, Vienna, Tel Aviv, and Kraków. This trip report covers my flight on Austrian Airlines in their new business class aboard a B777-200 from JFK to Vienna (VIE).

• Lufthansa Senator / Business Lounge @ JFK
• Austrian Airlines – JFK-Vienna (VIE) in New Business
• Austrian Lounge Vienna & Austrian Airlines – Vienna (VIE) to Kiev (KBP) F70 – Business
• Premier Palace Hotel Kiev
• I Survived KLM TransAtlantic Economy…and dare I say it was pretty nice! Trip Report KLM Economy
• Kiev, Unexpectedly Awesome – Lots of Pics
• Ukraine International Airlines – Kiev (KBP) to Tel Aviv (TLV) – Economy
• New Sheraton Towers Tel Aviv
• Le Méridien Vienna
• Sheraton Kraków Hotel
• LOT Polish 787 Dreamliner! Warsaw (WAW) – Chicago (ORD) in Business
• LOT Warsaw Lounges & LOT Polish Kiev (KBP) – Warsaw (WAW)

I really enjoyed my first Austrian Airlines flight almost three weeks ago. The seat was extremely comfortable, the in-flight entertainment excellent, and the food very tasty.

The seat is extremely similar to the Swiss business class seat as well as Alitalia’s new business product. I liked the spacious legroom (at 5′ 11″, I had tons of room to spare) and it wasn’t too narrow (often the case with these types of seats). I also enjoyed the touch-screen like seat controls, classy high quality touchpad IFE remote, and the multiple USB and power ports.

The TV also had the best picture quality I’ve ever experienced in the air. Better than Singapore, Emirates, etc., it was spectacular. The TV could be controlled via a touchpad square on your remote or via simply touching the TV screen. Noise canceling headphones provided were actually “noise-canceling” with an on/off switch, different than what’s provided in most business cabins.

There’s also a “chef” on-board who takes your dinner order as well as your breakfast card. All food is prepared by DO & CO, a “gourmet entertainment company” with restaurants, bars, and lounges throughout Europe and was tasty. I’m not sure that chef actually does any more than the flight attendants in terms of food preparation, but it was still fun to see him walking up and down the aisle. Speaking of the flight attendants, they did their job efficiently, but were not the least bit friendly. The entire crew seemed to be this way and it reminded me of several Lufthansa and Air France flights I’ve taken. They weren’t intending to be rude, it just seemed to be their personalities.

Austrian is currently in the process of refurbishing all ten of their long-haul 777 and 767s aircraft. You can check whether your flight will be operated with the new business class here. They also have a full site devoted to the new cabin with pictures and videos. Without further ado, the pictures speak for themselves:

Separate boarding entrance for business at JFK

Chef coming around to take orders prior to take-off, flight attendant offering water and OJ

Full size pillow and great blanket

High ratings to the seat and new business class configuration…

2 USB ports (TV and seat), touch-screen controls, power, and media upload.

The amenity kit – the only business class amenity that didn’t impress…

Shoe storage…

I’d say one of the best in-flight remote controls with touch-pad square…

Actual noise-canceling headphones

The food by DO & CO (and the personal chef…) was excellent. For dinner I went with the

• Buffalo Mozzarella – Tomato avocado with balsamic olive oil dressing
• Beef Consommé
• Skipper Do & Co – Fillet of Atlantic salmon / prawn / cod sautéed leaf spinach / chervil potatoes
• Tart Tatin with vanilla sauce and some profiteroles

For breakfast I selected the fruit smoothie, fresh fruit, plain yogurt, muesli, and eggs sunny side up. The chef made sure to inform everyone that they could pick as many selections for breakfast as they wanted, regardless of what the selection card indicated.

Well, I guess there was one problem…I didn’t see this glass on my plate until after almost finishing the pretzel roll. The flight attendant said she hoped I hadn’t swallowed any…

I’m not a coffee drinker, but there’s a whole coffee menu, including Viennese classics.

I did visit the Lufthansa Senator / Business Lounge @ JFK prior to my flight and that will be the next trip report.

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