Flight Review: Lufthansa A319-100 Economy FRA-SZG

by joeheg

For our short hop from Frankfurt to Salzburg, I originally booked an award ticket for 8,000 United miles for a flight on an Austrian Airlines turboprop. What better way to fly to the Austrian mountains?

We received a phone call alerting us that due to an operational change, the flight would no longer be operated by Austrian Airlines but now would be on a Lufthansa A319. Now, while I find flying on turboprop planes to be a fun experience, the idea of getting to sit on a jet for the 1hr flight after our overnight trip to Germany sounded like a good alternate choice.

Here’s a quick rundown of our flight.

Lufthansa 1104
FRA-SZG
A319-100

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We departed from Terminal 1, Gate A19. Immediately, I remembered something about flights in Europe, bus gates. We were loaded into our bus and took a ride around the tarmac out to our plane. I was enjoying the planespotting but was also glad we had a seat as the driver was leaning into the turns a little too much for a passenger bus. Welcome to Germany!

This wasn’t our first time on an Airbus A319 and I knew that I’d probably be looking at a slimline seat for our flight. I wasn’t disappointed with what I was greeted with.

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Slim seats, no entertainment, no power. I felt just like I was at home. I removed my travel pillow from my bag to use as a back cushion and my iPad for some entertainment for the flight.

When I selected seats, there weren’t many left so I took an aisle seat and gave Sharon a middle. It was a short flight; we could deal. The seat had average legroom for an economy seat. Nothing to speak of but I wasn’t eating my knees. About what I’d expect.

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The in-flight service consisted of the crew passing out some chocolates during the flight, which we saved for a snack when we were hungry at the hotel. I’m pretty sure we got drinks but I don’t remember for sure. To my system, it still was the middle of the night and I only got 3 hours of sleep. Forgive me for the lack of details.

It wasn’t long at cruising altitude that we were starting our approach into Salzburg. At this point, we started packing up our things and getting ready for landing.

Final Thoughts

A domestic flight on a Lufthansa narrow-body plane is much like a domestic flight in the United States. The seats aren’t very comfortable and there’s no entertainment system. If you’re in Business Class, it’s the exact same seat as in Economy except the middle seat is blocked off so there’s not much advantage in regards to space to work.

But, I was totally happy with our flight. Everything ran as expected and the plane was clean. The crew was pleasant, in a German kind of way (I have no other way to describe it). I only paid 8,000 United miles for the ticket so it was a great way for us to get to where we needed to go.

We don’t need luxury for these short hops, just an efficient way to get from point A to point B. That’s exactly what this flight provided.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary

3 comments

John January 17, 2020 - 1:28 pm

Did that flight back in 2012 on Austrian in a Fokker 100. Five across, plenty of leg room. In salzburg had to take a bus to terminal even though I could have walked it in less time…..

Reply
Billy Bob October 24, 2022 - 10:49 pm

How much were the taxes?

Reply
joeheg November 3, 2022 - 1:40 pm

Looking back at my credit card, I think the taxes were around $48 each.

Reply

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