Austrian Airlines Reviews 2,411

Poor Customer Service from Irene at Vienna Rebooking Desk
After missing our connection in Vienna on January 24th, we rushed to the rebooking desk around 10:50pm for our Ethiopian Airlines flight to Cape Town. We unfortunately missed the ticket machine initially and stood waiting in line for approximately 15 minutes with no one behind us. When 4 other passengers arrived after us and took tickets from the machine, we remained standing as the next person to be served.
When receptionist Irene called the next number, she refused to assist us despite clearly seeing we had been waiting. She insisted we must have a ticket from the machine, showing no flexibility or understanding of our situation.
I understand procedures must be followed, but Irene showed no empathy or willingness to help two stressed passengers who had just missed their connection late at night. A simple acknowledgment of our situation and polite direction to get a ticket would have made all the difference. Instead, we were treated dismissively during an already difficult travel situation.
Customer service should balance following procedures with treating passengers with basic courtesy and understanding, especially during late-night rebooking scenarios.
Rating: 1/5 stars

I will never fly this airline again. Absolutely terrible customer service. Now I don’t know if it was specifically the airline or that the staff at Marco Polo international are all Italian and this is the general Italian attitude but I have never dealt with more rude airline staff in my life.
I would rather fly easyJet at least the staff are decent.

I had the worst airline experiences of my life with Austrian Airlines, and the way they handled it afterward was even worse than the disruption itself.

Outbound:
We were denied boarding because of a visa issue that should have been identified during booking, not at the airport. Austrian sold a non-refundable itinerary involving multiple Schengen countries with zero warning and no document validation, then blamed the passenger when the problem surfaced at check-in.

Return (much worse):
My return itinerary became impossible to use due to airline delay (the first flight was delayed past the next connection). I immediately contacted Austrian Airlines and asked to be rebooked. They failed to find any acceptable alternative. Only then did I cancel and buy replacement tickets with another airline out of pocket.

Despite charging me nearly $4,700 for the original ticket, Austrian Airlines refunded a laughable $136 for the entire unused return trip — a trip that was never flown because of their own delay.

Even worse:
They repeatedly sent canned responses blaming “visa responsibility” for issues that were completely irrelevant to the return flights. They ignored my last formal dispute email entirely, and refused to engage meaningfully or explain how a $136 refund was calculated.

This is not customer service — it’s stonewalling. Taking thousands of dollars for flights that were never provided and then hiding behind boilerplate emails is unacceptable.

I am now pursuing chargebacks and regulatory complaints because Austrian Airlines clearly has no intention of resolving this fairly.

Bottom line:
If something goes wrong — and it will — do not expect accountability, transparency, or fair treatment. Save yourself the stress, time, and money and fly with an airline that actually stands behind its tickets.

So stingy it feels like a budget airline. I was traveling as usual with one carry on suitcase and a backpack. Other airlines normally let you board like that, but at Vienna Airport I got checked and they forced me to check my carry on. It was only slightly overweight.

Austrian Airlines lies. The company ignores legal EU regulations and puts passengers' lives at risk. I am now suing the company in the UK.

I complained about 2 seats in Premium Economy being defective on a flight from Bangkok to Vienna. The seats would not stay in an upright position. The crew were informed but dismissive saying "we serve food. We are not engineers". On take off and landing the two seats "collapsed" making us both vulnerable. The state of the seats did not meet EU safety standards.

There is clear video evidence and statements from independent travellers elsewhere who witnessed the seat malfunctions.

But Austrian Airlines dismissed the complaint stating the seats were "fine".

If the Airline had apologised and given assurances better seat checks would be made on future flights that would have been sufficient. But the airline has decided to cover up it's appalling maintenance - so I am pursuing litigation to expose this lying and help make the airline more safe.

It is a regulation that seats should be locked upright for take off and landing. Austrian Airlines openly flouted these EU laws. DISMAL.

Dont book with this airline with lessthan an hour lay over. They arrived late with the first flight and we had to endure the fact the we only had 10 min left before the next flight’s gate’s closes. We had only 10min on the lay over to do the passport control, bags and body scanning and find our next gate - after the delay arrival. All passenger were running in distress trying make it to the gate and they were ready to not let us in even though it was not the our fault! They let us in after we begged!

We flew with Austrian Airlines from Brussels via Vienna to Bangkok. We had the option to reserve seats through the Lufthansa app, and we booked and paid for seats with extra legroom for the VIE-BKK flight, as we wanted some additional comfort for the 11-hour flight.

