SWISS and SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) have agreed to extend their AirRail offering, with new destinations and a partnership extension.
Trains and Planes – SWISS and SBB – Image, SWISS.
When established in 2019, the programme was initially scheduled to run for up to five years. This has now been extended by the two companies indefinitely.
The partnership has developed to offer 20 destinations from SWISS hubs to destinations across the SSB network. According to SWISS. The linkup has proved very popular with travellers, and SWISS and SBB expect to report further growth of some 15% in the demand for these services this year.
The partners are also further expanding their present joint product offer through the addition of four destinations in Canton Graubünden. By linking the corresponding SBB services with the SWISS route network, Chur and (via the Rhaetian Railway) Davos, Klosters and St. Moritz will now also be more easily reachable for international travellers.
Currently, you can book a combined ticket via SWISS’s site (or a travel agent) to Basel, Bellinzona, Bern, Brig, Fribourg, Geneva Cornavin (main station), Interlaken, Lausanne, Lucerne, Lugano, Montreux, Sierre, Sion, Vevey and Visp in Switzerland and Munich in Germany and Bregenz in Austria.
The new routes are bookable for travel on or after 2 October 2024.
In Quotes
Heike Birlenbach, Chief Commercial Officer at SWISS said:
“SBB and SWISS are both bywords for Swiss values, quality and reliability,”
“This partnership enables us to offer our customers an overall travel experience that seamlessly combines the strengths of air and rail travel and, in doing so, sets new benchmarks in comfort and convenience terms.”
“I’m especially pleased,” CCO Birlenbach continues, “that our now-extended collaboration with SBB will enable us to offer even more convenient connections within Switzerland that optimally meet our air travellers’ needs.”
Véronique Stephan, Member of the SBB Management Board and Head of Passenger Services Markets added:
“The open-ended continuation of our collaboration and the addition of these new connections to Chur, Davos, Klosters and St. Moritz tellingly demonstrate how SBB and SWISS are jointly developing a broad range of viable travel solutions,” adds
“And the benefits for all our customers are seamless connections and an expanded network of travel services that bring the world and Switzerland even closer together. We’re teaming up to bring people on board!”
Some useful features too, for travellers and frequent flyers
With tickets bookable via the usual SWISS sales channels, you can select the offered stations either as departure or arrival points in a single step, offering an integrated ticket.
SWISS Air Rail travellers need only check in once and will obtain all their boarding passes directly from SWISS. They also have the option of using their rail ticket the day before their air departure or the day after their air arrival, to give them greater planning flexibility.
More importantly, SWISS further offers its customers a connection guarantee in the event of delays on all SWISS Air Rail routes.
SWISS Air Rail travellers who are Miles & More members will also earn miles and points on their rail tickets, too, with the amount earned based on their connecting flight and class of air travel. SWISS First and SWISS Business passengers are further entitled to first-class rail travel on their SWISS Air Rail connection.
For travellers, having these features helps make AirRail tickets a useful thing, giving flexibility with travel modes, and security in the rare case of a delay.
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