What’s Your Best Travel Experience?
THE SWISSAIR STORY
AN UNCONVENTIONAL CONVENTION — EDITION 230
(MY INCREDIBLE VACATION COMPED BY SWISSAIR)
Question: What’s the best flight you’ve ever taken?
We’ve all experienced flights from hell. But today, let’s concentrate on the positive. Try and remember a wonderful flight (or travel experience).
I know. Sounds impossible, especially this time of year when millions of travelers are stressed out.
The good thing about travel nightmares — if there is such a thing — is the hilarity afterwards when we share the horrors. How many times have we told old stories and laughed about it later? Hopefully, we could laugh about it afterwards.
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My favorite travel memory, my flight from heaven, happened a short time after Marieta and I got married in the early 1990s. We flew from Washington Dulles back to Bucharest Otopeni during the holidays to visit her family. However, because of severe weather and flight delays, we got stuck in Zurich for two days.
Go figure. Who could have imagined it would snow in the Swiss Alps in late December?
The entire story was incredible, and the flight was even better than the destination. How often can you say that? We took off from Washington Dulles in bad weather. SwissAir landed in Boston as a scheduled stop (to pick up maybe 5 passengers), then flew on to Zurich. This time of year, the flight was empty. It was a jumbo 747. It could carry 400 passengers, but maybe 50 people were on board. So, we who were sitting in economy were treated to our own rows, and first-class treatment.
I’ll never forget the incredible decadence of a SwissAir flight attendant coming down the aisle for the third time (!) in an hour (!) with a doily tray loaded with Chocolat Stella, which is produced in Ticino. And, coffee service. With fresh cream. It was like out of a 1950s’ Cary Grant-Sophia Loren movie. Marieta leaned over to me and said, “oh gaaaawd, please….no more chocolates. I can’t eat any more Swiss chocolates. If they come down the aisle again, I’m going to throw up.”
That’s service.
The main meal was like something cooked up by Paul Bocuse. Loaded with luscious creme. Pure hardcore food porno. Unpronounceable, but delicious. Oh, and breakfast five hours later was like something out of a Martha Stewart ad. Holy shit, are we really sitting in economy class? Note: Don’t try this on Spirit Airlines.
The SwissAir flight landed in Zurich in a blizzard. The weather meant no more planes could take off from Zurich until things cleared. Damn, that sucks. Stuck in Switzerland for Christmas instead of dreary post-revolution Eastern Europe Bucharest, where I’d recently spent two years breathing diesel fumes and expectorating coal dust and decent Chinese food was non-existent. Ricoooooola!!! Just pinch me, and make sure I’m not dreaming.
So, we’re drunk on Swiss Chocolate standing at the SwissAir customer service counter in Zurich and they explain the options, some of which included taking a bus to Milan and flying from there and other (outstanding, if you’re adventurous) options. “Please excuse this inconvenience Sir — if you don’t mind flying to Casablanca and connecting there tonight (seriously, this was offered), we can get you to Bucharest by tomorrow morning.” Another other option was to stay in Zurich at a downtown hotel. Oh, and listen to this: They’d pay for the hotel and comp all the meals. Everything. Free. Seriously. Comped RFB in Zurich, for what ended up two more nights, eating world class food at SwissAir’s expense. Bring me another parfait, please. Bring mir bitte noch ein Parfair. It was everything sans Paul Bocuse giving me a foot massage. Eventually, we settled on on the best “compromise” and they put us on a shuttle and we got 3 days/2 nights in Zurich in what turned out to be a light snow. Gee, that’s $600 round trip airfare was a helluva’ bargain!
I’ve never prayed for a blizzard and flight delays, but I hit my knees a few times in a come to Jesus moment in that hotel room. Even Marieta, who wanted to see mom and dad admitted, “hey, this flight delay turned out pretty good.”
A few days later, the weather cleared and we boarded SwissAir’s regular 727 from Zurich to Bucharest, for what was soon to be the ultimate culture shock. I snapped this picture of her as we boarded the plane.
Postscript: There’s a tragic ending to this story. In 1998, the 747 we flew on (later becoming Flight 111 out of JFK) crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, killing all 229 onboard. I can’t even fathom the horror of that plane going down in the cold dark Atlantic. That could have been you, me, or anyone on board. Between the Dulles and JFK flights going back and forth to the airline’s hub in Zurich and connecting on to capitals all over the world, this 747 plane was known as the “diplomats’ shuttle” because so many government officials flew between the U.N., Washington, and the international organizations headquartered in Switzerland. Due to the crash, and obvious mismanagement, SwissAir — the national airline of Switzerland — went bankrupt in 2002.
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Now, it’s your turn. Please share you favorite flying experience and/or travel story.
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