Underhill

I might be flying from Dulles to Vienna on Austrian Airlines for a tour of Christmas markets along the Danube, returning on Lufthansa. Does anyone have comments pro or con on Austrian and/or Lufthansa Airlines?

J62

Flown many times and never had a bad experience on Lufthansa. Clean comfortable planes, good service, food on par with everyone else, easy checkin, prompt baggage claim.

wally34949

You can read comments from travelers on www.airlinequality.com but they both are Four Star airlines. All of the U.S. international carriers are 3 star. You didn't say business or economy. You can find the seat pitch in www.seatguru.com Free alcohol and earphones! That saves you a few bucks right there!

Underhill

I'd be flying business class. Thanks for the reference to the link.

chtiet

Keep in mind that arilinequality.com is whiners central. IMO, you'll find more objective assessments on flyertalk.com.

Underhill

I see what you mean about whiners: no choice of egg preparation for breakfast?!!!

ms_go

Lufthansa is in the process of converting many of its long-haul aircraft to "new" business. Somewhere on its website there is a list of routes and applicable dates, so you might want to check that out. From the feedback I've seen on flyertalk, "new" business is nice; if it's "old" business, consider another carrier. We are looking forward to trying out "new" business on a trip next month.

chuckd

I flew in Biz on LH to NRT over Christmas, four segments total and it was fantastic. Wonderful service the whole way. Highly recommended.

BTilke

My transatlantic Lufthansa business class flights were very comfortable; I liked their lounges as well. My father in law is in Germany now, having flown from Portland (OR) to Frankfurt in economy and found it pretty grueling.
Re Austrian Airlines, I have only flown them business within Europe (LHR -Vienna). I thought they were just ok. Not anywhere near as nice as intra-Europe Lufthansa flights.
I have friends and colleagues who flew Austrian Airlines transatlantic coach in March. They said it was ok, no better or no worse than the other big carriers.
If you are taking a biz class flight and can choose between the two, I would recommend Lufthansa over Austrian.

ted_m

Just flew Austrian SYD-VIE and Return in Economy and was most satisfied with service. Also flew Lufthansa SYD-LHR a couple of years ago but again no complaints and would have flown with them again only the no longer service Australia but Code Share with others.

Underhill

Thanks for the additional info. I don't have the option of Lufthansa; GCT is using Austrian for the IAD-VIE flight.

grubs

We flew Austrian once IAD-VIE (with connections to and from Italy on a partner - Tyrolean), and it was excellent. Clean and comfortable, good food and service, staff that went out of their way to serve and show appreciation, timely, efficient. We'd use them every time, if their fares are competitive.

rickker20

dont fly them they are terrible. coach seat are the worst. rude people.

TrevorDumbleton

Having flown with them on many occasions I can safely say that Lufthansa are by far the worst airline I have ever had the misfortune to fly with. Their customer service is appalling.

ipod_robbie

Having flown with them on many occasions I can safely say that Lufthansa are by far the one of the best airlines I have ever had the fortune to fly with. Their customer service has always been very curteous and helpful. Nice airplanes, great connections from US to or through Germany, helpful friendly cabin staff, etc.

Underhill

Been there now, done that--and Austrian Airlines has the best business class I've ever encountered. It's really just a slightly pared-down first class, which was eliminated on our plane. Lufthansa paled by comparison, except that the attendants were equally nice and helpful. But otherwise it felt like a United flight.