Introduction
SWISS is currently at an impasse. First, there are the engine issue with the A 220 and the A 320 NEO fleets. Second, the airline is still busy recruiting new staff as cabin crew to compensate for the crews that were laid off during COVID. In an attempt to remedy the issues and minimize their effect on network reliability, the airline has wetleased a substantial number of aircraft from Air Baltic.
Getting to the Airport
The history of the city of St. Gallen dates back to the seventh century, when an Irishman of the cloth settled here, spending the rest of his life as a hermit.
Today, the city’s most prominent attraction is the abbey, which was founded in the eighth century.
The journey from St. Gallen to Zürich Airport takes 48 or 59 minutes. Both are direct trains. It’s just that the faster train only calls at Winterthur, whereas the slower train calls at four further stations between St. Gallen and Winterthur.
At the Airport
I think we can skip some of the finer points of my stay at Zurich Airport. Most of the regular readers of this blog are probably quite familiar with my routine by now.
The SWISS boarding passes still refuse to show up on my lock screen. So no news there either. The airport is not overly busy, and security is surprisingly painless.
From security I head straight for the yuppies -in-suits-and-white-sneakers lounge, also known as the SWISS Senator Lounge, for breakfast. They’ve got a nice spread, especially their Gipfeli are delicious!
Boarding
My flight is boarding from gate A 86, which is at the very end of the A pier and very bad news, mainly because there is not a single spot from where I can take a decent shot of my ride to Luxembourg.
On the way to A 86, I spot this Brussels Airlines A 320. Zürich is a fairly new addition to their network. I‘m fascinated by their branding.
The Cabin & Seat
On the Air Baltic A 220-300, the bulkhead is on row 1 on the starboard side, whereas it is on row 2 on the port side. Row 1 on the port side is occupied by a rather large storage compartment, which is used mainly by the crew.
I am seTed on 1 F. 1 D remains empty, so my seat feels rather private.
The seat oitch is good.
In terms of branding, the whole thing is a bit of a mess. The head covers are SWISS branded, and the seat pockets contain the SWISS duty free and menu. However, the pre-recorded announcements mention Air Baltic, and not SWISS, and the safety video is also that of Air Baltic.
The Service & Crew
The crew are friendly and speak good English. It is always noticeable on Air Baltic just how young their crews generally are.
The typical SWISS service starts with the scented towels and a bottle of still water.
The flight time is expected to be forty minutes.
The Snack
The snack is served on a tray. There is a small jar with müsli. And then there’s a small Zopf, a dough pleat. It’s served warm and tastes lovely. But it’s rather strange that it’s served with no butter or jam.
To drink, I have a coffee with cream. And shortly after, the crew pass through the cabin with the chocolates.
Arrival in Luxembourg
The time passes quickly. We land in Luxembourg with a delay of ten minutes, due to a delay we incurred departing Zürich. It’s a gorgeous day here, and the grass is looking lush.
As I enter the terminal, I make a brief stop to get a decent shot of my aircraft. And then I’m off to Kirchberg.
Theres that lovely A220 again!
Its a bit strange that they continue with short hops to ,say, Luxembourg —– but not Salzburg?. At one time both Swissair and Austrian had daily ‘mad dog’ services to Salzburg——- Swissairs continued to Linz and returned via Salzburg in the morning.
I guess in Luxembourg you have the banks, but I’m guessing Salzburg would be quite leisure heavy.
Still,strange to go from twice daily to nothing. How many trains are there between Zurich and Salzburg daily?
One even shorter hop that always surprised me ,was Swissairs 1980s Zurich-Stuttgart flight—— i think the block time was 40 minutes!
“I‘m fascinated by their branding”
You mean the specific livery or being part of the Lufthansa Group’s confusing organization of subsidiaries?
The latter, you’d think the LH group would pay more attention to the brand identity of one of its subsidiaries.
Yeah, and now you also have the confusion of Lufthansa City Airlines versus Lufthansa CityLine. I mean, I understand why they are doing it, but it could lead to confusion for passengers as well, especially on connecting flights…
Honestly, I don’t even understand why they’re doing it. But I see your point. It always seems to me as though they can agree on what to standardize and align, and what to keep different.
William——Why remove my comment?——- you could send me a private email.
Well————– i really did think a comment had been removed.
William—–its those damn Gremlins again!——- ive got a lot on my mind as you know.