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YOUTUBE: SWISS Los Angeles to Zurich
YOUTUBE: SWISS Zurich to London Heathrow
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YOUTUBE: Austrian Airlines Vienna to Los Angeles
After spending a few hours in the Senator and Business class lounge, it was time to board my flight to LA.
The flight was more than an hour late due to the late inbound aircraft from Newark, so the crew was scrambling to get the plane turned around quickly. It certainly doesn’t help that the aircraft in question to turn around was a 777 and the flight was full.
There was a separate waiting area for passengers in business or Star Alliance Gold members.
Boarding eventually began and here’s the boarding groups:
Group 1: HON Circle Members
Group 2: Business Class and Senator/Star Alliance Gold
Group 3: Premium Economy Passengers
Group4-5: Economy by zone
VIE-LAX
Boeing 777-200ER
19 July 2022
After walking past a single row of business class, it was 3 rows of premium economy in a 2-4-2 configuration. I had seat 22K on the right side of the plane.
The seat’s back cushion and seat padding were decently hard but bearable.
The seat even had its own footrest which is nice, but it can sometimes be hard to rest your feet there with bulky items under the seat in front.
Between each of the seats was a pair of bottle holders.
On the center console but to the lower side is a standard USB port, headphone jack, and remote control.
Premium economy came with a nice, thick blanket, and a red pillow.
The view outside is slightly obstructed by the aircraft’s massive GE90 engine and the wing,
The side of the console also has controls that allow you adjust the recline of the seat.
Another thing that I loved was that, unlike SWISS’s premium economy, there was an actual hard divider between premium economy and economy. Not that it means a whole lot, but it surely adds to the overall premium experience.
Shortly after getting settled, a crew member came through the premium economy cabin with some orange juice for all passengers.
Shortly after, the crew came around and gave us menus for the flight. Given that Austrian’s caterer is Do & Co, I knew this flight would be a culinary treat.
Headphones were also available to premium economy passengers.
There was also an amenity kit which we’ll have a deeper look at further into the flight.
After trying to get everyone on board as fast as possible, we eventually pushed back and began taxiing to the runway. Departures and arrivals for the most part happen on runway 11/29, but in our case, since we were a pretty heavy 777 for this flight, we were going to use the longer runway 16.
We had a relatively gradual climb and the views were pretty standard, but always enjoyable from the skies.
As the crew began their service, they brought hot towels for everyone in the premium economy cabin.
Menu orders were taken in order of status in the premium economy cabin. So, HON Circle and Senators, had their orders taken before anyone else, which is great and I respect it. Even though I am Star Alliance gold which is on the same level as Senator, since my status is not through Lufthansa Miles & More, I basically have no status for this situation.
The crew came around with the first round of service which was rosemary crackers.
For my drink I went with sparkling water.
The crackers were good. I always enjoy the slightly sharp aftertaste any of these herbal crackers have.
The main course was served shortly after and thankfully I was able to get my first choice of meal which was the traditional backendl aka chicken.
What a delicious-looking plate of food that is. The colors were so vibrant. Also for my drink, I went with white wine.
The chicken was so moist on the inside and well cooked which is something I always have to commend because even though this is easy on the ground, it’s harder on the plane where it’s only an oven that reheats the food and tends to dry it out. The potatoes were pretty solid too.
The salad was fresh and crisp and went well with the olive oil/balsamic mix.
For dessert, there was an apricot cake which I really liked. I prefer dense cakes as opposed to more airy cakes and this was on the denser side so I really enjoyed this.
The cheese was good too, there was Brie, American cheddar, and some kind of English cheese. It could’ve been Gloucester or maybe something else, but in any case, it was delicious.
I also had some white wine with lunch which went down well with everything else that I had.
The views of flying over the Atlantic were nice. It was a tad bit unfortunate that being in the last row the view was a little bit obstructed, but I was still able to soak in the views nonetheless.
The crew was super proactive about bringing water around throughout the flight which was great for a flight this long. Our bodies get dehydrated very quickly on these planes, so keeping hydrated is key.
There was a mid flight snack setup at the back of the plane which was common for premium economy and economy. I enjoyed the banana chocolate pudding thoroughly and it was great.
Soon enough, the crew began a secondary meal service.
The second meal service was more quaint, but still equally flavorful. This time, there was only one meal option for everyone who didn’t opt for a special meal.
The dish was veal with mashed potatoes and veggies.
The veal was so tender and very very tasty. I can’t say enough good things about this dish. The mashed potatoes were nice too. They could’ve done with a tad more salt but still very good.
The dessert may look familiar and if it does, that’s because it is. It’s the same chocolate banana pudding that was there as a mid-flight snack, except plated better.
The bread was as hard as a grenade so I didn’t bother with it.
The pudding was, again, so very good, it was smooth and just came off so easily.
There was an amenity kit given to each premium economy passenger.
It was basic, but had everything you’d need on a flight this length. To be honest, the only thing I’d end up using on most flights is the disposable toothpaste and toothbrush.
For the rest of the flight, it was just the deserty views of Nevada and the Mojave desert in California.
We began our descent into the LA basin.
Eventually, we began our lineup for landing and a fun challenge I always give myself is determining whether we are landing on runway 24R or 25L as its almost always one or the other.
The views of Tom Bradley on arrival are always fun.
We parked on the south side of Tom Bradley right next to a Singapore Airlines 777 that would soon begin its journey to Tokyo Narita and eventually to Singapore.
Overall, the flight was great. The food was the clear highlight but this is no surprise given the caterer that Austrians has they are always going to have good food. The crew was good, the seats were a little bit hard but the leg space was decent and made up for it. All in all, this is a solid way to travel on a 12-hour flight.