I recently had a very long journey back to Europe from Taipei. Due to lack of any better award availability, I ended up booking a route taking me from Taipei to Barcelona via Vienna and Frankfurt. While definitely not the quickest route, it at least gave me a chance to try a nice variety of airlines (EVA Air, Austrian, and Lufthansa).

This was my first time trying Austrian’s short haul intra-Europe business class, and to be honest, I didn’t really have any particular expectations - especially since the flight from Vienna to Frankfurt is barely 1 hour.

Flight	OS209
Cabin	Business
Equipment	A320-200
Aircraft	OE-LBK
Flight Time	1h

Cabin & Seats

The business class “cabin” (as with most intra-europe flights) is just a couple of dedicated rows near the front of the plane. Even though the rows are 3-3, the middle seats are blocked, offering you some extra space. I’m glad most european airlines still offer this! The seats were perfectly fine this short flight with plenty of leg room.

Food & Drinks

While the seating really wasn’t anything special, the service and meal offer were definitely the highlight. The service was very friendly and attentive (I guess partially thanks to the light load on this flight).

Meal service started with drinks, and I asked for some sparkling wine, and was glad to receive a wine from Vienna. One thing I really appreciate is when airlines offer local products and ingredients showcasing what their home country has to offer. It makes the flight a little more interesting and I always enjoying trying new flavors.

The meal was a beef patty dish, with sweet potato mash, freshly baked bread, and a small desert. Everything was absolutely delicious, and I really couldn’t have asked for more on such a short flight.

After the meal, the cabin crew came around offering more drinks, tea and coffee, and finally handing out chocolates.

Connectivity

WiFi was available on the flight, but I had no need to purchase it. However, I did like the fact that you could connect to the WiFi to see the flight status and browse onward connection information, which was very handy!

Summary

Short flights within Europe are generally not that special, but you don’t need much to deliver a great experience, and I’m glad to see that there are still some airlines that do that. For me it’s mostly just about providing good service, a nice meal, and offering local products is always a nice touch as well!