Before the days of Ryanair being re-invented as a loco, or Easyjet having been invented at all, I flew on Swissair from UK to CH. The fares were ineveitably way lower than the competition, and way lower than the train alternative. Since then, we have had Easy building a prescence in CH, and FR had a foray to Basel, but either fell out with the airport (or perhaps just couldn't compete in a market where there was price and service competitivenes). In that time, with very few exceptions, Swissair/Swiss International have continued to provide competitive fares UK-CH with a choice of flight times, and all of the advantages of flying on a full-service carrier (including a luggage allowance which just blows away the loco's). Admittedly, the catering is not what it used to be, but is still more than nothing.
The point I'm trying to make is that some legacies (including the one that came first in this survey) were not necessarily high-fare even before the loco's, and still provide competitive pricing and superior service today.
Last edited by Hipennine; 21st Dec 2012 at 08:43.