When checking in at Brussels, we were already informed that there might be an issue with our seat selection. We were advised to check with customer service in Vienna. Upon arrival in Vienna, after visiting the customer service desk, we learned that there had been a change in aircraft type, meaning that our reserved seats no longer qualified as extra legroom. However, we had already paid for this service. The staff advised us to contact the airline’s customer service to claim a refund. No alternative seats were offered, as the flight was fully booked.

After our trip, we contacted Lufthansa customer service to report the issue. Initially, we were told that we were not entitled to a refund since we had supposedly received what we paid for—which was clearly not the case. We provided proof of payment and seat reservation, but the response stated that there was no refund because, according to them, there had been no aircraft type change (contrary to what was confirmed to us at Vienna airport).

Throughout this process, we received repeated apologies but no genuine acknowledgment of the inconvenience. There was no offer of compensation, no empathy, and it felt like the company’s priority was only to collect extra payment for services that were not provided.

We still have another flight booked with them, but based on this experience, it will definitely be our last. We strongly recommend choosing another airline to avoid being misled.

I am writing this review regarding my flight from Mauritius to Vienna on January 7th, which lasted approximately 10 hours.

I understand that Austrian Airlines operates more like a low-cost carrier on short European routes (for example Vienna–Belgrade, where even water is not complimentary), and I accept that.
However, this approach is not acceptable on a long-haul intercontinental flight.

Already one hour after takeoff, there was no sparkling wine available at all, which is disappointing for a full-service airline on such a long flight.

What was far more serious, however, was the meal selection. The only options offered were:
• chicken with paprika
• gnocchi pasta with paprika
• lasagna with paprika

I am allergic to paprika, which meant I was unable to eat any of the meals provided. As a result, I went almost 24 hours without food.

On a 10-hour long-haul flight, offering no alternative meal option and no consideration for basic dietary restrictions shows a significant lack of planning and care for passenger well-being.

This experience was far below expectations and not what one would expect from Austrian Airlines on an intercontinental route.

Additionally, I was very disappointed with the behavior of the cabin crew.

During the flight, a 9-year-old child was calmly walking to the restroom and back to their seat. The seatbelt sign was NOT on, yet the cabin crew shouted at the child, aggressively ordering them to sit down.

The situation was completely unnecessary and handled in a hostile and intimidating manner, especially considering that no safety rule was being violated.
Such behavior towards a child is unacceptable and reflects a serious lack of professionalism and basic courtesy.

Overall, the service attitude of the crew felt aggressive rather than service-oriented, which significantly worsened an already disappointing long-haul flight experience.

In addition, if I May add:
During the beverage service, I requested still water and was served only approximately one-third of a glass. When I politely asked for another glass, the crew member replied, “I’ve just given you water,” which I found dismissive and unprofessional.

Moreover, you need to understand that my travel agency booked me a ticket thus I do not have all data by myself, and you could easily find me by my passport number - here below:

Dragana Baltezarevic
019156670 exp.date 07.10.2035.
Travel date 07 January
Route: Mauritius - Vienna 10h flight!

Flew from Naples Italy to London Heathrow through Viena , the whole entire experience was excellent , polite staff at airport helpful cabin crews, clean and new aircraft, landed on time,

Disastrous customer service.
After multiple calls where in one of the calls I was put on hold for over 40 minutes on an international tariff, the answers I received were worse than what I could find by reading the website. In the last call Customer Service assured me I could take ski equipment with me for FREE, they even sent me a so-called confirmation per email, only to realise that what is written in the document and the website that it is not free at all. Very disappointing. I am happy I found this out before going through more hassle at the airport!

Austrian Airlines cancelled our flight and provided no support. Only way to communicate with airline was via their AI Chat Assistant. It offered an alternative flight 4 days later. No passenger rights were called out. We received no hotel, no meals, no transport - none of the care passengers are entitled to. After we said that it was not acceptable it told us to buy new tickets with another airline, costing us €1,800. Despite this, they later rebooked us without our consent. Requested a reimbursement for food at airport - received rejection. Extremely disappointing experience. Its no longer a premium airline but very expensive budget service. I’m escalating this with the Austrian Agency for Passenger Rights.

I flew from Heathrow to Vienna on 17th of Dec 2025, morning flight, the plane was kept on standby for 1 H and I needed to use the loo. a flight attendant was verry rood and started shouting to sit down. I almost saw myself detained for a pee. it doesn't cost to be polite , but I believe some genes are coming from behind.

