swiss_global

I also appreciate AB - not that I'd love them, but it's a solid product, at least comparable to their main competitors (LH group). Yes, their seating is very tight (so is LH's NEK, IB, etc and so will be BA's new seats just rolled out) and their food service is minimal (same as LH, LX, BA in Y; but still much better than some of other flag European carriers such JP which has even stopped to serve water ...). Baggage handling in Europe is almost always outsourced and done very cheaply. Bottom line, it is lightyears from Asian flagcarriers and - unlike the North American carriers - it does not offer more spacious seating in part of the cabin.

But apart from the interesting network, AB has a very good ontime performance and makes sure prices remain reasonable even on mainline routes. E.g. ZRH-DUS return is usually around 150 - 200 EUR return, while the same distance ZRH-BRU, which is an LX monopoly, is always more than 1000 EUR (taxes about the same).