Introduction – Austrian Airlines 787 Business Class Review
- Route: Vienna (VIE) to Newark (EWR)
- Flight Number: OS 89
- Scheduled Departure Time: 10:30 AM
- Scheduled Arrival Time: 2:15 PM
- Seat Numbers: 7D and 7G
- Mileage Cost: 70,000 Aeroplan Miles
After a recent Christmas trip to Europe, my partner and I headed back to the United States on Austrian Airlines. We were looking forward to reviewing Austrian Airlines for the first time across the Atlantic to see how they compare to other European carriers we’ve tried. Austrian is known for good food onboard but an out of date business class seat that you’ll find on most of its international routes flown by a 767-300ER or 777-200ER. Luckily, the Vienna to Newark route is currently being served by one of Austrian’s newly delivered 787-9 aircraft featuring an updated business class product.
Booking Austrian Airlines Business Class with Miles
Austrian Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance, and you can redeem miles and points for business class through programs such as United MileagePlus, Avianca Lifemiles, and Air Canada Aeroplan. Your cheapest option will be with Lifemiles or Aeroplan charging 70K miles between Vienna and the eastern US whereas MileagePlus will cost 88K.
Award tools such as Seats.aero (pictured below) can be helpful in locating Austrian Airlines business class award space, which we used to help book two seats in advance. Austrian seems to release a small amount of space in advance and more last minute space for unsold seats closer to departure. However, I am currently seeing a good amount of award space in February, which is the off season to travel between the US and Europe.
If you are interested in specifically booking the 787 be sure to check the aircraft type. As of writing, Austrian is flying the 787 from Vienna to Newark (EWR) and Washington Dulles (IAD).
Austrian Airlines 787-9 Business Class Seat Review
The first two 787s that Austrian Airlines has taken delivery of are actually former Bamboo Airways planes. Austrian Airlines acquired these so these are not brand new planes from Boeing and feature the same seat as what Bamboo Airways used to offer. Austrian will take more deliveries of 787s in the coming years from Lufthansa. Overtime, Austrian plans to replace its aging 767 and 777 fleet completely with the 787.
Austrian’s 787-9 features 26 business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, offering direct aisle access to all passengers. This represents a significant upgrade over Austrian Airlines’ 767 and 777 where most rows are in a 2-2-2 configuration (a few rows offer a single “throne” seat).
My partner and I were seated in 7D and 7G, which is in the last row of the business class cabin.
Austrian’s business class seats on the 787 are perfectly fine although not the most cutting edge for a plane being introduced in 2024. You’ll find no privacy doors, wireless charging, or bluetooth audio like you’ll find on other business class products that have debuted in recent years. With that said, the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seats on the Austrian 787 are comfortable lie flat seats and that get the job done. You’ll find these same business class seats on airlines such as American and Air Canada.
While looking at the seat, the cushion itself looked and felt new. However, the storage compartments, armrests, dining table, and inflight entertainment display definitely showed some signs of wear and tear. My guess is Austrian retrofitted the seat cushion from what was used by Bamboo Airways but the bones of the seat was left as is from Bamboo Airways.
The seat wasn’t in terrible condition by any means but just know you are not flying a plane fresh from the factory even though Austrian just entered this plane into service during summer 2024.
One strength of the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat is the large amount of storage compartments available, which is great for holding phones, tablets, chargers, headphones etc. You’ll find the largest storage compartment also contains the inflight entertainment remote, USB charging outlet, headphone outlet, and a universal power outlet.
You’ll notice there were some stains and trash left behind here so the aircraft could’ve been cleaned better between flights.
Behind this main compartment is a smaller storage compartment.
Below these compartments, you’ll also find a small storage cubby that seats above the life vest.
Finally, on the opposite side of the seat you’ll find an armrest that you can raise and lower which also opens up to serve as storage.
To adjust the seat, you’ll find a touch screen with pre-set modes for upright, lounging, and lie-flat/sleep. You can also make granular adjustments to the additional seating controls as desired. The seat does not include a built in massage function.
Next to the seating controls are a few lighting controls. The lighting controls adjust the seat reading light and the seat lamp next to the inflight documents holder.
For documents, you’ll find the safety cards and inflight shopping magazine. The crew passed through the cabin after the first meal service to see if anyone wanted to purchase any inflight shopping items.
Below the entertainment screen, is a pull out table. The table can fold out for additional surface area and can comfortably hold a 14 inch MacBook Pro.
