Kevincm

I think the image below sums up how well I did.


Or to put in simple terms: 90 Tier Points, 26,808 Avios. Not bad for a weekend out eh?

Considering it would cost £399 to purchase 24,000 Avois, and the fare was £420ish or so, it was truly cheaper to fly than buy Avios.

Oh, I should do the usual laughing thing I tend to do at Miles and More due to the hilariously bad earning rates on cheap flights:

Like I said: Hilarious. Hilariously Bad.

I should do some summing up really shouldn’t I?

OLT Express for Swiss: Hmm. I’m not sure what to think. Whilst they try to keep to the Swiss service levels, they seem to miss out bits of it or rewrite bits of it. Certainly not the worst carrier I’ve been on by a long stretch, but there is something missing from them - and it shows in the lack of finesse in the final product. A pity as Helvetic got it right without an issue.

Swiss (Mainline) Didn’t disappoint. Good service all round, balanced with good segment legs remind me why Swiss is one of my favourite European airlines. More importantly, they delivered luggage on time, and it is possible connecting across the back end of the A gates to the D gates at Zurich airport in fewer than 45 minutes. But don’t if you like running lots…

British Airways did a great job, with its staff showing off great customer service. The on-board product isn’t THAT bad in economy (compared to some recent - and not so recent - experiences). The seating in World Traveller isn’t bad... although those slimline seats are really not suitable for Long Haul runs in my book. IFE seems to be something that BA has worked on, and had a good mix for all tastes, with systems that work easily.

Dayrooms at Zurich: Put it like this, if I have a forced overnight in Zurich again, I won’t be heading out to the hotels in the area - I’ll be using either a couch or a bedroom at Zurich Airport. Far cheaper, friendly and cost efficient... and I don’t even have to leave the airport, maximising rest time.

Holiday Inn Express Soho, Hong Kong: Another great little Holiday Inn property in the ICHG portfolio. The location can’t be beaten, the rooms are comfortable, the beds are reasonably firm. My only bugbear is the Breakfast facility which is too small for the amount of people that go through there. Still, for a good value chain property in one of the more expensive places in the world to get a hotel room, you can’t go wrong here.

Well, that concludes this little trip. I'd like to say I'll be back on another trip soon, but - there is a problem that stems from the real world.

You see, in the real world as much as I dream of being a travel writer or a wonderful photographer, I'm a simple IT engineer that works in the National Health Service.

Just before this trip started back in November, I was fully expecting news that we would get our funding for 2013/2014 for the little unit I work for. All I got when I arrived back at the end of November 2012 was a letter of "that I was possibly at risk". As of today (when this post went live), that's turned into "You are formally at risk of being made redundant" as of 29th December 2012.

Meanwhile there are efforts for my little unit to be saved that I'm doing my best to participate in as redundancy is possibly staring in my face.

The above is the factual stuff - but I do have a lot of rude words for the powers that be up top who have made the changes to Health Profession (any side of it) an absolute pigs ear and even more confusing than it has been before.

Until I know otherwise, all trips are pulled until I know one way or another. Hopefully, all being well, I'll be back in "Untitled Chicago Trip 14" in April.

To those of you who have stuck with me till the final paragraph of this trip report, thank you so much for reading.

Comments and Feedback welcome

Forrest Bump

Thanks for posting.
Great TR and lovely writing style.
Agree with you that LH/LX miles earnings for most of economy classes is insulting.

I doggy cookie for not saying "I won't give you nothing".

Fingers crossed for you. "Redundancy" is a concept I would ascribe to the aviation world, not to an human being.
We need TRs like this!

Circumknowitall

Superb as always ^

Capricorn70

Superb!^

Kevincm

Glad you enjoyed Capricorn70

Thanks Circumknowitall - you know how it gets when I start writing...

Glad you enjoyed Forrest Bump

I did say it was hilarious... Hilariously bad. It's amazing how bad it can be. I know on certain US Airlines, that's about 2000 miles or so plus flown. But to have measly 500 + 128 bonus miles feels a little... yes well.

Thanks Forrest Bump.... I'm hoping things work out, otherwise... well...

mandc2000

Five star report - you deserve a Gold Medal sir !

Flyersj18

Excellent TR, and some great photos ^

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

UA_Flyer

I have just started reading, and I am taking my own sweet time reading at GettoIFE. You are an excellent writer, and I will even copy and paste to keep this TR in my file for future leisure readings.

michlflyer

Thanks a lot. I really enjoyed reading this TR. It contrasted well with the slightly sombre, reflective mood of Same Routes - Different Planes, which I also found a great read.

LH738

Great descriptions+pictures.

Kevincm

Glad you enjoyed mandc2000.

Glad you enjoyed Flyersj18. Glad you liked the photos as well.

Glad you liked LH738

Glad you enjoyed the trip report UA_Flyer. Happy reading

Thanks michlflyer. For the pain that was in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...ane-sandy.html, there was little pain (for anyone) in this report... mainly as everything went to plan. For this trip, I could let my hair down and actually enjoy travelling for a change.

Glad you enjoyed michlflyer.