Airlines are catching a lot of well-deserved flak for their declining customer service these days. But it’s not that way across the board. Sometimes, an airline gets it right.

This story of love, hope, and redemption comes to us from the desk of… my dad. Yes, the dadster writes in with some reader mail, with a rave about the service he received from Swiss International Airlines. (The airline chieftains hate it when you call them Swissair, the bankrupt carrier from which the modern Swiss International Airlines emerged…)

Dad flew Swiss coming back from Germany last week. He used 90,000 80,000 of his United miles to fly business class to Germany on Lufthansa, and back on Swiss. (edit: Dad e-mailed to correct me on the mileage…) And predictably, I applaud him for a fine cents-per-mile use of the miles.

The bulk of his praise is for what he experienced on the ground. If you’ve ever just missed a flight, then you’ll especially appreciate this. Read on after the jump…

The original schedule was to depart Hanover at 2:45 pm, arrive in Zurich at 4:15pm, and depart Zurich at 5:00pm for Newark. When we booked this we were concerned about the tight connection time and asked if that would be enough. (Swiss said that 45 minutes is sufficient connection time.)

We were at the airport early where we discovered that the flight to Zurich was delayed – by 25 minutes, leaving our connection time at 20 minutes. I asked if it is still possible to make that flight to Newark from Zurich and was told yes. Still skeptical, when going into the waiting area I asked again, and was assured that they would hold the Newark flight for me!?!? The flight actually left Hanover at 3:35, 50 minutes late.

During the flight to Zurich I was already thinking I would have to spend the night in Zurich, and that I’d need to call the limo in Newark to change the date of my pickup. In fact I was practically resigned to that unless, maybe, the departure gate would be right next to the arrival gate.

Shortly before arrival the head stewardess came to me and told me that because of my tight connection I would be first off the plane and picked up by a limo. Upon arrival, 10 minutes before the scheduled takeoff of my 5:00pm flight, I was paged and left the plane first. I was met by a young lady I later heard was the Zurich “Stationmaster.”

She drove me to the hatch under the plane where my luggage was placed in her “limo,” a very small SUV she said was a Smart 4X4. Then she drove me underneath the runways to the complete opposite side of the airport and had my luggage loaded into the 5:00pm flight to Newark. She said, “The hard part is done, now we know your luggage will get to Newark.”

She then drove me to the area of the gate, accompanied me by elevator and through various passages to the security checkpoint, and then to passport and ticket control, and finally (and again, this is her, personally), to the door of the aircraft!!!

After I entered the plane, the doors were closed and the plane rolled away from the gate – at 5:05! A miracle!

And on top of that the flight was excellent – it was actually on Privatair, an all business-class 737, 2 and 2 seating, with the seats that go almost flat. Excellent food and drink and superb service.

Now that I have put this into words, I believe I will send Swiss a thank you note.

Nice work, Swiss (and Privatair).

And yes, Dad, you should send a note and reward good behavior. The Stationmaster will thank you.

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