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ameya

After having done SPB, it was time to say good bye to friend and his family and move to Moscow. We wanted to experience the Sapsang, the Russian bullet train and thus went to the 24 hour booking area for booking. It had long lines akin to Indian railway booking counters. None the less we stood in line and got the ticket which we believed was Sapsang and on the day of departure realized for a fast express train. Total Shock and disappointment. I hope I get to experience the bullet train somewhere soon.

Another Russian thing was the name of the stations, like the one at SPB was known as Moscow and where the train reaches in Moscow was known as Leningrad. As we reached, in express which takes 25 mins more than Sapsang and significantly less hours than the over night train, it was the beginning of the peak hour at Moscow and had a tough time navigating thru the metro changing lines and getting to our hotel. We reached by 1900 hrs after reaching the station at 1749 on the dot.

After taking some tours in Moscow, it was time to head back. I had downloaded the Swiss airlines android app for check-in. It was a very basic app and just about managed to check-in. Another thing that the app had was flight status and I checked the incoming aircraft being on time + FR24 showed the registration as well.

We found out about the train service to DME and the first train is at 0600hrs which reaches at 0655hrs. The later trains are faster, I do not understand why !

Our flight was to depart at 0910 hours and the hotel chaps told us that you should ideally check-in atleast 2 hours in advance at DME, which was seconded by my friend, we decided to leave by cab, since it was easier that way. We were charges 1250 RUB for the drop to DME. We left at 0600 and there was traffic and fog and we reached at 0650, pretty much like the train, but before the train crowd could come and clog the check-in security and passport control.

Check-in was quick with bags tagged all the way to DEL. However the lady at the counter was a grumpy Russian who couldn’t find Russian visa on the passport and handed it back saying show Russian visa or something. Hardly worth fighting because of the language barrier.

The check-in was at counter 101. The lady also asked for Schengen visa which is not required for Indians transiting thru ZRH. None the less we had so we showed it. The pathetic attitude continued even at the café where we had a quick coffee and pancake.

For passport control, we showed both the boarding cards and it was a breeze, for all others it was a time consuming task. Security was also quick.
Boarding was from gate 7, where aircraft HB-IOK was already there, arriving from ZRH at 0230hrs. There is one more which comes from Geneva and leaves at 7am. There were a lot of transaero birds around, surprised to see soo many on ground at that time of the day.

As we settled into our seats, wife in window and me in the middle seat, another lady came and took the aisle and I insisted that in India, the middle seat becomes the ladies seat and that I should shift to the window ! 
My wife things giving me window seat is like travelling alone since I look down all the time as if I am the navigator and that the call button should be used to call the pilot on my seat and not the crew. I keep on telling her that for domestic it is important that I be at the window so that if the pilots sleep and we are going ahead of our destination, I can spot and warn the pilot. Offcors this argument is not considered valid.

Lots and lots of flights on the domestic sector were late, some of them rescheduled from morning to evening.

Boarding for us commenced early and we pushed back at 0900hrs, airborne at 0905hrs from runway 4R with a direct routing to ZRH which will save us time and would land at 1015hrs instead of 1045. Our next flight to DEL was at 1245hrs.

Service started quickly on take off, it was cloudy all around but the flight wasn’t bumpy. Service was fast, aircraft clean and seats neat. There were drop down screens which showed Mr.Bean for a while.

The food, consisted of eggs, bread and drinks. Most of packed stuff had DME branding on it. They took a long time to clear the trays. Visibility outside was poor. Descend started at 0945 hours for this mostly uneventful flight and we touched down at 1010hrs on runway 28 and taxied for a long time to dock at gate on terminal B.

As we came out of the aircraft, we were the only two who were profiled and asked for passports and tickets. On seeing the onward boarding card, nothing was asked. We had experienced something even bad in PRG in 2011.

We took a train to Gate E where we cleared security and came to the gates level. Our gate wasn’t announced as yet. SQ A380 was at one of the gates and saw a lot of RJs and A32x at the other terminal at ZRH.
The boarding card stub was not removed.
The shopping area was small and had the same things again and again. There was no wifi.

Gate was announced at 1100hrs and we were to board from E47. There were 4 flights boarding for US&A and all had armed security around. Is that a norm or was it specific to a particular day ?

Soon the FIDS showed a delay of 10 mins on our flight, which was due to connecting pax. None the less boarding started at 1225 and was fast. The 10 min I got were utilized to see the A380 of SQ, TG 340, lots of A330s and an advert saying A340s are being replaced by B777s. Sad day for airbus fan like me.

The pilot announced that we would be delayed by 15 mins due to connecting pax. The FIDS was showing over 10 flights delayed for connecting pax. We were chocks off at 1300 and t/o was at 1315 from runway 16.

Important thing here – I felt like looking at a KF like tail somewhere away. I am not sure if any of the KF bird made its way to ZRH and is still there. Sorry, it was such a quick glance during the t/o roll that I cudnt even identify the plane.