Overhead, you’ll find storage bins across the center and aisle seats. Overhead lighting is also available which you can turn on with the entertainment remote. Unfortunately, no overhead vents are available, which I prefer to help keep the cabin cool while sleeping.
In terms of privacy, I think you are afforded an adequate amount even without doors. You’ll notice my view of the aisle seats across of me. You’d have to strain pretty far forward to see much of the passenger next to you.
If you are traveling solo, I’d recommend an aisle seat for the window views and higher degree of privacy. However, if you do you end up in center seat while traveling alone there is a privacy shield you can elect to extend.
Austrian Airlines Business Class Review Amenities
Austrian Airlines’ inflight business class amenities are pretty basic with nothing standing out from the competition. Awaiting at our seats, we found an amenity kit, headphones, bedding, and a water bottle.
The simple amenity kit included a sleep mask, socks, chapstick, ear plugs, tooth brush, and tooth paste. It would be nice if Austrian included some facial cream/mist as well as slippers. No pajamas are offered, but that’s typically not found on the competition across the Atlantic either.
The headphones were noise cancelling and of average quality. I preferred using my own AirPods with my iPad in flight.
The bedding included a single pillow and blanket. While adequate, I certainly prefer United’s much more substantial business class bedding.
Finally, we were provided with a water bottle.
Boarding and Departure
As boarding continued, the friendly crew offered to store our winter coats. We were then given an option of a pre-departure beverage choice of water, orange juice or champagne. Some tasty crackers were also offered.
Prior to push back, our meal orders were taken by the onboard Do & Co chef. For those unfamiliar with Austrian Airlines, you read that right – an onboard chef. He was dressed in a chefs hat and uniform that stands out from the rest of the cabin crew. What does the onboard chef do? It’s not as if Austrian Airlines has some fancy cooking equipment onboard that the chef can use to make meals from scratch. However, it does imply that someone is overseeing the plating and quality of what comes out to passengers.
Austrian, like any airline, is constrained by what is prepared by the catering kitchen prior to the flight and, for the most part, airlines just heat food up. With that said, Austrian Airlines having an onboard chef shows its dedication to having higher quality food onboard, and it definitely shows during the meal service.
Below is the inflight menu. An express dining option is available for those wanting to minimize the service time to prioritize sleep or work. I like that the wines were rated highly by Falstaff’s ranking methodology with the score shown on the menu. Everything I had to drink during the flight was quite good and a step above some of the cheap wines you’ll find in business class elsewhere.
Our flight pushed back a few minutes behind schedule as the fun doll/toy themed onboard safety video played.
You can enjoy the full Austrian Airlines safety video below:
Austrian Airlines WiFi Review
As we reached cruise altitude, I took the opportunity to test out Austrian Airlines’ WiFi on the 787. After connecting to the WiFi, you visit an online portal to select an inflight internet plan. Austrian offers free inflight messaging for free through apps like iMessage or WhatsApp. I do like that picture sharing is supported because often times on airline WiFi your picture messages won’t deliver.
For those looking to surf the web or access email, two paid plans were on offer. For 15 Euros or 5,000 miles you can access the internet for two hours. For access during the full flight, it costs 25 Euros or 8,300 miles. While I wish the WiFi cost was cheaper, the pricing is fairly inline with other European carriers.
Apple Pay was offered as a payment option which is great as it can be annoying to take out your credit card for purchasing WiFi and credit card auto-fill doesn’t always work correctly on these online portals.
After making a purchase, you are offered a login code that you can save to Apple Wallet. This makes is easy to switch from one device to the next such as a phone to a laptop.
My speed test results are shown below. While not all that impressive, I found I had no issues browsing the web with reasonable speed and listening to Spotify.
Austrian Airlines Business Class Food Review
The first meal service commenced with warm towels and table cloths being distributed.
To begin, we received a choice of bread as well a small starter not described on the menu. Accompaniments included salt/pepper shakers, butter, and olive oil.
With my meal, I selected the Schlumberger Rose which, was uniquely delivered with its own small bottle.
I liked the included toothpick, clothes pin, and Austrian Airlines branded silverware.
For appetizers we tried the pea soup and salmon tartar, which were flavorful.
Next up was the Viennese style veal. The meat was quite tender, and the accompanying sauce was delicious.
