Austrian Airlines? -NEVER AGAIN

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy the flight. But if you'll never fly with an airline that has delayed a bag, your only option is to stay on the ground I'm afraid.

2 1/2 hour flight VIE to LHR, we got a cup of water, not a bottle. A
cup -one cup. Want a soda, pretzels or a sandwich? Pay for it.

That is common in economy nowadays. The customers have shown that it's what they want.

We walked a long, long way through terminal 2, and came upon a
security site where we had to be checked again. We never left the
secure side of the airport, yet had to be checked again.

That is standard procedure at Heathrow, if you arrive from a non-UK airport you have to through security again.

I am 75 years old and have two artificial hips, I ALWAYS set off the
magnetometer.

In that case, maybe you should avoid Heathrow in the future.

I, too, am very sorry you had such a hard time. I think what you experienced is what many have experienced with flying since international travel returned in 2021. Perhaps you were expecting the same service levels as pre-2020?

The lack of food and drink on short haul is common and charging for the same is also common. I traveled to Hawaii from Seattle last winter. 6 hour flight so I'd call that long-haul. Water/juice/soda on one pass, no food unless you purchased. Fortunately we knew ahead of time both from this forum and from looking at the Alaska Airline webpages and picked up food and drink in the Seattle airport plus brought snacks from home. I'm sorry you weren't aware to check out the airline website to see if that information was available so you could buy food in Vienna.

Baggage this spring/summer/fall thru some of the big International hubs - particularly LHR and AMS has been pretty bad with lots of delays, missed connections and lost luggage. Thank goodness it happened at the end of your vacation and not the beginning. Many of us went to carry on only this year after having moved away from it pre-Covid.

TBH, I think what you experienced is what many have gone thru this year with delayed and cancelled flights. I'd suggest you ask for wheelchair transit thru the airport if you choose to travel internationally again.

Meanwhile, how was your trip otherwise? Good Christmas Markets, I hope!

I’m sorry you had this unfortunate experience. Security for connections at Heathrow has been in place at Heathrow for many years. This is not new or unusual, it is simply that you weren’t expecting it.

Lost luggage, short connections are things that make for stressful trips. I am glad you made it home.

More proof of my theory that airtags are basically useless. You know where you luggage is... It does you no good it's not going to get to you any faster because they don't use your airtag to find luggage.

For the rest of this... This is air travel on any carrier in 2022.

In flight entertainment on such a short flight? That’s just never been a thing.

I’ve taken the Austrian flight from Vienna to LHR many times, including last month. I did not have the issues you experienced.

All air travel pretty much sucks theses days.

I once had reservations on Austrian Air, kinda, but never flew them. In late 2019 I made reservations using United reward miles and part of the journey was on Austrian Air. My destination was Budapest. My itinerary was Sacramento- LA-Vienna-Budapest. Three times the LA-Vienna leg on Austrian Air was dropped. It still showed the Sac-LA and Vienna-Budapest flights. The first two times I called United and they said they fixed it. After a third time when I called I asked for them to change my entire flight so I wouldn’t be flying on Austrian. I’ve never had another experience like that flying with reward miles. As it turned out because my trip was in September 2020 we didn’t go. We all know what happened. No trip that year.

I am sorry you had such a bad experience, but you should not blame Austria Airlines for anything but the missing luggage. The rest is pretty much SOP for airlines and for Heathrow.

Paper cups are a lot more eco compliant than individual plastic water bottles, and most airlines have gone that direction at least in Economy.

The time spent circling before landing is not the airline’s fault, it is Heathrow’s call. We have experienced it so many times coming into Heathrow I have come to expect it, and sit on the right side of the plane to enjoy the view.

The second security screening at Heathrow is mandatory for ALL passengers from flights originating outside the UK—-they do not trust other nations’ security procedures. And we were told the US mandates the additional screening at Heathrow for US-bound flights.

It doesn’t matter how old you are—-we are both older than you, and have experienced very rigorous screening there due to some foreign substance on my husband’s hands, or something suspicious in my carry-on that turned out to be nothing. Even the underwire in my bras was the subject of a 15-minute delay while they found a female agent to “wand” me and pat me down.

