Interesting Flight to Dresden….
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at 20:20 by SimonRowberry.
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SimonRowberryParticipantJust returned from an “interesting” trip to Dresden.
I flew Swiss in Business from Birmingham, via Zurich. The outward flight to ZRH with Helvetic (on behalf of Swiss) was ok – I use this route regularly and the service is generally hampered by the space limitations of the F100.
The transfer at ZRH was slightly marred by my own cock-up of forgetting that DRS was in Schengen and from TA rather than TB. This was pointed out to me by the pleasant non-Dragon at the Senator Lounge at Gates B22-26 (who also insisted I had a drink before I went on the trek to TA).
I had time for a drink in the wonderful Swiss Lounge in TA (my first time). For nicotine freaks like me, the Smoker’s Bar was an almost unique experience in Europe these days – the ability to kill myself AND a proper bar with waitress service. Bliss!
Then the fun started. ZRH-DRS was operated by Cirrus Airways on behalf of LX, with a Dornier 328 turno-prop. The first “interesting” (but not negative) aspect was that the ground staff at the gate rounded the 15 passengers up and said “The crew want to leave early, is that ok?” A rarity, indeed, these days! We were then bussed to the plane.
I was alone in Business, in 1-2 seating, with the window seat on the two-seat side. The benefit of Business Class was a small tray of LH-branded snacks, which I found disappointing. The single FA made sure that drinks were copious. DRS is a much-underused airport – my bags were there soon after I got to the carousel.
Dresden itself is a fine city. Very friendly. I used the Westin Belleview for one night, and the Hilton for the other. The Westin has great views of the Elbe, although it’s a bit sterile. The Hilton is large (333 rooms) but superbly located by the Dom. I would use either hotel again.
The return yesterday was not so good. Snow had fallen in both DRS and ZRH. Check-in was fine as DRS, as was the Senator Lounge. I was in the front row (the right hand window seat – there was now left-hand window seat in Row 1 because of the location of the door).
The flight was almost empty, and rows 2 through to 5 or 6 were empty. I have a knee problem at the moment, which means I need to regularly stretch out my leg. I was hard against the bulkhead and was refused permission by the FA to move to Row 2 because “Row 1 is the only Business Class row on this flight”(?!!).
I therefore suffered a flight penned in against the bulkhead, in a heavy snowstorm, with a car-type seatbelt on, and unable to easily stretch my leg. The weather conditions were tough (for which I can’t blame Cirrus, of course) and these, plus the turbo prop itself, made me decide not tempt fate and play Glenn Miller or Buddy Holly on my iPhone. The food was equally unattractive as it had been on the way out.
I had (by design) 5 or 6 hours in Zurich, which allowed me to have lunch with a friend, and the ZRH-BHX leg was ok – typical Helvetic, fine but nothing special.
What got me irritated was the poor quality of the Cirrus product and the fare I paid (Well over £500 for a non-flexible Business Class fare). This was actually less than the equivalent non-flexible LH fare (which was around £400 in Y and £750 in J, if m,y memory serves). However, LH would have almost certainly given better value for money in terms of basic human comfort.
The biggest issue was the lack of leg room (it wasn’t very good on the first Cirrus flight when I was in Row 2 and it caused me physical pain on the second Cirrus flight in Row 1. The attitude of the FA in refusing to let me move to one of empty 4 or 5 rows behind me because they ere economy class was somewhat baffling.
Hi ho. That’s life, I guess.
Regards and safe travelling to all.
Simon
PS Interestingly, the BHX-ZRH, ZRH-DRS and DRS-ZRH legs all had female Captains. The only bumpy landing was (ironically) on the ZRH-BHX leg! I’m not sure whether the Swiss lady Captain on the BHX-ZRH leg was impressed with my compliment about her ability to parallel park at the remote stand at ZRH.
27 Nov 2010
at 21:02
VintageKrugParticipantAh, indeed. It’s a shame no british airline flies direct to Dresden, or at least hasn’t done for a number of years:
27 Nov 2010
at 22:21
SimonRowberryParticipantHi PJ, Potakas and VK.
It certainly does exist – in the Swiss Business Lounge in Terminal B at Zurich-Kloten, on the second floor. A dying breed ( a bit like we smokers).
They also claim that it is the longest smoking bar in Europe….
“SWISS Senator Lounge
128 seats spread over 634 m² on two floors, Business Center with 12 workstations and printers, free WLAN, showers, access to the Smoker’s Bar (91 seats)” (taken from Lounges section of the Swiss Website.One can still find bliss in Switzerland, PJ!
Regards, Simon
27 Nov 2010
at 22:21
SimonRowberryParticipantAnd to add to the sense of political incorrectness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh5xu35bAxA
As an aside, it was somewhat surreal giving a presentation next to the Coventry Room at Messe Dresden, about transport planning in Coventry. Some people had joked that I mustn’t wear my Coventry City football shirt in Dresden – actually, the two cities are so closely linked now that, if I had worn my shirt, I probably wouldn’t have had to buy a drink all the time I was there. The Mayor is a delightful lady and it was a pleasure to send her greetings from Coventry, where she had been a couple of weeks ago for the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Cov Blitz.
27 Nov 2010
at 22:27
DisgustedofSwieqiParticipantSimon
I am very sorry to hear of your uncomfortable trip in the D328 for the return leg.
These aircraft do not have a lot of leg room (or room per se) and I think it was outrageous that the FA put their convenience before your comfort and health. In fact, I think would have been inclined to move to row 2 (as she said it was a cabin configuration problem and not weight and balance) and then dropped the ball firmly in her court.
I hope you have made a complaint to Swiss, although in my experience they are not great at customer service recovery, perhaps because they normally get it right first time.
I have flown Swiss a lot over the past 5 years and only had cause to be ‘disgusted’ once in that period, whereas BA seems to be pretty good at service recovery, but drops the ball more.
28 Nov 2010
at 20:11
SimonRowberryParticipantHi DoS,
Thanks. I agree with you re Swiss – apart from a Lounge Dragon (male) who was obviously having a tough day a few months ago, and a passenger who was being a twit on a flight to PVG, I have little if anything to complain about re Swiss. I also agree that BA are better at servicing passenger issues than Swiss, but probably have more experience 😉
Yes it was uncomfortable, but only because of my temporary knee problem. I won’t bother complaining – I’ll just use Lufty to DRS if I go back again (and avoid Dorniers for any flight over about 45 minutes!). It’s a pity Swiss have some operating partners who have standards so far below Swiss’ own standards – Cirrus, Contact Air and (only because of the plane type) Helvetic.
Have a good remainder of the weekend,
Simon
28 Nov 2010
at 20:20 -
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