Introduction

I spend the night at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Oslo Airport. I had a few constraints to deal with on this trip. Originally, I was scheduled to return to Switzerland on Thursday evening on KLM, with a departure at 17h00 from Trondheim, as I have to be back on Friday for my lectures starting at 10h00. But then I received an invite for a meeting on Thursday that would run on until 17h00, which meant that I would miss my KLM flight. That only left one solution, namely to fly to Oslo on Thursday evening and then on to Zürich on Friday. And that, boys and girls, is how I find myself entering the terminal at Oslo Airport at the ungodly time of 04h30 in the morning.

Check-In

The airport is already busy. I enter the terminal building and head one floor up to departures. I’ve already checked in online, so I head straight for security. The fast track is open, which significantly speeds up the process.

Airside

By the time I’m through security, it’s just gone 04h50, only twenty minutes to go to boarding, and I can’t be bothered to find the lounge. It’s too early and I’m not in the mood for the white sneakers and suits brigade.

So instead, I first walk around a bit to find a good location for me to take a few photos of my ride to Zürich this morning. With that out of the way, my next task is to secure sustenance for the flight.

Boarding

Boarding starts on time. Ahead of the boarding announcement, the gate agent informs passengers that the flight is sold out, and that therefore, excess luggage will end up in the hold. He also explicitly states that passengers in boarding group 5 will all have to put their luggage in the hold and are not entitled to take any carry-on luggage into the cabin.

The Cabin & Seat

To be honest, I think I prefer the A 220 over the Embraer E2. Even so, I must say that the first impression upon boarding is very positive. The cabin looks sharp and fresh.

I’ve booked myself the emergency exit, which is on row 11 on the Embraer 190 E2. The seat is very comfortable and the pitch is excellent to the extreme!

The Crew & Service

There are three cabin crew on this flight. The purser looks like he might be of southeast Asian origin. In the Economy Class cabin are two young ladies. They’re rather serious, but I greatly appreciate that they very strictly respect the safety precautions on the aircraft and also enforce them with passengers.

We push back ahead of schedule at 05h30. The SWISS flight to Zürich is the first departure of the day. We taxi to the active runway 01L and take off at 05h50. The flight time is announced as one hour and fifty minutes.

The Meal

On SWISS shorthaul passengers receive a complimentary bottle of still water and a little square of Swiss chocolate at the end of the flight. Everything else is buy on board. While I was airside I stopped at a bakery and bought myself a bottle of mango flavoured sparkling water as well as two cardamom knots, which are my kryptonite. Once aboard and the service begins, I get a filter coffee from the buy on board menu, which goes very nicely with the cardamom knots. The coffee is CHF4.90, which is not excessive for a coffee in Switzerland.

The remainder of the flight passes quickly. It’s a pleasant flight. Most passengers are still tired or even sleeping, so the atmosphere in the cabin is quiet and peaceful.

Arrival

The descent into Zürich is gorgeous. The snow capped mountains in the background make for a stunning backdrop. We touch down on runway 16 ahead of schedule at 07h40 and taxi to our stand at the A pier.

Conclusion

This was rather an enjoyable, hassle free flight. Everything went according to plan, so that I was ready for my lecture to start on time. The emergency exit row was great and provided a high level of comfort. I’m not sure how pleasant this flight would have been had I been seated elsewhere, though. Helvetic notoriously has rather a tight pitch towards the back of the bus.