This is part 7 of a series on my trip to Austria, Germany and China.
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 1 – How I am going to Timewarp in Germany AND Beijing in Business Class for $184
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 2- 12 Amazing Places I want to see on my trip to China. The last one is terrifying!
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 3 – How I got paid to take a free trip.
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 4 – 9 Hours in Vienna
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 5 – Frankfurt, Robert-Johnson, and Timewarp
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 6 – The Flagship Austrian Airlines Business Class Lounge
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 7 – Vienna to Beijing Business Class on an Austrian Airlines Boeing 767-300
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 8 – Beijing, Tian’anmen Square, The Forbidden City
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 9 – The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 10 – How my Discover Card saved my life in China
- Austria, Germany, and China 2014: Part 11 – Bullet Trains and Zhengzhou
- Austria, Germany, and China 2014: Part 12 – Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors
- Austria, Germany and China 2014: Part 13 – Zhangjiajie, Monkeys and Avatar
- Austria, Germany and China 2014: Part 14 – Changsha, Wuhan, and Hefei
- Austria, Germany and China 2014: Part 15 – Intercontinental Hangzhou: Is this the coolest hotel I have stayed at?
I received 40,000 of the 100,000 miles I used for this award ticket by getting the US Airways® Premier World MasterCard®! This is a great card and one I still carry. These miles will eventually become American miles which are some of the most valuable. Click here to apply now for one of your own!
After getting “bumped” down from business to economy on the way from the states (but ending up $1000 richer), I was looking forward to a nice comfortable flight from Vienna to Beijing. The 8.5 hour flight was on Austrian Airlines Boeing 767-300 which is the long range version of their wide body jet. These planes are being gradually replaced with more fuel efficient newer models but have lots of room inside to create a plush interior in the premium classes.
As I have mentioned before when I am flying business class, I make sure to pick a plane that was 180 degree lie flat seating instead of the “angled lie-flat” where the seat reclines flat but is at maybe a 20 degree angle downwards. I find a night and day difference between the two if I want to get any quality sleep during the flight. One of the reasons I picked this flight and airline to redeem my miles on was because of the seats!
The seats had a throw blanket and a pillow as well as a spacious table on the side. Their seats on this plane were arranged 1-2-1 which gave every seat aisle access so you don’t have to worry about waking anyone up to go to the bathroom during the flight or getting woken up yourself! If you are traveling by yourself, pick the single window seats for better privacy, but if you are traveling with someone else, the middle seats will allow you to easily chat during the flight. This flight was pretty full up front in business class!
I had plenty of leg room in the seat even though I am 6’2″. They had an average, but good 15″ AVOD (Audio Video on Demand) system with a good selection of movies and TV shows in multiple languages. Plus it had a USB port to charge your phone / tablet.
They had push buttons for the different seat positions including options to make your cushion harder or softer and even a massage option! You sure won’t find that in coach!
The additional space and seats in business class is one part of why I enjoy flying that way, but a close second is the food! The food is selected by DO & CO Catering. Here was the menu they gave me.
I was trying to decide which antipasti to try when she suggested I try a little bit of all of them, and who am I to argue?
The bacon wrapped goats cheese salad was my favorite I would say, but they were all quite tasty. I chose the braised veal for my main course.
They had a comprehensive coffee menu to choose from as well which I thought was interesting. I tried the Einspanner since it said it was a Viennese specialty and they asked if I wanted anything to go in it. Why, yes, some Baileys would do nicely!
I finished off my meal service with the cheese platter and a chocolate fondant which was very rich but small enough to make it manageable. It went great with the coffee.
By this point, I was stuffed and read to get some sleep so I checked out their amenity kit that came wrapped neatly in this pouch.
It included some face lotion by Bogner, toothbrush, toothpaste, a sleep mask, a shoehorn (do people still use those?), some ear plugs and some socks.
I would say this is probably an average type of amenity kit but nothing to write home about compared to some i have seen. I changed into some shorts before I knocked out because I often get hot in jeans when I am trying to sleep, so no comments about my beautiful feet! 
I think they are great, but some people like my Dad find these seats a little claustrophobic in the flat position so keep that in mind. We had the same type of seats on our Brussels Airlines flight to Europe this summer. I still had plenty of room to stretch out and was able to get maybe 4 hours of sleep before I they woke me up for breakfast. 
I had an omelette and some fruit which was good and light enough after the heavy dinner service.
Conclusion
This was my first time flying in business class on Austrian Airlines and I was quite pleased with it. The flight attendants were attentive without being overbearing and the coffee menu was a nice local touch. I would definitely fly them again if the routing made sense and maybe would build some more time in Vienna to explore the city more next time.
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