We had a connecting flight from Vienna to LHR. Main flight was delayed from Cairo to Vienna. They held the plane due to the delay and arrived at LHR 20 mins late. That`s fine. Wife`s bag turned up. Mine didn`t. Again no real problem told bag would be delivered within 2 days. We arrived on the 30th. Had a note from them saying bag due 2nd Jan between 11:18 and 14:18. So arranged the day to suit. No one turned up with the bag. Now being told it could be the 7th. Being told that the milage is over what is expected. Really not my problem. Shouldnt have lost my bag

First and last flight with this company. At the boarding line, they threaten, in imperative tones, to delay the flight or not to let it depart if no one volunteers to check their carry-on luggage, which is regular in size and weight, since there is no room in the cabin for everyone. The company must guarantee the right of everyone to carry the required carry-on luggage. If there is a shortage of space, you board fewer people, not everyone has time to go and collect their luggage at the arrival airport. And in any case, this need must be communicated first, at check-in and not at boarding. On top of that, and what's even worse, the staff at the gate was very rude: when I complained, the first guy forced me to check my luggage, unlike other people in line, because there were 3 of us (I don't understand according to what criteria) otherwise the usual "supervisor" would have had to intervene; the second guy, He urges me to speak English or German (but he understood Italian very well) by raising his voice. I repeat in English what has already been expressed and it points out to me with a certain pride that Austrian is the best company, the n°1 (looking at the reviews, I don't think so) and threatens me, from the top of its step, not to gesticulate. So as not to waste any more time, I prefer to desist, not before taking the clerk's name from the tag on my jacket, and I'll pack my bags. With great complaints from everyone, we find that upon departure, many hatboxes on board were empty. Congratulations to Austrian Airlines and its employees for their professionalism, seriousness, education, and perfect process control in their work. "Low cost" service for a national carrier, even quite expensive.

I had always had a good experience with this airline, but obviously it is deteriorating. We should fly at afternoon while at 3.00 am we got an E mail telling that the flight is cancelled. I got an alternative flight dated 5 days later but my husband didn't get any offer. We tried to call, write and visit their local office. No body answer the call or mails and the staff at local offices couldn't help us. We had to meet at the work two days later. We were need to buy another ticket from another airline and travel for a very high charge. We did not get any refund and even no apology.

I took 2 flights with Austrian Airlines. The first flight was a bit more than 1 hour long, we didn't receive any meal on board, just a little chocolate, but very little for real, the seats were anyway very comfortable and with very good legroom, the aircraft was an Airbus. The main issue came when we boarded in the second plane which was unfortunately a Boeing and had a bad legroom, I had to put one leg diagonally because there was the base of the next seat right in front of my leg and the space was very short, it was simply asymmetric and the travel was very uncomfortable, it was a 10 HOURS long travel. The food on board was delicious but was too little for all those hours, we had indeed a modest quantity of food in the first meal, a super mini snack and a poor second meal which was a bit more than a snack. The quantity of food we received was suitable for a 5 hours flight but not for a 10 hours flight. The crew members were anyway kind at us and it's to be appreciated, the flight was reliable.

Our outbound flight from WAW to INN was delayed 5 hours because the aircraft arrived broken and had to be replaced by a smaller aircraft.
The knock-on effect messed up our transfer and tickets for that day.The smaller aircraft was cramped and over crowded. Service was poor. A thoroughly unpleasant experience.

On our return flight the transfer was too short so we had to rush due to the slow automated desks. My partners bag was not loaded on the plane and we had to wait a week to receive the baggage back (even though it arrived in WAW on the next flight). The suitcase was damaged and the belongings inside too.

Customer (dis)service is abhorrent and incompetent. They just want you to leave and they pay no attention to you. They just want your money and want to do nothing in return. It’s almost as if they don’t want to even fly.

They have made a premium economy because apparently charging your phone is now a luxury as if economy wasn’t piss quality enough. Legitimately what else can they take away to make it worse? I’m very thin and can barely fit my butt in the seats already and there’s no leg room already at what point will airlines stop being so money hungry? All my life flying internationally I have had an outlet in economy and now you have to pay more to charge your device and there’s now no personal fans either. I mean come on!!! Ridiculous!!! Like god forbid people are poor and can’t afford first class so they get fresh oxygen privileges.

I always wanted to visit a circus. Thank you Austrian for providing this experience. Such a bunch of clowns. They intentionally overbook a flight and then don't give people seats. Good circus. Too little animals tho. I hoped to see an elephant...

However, at least they handled the situation promptly and everybody had a seat in the end. Very shady practice tho. Not something I would expect of a member of Star Alliance...

Not actually a polite staff. You should be more careful how you choose your staff. You as an airline is ridiculous to have such reviews and don’t change anything. Bliax 🤮