This is another one of my monotonous airline postings, but I need all the help I can get. <BR> <BR>How is Swissair compared to British Airways or Air France? Leg room? Lost bags? Service? <BR> <BR>Thanks to anyone who helps me out...

Scott: <BR> <BR>I hope you'll excuse me if I express a bit of bemusement at your questions. <BR> <BR>From the perspective of over 150 transatlantic crossings on many airlines and many aircraft, I just don't find the differences between airlines all that great. <BR> <BR>For me, and professionally conducted surveys show for the majority of travelers as well, price and schedule are the primary determinants in airline selection. After that, far after that, all things being equal, service rep, legroom and such have a place. <BR> <BR>The differences, across the atlantic, just aren't that great. BA is clearly my preferred carrier. There are a couple I'd prefer to not fly on, though I certainly would if that provided the best combination of schedule convenience and price. <BR> <BR>Legroom? It varies greatly by aircraft, by airline. Not infrequently by route as well. Legroom in economy just isn't terribly comfortable for 5-8 hours regardless of airline or aircraft. Fly business or first if this is important to you. <BR> <BR>Service. It varies somewhat by airline; some have a more vigorous, caring and helpful cabin staff than others ... in general. But the experience you get on a given trip is a function of the staff assigned to that trip, and how they're feeling that day. Routing and aircraft type also play a role, believe it or not. <BR> <BR>I've had bad flights on what I perceive to be the best airlines, and excellent flights on what I perceive to be lousy carriers. Arguably the best in-flight experience I've ever had, except for space, was in the economy section of a SR flight from GVA to JFK ... that despite many more flights in FC than in coach, and more than a few trips on the Concorde. It probably was a function of how I was feeling that day among other things, but the cabin crew was, I think, the best with whom I've ever flown. <BR> <BR>I don't think the experience of 150 trips qualifies me to rate airlines, frankly. That's just such a small sample of the total industry's product. Airlines measure their efforts internally and amongst themselves by surveying thousands of passengers. One starts to get some meaningful data at that point. Were I you I'd be very chary of the feedback you get here. I'd question its statistical reliability. <BR> <BR>More important, it may not apply at all to your particular circumstances. <BR> <BR>Ask away, as you're certainly entitled to do. But if the choice of airline is important to you, I do think you'd be wise to focus most heavily on what, for most of us, are the major determinants of carrier choice, schedule and price. <BR> <BR>It will be rare that those come out terribly equal ... the questions you're asking would be helpful on those occasions when they do. <BR> <BR>

I don't have Ed's extensive experience, but in my handful of flights with Swissair I was very pleased. [These were ORD/ZRH] The space isn't any better and the food is airplane food, but the SERVICE!!! Well maybe I'm partial to the male flight stewards but -- hey -- a girl's allowed <BR> <BR>Seriously, when you are a sardine, good service makes a diff. That's why we're Swissair "qualiflyers" [now we can get swiss miles on american so it works all around]

We flew Swissair in '99 to Rome. Excellent service, very professional, plenty of staff. Best food I've had on an airlines in years. Clean plane. <BR>Flew Air France in March from Paris. Just the opposite. Worse than Delta in fact. Awful food. Interior of plane in need of sprucing up, not awfully clean. Service acceptable, but not as good as Swissair. <BR>I'd choose Swissair any time.

When we lived in Chicago, Swissair was our favorite to Europe and connecting through Zurich. Never had a bad flight on them, but have had several good and several really bad on both BA and Air France. Maybe it's just the luck of the draw, but I'd choose Swissair if I had a choice.

just flew swiss air 330 boston to zurich and back. very cramped couch. tv screen on back of seat hart to see with trifocals with chair tipped back. the food was horrible and we had no choice of the main dish when they got to us. i call it a cattle car. much perfer a 767.

Ed/Fodor's: <BR>What a refreshing post!! <BR>Absolutely cuts to the heart of this matter. While there are certainly trends, the quality of one's flight experience often varies by route or time of day even on the same carrier. <BR>Depends on plane type, plane age, staff schedules, etc etc etc. <BR>And when you put everything in the hopper and digest it, there's a whole lot of similarity when you look for averages over time. <BR>So if Scott gets a slightly better fare on Swissair vs. BA, take the former. Choose by plane type. Or choose by flight time or arrival time. <BR>Now all this does NOT apply to carriers like ALITALIA, IBERIA, OLYMPIC, TURKISH, AEROFLOT, etc (IMO). Of course you can still have a good flight on these at times (I've seen people defend Aeroflot vigorously), but ON AVERAGE, these carriers fly a bit below the pack.

