I’m currently sitting in my AirBnB in Montpellier, FR – taking a break from a long stroll before I head out again. I figured it was a decent time to write something down.
I was hoping that I made the right decision. I watched people file into the plane and find their seats with great anxiety. See, months ago when I booked my trip, I paid to choose a seat because I read reviews that claimed the 3-4-3 seating layout on Swiss Air was too cramped. There are two rows in that plane in Economy class that seat 2-4-2. I chose the aisle in the 2 section.
However, at the check-in counter, the agent asked if I wanted a window seat. He told me it wasn’t a full flight and nobody wants the middle and offered to put me in a window. Getting greedy, I asked if there was a full row available. He complied (probably), gave me my ticket, and directed me down the hallway to security.
So here I am in my window seat, full row to myself, aaaand then two girls show up. “40H” one says to another. Sisters, probably no older than 12. They immediately started poking at the screen in front of them, searching for what movies to watch. At least they’ll be quiet. So now I’m crunched in the window seat next to CHILDREN… I organize my camera bag below the seat in front and prepare for a long ride.
Twenty minutes or so later, the Dad comes by and either recognizes that I’m crushed next to his daughters, or he didn’t like me next to them – I couldn’t tell as they were speaking another language. Either way, he told them to move back, I presume to his seat, and sat in the aisle. Crisis averted. The middle seat became open and we all had lots of space. All was right in the world – or wrong – depending on how you look at it.
This bring me to a life lesson – for anyone that is booking a seat at last minute, choose the (aisle or window) that already has someone in the other (window or aisle) seat. That way, you won’t have a couple or two sisters that take those two seats together. Leave the middle open for the unfortunate people that have no other choice.
The flight otherwise was pretty uneventful. The service was, at least. At the beginning of the flight, the attendants gave out chocolate bars that were really tasty. They kept asking if I wanted drinks, which was good, but I had to keep pausing my movie to hear them ask. The food was just okay. Economy class airplane food – nothing special. I’ll probably opt for the vegetarian choice next time. The Chili tasted good but I can’t imagine what it was made of.
After dinner and a movie, I decided it was time for some sleep as the flight was scheduled to land at 10AM Zurich time, aka 2AM Denver time. I only had one night there so I’d have to hit the ground running. I slept maybe 3 hours.
It was all smooth sailing until right around the edge of the UK. I had an older German/Swiss/etc. couple behind me. The husband was behind me directly at the window. He was very enthused that we “flew over Bristol”. He made that remark at least 4 more times to his wife. It was about now that he started to get a little…aggressive. I could sense that he wasn’t happy about my seat being reclined. The person in front of me also had a seat reclined so naturally, I gave myself more space to sleep and be by reclining.
Seriously, for the duration of the rest of the flight (3hrs) this fucker decides that instead of asking me to un-recline my seat, he’d just continuously hit and push my seat because maybe I’d get it. It got to the point where he just straight up pushed my seat as hard as he could. Fuck you, dude. I knew you wanted me to move up the whole way but instead of asking like an adult you resorted to childish actions. He’s like 70. Anyway I turned around and had a little discussion with his wife and I agreed to scoot “halfway”. There were only about 20 minutes left in the flight.
We land, I grab my backpack, and head out to the terminal.
So. It’s 3AM in Denver (flight was a little delayed), 11AM Zurich. I’m delirious with barely any sleep. I don’t speak German. Now in a country I’ve never been to, and am by myself for the next few days. What could go wrong?