Swiss pricing and more

[Momo]

Did GVA-Athens and back Monday-Wednesday this week. Booked it last Friday. Cost was SFr. 298 including all taxes. That's about 190 euros, 220 dollars, 130 pounds for a 2.75 hour flight. The A319 was still only about 30% full each way. I think this is a sort of pre-emptive strike about Easyjet's rumoured entry into the route. Still, I think people don't naturally think of Swiss when looking for a cheap flight. Had to pay for food. Last time I did the flight it was about 2000 Frs.

Got an email from Swiss today saying that they were reversing their decision to remove business class on the sub-50-seat aircraft, effective some time in Feb. This would have to involve re-hiring some of the staff they just laid off when they moved from 2 cabin crew to 1 on the small planes.

Momo

[Momo]

Meet George the autopilot

Travelling on LX424 from Zurich to Birmingham last Monday (26 Jan), we had a most entertaining captain. About 50. Long flowing moustache. Greeted us at the stairs. Shortly before startup in the EMB 145, he took the phone from one of the attendants and give us a lengthy pre-flight announcement about the weather, how the first officer would be taking off, etc. He then announced that George would be flying most of the way. "Do you know George?" he said, pulling a small teddy bear out of his pocket. "George is the automatic pilot". General amusement. When he went into the cockpit, I remarked to my neighbour "Defninitely not a Swiss-German?" Tight lips were my only reply. Picked the wrong person for this remark I suppose.

Momo