2ni’s Blog

Das miles&more Programm ist eigentlich eine gute Sache, um Vielnutzer zu belohnen.

Aber irgendwie scheint mir, dass die Swiss dieses Programm eigentlich gar nicht will. Es werden überall Steine in den Weg gestellt wo es auch nur geht. Und damit machen sie ihren Kunden keine Freude, im Gegenteil. Es wäre besser angebracht, den Dienst einzustellen, als sich damit einen schlechten Ruf zu holen.

Bekanntlich kann man ja ein “Gratisticket” über sein Meilenkonto buchen (wenn man denn ein Datum gefunden hat, bei dem miles&more Tickets noch akzeptiert werden). Dass man die Zusatzkosten, die z.T. 50% des Tickets ausmachen können, sowieso bezahlen muss, ist schon fast selbstverständlich.

Nun kann man von einem mit dem Meilenkonto gekauften Ticket wiederum Meilen sammeln. Dies habe ich denn auch auf meinem letzten Flug nach Miami versucht, nur leider hatte ich meine Meilenkarte beim Checkin nicht dabei. Aber dafür gibts ja ein Webformular.

Getan und nie irgendeine Message erhalten. Ich ging davon aus, dass dann alles geklappt hat. Denkste. Der Hinflug wurde akzeptiert, der Rückflug mit der Begründung “Ticket nicht meilenberechtigt” für ungültig erklärt.

Also Anfrage per E-Mail, Antwort: “Ihre Anfrage nach einer online Erfassung Ihrer Flüge konnten wir leider nicht bearbeiten, weil unsere interne Recherche erfolglos war. Daher bitten wir Sie, uns eine Kopie des Tickets oder Passenger Receipts und die Originalbordkarten zu senden”.

Hm, also in der kurzen Zeit bezweifle ich mal, dass sie wirklich recherchiert haben. Nun darf ich also nicht mehr existierende Tickets (ich hatte doch ein e-Ticket!!!) per Post nach Deutschland schicken. Die Boardkarten hab ich noch.

Ich frage per E-Mail schnell nach, ob die Kopie der Originalbordkarten (ich traue dem Ganzen nicht) genügen würde.
Prompt kommt eine automatische Antwort zurück, ich solle doch das Webformular verwenden. Mist auch. Einfach nur mühsam.

Ich bin nahe dran aufzugeben, was wohl Ihr Ziel ist. Aber mach den Prozess nun mal durch.

Liebe Swiss, tu Dir und Deinen Kunden doch ein Gefallen und

• generiere (automatische) E-Mails zum Status von Meilengutschriften.
• gib eine vernünftige Erklärung ab, wenn Meilengutschriften nicht akzeptiert wurden.
• akzeptiere direkte Antworten per E-Mail, oder schreib im E-Mail wie man antworten soll.
• vereinfache Deinen Prozess von Meilengutschriften.
• mach Dein Vielfliegerprogramm nutzbar oder stampf es ein.

Das miles&more scheint mir schon länger lächerlich und schadet imho der Swiss mehr als es nützt.

P.S.: Sie werden mir sicher antworten, dass die Deadline schon vorüber ist.

Distance:   87.9km
Elevation:  1389m
Duration:   3h51
Avg. Speed: 22.8km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Very nice parts, especially the part after the Etzelpass until Sihlbrugg. There are actually 3 passes: Etzelpass, Ratenpass and one I don’t remember the name between Ägeri and Menzingen.

The Etzelpass is hard. It’s so steep you’ll not be able to cycle in your training pulse, but way above. And that will kill you for the further efforts needed on the trip.

I was surprised how well the Sihltal is working for cycling. When I pass there by car I always think “poor cyclist”. As I passed there by bike there was not a lot of traffic I must say, and I had strong wind from the back. But it was fun, for speed racing

The whole training was very hard. I still have to optimize my energy balance, but don’t know how…

No pics this time.

Distance:   41.62km
Elevation:  1557m
Duration:   3h57
Avg. Speed: 11.4km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

I took the original track and redrawed it from scratch with mapsource/topo schweiz v2. I also did some little changes on the track.

I did park my car on the parking lot of the little airport. The parking on the railway station might also work

The trail is just fantastic. It consists of everything a biker wants. Unfortunately there are not many single trails, but probably I’m just spoiled from the Volle Dosis Trails.

But: Fantastic views, challenging single trails… Just great!

I compiled the version 0.13.2 for mac. You can get the application here.

I’ll do some outdoor car photography in the next coming days. I already took some pictures but I’ll need to optimize my shooting a little.

Lessons I learned during the shooting or read on tutorials so far:

• Use a polarizing filter to prevent reflections (will get one)
• Shoot at about headlight level (get on your knees)
• Ratio between front and side of car 1:3
• Turning the wheels to one direction can give the photo more dynamic
• Try to have the sun in your back
• Use your flash as filling light
• Background should be as least distracting as possible, no bright colors

Take at least the following shots: front 3/4 view, rear 3/4 view, full side view, full front view, full rear view, engine shot, dashboard and interior shot. Then try different shots for yourself.

Eventually take 2 shots with different exposure to get everything right.

Check also out this and this.

Distance:   30.85km
Elevation:  933m
Duration:   2h38
Avg. Speed: 12.1km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Inspired by promising comments of the original track Adrian and me went up to the Rigi.

We choose the parking of the Golfclub of Küssnacht am Rigi as starting point. You can also use the parking on the lake of Küssnacht.

Uphill is primary on paved roads without traffic. The top track is mainly on forest tracks and the downhill is on a hiking trail (single trail). You’ll have a great view all along the whole trip! Fantastic view! The single trail downwards is great but not very technical. But you might still pay attention as at some points it just goes down beside the trail!

Distance:   40.8km
Elevation:  1366m
Duration:   3h231
Avg. Speed: 11.7km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Inspired by promising comments of the original track I decided to give it a try.

Awesome landscape!!! If you want to be in a hilly countryside and get the feeling you’re the only human being on earth, take that trip! Most of the trip consists of forest tracks and some paved roads. I was expecting much more single trails I think the difficulty given on the original description is not that meaningful. Most of the trip is very easy with some view tricky passages (serpentines going up and down, steep track going up with a lot of roots).

I’m wondering where the differences come in the altitude measuring:

gpsies.com: 1569m
garmin tc : 1366m
gps-tracks: 1199m
edge 705  : ~1200m

Distance:   65.9km
Elevation:  1046m
Duration:   2h50
Avg. Speed: 23.2km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Nice trip with some marvelous sceneries: pond Marmori, Üetliberg, Bünzen, Rigi, lake of Zurich, Bremgarten, … If you want to get some altitude elevation on a small trip around Zurich that would be a perfect match.

Distance:   46.8km
Elevation:  1327m
Duration:   4h28
Avg. Speed: 10.4km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Inspired by Vazifar’s Volle Dosis Trails Adrian and me decided to follow that path. It was very nice, especially as soon as you got away from the mainstream Üetliberg hiker and biker route. The amount of single trails is quite high.
Thanks a lot to Vazifar for sharing his trips!

Distance:   87km
Elevation:  1210m
Duration:   3h38
Avg. Speed: 24.2km/h
Details:    gpsies, trainingstagebuch
TCX file:   TCX file (including elevation alerts)

Great trip around Zurich and Zürcher Oberland until Hinwil. Nice scenery and nice small (paved) roads without any traffic. Great. I didn’t eat enough on the road though, which made the trip a pain at the end…