With the demise of Adria leaving a gap in its domestic network, SWISS is expanding it Flugzug rail service to Lugano.
In German, Flugzug is literally flight train, though SWISS translates it as Airtrain. When SWISS abandoned Basel (BSL), it introduced codeshare rail service with Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) between Basel and Zurich Airport. The rail codeshare service has allowed for more frequencies and better connections for travelers originating in Basel, even if the train is more time consuming than well-timed flights.
Earlier this month, Slovenian carrier Adria collapsed. Adria not only provided service from Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, but operated domestic service on behalf of SWISS between Zurich and Lugano.
I had the chance to fly Adria on this route over the summer. You can read my review here.
> Read More: SWISS Saab 2000 Zurich To Lugano Review
That route will not be resumed via air. Instead, SWISS announced an extension of its Flugzug rail service to include Lugano.
Starting on October 16, SWISS will offer 14 codeshare train journeys between Lugano SBB and Zurich Airport. Miles & More members can earn award and status miles on these trains. Economy class passengers are seated in economy class while business and first class passengers travel in first class.
CONCLUSION
The expanded Flugzug service is helpful in keeping Lugano connected to Zurich and the world. Still, Milan Malpensa Airport is even closer than Zurich and also accessible by train. Tickets prices are also often cheaper. Thus, I suspect many will take advantage of SWISS’ new train service, but many more will just head south to Milan.
It’s 2:40 from Lugano to ZRH, and, when they get the work done on the line, it’ll be back to 2:10. That’s competitive with flying.
What’s not, however, is sticking people in second class. That line is notorious for day hikers going to Ticino to go wandeln in the sun, so it can be overfull, and the last time I took it, I was fighting a 8 year old who was trying to hit me in the face with the armrest (yeah, the parents didn’t care). And heaven forfend you gotta ride back from Ticino in the summer when they all remove their hiking boots once on the train.
AF/KLM put economy pax in first on the Thalys “flight” I last took with them. SBB generally has nice, quiet, and spacious trains, even in second class, but not on the Lugano-ZRH line.
Too bad wanted to try the Saab 2000’s on that route. Hopefully they are bought and find a new home
If it is included in the price of the ticket, it is only cheaper to go to Milan if you can get a cheaper flight from there. In which case even when LX would fly this route you would go through Milan anyway potentially. So really this is a fine replacement I would think even if a little more time consuming.