The Only Bad Thing From Switzerland
Written: Nov 17 '01 (Updated Nov 17 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good schedule. Friendly staff.
Cons: Bad planes. Even worse food and entertainment. Expensive.
The Bottom Line: Very old and unsafe planes. The food and service is OK but the entertainment is boring, if there is any. Expensive as well. Catch a bus if you can.
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| duki's Full Review: Swissair |
Swissair is obviously from Switzerland. As we have seen, Switzerland has proved to be a country with a lot of talents. They are free from wars, produce great watches and chocolates, but Swissair is an embarrassment to the country, and I'm not afraid to say it. I might have just had a bad experience with them, they actually might not be that bad, my experience will make me regret flying with this airline for the rest of my life. They are currently having financial trouble and the way it's going, they will probably be gone within a couple of months. I won't miss them.
Prior to 1998, I was flying with Swissair quite regularly, and so was the rest of my family. As I said earlier, we trusted the airline especially because it was, and also because they had a good safety record over the years. In December 1998, my sister and I we due to fly from Perth, Australia to Singapore with Singapore Airlines. Then from Singapore we were due to fly out to Zurich, Switzerland. A 12 hour flight. Our plane was supposed to take off around 11 pm, but after a long delay of about an hour and half we finally left Singapore past midnight and were relieved to be on our way. About 30 minutes into our flight we started to notice that there was smoke in the cabin. As you logically know, this is not a good sign. A couple of minutes later the captain announced to us that there was smoke in the cabin (obviously) and we had to make an emergency landing back in Singapore. If this wasn't bad enough, they had to turn off all the electricity in the plane, so it was pitch black. They also had to release all the fuel out of the plane, because the plane couldn't land with a full fuel tank. This was the thing that really freaked me out because earlier that year a plane had exploded over North America because of the same problem. The captain in that plane was also releasing fuel when "accidentally" some of the fuel made its way into the engine and the whole plane just exploded. To their credit, we landed safely back at Singapore to a group of a fire engines, ambulances, police and news reporters. The whole plane erupted with applause but I didn't. Why the hell should we applause the people that almost killed us in the first place. The plane should not have taken off at all from Singapore. From then on the trip was a nightmare. We had to stay in Singapore that night while they looked for another flight. Then we had to go to Zurich the next day and also stay in Zurich a night while they organized something else. Overall we lost 2 days and to go to via London because they couldn't organize it better. To make it even worse we had to fly Swissair again the next day, if it wasn't bad enough that they almost killed us, we had to go with them again.
The thing that really made me angry was that a few weeks later we received a report Swissair that said the reason that there was smoke in the cabin was because of bush fires that were going on at the time in Indonesia. What a load of crap. We were flying 36 000 feet above the ground and all they could come up with was bush fires. Because a lot of people were complaining at the time of the incident that they were going to sue Swissair for accident, all of the passengers received a measly $800 compensation. From that day on I have never flown with Swissair and I don't intend to, even if they gave free first class seats.
The reason I didn't give Swissair one star for my rating was because of my previous experiences with the airline. The times I flew with them prior to the 1998 accident the flight were pretty good. Swissair had good and friendly staff who provided excellent service. Their entertainment though was very bad. There was one TV for about 50 passengers, and they were only showing thing about the environment, and not anything that's actually interesting, like movies for example. The airline also used to be on time. Before 1998 I remember we used to take off at the right time and land most of the times even before our schedule. The price that Swissair charges is incredibly high compared with the service, entertainment and the safety they offer. The planes have proven to be very old and unsafe. The inside looks very new and organized because the planes probably were refurbished, but the fleet is old and makes a lot of noise.
Swissair used to be and still might be a good company, but my experience with them was one that I will never forget, and not because it was a good one. Overall the planes are very old and boring. They provide bad service and even worse entertainment. It's bad enough that you have to fly 12 hours non-stop, and it makes it even worse if there is nothing to keep you busy. The way they are organized and the way they treated us, they should count themselves lucky that I even gave them 2 stars. If you actually think that Swissair is good, you should fly with real airlines such as QANTAS, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa. They provide great service, entertainment and most of all safety.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
duki
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Location: Perth, WA, Australia
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 6 members
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