Earlier this month, I had written a short piece when Austrian officially unveiled it’s new long-haul cabin. Since then, there have been a few updates, including a new interactive website as well as the scheduling of the first flight with the new cabin interior for Business and Economy class.
As of now, Austrian Airlines is scheduled to debut it’s new long haul cabin when it flies from Vienna to New York on December 4. The updated cabin is a significant improvement from the current cabin and promises to be among the best cabins (both business and economy class) that you can experience for travel to and from Europe. Combine that with their fantastic DO & CO Gourmet Dining that you’ll find on board and Austrian will be tough to beat!
To mark the the event, Austrian has set up a special website that takes you on an interactive tour of the new Business Class cabin complete with video, interactive Business Class “guide”. In addition, Austrian included a tool on this site that lets you see if an upcoming Austrian flight will be operated with an aircraft that has been retrofitted with the new cabin.
Here are a few screen shots from the interactive Business Class Cabin feature on Austrian.com:
@Naif – Good question. I fly United’s Business class when i go to Hong Kong so have a perspective on it. Its a good seat, the only thing is that when its in full recline, it tends to be very narrow in the shoulders (I’m medium/average build). However it does lay flat which the LH Seat does not do. From FRA-IST you will be on an aircraft that has the European style business class which means you’ll seat in front of the aircraft, and the middle seat will be empty. Otherwise legroom is the same.
LH’s business is fine, except that some people don’t like that the seat doesn’t lay flat to 180 degrees. If you are tall 6’2″ or higher, that could be a slight issue, otherwise its not bad at all.
My determining factor would be the “soft” product (food/crew/etc). This is where I would give LH the big advantage. Generally their dining and quality of Crew will be superior to United. In FRA, there is no separate Business Class terminal, but they have business class lounges that you can access. If you have Star Gold status, you can use the Senator lounges.
being that you haven’t flown LH yet, I would say try them this time and reach your own opinion as well. I doubt that you will be disappointed.
Slightly off-topic…need your recommendation.. should i fly EWR-IST in United 767-300 Business or EWR-FRA-IST in Lufthansa B747-400 Business? I was just reading the reviews for LH B744 and those does not look good.. but I havent flown Business in LH yet so wanted to give it a shot..also is there a separate Business class Terminal in FRA?