Has anyone one used Economytravel.com to book a reservation? they are the cheapest I've found yet...should I be worried?

Well, I AM Swiss, so my answer is clear: Good! When boarding a Swissair plane abroad, especially in Asia, I almost feel alreaddy at home. My newspaper, my food, my language. <BR> <BR>Swissair now has fares to the US (NY, Miami and others) for some SFR. 590.- RT. I do hope they will have that again next year, when I intend to go to NYC!

I have never experienced worse service in life than on Swissair. I was pregnant last year, and was returning to the US from Zurich. I started to have some discomfort from the pregnancy and my husband tried to get a wheelchair from Swissair to help me get to the gate. Swissair refused to help! They told us to get there ourselves. By the time we were able to get to the gate on our "own", I started to have preterm labor. We had tremendous difficulty in the air, and at one point it looked like they might even have to land the plane in Iceland for help. All because they wouldn't even allow us to borrow a wheelchair. By the way, there were several sitting there unused. <BR> <BR>After contacting Swissair's "Customer Care" when we got home we have received the same uncaring attitude. Their response was that we should have called the airport in Zurich 3 days prior to our departure to tell them we needed a wheelchair. This doesn't even make sense! We have explained over and over that we didn't even start to have any problems until we were already at the airport. <BR> <BR>The final result of their lack of service or help was that by the time we got home we had to rush to the hospital and ended up on total bedrest for over 3 months. Our doctors tell us this would have probably been avoided had we been able to get a little assistance when we asked for it. I would never fly Swissair again if I had any choice.

Good afternoon, Scott have flown at least a dozen times overseas with SR <BR>from ORD to ZRH. Have also flow about <BR>four times on TWA and would add that to <BR>the list of Edwin. And we did have a very good experience in the handling of <BR>wheel chairs and transfers between flites at ZRH, etc a number of years ago <BR>when taking the mother in law to IT. <BR>Personally would not consider another <BR>carrier, recall too much hassle with <BR>others out of ORD. Richard of LaGrange <BR>Park, Il..

After reading many posts on Swiss Air I'm now really disappointed. My wife and I have finally saved up enough AA Advantage points to get us both business class tickets to Europe. The only flight option available is on Swiss Air. Here's a double whammy...the aircraft is an Airbus. Has anyone flown in Business Class on Swiss Air and are the seats as cramped as coach? <BR> <BR>How disheartening....... <BR>

Sorry can't say that I've flown business class. Never been fortunate enough to be upgraded but coach is very cramped on an Airbus.

ttt

I just flew back from Zurich to Newark on Swiss Air earlier this month in business class. The service, food, entertainment, seats, and slippers, tooth paste, face creams bag are the best. I fly to Europe six times a year and this was my first time on Swiss Air. From now on it will be my first choice. Look at the Travel & Leisure ratings from this month's isse. Swiss Air is rated as one of the best.

Hi Scott, We flew swissair in June from Newark to Istanbul with a stopover in Zurich. We were booked for the same seats, row 18 A & B or C , whatever they were together behind bulkhead row 17. We flew economy, and I know it was a 330 airbus and the smallest, worst seats I've ever had. Flying back we had the same seats, the plane looked the same but obviously wasn't as we had much (relatively speaking) more room for our legs then flying there. Wierd! Busines class and first looked wonderful, fully reclining and no touching. If its a330 airbus in economy, you won't be happy.

Mike. <BR>I'm Swiss, so Swissair frequently is my choice travelling abroad. <BR> <BR>As to the A330: economy is as cramped as any other economy, no worse, no better. Business is wonderful: very deep recline, enough space and excellent service. <BR> <BR>Just relax, you will be fine. <BR> <BR>QF

Thank you all for your opinions on business class. They have helped to ease our minds. When you have spent a good part of many years saving enough miles for a business class ticket, you certainly hope that the experience will be worth it! God knows we could never afford to PAY for one of these tickets so I hope we don't get too hooked!