Never say Never...!
Here we are 2 years later booked on another ' journey ' with Swissair.
According to their website the overseas flights will be on Airbus Industrie A340-300 and we have secured seats 24 A & B.
I'm not a glutton for punishment and am only going along with DH's request that we fly Swissair again.
Oh! well, I'm staying focused on the fact that those two 7+ hours of hell will be worth the 2 weeks in France :-) We are so fortunate to be able to return there again!

Remember that wine is your friend on those flights?

We will be flying in November to Barcelona on Swiss. We most recently flew in October 2009 on Swiss to Paris and in March of 2009 to Istanbul. I am totally satisfied with them. The 2-4-2 seating is great if you are in a 2. Both of our past flights we have been able to secure exit row seats. The food is typical airline food, but you do get wine, beer, and chocolates. The plane out of Boston the A340 had individual screens in the seatbacks. The flight attendants were efficient and friendly enough. I would not hesitate to use them, especially where I have to make a connection. Zurich is a very easy airport to connect in.

You FLEW from Zurich to Geneva????????

If no one flew, would there be flights?

It's not uncommon to transfer in ZRH for short connecting flights to either GVA, LUG, or MUC. The difference in price is often minimal or lower than a train ticket, plus you don't have to handle your checked luggage until you reached your final destination.

"It's not uncommon to transfer in ZRH for short connecting flights to either GVA,"

I did it a few years ago. Boston to ZRH to GVA.

Never base your choice of an airline on the quality of seats! This is the least important criterion.

On my last flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco, we chose United Airlines, because their business class seats are slightly better than Lufthansa's business class seats.

What happened?

Because United Airlines had not enough pilots, the aircraft had to land in Boston for an unplanned crew change. From then on, no more drinks and no more food. Finally, 4 hours delay on arrival after 17 hours on the plane. And as a compensation, a voucher that is useless for us Europeans.

We would have prefered a punctial arrival, even with a less comfortable seat.

Read here what a less reliable airline can do to you:

http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...hd-airways.cfm

Dukey - we avoid driving whenever possible, especially jet lagged after a transatlantic flight. Also, I would never ask nor expect my relatives in Geneva to pick us up at the airport in Zurich.

Thank you Cowboy 1968 and Luisa.

Echnaton: I am truly sorry for the ordeal you had to go through but believe me the experience would have been far worse had you been stuck in "a less comfortable seat".

I wonder how many people are out there like myself who are ((not)) frequent flyers and who therefore don't have the luxury of paying for a Business class upgrade?

Michèle

You will be part of the majority. Always more people in the back than in the front of an airplane :-)

And not everyone collecting FF miles is using them on long-haul upgrades. I spend most of mine on intra-European flights where C is not really necessary since you fly just 2-3 hours.

We have flown Swiss the last two years and liked them a lot. In fact, they are one of the cheaper airlines to Paris this summer and I would pay a bit more for them instead of Icelandair's 3-3 configuration.

dutyfree - You made my day! I loved the simple and truthful answer to Bonjour_Voyageurs.....Remember wine is your friend on those flights!
And I have a question for Bonjour - I don't understand your statement about not earning FFmiles. I only fly once a year, maybe twice if I'm lucky, but only ever fly Business/now called Premium Class! All my miles are earned whenever I spend on my credit cards. This does not mean I have to run up huge bills on clothing, wining & dining, and other luxuries. I just pay all my home & business ultility bills with my credit card.

A lot of people don't have businesses to charge expenses on credit cards to, that must be the differernce. I don't charge $30-50K a year in expenses on credit cards, so could never get free flights that way. I don't understand your statement about how easy it is for you to get FF miles by only charging utilities.

My utility bills at my home (and I live in a place that it is very hot in summer and cold in winter) average only around $200 a month including everything. And I can't charge electric or gas bills to a credit card without paying a fee for doing that, only the telephone. I don't know of any public entity that swallows the cost of a credit card fee where I live (utilities, property tax, etc., my mortgage company won't either).

I can't comprehend how you can earn so many miles by just charging utility bills.

Well I can't get FF points other than by flying. Dutch credit cards just don't offer such things. I don't fly enough to get points for an upgrade, and am generally happy to sit in the back. It is annoying when I fly with my husband on his business trips - he flies up front and I fly at the back. Never yet managed an upgrade to join him. It's always full up front :(. But it means he is rested and ready to drive when we get wherever he has to be.
He collects points, but I have no idea how many he has or what he plans to do with them, but upgrading me will not be on the list, just in case I get a taste for it ;).

At least the seats behind the toilet recline.

Those immediately in front of the toilet do not. And they smell equally bad. Booked there once NEVER (that's in size 42 font) again.

Christina, I pay both my electric and gas utility bills automatically each month using my AA FF credit card. There is no fee for this service. Since I live in the Houston area, it's not unusual for us to have $400+ cooling bills in the summer.

I just had about $4000 in dental work done and I charged it to my credit card. I pay all doctor/dentist bills, utilities, gasoline, groceries, newspaper, etc., with my mileage credit card as well as our mail order prescriptions. Every little bit helps.

I learned last week that seat space and comfort vary greatly even within the coach section of the same plane (not including lavatory proximity consideratins). On the overnight PHL-CDG flight on the USAirways Airbus, I was in seat 35A (window) and was miserable. Even before the person in front of me reclined, my knees touched her seatback and I had absolutely no room to stretch a leg (and I am only 5'7"). Further, the seat in relation to the window was such that I did not have the window itself to "snuggle" into because my head hit the wall between two windows. It was a very uncomfortable, sleepless 8 hours, and I dreaded the trip back.

However, on the return I was in row 30, also a windlw seat, and had a couple of inches of knee room; it was a pleasant enough ride, especially compared to the cramped conditions of the earlier flight.

My guess is that as you get to the back of the plane where the fuselage tapers, the seats get tighter overall. I consider the dividing line to be around row 32 -- so in future I will always avoid the last 5 or 6 rows in that plane.

Dutyfree and tod: I am unable to drink wine on a flight because I have to take meds to even get on the tin can (that's how much I hate flying). So once everything and everyone settles down, I put on my black out shades and noise canceling headphones and by then am relaxed enough to catch a nap. The only barrier is attempting to find a way to twist my body in a comfortable enough position to fall asleep.

The research I have done for this trip echoes what kayd stated that the seats furtherest in the back are the most uncomfortable no matter what seat configuration is used per flight.

Michèle

Aadvantageeshopping.com!! All the US airlines have something similar. Spend $50 on flowers, get 500 FF miles. Dining rewards, bonuses. Join netflix, get 1500 miles. My husband and I rack up enough miles in two years for both of us to fly business class to Europe. And, no we don't own a business and we don't make much more than the median wage.

I have a very tall DH. Coach, unless an exit row is unbearable for him - and therefore for me as well ; ).

I find the engine noise on the Airbus loud or maybe it's the frequency. But it's just me.