Good Morning.
Today, we will be travelling on Croatia Airline's A319 to ZAG, before continuing on to SPU.
It is my first time on board Croatia Airlines and I'm excited to try them out.
Today's ride will be 9A-CTN, a 14 y/o A319 named "Osijek".
Check In and Security
I arrived early at zurich airport, since I first wanted to make a quick stop at Travelex, to exchange back the THB i got for my weekend trip to Bangkok last week. I normally don't travel with lots of cash and only brought the required 20k Baht to Thailand because it would be an official entry requirement and I did not want to risk anything.
So after I changed the leftover 14200 THB back to Swiss Francs, I headed to the nearest ATM and deposited the cash back into my bank account.
With that chore done, I proceeded to check-In. To my surprise, the airport was quite empty.
Now, interestingly, Croatia Airlines uses Check-In 1, which is normally reserved for LHG Airlines only, while all other airlines operate out of Check In 2.
I did not complain tho, since Check In 1 mostly means short queues at the Business/Star Gold desk and I was not disappointed today.
What I was disappointed with however, was the attitude of the gate agent. I handed her over my passport (I prefer it over my ID Cart, even though I know it is sufficient (right now, Switzerland is voting this month on a proposal that would possibly lead to it leaving the Schengen area and votes are in favor of it, so maybe, I will actually need the passport soon)) and the gate agent was very unfriendly. I did not receive a greeting since she kept chatting with her colleague but I DID receive a derogatory stare like in her head she thought "with 19 you don't belong in the Star Gold lane, get back to Eco". She then asked "where" and I assumed she meant my destination, which I answered with "Split". As a response I got a pissed-off "you need to say the entire itinerary. You fly vis Zagreb, so you say Zagreb-Split, okay? Otherwise I won't see your flight." I refrained from making the comment that I NEVER had to say the entire Itinerary before (and I've flown enough for *G, SkyTeam Elite+ and OneWorld Sapphire) unless the gate agent asked so in advance. (Which was mostly the case for AirFrance/KLM).
She handed over the boarding pass and I left. There was no "have a good flight" or something.
The boarding pass is printed on the regular SWISS-ticket paper and OU is only mentioned as a print, though it was apparently too long, so they only printed "CROATIA AIRLIN"
Security
Security was a breeze.
I went through the Check-In 1 checkpoint, which is in the lower level of security.
And FINALLY, FINALLY they have installed new X-Ray machines, which no longer require taking everything out of the bag.
So it took less than 5 minutes to clear security, especially with no one in front of me, though I got selected for a random spot check. (Like I get every 3rd flight, some things never change.) But I was really relived because the security at ZRH was long overdue to be renovated.
Lounge (SWISS Senator Lounge A)
Star Alliance Gold treats me to Lounge Access into the LHG Senator lounges. With ZRH being SWISS' Homebase, this meant it's time for the SWISS Senator Lounge.
I made my way to the back if the lounge, where the lounge chairs are.
The most comfortable chairs are in the upper decl, but it's forbidden to consume food there. I was going to say, that for a Hub Lounge, it is tiny, especially compared to TK or even AF, but given that Swiss operates TONS of lounges at the airport, the population spreads and it is not overcrowded.
I helped myself to a croissant and a "Nussgipfel", which is a swiss hazelnut pastry.
For the drink, I went with a Rivella that I mixed with a generous amount of Vodka.
Everytime I'm in this lounge, I wonder where the hallway on the other side of this window leads to, I'm assuming it's some first class corridor or crew hallway. Anyone can tell me what it is, please?
The food buffet is generous, but at this time focused on breakfast.
I then checked my flight status to notice an unpleasing notification. The flight from ZAG to ZRH was delayed, which will likely forward to my flight. Given that I only have a 90min connection in ZAG, I really was not looking forward to a 45min delay.
I then proceeded to help myself to a second serving, this time containing nuts, jelly worms, whiskey cola and a banana for the healthy touch. I returned to my seat, put on my "the night we met" kinda playlist, exed the whiskey and just stared straight being sunken into my own thoughts. After all, I'm still a 19 y/o trying to figure out life.
Boarding
Boarding today would take place from A73.
In made my way to the gate and arrived 8 minutes after scheduled boarding, but like I expected, the flight was delayed so boarding hadn't started yet.
Usually at ZRH, Boarding is by Group even if it is not enforced. (Everyone is let on board in every group).
But today, there were no groups as there was just a "we are now boarding" announcement.
The boarding pass also didn't show a group anyway.
Cabin
The cabin features the usual 3-3 configuration but I was happy to see that the aircraft was not equipped with slimline seats.
Legroom was awesome for a short haul flight (I'm 180cm as reference.)
I was seated in 19A, which gave me a nice wing view.
The cabin does not feature any entertainment screen and no plugs (also no USB).
The aircraft was also not equipped with WiFi. As far as I know, only the A220 are equipped.
Departure
We pushed back around 12:50, some 10minutes behind schedule.
We took off at 12:09.
Inflight
15mins after take off, some crackers were served, which contained more alcohol due to them being made with white wine and the crackers were accompanied by a water. The crackerd were very dry but tasty.
I then took some shots out if the window, as we were passing over the austrian alps.
20mins later, the cabin Crew passed through the cabian again and collected the tradh. And then they disappeared for the landing, as descent had already begun. There is not much else to report about the flight itself, since nothing spectacular happened and we were only in air for about 54 minutes.
Landing
We touched down at 1:03 pm and had a short 6 minute taxi to the gate, where we arrived at 1:09pm, meaning 14 mins behind schedule.
I exited the aircraft and took a last glimpse of the bird before connecting to my flight to SPU.
The airport itself is tiny, and I arrived at my connecting gate after just 5 minutes.
