The Details

• Flight: OS66
• Aircraft: B777-200ER
• Class: Business
• Seat: 4A and 4C
• Route: Chicago O’Hare International (ORD)-Vienna International (VIE)
• Distance: 4,893 miles
• Duration: 8hr 48min
• Departure: 4:36PM
• Arrival: 7:56AM

The Preflight

This was the beginning of a trip that my significant other and I were taking to Sri Lanka. Our routing was going to be ORD-VIE-BKK-CMB with Austrian then Thai Airways.

We arrived at Terminal 5 at O’Hare about three hours before our scheduled departure time. There was a dedicated business class and Star Alliance Gold check-in lane and we got our boarding passes fairly quickly. Thanks to TSA PreCheck we cleared security in under 10 minutes.

There are two Star Alliance lounges in Terminal 5, one being a very small and disappointing Swiss International/Austrian Lounge. It consisted of one small room with sofas for seating. We quickly left the lounge once it got crowded and headed to the newer and nicer SAS Lounge.

The SAS Lounge offered an direct view of the apron and we witnessed a ANA B77W being towed in.

With 20 minutes until boarding, we decided to leave to SAS Lounge and walk the terminal. We passed by quite a few widebodies including a beautiful Lufthansa B747-8i.

Our B777-200ER, registration OE-LPB, was originally delivered brand new to Lauda Air in September 1998. After Lauda Air was acquired by Austrian Airlines in 2000, all of the aircraft were transferred to OS in 2005. The name of our aircraft was “Heart of Europe”.

Boarding began promptly at 3:30PM and was an orderly affair with all passenger forming a neat line.

The Flight

There are 40 Thompson Vantage business class seats aboard the Austrian B777-200ER arranged in an alternating 1-2-1, 2-2-2 configuration.

In row 4, there are 2 seats on each side of the aircraft. This was perfect for us (a couple) as we could easily interact with each other during the flight. In addition, there were 24 premium economy and 244 economy seats on board.

Each seat had 20 inches of width and 40 inches of pitch. I found the seat to be narrower than I would have liked.

The foot well was tucked into the seat in front and felt a bit small for my large size 12 feet.

Next to each seat was a reading light, USB charger, 110V outlet, headphone jack, and a small storage space. The seat controls were in the arm rest between the seats. It was nice to be able to adjust the firmness of the seat. There was also a built in massage function.

• 

• 

The menus, headphones, and magazines were placed in a pouch between the IFE screens. Each seat also had a pouch for water bottles.

I loved the IFE screen which felt new and crisp. The flight map provided a wealth of information.

There was an modest amount of movies and TV shows to watch. However, the new movie selection was sparse.

The amenity kit was a shoe bag stuffed with an eye mask, pair of socks, lip balm, facial cream, a tooth brush, and ear plugs.

Austrians headphones came in plastic wrap with disposable covers for the ear pads. The disposable covers felt cheap and the headphones were poor quality. I stuck to my personal Bose headphones.

The pillow was very stylish and comfortable.

The blanket was warm and cozy.

After boarding, flight attendants came by with a tray of orange juice and sparkling water. There was no champagne or alcohol offered as Austrian elected to avoid the alcohol tax for US departures.

After the pre-departure beverages, flight attendants came by with the breakfast card and a pen. There were two choices for breakfast (herbed ricotta omelet or eggs sunny side up) and as many side dishes as you wanted.

The dinner menu from Chicago to Vienna was in the literature pocket. Austrian is catered by the excellent Do&Co group which provides some of the best in-flight dining in my opinion.

Austrian serves a respectable Champagne Duval-Leroy Brut once in the air.

I appreciated the fact that Austrian also serves Austrian wines.

About 30 minutes after boarding, the “chef” came through the cabin to take our dinner and breakfast orders. I love the novelty of having “chef” prepare the meals on board which certainly created a premium atmosphere.

After the captain made his PA announcement we began the pushback at 4:36PM.

During the taxi we passed by B777s representing all three of the big Middle East carriers.

There was a great view of Terminal 5 as we took off.

We had a very smooth climb out of Chicago.

Flight attendants began the dinner service 30 minutes after takeoff. They set the cloths and offered a beverage service. I had an excellent Riesling. Next came a warm bread basket and the pretzel roll was perfectly heated up. Interestingly, the cold nuts were served after the bread basket.

For the appetizer, I asked for both the beef carpaccio and the turmeric pumpkin soup. The soup was both creamy and aromatic, 10/10. The beef carpaccio was served with Parmesan, arugula, pine nuts and an olive tapenade crostini. Superb.

My partner had the caramelized goat cheese with beetroot salad which was excellent as well.

For the main dish, I had the swordfish brochette with lemon caper butter, rosemary potatoes, and sautéed leaf spinach. Unfortunately, the swordfish was slightly overcooked and dry.

To finish the meal, I had the cheese plate with “exotic” fruit. The cheese was extremely disappointing and the “exotic” fruit was three grapes… On the other hand, the mango mousse was good. My partner had the “chocolate cookie parfait” which was just chocolate ice cream.

Once our dishes were cleared, flight attendants came through with menus for the famous Austrian coffee service.

I ordered the Kaffee Baileys which consists of Baileys, whipped cream, cocoa powder with black coffee. It was the best coffee service I’ve had inflight and I’d probably order this on the ground as well.

My partner ordered the Wiener Eiskaffee which is a double espresso with vanilla ice cream and freshly whipped cream. She loved it. All in, the entire meal service lasted about 2.5 hours. I found the service to be a bit longer than I would have liked, and many passengers fell asleep before the coffee service began.

Flight attendants also set up a snack area in the galley with nut packages, water, and juice.

With my stomach full, I set up my bed for sleep. We had about five hours left in the flight. There was no turn down service (I set this photo up myself 😉 ). Lying flat, the seat was a bit uncomfortable but was not too hard despite the lack of a mattress pad.

I could not find a good position for my feet since the footwell was so restrictive and spent much of the night tossing and turning.

As with most European carriers, the cabin was kept warm and there were no air vents.

I also checked out the forward lavatory in the business class cabin which was fairly standard. Personally, I appreciated how Austrian provides a dental kit, shaving razor, ear plugs, and sanitizing wipes in the lavatory. There was also L’Occitane branded cream.

With 90 minutes remaining in flight, breakfast was all served on one tray. I had the eggs sunny side up with crispy bacon. The eggs were quiet possibly the best I’ve had in the air. They were cooked fresh on board, runny and gooey just how I like them. Fresh chives helped elevate the entire dish.

The sides were muesli, fresh fruit, and assorted ham with cheese. Flight attendants came through with a warmed bread basket filled with croissants and bread. I had a black coffee and orange juice as well.

In no time the red sun was rising from the horizon.

We passed above the beautiful Austrian countryside.

After a smooth descent we landed in Vienna at 7:56AM local time. The taxi was very quick and we deplaned shortly thereafter.

Thanks for the ride!

As my significant other and I made our way to the Austrian Business Class Lounge, we passed by quite a few other Austrian aircraft.

Of all the trans-Atlantic business class offerings, I think Austrian Airlines offers one of the best. While the Thompson Vantage seat is not one of my favorites, I still found configuration great for couples. The catering (especially the coffee) was simply phenomenal and was a culinary adventure. Until next time Austrian Airlines!