Also saw the dubendurf airport on take off and then headed into clouds. Service started soon and it was better than LH but not as good, why ? because the chicken option was over again !

I played with the IFE all along, some games, some movies, jukebox,etc.
The snacks before landing was pathetic along with a very horrible smelling and tasting ice cream

We started descend pretty late but glided smoothly with what was one of the best landings of all times, coming into land at 00:05 on rwy 29.

We got out a little late walking the long stretch and immigration was very fast but the wait for baggage was equally opposite, a long long one, So much so that I thought our luggage was in Moscow !

Finally it came and we headed to the transit area to catch our next and last flight to Pune. More on that separately.

Aircraft :
ZRH-DEL
HB-JHE
Delivery : 2010
Age: 3.5yrs
Name : Fribourg

DME-ZRH
HB-IOK
A321
Delivered : 1999
Age: 14yrs
MSN : 987

At the end of each flight, a swiss chocolate was given to pax. On the DME-ZRH, it was offered to pax, on the leg till DEL it was given.
Probably adjusted this way to ensure that Indian pax do not take handful of those.

ameya · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:14 pm Post subject:

DME spotting

A320 - Vueling - Nice designer A320

20130525_063748 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

Few Russian beauties still around at DME

20130525_063807 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

And few modern ones ...

20130525_084729 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

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DSCF0456 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

Yak 40 or 42 ?

DSCF0462 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

DSCF0461 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

One Russian amongst many americans

DSCF0460 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

DSCF0458 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

DSCF0463 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

DSCF0470 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

DSCF0473 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

Bye Bye Russia.. I will miss you, specially SPB.

20130525_071239 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

ameya · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:17 pm Post subject:

Swiss A321 - DME to ZRH

20130525_071315 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

20130525_080643 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

20130525_080647 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

The clouds seen here ... same across most part of the Russia trip

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Zurich

2013-05-25-1031 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

20130525_112748 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

ameya · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:21 pm Post subject:

Whalejet

20130525_123751 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

20130525_123906 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

20130525_123911 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

Ukranian

2013-05-25-1032 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

My Plane

20130525_113128 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

Too much Swiss

DSCF0485 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

A320 giving way to big brother since we were late

DSCF0492 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

Airport training plane

DSCF0501 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr
Can KF birds be used such way in india ?

And we are off

DSCF0506 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

DSCF0510 by ameyajoshi, on Flickr

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Sir, thanks for yet another superb trip report!
Sorry to hear that you missed a Bullet Train experience - I guess
the language barrier is considerable, and only a few young people
can speak a smattering of English. Contrast this with most young
people in India's metros, where there are many who know at least
three languages!
`Loved the window seat part, Sir! It had me in splits.
Yes, Zurich Kloten has a Kingfisher A332 in bad shape. If it was
good enough to be ferried from India, I wonder why it has been
left here in this state, when in today's day and age, I find it
surprising that a plane in such heavy demand as the A330, finds
no takers.
Ha ha! I loved the difference between Swiss chocolates being
`offered', and `given'. Vintage Ameya!
As regards your nice pictures, a few comments:
First, the Tu-114 you saw at Monino was the very plane
that had got Khrushchev to JFK, where it gave him unrestrained joy
to see that the airport had no ladder tall enough to get to the
plane, and he had to use the plane's emergency ladder for the
job. Second, the `Classic' you saw at Monino was an Il-62, not
the more common Il-62M! The original model had the characteristic
dog-tooth leading edges on the wing, from what I remember off-hand.
Thank you for some nice pictures of Soviet classics at DME - I
regret that I was unable to see any such beauties when I landed
at SVO in 2011, and on the return leg, the absence of a window
seat prevented me form having a view outside. DME seems to be
better in this regard. You saw Il-62Ms, Il-18s, (you also saw a
Tu-154!), and of course, the Yak-42!
Yes, your pictures show the Yak-42, and not the Yak-40.
Loved your pictures of the exotic Ukrainian 733, and the SQ 380.
The ZRH fire training plane wears an obvious sad look, but look
at the durability of the DC-8 air-frame! Wow - you clicked a CA
744 on take-off! Thank you - for this report, and the sneak peaks
that you allowed your friend, and of course, the sneak peak at a
part of the DEL-PNQ experience! It was like a starter, which has
increased my hunger for even more from you.
Thanks, Sumantra.

Nimish · Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 4:40 am Post subject:

Hey Ameya - sounds like your experience with LX was sub-par, right from the check-in at DME, to the food on the India leg. Given the reputation LX generally have (which is positive), I wonder if this was a one-off bad flight, or have LX standards in Y been slipping?
_________________
We miss you Nalini!

ameya · Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 1:28 pm Post subject:

@Sumantra Sir - Thanks for the wonderful information. You have a lot of it and I realize that you need some tits bits of it until which you have kept it a secret !

@Nimish - I think the service on ground has more to do with GHA at DME. However, the choice of food not being available is not a very good sign. Infact the same happened on LH, so I wonder what they are upto !

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi