My trip was planned 9 days prior to departure date via travel.com.au, a travel company based in Australia. I was browsing through their website, hoping to find a ticket for this sector at the given late hour. Surprisingly, tickets were available for almost every servicing airline, including Lauda, Virgin (operated by MH), China Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Garuda, Philippines etc. I chose to fly with Lauda because of their competitive fare, and also because I flew with them nemerous times and was quite satisfied. I paid AUD1,099 for the return trip covering around 9,000 miles or 15,000 kms.

Since my flight was not until 1830 hours, I basically spent the morning at Dee Why beach, had a roast chicken roll for lunch and then went home to pack. At about 1500 hours, my friend drove me to the airport.

Check-In

I arrived at the airport at around 1530 hours, and the line at the Lauda Air counter was at an acceptable lenght. Furthermore, it was moving quickly since there was several counters. I was checked-in by a friendly guy who allocated my seat 45K. It was the last seat of the aircraft, which I requested. I did that because the seat configuration towards the end of the aircraft was 2-4-2, instead of 3-4-3. Anyway, after being efficiently checked-in, I enquired about taking a laptop bag and a carry bag onboard, and the guy said, "That's fine since your bags does not look too heavy". He wished me a good trip and I was on my way.

9/10

After I got my boarding pass, it was only 15.50 hours, so I had around 2 hours to kill. I roamed around the airport buying magazines and snacks for the journey, and did a little spotting. I saw a SQ 744, EK773, TG743, KE 744 ( I think), and among others.

Boarding

The boarding scheduled for 1800 hours was announced at 1755 hours. I knew it did not really matter if I was there first or last so I just took my time and bought some last minute bottled water, magazines, among others. I got to the gate at 1820 hours and was surprised to see everyone still sitting around, looking bored. I took a seat and waited along with everyone else. An announcement was made at 1825hours suggesting that boarding will commence in 10 minutes. At 1840hours, boarding commenced with travellers with children under 5. Five minutes later, a general boarding call was made. I usually prefer the "boarding by row" method used by some airlines. However, boarding was quite smooth and hassle free. All the FAs were very fresh and eager looking, were well spoken and willing to help. Amadeus class was empty and I realised that there was not a seperate boarding call for them. I assume that they must be relaxing at some Lounge while being updated on the delayed boarding.

The hydraulics of centre overhead compartment on row 45 was malfunctioning. This caused the bin to drop down with a loud bang, and the things in storage to fall down on the passenger opening the bin. This actually happened a few times since the notified FA did not convey the message to the other FAs, causing other FAs to find out for themselves, creating a few bangs, gasps and screams.

Boarding completed in the next 15 minutes or so, and we were on our way.

6/10 (delay)

Take off, in-flight service, landing etc

The aircraft took off at 1915 hours, a delay of 45 minutes. Take off was smooth, with a couple of turbulence here and there. Lauda Air has PTV fitted on every seatback on their 777s, so the in-flight entertainment was standard. It did not really bother me much since I looked out of the window most of the time, read my magazines or simply slept. There was no menu. It was announced over the PA system, which was something to complain about. The PA system was not audible, making it a little difficult to understand. Initially, I thought it was me not understanding the FA's German Accent, but I asked the guy next to me if he understood, he said he could hardly understand the German Version (he was Austrian) and he did not know what the other language was. I thought it was a bit of a hazzard since in the unlikely event of an emergency, no one would be able to follow instructions.

Anyways, I managed to understand that dinner was either Chicken or Beef. Being the last row, I thought I would be served first, however, I was not. When it came to my turn, there was only the Beef caneloni left, which was a deja-vu. The last time I flew Lauda, there was no choice left too. Anyways, dinner consisted of a corn salad, beef caneloni, bread roll, and a mud cake. It was all so-so. I had an OJ to go with it. I don't think Lauda serves any other type of alcoholic drinks other than wine. Is that normal?

4 hours or so later, a light snack was served. It was a ham and cheese roll and a chocolate mousse, and tea or coffee. It was just a normal snack, which was acceptable. At this stage, the ongoing turbulence was worsening and I had to gulp down the coffee, otherwise it would have spilt everywhere. I was actually getting excited since I enjoyed turbulence alot more than a smooth flight... as long as it wasn't continuous.

Prior to landing, the aerosol was sprayed all over the plane, which is seemingly a standard procedure for this sector V.V. It was around this time that the immigration card was distributed.

The plane landed in KUL at 2355 local time, only 15 minutes behind schedule. The passengers disembarked quite quickly, and it was then that I saw 4 of my school mates stretching and yawning at the front of the cabin! We spoke briefly and 3 of them were continuing onwards to Norway and the other one was going to Sweden. I asked them what made them fly Lauda/Austrian, and they said it was cheaper than other airlines and you still make the same number of stops. The other thing was that VIE was much more pleasant than LHR, which is where they had to stop if they flew MH, QF, BA, and maybe SQ and TG if CPH was fully booked. It was their first time on NG/OS and they were thoroughly pleased with it.

8/10

Overall, I enjoy travelling on Lauda Air. They are seemingly service oriented and have a young and willing to please team of staff members. Their aircraft may be ageing and it is visible from the seat fabrics and malfunctions of the overhead compartments, nevertheless, it is a lot better than what I have seen on other airlines. Lauda seemingly takes great pride in their work and customer satisfaction, which is quite an important component in this industry. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a relatively cheap ticket and good service!

If there are questions you would like to ask, I would be glad to answer them!

Regards,
Andrew