by airoli

29/MAY
OS26
BKK-VIE
B777-200,
2G Business

Transfer counter offers reseating 1C => 2G with free middle seat, I accept. Royal Silk lounge crowded at night, same for lounge at E concourse. Boarding already well underway as I get there, immediately walk on board. Not greeted at door, find my way to my own seat. Cabin looks nice, colorful, fresh and well-kept. Jacket eventually taken and pre-departure drink of OJ, water or prosecco (my choice) offered. Seat seems similar to LX seat, but IFE controller is placed in smarter way, seat has a few more options (massage function). No storage space for bottles of water or shoes, and wood-paneled seat pocket is small and already packed to the brims.

Amenity kit and thick, comfy blanket / quilt waiting at my seat, along with bright green pillow and headsets. Want to put them away when I notice they are noise canceling, albeit mildly so. Boarding process still goes on for a while, walzer music plays and makes it easy to wait. Take-off about 15min behind schedule, but shorter than scheduled flying time anticipated. Take-off camera is a nice feature.

Menus distributed once airborne, looks quite elaborate given it’s already way past midnight. Innovative feature is the breakfast order list, that way you can indicate your preference and the crew prepare your tray in the galley overnight. I see a “inflight chef” working in the galley, but he never makes an appearance in the cabin, which I find regrettable.

Once at cruising altitude, drinks are offered along with a trio of amuse bouche (not on menu, yummy). I just have sparking water for now, which is remembered by the crew throughout the flight. Generally, the crew strike me as okay, but not extremely helpful or charming. Also, compared to all these Asian crews, they’re ANCIENT! :grin: I notice that I am never ever addressed by name, something even Swiss gets right.

Table is then laid from a trolley, and shortly afterwards the choices of first courses appear, also on trolley (much like CX business, very nice to see what you want instead of choosing off the lofty menu descriptions). Trolley goes through the cabin front to back. no particular status order etc. => sit in front! I had thought of the salmon, but the beef / avocado looks so nice that I have that. Excellent, first class presentation and very decent size. Quality also good, nuanced flavors. Only downside is somewhat indifferent crew service. Good selection of bread (rolls, crisp, dark bread loaf etc.)

Service quite slow, about 80min after take-off main course is served, I have the lamb which is delicate, juicy and flavorful, again presentation is stunning. With it, I have some Red Zweigelt from Austria that is just okay. Notice the second red is Marques de Carcéres, a mass market red wine from my local grocery store.

After another pause, the dessert & cheese cart makes an appearance, and fortunately it appears as if it were a choice of cheese OR dessert. I am sure I could have gotten both, but in a way am glad that the situation doesn’t present itself and hence go for the nice cheese selection instead of the Marillentopfen. Ask for a glass of sweet wine with it, which appears after a short wait (note it’s not actively promoted), but turn down a coffee specialty from their separate Vienna coffee house menu considering it’s now 2am in BKK and 10pm in VIE: While service is still in its last stages, I brush my teeth, then recline my seat and snooze off for 6 hours.

IFE, surprisingly, has a large screen and modern interface, but is not on demand and has a remarkably small selection, comparable to LX A330. Why haven’t they gone for a state of the art thing I wonder?

I wake up to breakfast noise coming from the galley, and soon find my table being laid and my pre-plated breakfast being served, exactly as I had ordered it after take-off. However, then I did not yet know that I wouldn’t be hungry at all, so I only pick in my breakfast to try the excellent fresh eggs (sunny side up), and a few bites of my roll with butter. The crew offer juices as well as coffee and tea, but are taken aback when I ask for a “Melange” off their Vienna coffee house specialty menu. “Oh, that will take some time” is what they say, making me feel as if it was unreasonable to ask for a specialty coffee with breakfast? However, after 15min a very nice Melange appears, topped with lots of milk foam and served on a little silver tray with a glass of water, just like in a decent Vienna coffee house. Good recovery!

Landing is even before scheduled arrival time, and I have to wait in the deserted airport for another 20min before the lounges open. Go to the Schengen SEN lounge and immediately as for a shower in the only stall they have. Very refreshing and reinvigorating. Then use free WLAN for two hours until it’s time to board my Lauda-operated hop back to ZRH.

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