Vienna airport is not particularly attractive. It’s also one of the most tedious places to have to transfer between flights. The general impression you get when passing through the airport, is that is was designed by somebody who a) is incredibly impractical, b) had little previous experience in designing passenger air terminals, or c) had to make a lot of compromises and changes to the original design. Signposting is seriously lacking and often contradictory, and the layout of the building does nothing to guide the flow of passengers.

Austrian Airlines Transfer at Vienna Airport

The main pier at Vienna Airport is divided into a Schengen and non-Schengen concourse on two separate levels, with the non-Schengen area on the upper level with the G gates. From my arrival gate I walk back to the start of the pier, which is where the escalators to the upper level are. Immigration is also on the upper level.

The Austrian Airlines Senator Lounge

The airport is currently in the process of expanding the terminal building. Once completed, the extension will house the new Austrian Airlines lounge. The old lounge has already closed. In the meantime, there is a so-called pop-up lounge on the pier, close to gate G26. It’s a bit of an odd place and very obviously intended as a provisional solution only. Most notable is the fact that there is no segregation between Star Gold passengers and regular Business Class passengers. There is a small section that is cordoned off for HON Circle passengers, but frankly, that’s quite small and looks a bit like a vivarium in a zoo.

Austrian Airlines Business Class Boarding

Boarding for the flight to Larnaca starts at 11h50. I exit the lounge at around 11h30 and mosey down the G concourse, taking pictures of the movements on the ramp as I go.

Our aircraft is parked on a remote stand. While I generally salute any opportunity for some ogling of the aviation variety, today I’m not feeling quite so enthusiastic. The problem is that most of the busses in Vienna Airport are not equipped with air conditioning, and it’s rather hot outside today. As if to add insult to injury, once we reach the aircraft’s stand, the bus pulls up so close that it’s impossible to take any decent photos.

The Austrian Airlines Business Class Cabin & Seat

The cabin on this aircraft is identical to the one on the previous flight from Zürich to Vienna. It’s just that on this flight I’m seated on the other side, on 1A. The Business Class cabin has five rows, for a total of twenty passengers. Initially, only nineteen seats are occupied. However, once boarding is completed, one passenger comes up from Economy Class and inquires if he might be able to pay for an upgrade to Business Class. Apparently, there’s a bit of a mess back in Economy Class because several passengers have decided to reseat to the more generous emergency exit rows, without realising, or ignoring, that those seats are available only against a fee.

The Austrian Airlines Business Class Service & Crew

The service while we’re still on the ground consists of the distribution of packaged cold towels. The crew on this flight is a better than the one on the previous flight, but they’re still a bit weird. Especially the purser seems unaware of the noise he makes when he’s working in the galley. Every time he closes a container or a trolley, he bangs it loudly and repeatedly. It’s rather irritating. I suppose it’s okay on a short day flight, but if he goes banging away like that on a night flight, when passengers are trying to sleep, I think I’d be seriously annoyed. At least his colleague, who is actually doing the service, is charming and rather pleasant. The flight time to Larnaca is two hours and 35 minutes.

The Austrian Airlines Business Class Meal – Lunch

The crew starts the meal service with what I initially think is an aperitif. It turns out that they just serve the drinks before the meal, which makes no sense at all. The meals are distributed next, and passengers have to scramble to lift their drinks and cans or bottles to make space for the trays.

The crew seems to be in an awful rush to get the service over and done with. The whole service is rushed and messy. It would have made more sense to serve the meal tray first and then the drinks.

There are two large triangular plates on the tray: one has the hot meal on it, while the other contains the dessert, which looks a bit forlorn on the large plate. And that’s it. The triangular plates were inherited from Lauda Air when they merged with Austrian Airlines in 2013. However, after thirteen years I think it’s high time they were replaced. Frankly, the whole setup looks more than just a bit retro. I also think that smaller plates would make room for an additional dish on the tray – a salad for example.

Once the meal is over, the crew remove the trays. The purser vanishes behind the curtain and continues banging away in the galley. What on earth is that guy doing…? The crew only reappear shortly before the landing to hand out more Mozart Kugeln and to prepare the cabin for the landing.

Arrival in Larnaca

We approach Cyprus from the North, having left the mainland abeam Izmir in Turkey. Our route takes us across the entire island for an approach along the Larnaca coastline and McKenzie beach. We land right on time.

We pull onto our stand next to an Airbus A 330-900 from Scandinavia. For a moment my heart sinks as I imagine what the queue at immigration must look like. Fortunately, by the time we deplane they’re already preparing to push back the chunky Scandinavian, which means it must have arrived quite a while ago, so that its passengers will likely have been processed already.

Getting to the Hotel in Larnaca

From the airport I take a taxi to the Mercure Finikoudes, which is a journey of about fifteen minutes and costs EUR25. Initially, my intention is to take a bus. However, that proves more difficult than I expected. In Google Maps I can’t find any information about bus numbers and schedules, and when I approach the public transport counter at the airport, I end up having the weirdest conversation with the lady behind the counter.

Me: “Hi, I’d like to go to Larnaca. The Mercure Finikoudes Beach Hotel”.
She: “No”.
Me: “No…?”.
She: “No”.
Me: “Are there really no busses to Laranca?”.
She: “You have to go to the police station?”.
Me: “Uhm… Why? Where?”.
She: “No busses to Larnaca”.
Me: “So, like, just today or in general?”.
She: “No”.
Me: “…”.

Fine, I’ll just take a taxi. As it turns out, the police station is right on McKenzie Beach and about three minutes on foot from my hotel. So, thanks for nothing, lady!

Conclusion – Austrian Airlines

It takes a lot of effort to be as bland, boring, and nondescript as Austrian Airlines. There was really nothing remarkable about the entire experience on this flight and the one from Zürich to Vienna, except perhaps those idiotic triangular retro plates. That and their remarkably strange crews. I don’t think they do it on purpose, but it’s just patently obvious that they’re very indifferent about their job and their passengers.