All good things must come to an end so we caught the train from Strasbourg to ZRH airport changing trains at Basel. Now the French train system is pretty good, but the Swiss system is amazing. Shiny and new, immaculate, spacious and easy to navigate.
We checked in early (late morning)for our evening flight so once free of our luggage we could catch the train back in to Zurich and walk around for the day. That's where things started to go wrong.
Because the flight wasn't until so much later it wasn't on any of the information boards so I had to guess which terminal (there are 3) based upon other flight departure destinations.
At checkin we were told we weren't sitting together. I had requested seats as soon as I booked the flights some months ago. It appears I had my original flight my wife had lost hers. The agent said don't worry, she would make a note.
Did we get bumped for an LX Gold flyer or was it just some glitch? Either way I wasn't really happy and I've never had this happen before.
We then decided to get 100 Swiss Francs (probably about 90 Aussie dollars) from an auto bank foolishly thinking that would get close for a couple of hours in town. My illusion was shattered when I bought our 2 train tickets for the short return journey into town. About 50 Francs. Ouch! I think it included free tram rides etc and I'm sure there's a cheaper option, but still...
We did have a pleasant day but the prices of things was amazing to me. Not being able to afford dinner (joking) we headed back to the airport before it got too cold. Summer was yet to arrive (25 June 2013) and it was bitterly cold in Zurich (to me).
We arrived at 5pm and went to the main lounge. A particularly unhappy lounge dragon (and in this case I mean it) provided us access to the business area which was quite full, but by 6pm it was down to about 20% full. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the lounge but there was a good choice of beer and Movenpick Icecream.
After a while in the lounge I decided to test my luck with the lounge guardian to see what could be done about our seat assignments. She muttered something about she shouldn't be checking this, but quickly found out that new boarding passes had been issued for us, still not together, but just separated by an aisle and right at the back of the business class cabin. I was hoping for no baby basinettes against the Y bulkhead.
Gates seem to be allocated to flights only at fairly short notice. We got E43.
Our trip included the Heidi train which was a bit of fun and brought a smile to our travel weary faces. I had just a few minutes to check out the panorama bar. It was in the process of closing down so this may not be a fair impression but it wasn't as well stocked as the main lounge.
Boarding started a few minutes early. Priority boarding was effective and orderly. Everything was already in place on the seats and instead of a tin amenity kit it's a more useful toilet bag.
It took quite a while for my pre-departure drink and for my coat to be collected (first world problems right?) and final boarding was done 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure. Push back was right on time and the business class cabin was 100% full. Take off at exactly 2300 after sitting on the runway for a while. Forward facing camera working this time.
Given the hour they tried to push the service along as we commenced this long flight:
There was a nice view of a winglet:
For entree, the prawns were tasty:
the main beef was salty but a little dried out (as it usually is on a plane).
Dessert was tiny and very sweet.
The Swiss white wine as particularly enjoyable (Riesling & Sylvaner) and service finished at 7am Singapore time.
Here's the seat controls and the mood lighting was very useful - it just illuminates the cubby holes enough to see what you need without causing disruption.
The obligatory leg room shot with just mood lighting on:
I slept well for 6 or 7 hours and managed to watch a couple of movies during meal times.
2 1/2 hours out the lights came on then a wait for the meal service to commence. There was a choice of a range of cold dishes and two hot options - chinese or an omelette with spinach and tomato.
It tasted good, but it was odd eating breakfast at 3 in the afternoon destination time. All food and drink service started from the rear of the cabin each time.
In the galley I saw a FA pulling corks from unopened bottles of wine. I presume something to do with Singapore's high wine tax regime. If only they had told us of this problem, I'm sure many of us would have been happy to help them out!
Descent began and we landed on time at 17:05, Terminal 2 gate E3 at 17:08, luggage at 17:27 and in a cab (including an ATM stop) at 17:34.