Prior to my Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to Chicago, I spent 30 minutes in the Austrian Business Lounge in Terminal F at VIE. This Schengen Lounge offers comfortable seating and a generous spread of food and drink.
Austrian Business Lounge (Schengen) Vienna Review
I maintain Star Gold status and normally would use the Austrian Senator Lounge, but that adjacent lounge was temporarily closed during my visit…all passengers were directed toward the business lounge. Even though I flying to the United States, I stopped in this Schengen lounge because the international lounge was also closed. Most lounges have since reopened.
Access + Hours + Location
This lounge welcomes all Star Alliance Gold and premium cabin passengers traveling on a Star Alliance flight. Miles & More Frequent Traveller status holders also have access to this lounge. Furthermore, Austrian sells access for 35€ if you pre-book online or 39€ at the door. It is open daily from 5:30AM to 10:30PM and located on the second floor of Terminal F. After clearing security, follow the black “Lounge F” signs upstairs and down a long corridor overlooking the arrival lobby to reach the lounge.
Seating
As you enter the lounge, a food and beverage area is immediately to the left. Around it to the right and left is seating areas which range from tables and chairs to couches to semi-private curtained rest area with easy chairs.
One complaint: power ports are sparse in this lounge.
Quiet Area
A curtained quiet area marks a cell phone free zone
Food + Drink
All food and drink is self-serve. During my morning visit, the breakfast spread included:
- pastries
- croissants
- bread rolls
- sandwiches
- cereal
- cold cuts
- cheese
- scrambled eggs
- bacon
- sausage
- potatoes
- sliced fruit
- whole fruit
- yogurt
Beverages included coffee, tea, water, juice, and a full selection of alcoholic beverages.
Restrooms + Showers
Restrooms and showers are available.
All showers were in-use during visit – see a receptionist if you wish to add yourself to the shower waitlist.
Artwork
A pair of paintings (prints, technically) give the lounge some character.
CONCLUSION
Having just come from a hearty breakfast at the Andaz, I did not eat anything, but appreciated the wide selection of food and drink available. This is particularly valuable considering that for most short- and mid-haul flights, Austrian no longer services complimentary food in economy class (a water bottle and chocolate remain free). While this isn’t a lounge I would arrive early to use, it particularly beats the gate area at Vienna International Airport, which is often warm and crowded and lacks power outlets.
Unrelated, but would like to share – recently we have flown, for the very first time, Austrian charter for our vacation. A classic A321.
Oh, were we surprised that for 4 hour long (or short? whichever you look at it) flight, we got free drinks, full breakfast including a cake and more drinks – cold, hot, alcohol or nonalc.
I wish they would do this for a normal, scheduled flights too …
The valuation of buying entry to lounges has become fascinating to me. At the price they charge for public entry it’s barely more than a beer and sandwich at one of the Vienna airport restaurants. And, quite frankly, those restaurants are often less crowded and offering better quality. That lounge especially is often over crowded with barely a seat to be had and with limited junk offerings. I’ve been subjected to it many times and walked out. This on a paid business class ticket.
The entire lounge concept across the world needs a serious looking at. It’s reached the point that you are better off in many cases at one of the public offerings. A recent stop at the lounge Etihad uses in SIN is a perfect example..complete chaos, trash everywhere, barely seating, junk food. I walked out and found a nice restaurant with a corner seat, ordered a glass of wine and was as content as I could be.
Either fix the lounge issues or just stop offering them. Nothing worse than promising a product that’s meant to deliver (a business class ticket that costs thousands) and then giving you something that is complete rubbish.
Good riddance. More shawarma and Cook’s brut for the rest of us.
I was literally just at this lounge a month ago. I think the food spread has been cut back, at least for dinner; it was OK but not great. And yes, it’s woefully lacking power ports. Luckily I came at an unbusy time and was able to grab a table next to a power bank.
At VIE, certain airlines and Priority Pass provide access to the Sky Lounge, which is a dump compared to the lounge in this article. The food selection at the Sky Lounge is nowhere near what is offered by the lounge featured in this article. I guess it’s a matter of perspective.
Not true. While the sky lounge is more crowded than the austrian lounge, foodwise it is actually surprisingly good. Way better than most other priority pass lou
So if you’re transiting through Vienna on a business class ticket and/or have SA Gold and don’t have a Schengen visa, does that mean there is lounge access?
Yes, there are two non-Schengen OS lounges as well.
For quite some time before they stopped the complimentary service in economy, OS service on many European flights was effectively devoid of food. I remember flying SKG-VIE, which is just under two hours, and being offered a single cereal bar!
I always loved the sandwiches on LX and LH, but have to admit that I like the new menus. For example, the bircher muesli on LX is delicious:
https://liveandletsfly.com/swiss-saveurs-bircher-muesli/
That muesli does look good!
Amazingly, I have yet to fly economy on a LH group BOB flight- I either manage to avoid them altogether and fly with TP/A3 or pay a very modest premium to fly in business (I am flying Spain-MUC-UK in a couple of weeks, the Y price for that portion of the ticket was €167 while C was €203), but the consensus on Flyertalk seems to be that the LX prices are insane and that LH often only load a couple of sandwiches, so you cannot rely on BOB if you have a short connection.
Any idea if the Schengen Senator lounges are open at VIE yet? I will be connecting through in about a month and a half and a post-COVID review of those would be great.
It is open.
I’m flying Austrian business class EWR to VIE and connecting to Austrian economy class to OTP. Any idea if I’ll have access to the business lounges in VIE?