shame that airlines are pulling out of Basel and i am very suprised that Swiss is doing it.

I have just heard on my local radio news that Swiss have been bought by Lufthansa!

All private investors of this late-lamented enterprise will get very little if anything back for their money.

Apparently it has been agreed that the livery will stay as at present, with the Swiss white cross on the red tail fin.

Many of the Swiss employees at the airport of Basel-Mulhouse will lose their jobs, but this has already started to show in staffing cuts since Basel was supressed as a major hub for Swiss, and with the arrival of Easyjet.

However the news was not all bad. Easyjet plan to schedule flights from June between Basel and Palma (Majorca), Rome, Nice, Barcelona and somewhere else I didn't catch .... (the traffic light turned from red to green and I had to concentrate on the road instead!)

Has anyone flown swiss airlines, we are hoping to fly to Prague with a stopover in Zurich! Does anyone have any opinions they would like to share with me on Swiss??

Plus it doesn't mention anything about sitting together or in flight meals, do I presume these are included?

Rich, I'll post when I return home .... am transiting via ZRH later today en route to BSL from MAN. Hope to post tomorrow.

check. http://www.airlinequality.com for reviews on Swiss

Hi HolidayRich! Here's the promised reply.

I have just flown BSL-ZRH-MAN and MAN-ZRH-BSL.

Transitting through Zurich is very easy, and much quicker than elsewhere I have flown through. Last night, we took off a bit late from Manchester, and that left me with a 15!! minute connection at Zurich for Basel. Not only did I make it, but so did my baggage!! WELL DONE Zurich airport and Swiss.

A couple of pointers:

You cannot check in online from Manchester, but you can from other airports. I would strongly recommend you do - and you can do it for all sectors of your flight. Do remember to print out 2 copies of each boarding card, one for the passenger and the other for Swiss.

Seat pitch is usually acceptable, and the seats are comfy - but seat belts are of differing lengths depending on the individual aircraft. I flew on 4 RJ 100s and needed extension belts for two of the flights.

Inflight catering for economy class generally consists of one sandwich roll (shame if you don't like cheese!) and a drink (one pass). A bar of chocolate is a pleasant treat.

If you have time to spare at Zurich, you can relax pleasantly. The main terminal you are likely to use is Terminal A. This is in the form of a long wing (Gates 60-80-something), and a little bump (Gates 0- 10). There are security checks at the entrance to all 'lounge' and 'shopping areas', but this is simply to scan you and your hand luggage and no documentation is required. The shops in the Gate areas are really for 'last minute' purchases and minimal duty-free. You need to walk to the land-side area of the terminal wing and get scanned to access the main shopping area (two levels), with lots of different shops (mostly pricey like Caviar House!), but there are seating areas, designated smoking lounges (you will see plenty of advertising for Camel .. ie read smoking lounge!), and restaurants. The further away you walk from the gates, the more varied the restaus and cafes are, including a 'food village' concept and a Burger King. There are also plenty of 'Chocolates of Switzerland' shops, currently featuring an exhibition of chocolate making and sculptures (very intricate) with some free tasting too! There are also plenty of souvenir shops!

If you have a REALLY long layover, there are day rooms available near the Gates, but I didn't have time to investigate these fully. Obviously the currency preferred is Swiss Francs, but Euros are accepted for purchases.

Zurich is a (mostly) silent airport so you will have to watch screens for your connecting flight gate info. This can take up to an hour before your flight before it appears, so don't panic!

You should find your transit very easy, and I hope you enjoy your holiday in Istanbul ... room in your luggage for one more??

Kind regards,

Alsa

Has anyone every travelled with Swiss Intl airlines either in economy or business? Long haul?

Have seen a few reviews on sites, not very complimentary, especially about business class and that the seats are old and awful. However, have also seen a few that love flying with them.

Anyone here can give an account of an acutal experience? It is for a special occasion for myself and OH and I would like to make everything perfect.

Thanks
J

jilby,

Have you had a look on Airline Quality or Car Survey (flights)? One thing to bear in mind with postings is unless there is a reason to post, many will not bother. For example, if you've had a bad experience then you may want to pass it on. If you've had an excellent experience, you may want to post the reason for it. You generally don't get straight down the middle so bear that in mind when reading reviews. We have a small thread on Swiss International.

Darren

Swiss used to be a particularly pleasureable airline because of their commitment to quality. I regularly fly Swiss between Basel and London City, and Basel and Manchester. It's become too predictable, including the filling in the cheese sandwich! At least you still get 20 kg hold baggage allowance and a reserved seat - which have always been comfortable - and the aircraft has been clean.

But now they're just like the rest, with no individuality except for the little chocolate bar they hand out towards the end of the flight .... but even that had changed last weekend in favour of a little chocolate football for Euro 2008!

I've only used them for short haul Manchester- Basel (well that's what i paid for!!).

Not quite as efficient or punctual as you would expect but good attitude when things go wrong. Last year they made a hash of advertising the schedule and some time after I'd bought my cheap ticket sent an email telling me that my flight was retimed to something too late and inconvenient. Unlike certain other airlines their T&Cs stated if they do this you can have your money back or a change to something mutually acceptable at no extra cost. One phone call (and no sitting in a queue) and they rebooked me onto the earlier Zurich flight and gave me a train ticket back to Basel (on a train that stopped at where I was going to). The train ticket cost more than their share of the flight price so they basically flew me for free. And then earlier this year they sent me another email "as a valued customer" offering me another ludicrously cheap flight to Basel, which I took them up on! Not quite sure how they expect to make any money!!

I agree with Alsacienne about the cheese rolls on the Basel service, the Zurich flight was operated by Helvetic on contract and it was a muffin instead! But even so, snack and drink (inc. alcohol), chocolate football and luggage included in a price that undercut easyjet - I can't grumble!

Swiss International have announced an increase in frequency of "their" Manchester to Basel flights from the end of March. Except it isn't! "Their" Mon-Wed-Friday service will now be operated all 5 days by BMI in a code share, and about 4 hours earlier than the current schedule which will make the return flight very difficult for anyone already booked into hotels in the mountains! Hopefully they will still be as flexible as before on sorting things out.

The current Saturday flights will still be operated by Swiss, slightly earlier.

Prices are still quite good, with £93 return inc. charges and tax still possible.

Steve, What equipment are BMI using on this "Swiss" code sharing flight - out of interest?

Nivsy

nivsy wrote:

What equipment are BMI using on this "Swiss" code sharing flight - out of interest?

A320-200, same as what Swiss used.

Darren

I've just checked some prices on the new Manchester-Basel code share flights and it seems they are noticeably cheaper on the Swiss site than on BMIs for the same flights, especially on the Saturday flight. This echos back to when I last used British Midland on a Lufthansa code share to Dusseldorf and it was cheaper to buy the tickets from Lufthansa even though it was a BM flight.

The BMI site is notorious for higher fares - even on their own flights....often got it cheaper via the likes of expedia compared to BMI for the exact same flights....

Nivsy

Looks like Swiss are pulling their Basel service out of London City.

SIGH.

Now it'll be the extra expense and stress of getting to central London from Heathrow ... I loved LCY for the proximity of the terminal to the planes and the speed of getting through Border Agency checks and baggage reclaim ... not to mention the fantastic views on approach.