Originally Posted by
Concerto
I couldn't believe this was still going on. For cheap tickets it worked out as negligible, but for more expensive ones it must have been quite a chunk of cash. Not sure about the arrogance, but I have to say that SWISS has dropped to a level at which I do not wish to fly them any more. So I don't. I'm not just talking about the BoB service from GVA, but just the utter inconsistency of the whole operation. It's normal to get a bad crew once in a while, they are human after all. But I have had far too many, and every business class trip (longhaul) in the last couple of years was unacceptably bad from the crew standpoint. Economy class around Europe has tended to be fine, though.
One of my better friends, with no great stakes in this whole FFP thing, was loyal to SWISS for years, flying with them twice a year to Brazil in Economy and always being happy with their trips. But from now on she will be booking with another carrier. I am sure she is not along, so it is a loss for SWISS in the long term. The main complaints were the inconsistency of the crew thing (BA is not only one that is awful in this respect), considerably increased ticket prices and the insult of CHF600 taxes on Economy class miles tickets (I told her to organize her trips and start her award tickets in Brazil, of course).
totally understand the sentiment of your friend with regards to her Brazil trips, especially if an 'award' in Y entails a CHF 600 bogus fee.
In general, I think Swiss people still remember the days of SR and its arrogant attitude so I guess its business as usual...the general sentiment outside CH is that its a pity that SR collapsed, but here in CH, people I talk to usually say they deserved their fate...
Personally I think LX service onboard is usually quite good/acceptable. In F longhaul service is excellent. in C and Y, usually good but never spectacular, never had a terrible crew. on the ground there are funny gaps, like mediocre lounges at GVA, no F lounge access for codeshare at ZRH, no limousine from E -> A only the other way, the OPC charge, I am sure we could compile a long list.
Bottom line, LX certainly lives on its reputation of Swiss quality without always delivering and there are other options which are more premium (like direct aisle access for all in C) and don't cost more.