Nick11

Anybody made this flight.Its coming up as £700 pound cheaper than emirates for the 4 of us.My main concern is that theres only an hour between connections - what happen if we miss it.Does the airline have a duty of care to get you there as it was their airline that made you late.
Cheers
Nick

Pollyana

I've done the flight - I think its the Vienna connection thats so short, isn't it? Vienna airport is tiny, and you just get straight off one plane and on to the other. We were a little late there but were told that they hold the flight because so many people are doing the connection there.
Excellent airline to fly with - good food, good service, helpful staff.

Hels

I booked with Austrian to fly from Melbourne - UK a few years back. It ended up being Lauda I flew with and I would never do it again.

I found the service dreadful and the planes were cramped and old looking. The on-board entertainment was nowhere near as good as any other Airlines I have flown.

In a 12 hour flight, they came around with drinks only twice. They didnt even come around and offer water. We had 2 meals, one at the very start of the flight and one just before landing leaving a 9 hour gap between any food.

Personally, I would never recommend anyone flying with them.

Hels

Pollyana

Interesting how you get the two extremes isn't it? I found the service brilliant - enough drink runs even to keep ME happy!

Must admit I can't remember what the entertainment stuff was like, as I'm not a film watcher, I prefer just to read..

Hels

I think it comes down to the particular crew you get on the day, sometimes.

Or, perhaps they are just crankier on the way home, than they are on the way TO Oz?

Sue from Manchester

I flew Austrian Manchester - Vienna - Sydney 3 years ago and it was great. The food was lovely, especially the home made bread rolls! The connection time in Vienna is tight, we had to run, but our luggage made it OK. It's quite a small plane you are on until you get to Vienna. My only gripe was the connection coming back, you had something like 6 hours in Vienna and it being after a long flight and feeling very tired and run out of money didn't go into Vienna. They did give you a free hotel room at the airport though so we could shower and lie down for a bit.

OzTennis

Mixed experiences continue! We flew Lauda from Manchester to Melbourne and it was brilliant. We didn't have a tight connection in Vienna - on the contrary we had a 4 or 5 hour wait both ways. We just went out of the airport into the sunshine for a few hours and could have even had a free bus tour of Vienna had we wished. The food was the best I've had on any airline and there were no problems with the drinks or the service.

My only negative comment was the time it took both ways with the delay in Vienna and the number of stops (KL, then Sydney before Melbourne). We had similar experiences with Cathay Pacific - great airline but it took so long going via HK and waiting over 9 hours for a connection.

Since then of course Nikki's airline failed (Lauda) and the government took it over so it is all now Austrian Airlines. The plane won't take off without you as someone said because they will wait for all connections.

OzTennis

Nick11

You're a star oztennis.You've really helped

zx10r_aus

I have flown with Austrian, Sydney to Glasgow. The stop over in Vienna was about an hour and half. I took me a long time to find the smoking lounge, all it was was a square box with metal guard rails in the middle of the terminal. If you don't stand in the box they bloody give you a smack.
Jim

Nick11

A good reason for giving up then

Hels

Or not!! (for some)

loidy

hi, we flew with austrian airlines 2 years ago and i was really worried about the hour connection because we were flying for my brothers wedding which was 2 days after landing, but i needn' t have worried as the manchester vienna leg was cancelled by the airline 2 weeks before we went and the put us on a flight the evening before and then put us up in the airport hotel and we got the vienna melbourne leg in the morning. it was a good flight and really cheap but there was a lot of faffing (especially the 6 hr wait in vienna) which was great but i did just want to get back and see my dogs! hope this helps x loidy

Grayling

Interestingly

Lauda has now relaunched as a 'cheapo' airline doing the usual european routes.

Has been advertising heavily in some UK newspapers.

G