And heaven help you if you have the slightest bit of errant liquid in your water bottle, or anywhere else outside of the 3-1-1 bag.

You can’t blame the airline for this; just the way things are with flying these days (think of Lockerbie if you need more explanation).

But your experience with your AirTag illustrates the good use to which these can be put, contrary to what one post above says. It is very reassuring to be able to know just where the bag is so you can report the location to the airline, rather than relying on them to find it.

Sorry to hear about your experience and disappointment.

My wife's been mobility challenged the last couple of years. She has a Luggie folding electric personal scooter that she rides through airports and to the door of the airplane. They gate check the scooter and bring it back to the door of the airplane at the arrival airport. I handle the luggage with a carry on rolling bag and a 21" backpack suitcase.

My biggest problem is keeping up with her in airports. I cannot walk as fast as she goes.

We've been to Europe 3x and Las Vegas traveling this way. If we keep on traveling, a folding scooter is going to be required. You might want to look into such a scooter.

It is now three days later. AirTag shows my luggage in Terminal 2 at LHR where it has been for three days. I notice it has moved three times within the Terminal, but never out the door. I notified both United and Austrian. Spinning my wheels.

I am so sorry continued frustration. It may (or may not) help to know that weather has been causing irregular operations.

Services on short and medium-haul flights

On Austrian Airlines flights, our crew will serve you drinks, snacks or a meal, depending on the flight time. On selected flights, our drinks service offers a wide range of Austrian wines, beer, coffee, tea and spirits.....
https://www.austrian.com/at/en/economy-class

you have to really dig through their site to find:

Our Austrian Melangerie offers you a wide selection of Austrian foods, snacks and drinks on short and medium-haul routes in Economy Class. You have the option of adapting on-board service to your requirements, from a small sweet or a savoury snack to the classic Wiener schnitzel. Choose from the menu in advance online or directly on board and pay our flight crew. Just as you would in a coffee house, wine tavern or typical Viennese pub. Only right above the clouds!
https://www.austrian.com/at/en/austrian-melangerie

I can see that one cup of water was a surprise and disappointment.

The bags not being on board the VIE-LHR leg is inexcusable. At least it was the homeward bound leg, so presumably not critical, just annoying. Maybe Santa will pick up the bag and drop it down your chimney.

So I’m still not seeing how the AirTags are helping

There seems to be no movement of the luggage. So telling the airline you know where they are helps? How?

A friend of mine, who is a flight attendant told me a story about this man who kept coming up to her telling her his luggage had not been loaded on the plane because he could see it via the AirTag. Finally, after about three trips, she pretended to call someone. Five minutes later, he shows back up and thanks her for getting his luggage loaded on the plane. Relationship between him going up and complaining about his luggage and luggage behind loaded on the plane - nonexistent. She knew all the luggage had not been loaded. That’s why they were sitting at the gate. They were waiting on about 20 pieces of luggage. She pretty much said that they don’t do anything for the people with the AirTags concerns. There’s really nothing they can do.

still missing?

Well, I have read stories of people whose luggage was located by the airline thanks to the AirTag. But it is up to the airline to make good use of the location information provided.

The example you report doesn’t show that the AirTag was useless. It just shows that the person was over-anxious and not using their AirTag correctly or for the intended purpose. Watching your luggage be boarded on the aircraft is entertaining, but that’s all. He just took up the flight attendant’s time unnecessarily.

At least the OP here has reassurance that his bag is still at the airport and has not been stolen off the baggage carousel and taken away.

It is now SIX days later. AirTag shows my luggage in Terminal 2 at LHR where it has been for Six days. I notice it has moved four times within the Terminal, but never out the door. I notified both United and Austrian. Spinning my wheels. They are both "Working on it".

The clothing, toiletries and my hearing Aids are replaceable. The Christmas gifts are not.

I went to Poland, Hungary and Austria to buy gifts at the various markets. Baring someone going back to those markets, walking the six miles per day through those cities and markets and then finding the same gifts, it is a loss. Here comes Christmas, there are my gifts.