For dessert, we tried the raspberry grits and the white dessert wine. Both were fantastic and the dessert wine in particular was the best that I’ve had in business class this year.
Following the meal, we tried Austrian’s signature coffee service. I’d highly recommend ordering from the coffee menu after your meal as it’s a unique experience you won’t find on other airlines. Do note the coffee service is not available for the second meal service due to the preparation time required, so I’d order after your first meal if interested.
My partner tried the Einspanner, and I went with the Wiener Eiskaffee. Both were fun to look at and drink. Our favorite was the Wiener Eiskaffee as the included ice cream in the drink hit the spot. Each was accompanied with a Santa shaped Lindt chocolate for the holidays.
Austrian Airlines 787 Lavatories
After enjoying the coffee, I checked out the lavatories. Austrian’s 787 has three lavatories between the business class cabin. One is located at the front of the cabin and two at the rear of the cabin. The two towards the back are shared with premium economy, so at times they were busy.
All three lavatories are essentially the same but the two towards premium economy cabin offer a window. Hand lotion and air freshener was available.
The views outside the lavatory window were pretty great. I love the red wing tip on this Austrian 787.
Austrian Airlines Inflight Entertainment
Austrian’s inflight entertainment system is intuitive to use but the selection was average. You’ll find a decent selection of movies and TV shows and a sub category of made in Austria content. There was also a subcategory of World of Austrian Airlines videos that I enjoyed briefly browsing.
One area that was disappointing was the audio selection. Just three items were available with no albums or playlists of music to listen to. None of the available content played in English.
A good selection of games is available to play with the inflight entertainment remote.
As with most flights, I enjoyed watching the air show as we made our way to Newark.
I enjoyed a few hours of sleep on the comfortable lie flat seat, but struggled to get much more on this daytime flight as I wasn’t very tired. About halfway through the flight, I ordered some tea.
Austrian Airlines Second Meal Service (“Snack Before Landing”) Review
About 90 minutes prior to landing, the second meal service began. First up was the energizer drink of apple, carrot and ginger.
My partner selected the Viennese ham and cheese salad while I went with the traditional Austrian Sausages. Both came with an option of bread and an apple strudel dessert.
The sausages may not look all that appetizing but tasted really good. Perhaps they could go with a different sized plate for the dish, but I really appreciated Austrian offering a locally inspired dish and executing it well. It seemed to be a very popular item among the business class cabin as they ran out of it.
Austrian Business Class Service
I found service on Austrian Airlines to be well intentioned. The cabin crew was friendly and approachable and seemed to engage in personal conversation with most passengers. The meal services were quite efficient, which I appreciate compared to slow services I’ve experienced elsewhere that reduce rest and work time. Drink re-fills were also proactively offered.
I only encountered a few minor service hiccups. First was our coffee cups and coffee trays were left for hours before they were picked up. Our cups were completely dry so there shouldn’t have been any confusion over whether we were still drinking them. It’s a pet peeve of mine when service items aren’t cleared efficiently as it takes up seat space and can make it difficult to get out of your seat if you need to use the lavatory.
The second minor issue was with the call service button. After pressing it, no one came to my seat and the call service light just went out eventually. Nevertheless, the cabin crew did pass through periodically so I was able to get service without too much of a wait.
Pilot Debrief – Austrian Airlines 787 Business Class Review Vienna to Newark
Overall, we were excited to review Austrian’s 787 business class that offers a more modern hard product than the airline’s 777 and 767. While the seat is not the most cutting edge, the direct aisle access and reverse herringbone seat is certainly comfortable and reasonably competitive with other airlines across the Atlantic. The seat finishes do show some wear from its previous life as a Bamboo Airways plane so it’s not a brand new plane.
Amenities on Austrian are nothing too exciting between the basic amenity kit and simple bedding. Where Austrian Airlines really stands out is the onboard catering. The meals and amazing coffee service certainly stands out as one of the best overall business class food experiences I’ve had this year across the Atlantic (Air France and SAS were my other favorites).
If you are heading directly to Austria from the US, I’d have no issues recommending Austrian Airlines on the 787. However, if you are looking for the best seat product across the Atlantic – you’ll probably be more satisfied with Lufthansa’s Allegris product, British Airways’ Club Suites with doors, or Air France’s A350 business class with doors (do note these seats are only available on select routes).
I think Austrian’s 787 achieves a nice sweet spot between having a comfortable seat but also offering top notch catering where many other airlines tend to miss the mark.
