by Lufthansa Flyer | May 6, 2013 | Airlines |
When AUSTRIAN’s Boeing 777, OE-LPB (Heart of Europe), took off for Tokyo on May 4 it marked the entry into service of the final refitted 777 that sports the new cabin interior.
With 4 777’s now complete, AUSTRIAN passengers have 192 Business Class and 1,040 Economy seats available to them in these updated 777 cabins. Additionally, AUSTRIAN has so far updated 2 of her 6 Boeing 767 aircraft as well.
The renovations involved a complete overhaul of the cabin which included changes to carpeting, fuselage wall, seating and the in-flight-entertainment systems.
Here is a peek at the new look of the cabin interior (photos courtesy of AUSTRIAN):
The New Business Class Interior
by Lufthansa Flyer | May 6, 2013 | Airlines |
Lufthansa has begun their traditional summer business class fare special for travel between the USA and Europe. The fare sale is in place until July 2 and is valid for departures between June 28 and August 31, 2013. The fares for this summer fare special are only $100-200 more than they were last year, and when you factor inflation and fuel costs, this slight increase is negligible.
The lowest cost destinations for this this fare sale are Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm from most USA gateways giving this fare sale a decidedly nordic “theme” as far as best pricing is concerned. Example fares included Chicago-Oslo for $2639, New York-Stockholm for $2679 and Washington DC-Copenhagen for $2679.
My recommendation would be to use this fare sale to discover Lufthansa’s new Business Class that you’ll find aboard their 747-8i aircraft. As of now, you can book travel on the 747-8i flying from Washington DC and Los Angeles to Frankfurt,with temporary 747-8i service coming to Miami in May. Another 747-8i destination will hopefully be announced soon for the USA, but I won’t let that “plane” out of the hangar just yet! 😉
These fares will most likely book into ‘P’ discount business class, so be aware of what that may mean as far as miles earned for your frequent flyer accounts. Also, the fare is valid for travel on Air Canada, Austrian, Swiss, United, Lufthansa or Brussels Airlines. I would recommend you fly Austrian, Swiss, Lufthansa or Brussels, but that just my humble opinion on the subject…..
The terms and conditions for this sale are as follows:
Tickets must be purchased by July 7, 2013.
You must depart between June 28 and August 31, 2013.
You must return between June 30, 2013 and September 5, 2014.
Tickets must be purchased 28 days prior to departure date.
Valid for booking on Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels, Swiss Air Canada or United.
Minimum 7 day stay
Fares are valid for mid week departure and arrival dates.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 12, 2013 | Airlines |
I suspect that when travelers are asked what they consider to be the most important elements when it comes to choosing an airline high on that list would be reliability and punctuality. Airlines are easy targets when it comes to these issues and coverage by media and travelers tends to only focus on these elements when an airline struggles with on time arrivals and fleet reliability. Thats not the case this time!
For 2012, Austrian (OS) had no such issue.
Austrian has been awarded the AEA’s (Association of European Airlines) award for being Europe’s most reliable and punctual airline. Of the thousands of flights that Austrian had scheduled, a nearly perfect 99.3% of them took place. Don’t let the fact escape you that Austrian operates in very challenging environment in Europe where winter weather wreaks havoc with airlines.
In addition to that fantastic metric, Austrian also ranked at the top of the class when it came to punctuality. In 2012, 88.3% of Austrian’s flights were on time. This handily exceeds the 82.3% that the rest of the European airlines averaged.
For Austrian, both of these measures were improvements over 2011. In 2011, ‘OS’ operated 98.9% of their scheduled flights and on time arrivals occurred 86.7% of the time. This is also testament to the efficiency that you’ll find at Vienna’s Airport thanks in large part to the new terminal that opened last year specifically geared towards Star Alliance member airlines.
With a refreshed long haul fleet being rolled out this year and the launch of a new route from the US when service starts from Chicago in mid-May, Austrian is making a very compelling argument for passengers to discover what Austrian has to offer.
Just make sure you are at the gate on time! 🙂
