Pratting around El Pratt.
A swift exit to find out if I had to re-clear security. And the good news is - I didn’t - I was still in the secure zone. This makes life a lot easier.
Barcelona....
The next stop was to stretch my legs for a bit and see what the the terminal was like. And it looked pretty. The gift shops were overpriced, as everything else, so I quickly scrubbed that off as well as a lounge visit as it would take too long to mess around and headed back to the gate.
For those of you who want to use BCN as a turnaround point for a Swiss flight, good news – you exit into the secure area, so it’s a case of getting out of the plane, and when boarding announced – get on your plane. Just make sure you’re checked in first…
Boarding was called soon enough, and after a little child bashed the glass doors separating the world form the airbridge (what was that about control your children at an airport? Never mind), I made it on the plane and greeted the Maitre De Cabine again – who now was expecting me back on. A quick why are youi back here discussion, and the reasons why, and I was welcomed back aboard.
LX1953 Zurich Airport to Barcelona El Pratt Airport to Zurich Airport, 21/05/2011
Swiss International Airlines, Seat 27A, Economy Class
533 Miles Flown, 125 Miles Earned.
The pictures
After a little bit of banter and the crew thinking I was mostly bananas to rejoin them, I settled in my seat in Row 27. Again, like the flight before, the middle seat stayed free... except in the C seat, I had the I think the Spanish equivalent of a stoned surfer dude aboard.
Lovely.
Thankfully, he fell asleep during the safety briefing, and as is becoming a tradition for this trip, I videoed the take off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lq0MASobJo
BCN from the air
After tracking out of the airport, we turned 180, tracking back along the Med and back towards Switzerland and Zurich.
Tracking the coast
In the meantime, I set up a GhettoIFE system to see if this would work on this aircraft...
Yup. Compatible!
Being further back in the aircraft meant the service took a while to get to me - however, it eventually did. And I Swiss got a special deal on Turkey this month..
Yes, another turkey sandwich
The crew members were still inquisitive and asking questions to which I answered - mainly to confuse them more
However the flight was reasonably loaded, and service was brisk and friendly - a real trademark of that crew and the style they carried forward. Even the cockpit was still giving the odd update out. Again - excellent service.
Cleardowns occurred soon after and soon we were tracking the Alps again
And giving out more chocolates.
So... that's 6 of the things now?
20 minutes to landing, the cabin was secured and we begun our decent into Zurich Airport with the cabin crew waking up the sleepy stoner.
After a while we lined up, and another flight was over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0yH1QxQ0Kc
After a short taxi back to the A Gates (and near the top of them), the plane docked, and I made my way off the plane after the stoner decided to get his trash. I thanked the crew for their excellent service, and made my way off the plane.
Overall: Perhaps it’s hard to judge Swiss service with one crew, but these were examples of great people giving excellent service on a short flight. Catering is brilliant for the flight length (again, something a LOT of carriers could learn from), with customers service to match.
For short haul - what more can you want?
A Quick Zurich Adventure – sort of a One Time Exception.
One Day ticket Zurich Zuirch airport to Zurich Hbf– 12.80CHF.
The pictures
I got to admit, sometimes, I love to put myself through hell. And it was all down to the request of one of my co-workers to get her some “Branches” Chocolate.
And I love a challenge – lets face it.
Catching the S-Bhan into Zurich City Centre is an easy job - Buy a ticket, go downstairs, catch the S16 or S2 to the Haptbahnhof. Once you’ve mastered the ticket machine of course. And that’s a skill in itself. Mind you – it’s slightly more intelligible than the Frankfurt ticket machines. Which vary from useless to completely non useable. Call me old fashioned, but entering a number to where you want to go just isn’t intuitive.
Of course, this being Switzerland, Double Decker trains are the norm. Which are fun – lets face it compared to some of the fun of trains elsewhere in the world (I’m sad – if I find a double decker train, it has to be the top deck). Whist these are short distance trains, they’re perfectly serviceable for the trip needed.
We like double decker trains
But anyhoo, catch the train and 12 Minutes and 3 stops later, you’re in the city centre. Zurich is compact enough to walk about on foot, and soon enough a branch of Magnos was found, with the chocolates obtained.
For those of you know love chocolate, and don’t want to pay a lot (and lets face it this is Switzerland), heading to the supermarkets will give you lots of choices… for not a lot of Swiss francs. And lets face it, in these austere times, saving a few pennies never hurts (and even more so since my bank is taking it’s own sweet time reissuing my debit card…).
For those who brought a day ticket and don’t want to walk themselves silly, the tram network is very good and covers the major points – and if you’ve ponied up for a day ticket, you’ll recoop the cost of the train ticket with tram rides in a few rides.
Trams...
Which is nice if you don’t fancy walking to the Lakefront, or walking through Bahnhoff Strasse (even though you’re missing a wealth of shopping opportunities)
Fountain
Lakefront
Alas, the one thing I forgot to do was keep an eye on the clock, and realising it was 16:00, it was time to head back to the airport.
Again, I wandered up to Check In 1, and through the boarding pass scan, and made a bealine for the B gates – and more important the Non-Shengen B gates.
After having my passport scanned, and the ever so efficient security, it was “Welcome to the basement of Zurich Airport”. Dark and Dingy - unlike the wide open spaces above.
But for such a short wait - I wasn’t that bothered. I just fired up the laptop and typed for a bit.
The plane was late arriving from the inbound leg, and soon we were all called forward into a holding pen - with no bus arrived. This got jammed packed and unpleasant until the bus arrived, where it took the first group of us onto the plane, with a second bus tootling along behind us.
A short ramp tour back to the Regional Jet farm, and after being given the thumbs up by the crew, we were allowed to board