To those who would say if I wanted to secure my gifts, I should have put them in my carry on, I did. Then only things in my carry on were Christmas gifts. When you have five kids, five grand kids and two great grand kids and a wife, all of their gifts will not fit in a carry on.

OP you are probably within the window to start filing with United to reimburse you for what’s missing. Hopefully you have receipts for the Christmas gifts because that would be my next step - start filing a claim with United.

No I am talking about cases (not “so-called stories”) where someone use the AirTag to find out which of 3 possible airports their luggage was located at (the original departure airport, the connecting airport, or the final airport). They told the airline and the airline used the information to focus their search. The luggage was not already on the next flight—-it was still sitting at some airport.

Saying that AirTags are useless is not helping this loving parent/grandparent/great grandparent to find the precious Christmas gifts, so I don’t see any point in continuing this. I just hope that the luggage is on its way home soon. At least the OP will be able to see it move from the airport to the airplane and have some reassurance even before the airline notifies them it is on the way. And when it does arrive, they will have quite a saga to tell the kids about the long-delayed journey of the gifts from Austria.

There is hope!! The luggage is no longer in Terminal 2. It is outside of any buildings, still on LHR property. Fingers and toes crossed!

Hopefully it is in a luggage cart being readied for loading!

There was a baggage handlers strike at terminal 2 over the weekend. I wonder if this has played into the delay that you are experiencing?

Got a text last evening at 7:30 PM that my baggage was going to be delivered that night. Got a call at 1:20 PM, the driver was two minutes away. He arrived and I received one of the two missing bags. I got the one with the AirTag in it. Everything was inside as I left it. Now hoping for the other bag with all of my daughter's treasures and no AirTag. Fingers & toes crossed.

Did you file two separate claim forms? I assume so but just wanted to check. Keep after them and make sure they don’t end the search for the other bag after one was found and delivered.

My daughter spoke to "someone at United baggage". update. "My bag is in London, but it’s in a warehouse and I need to fill out a claim form w/everything in it to get it back." I have never heard of anything so ridiculous.

This is absolutely incredible!!!! Talk about being treated like crap after paying $100 extra each for a checked bag, then another $230 each to get a seat on one airline, then another $30 each for a seat on the other. Absolute CRAP!!

Dear OP, we hear your frustration about the baggage situation and can understand. Do remember that there has been a baggage handlers strike on in London and the airlines had no control over that. I'm not excusing the airlines, just mentioning that there were some unusual circumstances relating to baggage at this time.

However, your complaints about the baggage fees and seat assignment fees leave me a bit puzzled. Did you not understand the conditions of the fares that you purchased? There are different classes of fares that come with different benefits. You may have mistakenly purchased one of the "bare bones" fares that don't allow for free checked bags. You can have free seat assignments on any airline if you wait until check in at 24 hours prior to the flight. The exception to this is if you buy a special fare that doesn't allow for seat selection at all.

I can see why the lost luggage along with fees that you weren't expecting could cause some real frustration. I continue to hope for a speedy solution to this issue. You should be checking your travel insurance as well regarding a claim.

I don't want a "claim". I don't want money. I want my daughter to have the treasures she shopped for in three countries.

They set the prices. I agreed to the prices. I paid for luggage transportation and return. They did not live up to their end of the bargain. The "luggage strike" in Lo0ndon still does not explain why my luggage did not make our Austrian flight from Vienna. We were 2 1/2 hours early. Our luggage was checked and accepted immediately upon arrival. AirTag showed the luggage was not on our flight. If I were one ounce over in checked baggage weight, it would be "Pay up double the amount." They are quite strict when it comes to passenger's responsibilities. They are quite loose when it comes to their completion of their end of the entire bargain.

Austrian initially dropped the ball.

Got an email today. Allegedly they fou d the bag and brought it over here and it will be delivered today. Keep a good thought

OK! Hoping for the best.

Quite the saga. It may be in this long thread somewhere, but have they offered anything as compensation?