Now I'm looking at planning my own flights to meet up with the tour in Vienna. How is business class in Air France?

In my opnion, it's OK, not great, not horrible. Where are you flying from? I was on their 747 from LAX which are still equipped with the old business class seats/cabin. You may have a better experience if AF is operating aircraft with the retrofitted premium cabins on your route. I also thought the catering out of LAX left a lot to be desired.

British Airways has Flatbeds in Business. Have you checked prices? They were much cheaper than American's Business class when I checked last week.

I can get a business-class fare on Air France from IAD to VIE for under $2200. BA didn't come up on an Orbitz search.

Patty,

I'd be on a 777.

Take a look at these 2 threads on flyertalk.com which discuss the 'New Travel Concept' roll out -

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ferrerid=18562

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ferrerid=18562

Somewhere in that 2nd thread is a list of anticipated roll out dates and you have to wade through a few posts to find it, but from what I can gather IAD 777's are not scheduled for retrofitting until 2006.

The old seats aren't horribly uncomfortable, but they have limited recline and poor seat pitch compared to other business class products. I would choose AF only if they're cheaper. I believe Austrian has a nonstop IAD-VIE, have you considered them? I have no experience with Austrian but the nonstop would make me strongly consider them if you can get a decent fare.

The Air France fare is about $500 lower than the Austrian Airlines fare, which seems to be one of the highest for no particular reason.

How's the comfort on an Airbus 330-20?

Do you mean Austrian's A330? I've never flown Austrian and since each airline configures their aircraft slightly differently, comments regarding another airline's A330 wouldn't be relevant.

You can look for cabin photos on the following site -

http://www.airliners.net/search/?

Choose the aircraft type, airline, and under 'Category' select Cabin Views. There should be some pics of Austrian's A330 business class cabin.

For comments, try a search on flyertalk.com. I found some which seem to indicate that Austrian's business class product is pretty good. Whether it's worth $500 more, I don't know.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ferrerid=18562

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ferrerid=18562

Hope this helps.

You bet it helps, Patty--thanks very much. I'm gradually narrowing the options.

As I remember, Schipol is a decent airport for transferring. Still the case?

Yes, AMS is very easy for transitting. It's quite large, but all inter-connected so no need to catch shuttle buses to change terminals. The downside is the walk between gates can sometimes be long. Take a look at the departures area map on www.schiphol.nl - I believe Schengen zone flights (i.e. AMS-VIE) all leave from B/C/D gates and non-Schengen zone flights arrive/depart from E/F/G gates, so worst case scenario you could be walking from G to B/C to connect or the other way around on your return. You'll go through passport control in between so allow time for that as well.

But other than that, it's a pleasant airport to transit through and if you have time, you can make your way leisurely from one end to the other, shopping along the way. There's even a small branch of the Rijksmuseum inside the airport. If planning to use one of the business class lounges, I would advise going through passport control first, then using the lounge on the other side (there are usually multiples), so there's no last minute rush.

On your way back to the US, if flying on a US carrier, there will be a short 'interview' and another security screening at the gate area. This has been ongoing at AMS for a while now and was the case in Feb. The interview is a little more detailed than the standard 'did you pack your own bags?' sort of questioning but not too bad. I've heard that they sometimes separate traveling companions to make sure your answers match.

Now that I know you're looking at KLM flights, I can revise/add to some of the stuff I said earlier.

There are 3 KLM crown lounges at AMS - two located in the international departures area and one located in the Schengen area, so you'll be able to go through passport control and then use whichever is closest to your gate.

And as far as I know, no gate interviews if flying KLM back to the US (this seems to be only for US airlines), but the security screening still applies.

Patty,

You're a mine of information--thanks very much. I'm feeling much better about going it on my own now.

Do you know anything about wheelchairs at AMS? I have a bad knee and like to keep walks brief wherever possible.

Sorry, don't know anything about wheelchair service at AMS. You might try asking Northwest/KLM or checking the schiphol.nl site. There's quite a bit of information there.