Israeli Airline Employees Strike to Protest Open Skies Agreement With EU

Planning to fly to or from Israel over the next few days on an Israeli airline?  You better check your schedule carefully.  Employees of Israeli airlines, El-Al, Arkia and Israir, began an "open-ended strike" this morning at 5 a.m. to protest an "Open-Skies" agreement that the Israeli government reached recently with the EU.

Israir Airlines

The Open Skies agreement was apparently concluded in July 2012 but has not yet been passed by Israel's cabinet.  Under the agreement, all EU airlines would be able to fly to Israel and Israeli airlines would be able to fly to any destination in the EU.  It is expected that this could increase tourism to Israel and reduce air travel prices significantly for Israelis.  However, according to YNet News, Israel's online news source, Israeli TV station, Channel 10, ran a story that the Israeli Transportation Ministry had warned of the potential collapse of El Al - Israel's largest airline - in the case of an Open Skies deal.  According to Channel 10, the Ministry did not bring the report to the government's attention or to the attention of the public.  The Ministry apparently denies that it concealed the report.

El Al Airlines

Israeli airline employees are apparently worried about potential lay-offs, redundancies and the overall economic consequences that they will face if this Open Skies deal proceeds.  One of the major concerns is that the Israeli airlines have significantly higher security costs and the EU airlines will not be required to incur these same costs.  Another concern relates to whether or not the Open Skies deal actually provides for guaranteed landing spots in EU cities.  Apparently, the deal does guarantee quite a number of spots for EU airlines to land in Israel.

The Israeli cabinet is meeting to discuss the matter and various talks are being held.  It is unclear where this is all headed and whether other air travel in and out of Israel will be affected.  But for now, travelling on one of the three Israeli airlines is sure to be a challenge.

Arkia Airlines

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Shirat Machar Summer Tour 2013

The Israeli musical group Shirat Machar is trying to put together a North American tour this summer (2013).  They are hoping to visit a number of cities including Toronto, New York, Washington, Boston and St. Louis.  They also plan to perform at Camp Ramah locations across the U.S. and Canada.

Shirat Machar is made up of a group of eleven 14-18 year old singers, selected from Israel's NOAM movement (the equivalent of USY - the Conservative youth movement in North America).

The group has released a number of CDs.  It has performed live across Israel on a number of occasions, including some very special events attended by the President of Israel, Shimon Peres.

For some members of the group, this will be their last chance for a tour as they will be entering the Israeli army for their compulsory national service.  Members of Shirat Machar are hoping that this will be the best set of concerts that the group has performed.

A group of backers have set up a funding opportunity on Kick Starter.(Click here).
The group is hoping to raise at least $10,000 U.S. to help fund the tour.  This will be a unique opportunity for the members of the group but, even more so, for those who are lucky enough to have the chance to see them perform live.  They are energetic, youthful and extremely talented.  Their performances combine contemporary Israeli pop music with more traditional Jewish-influenced music, some drawn from liturgical sources.  This group of Israeli youth shows a different face of Israel, the inspiring, hopeful and egalitarian side.

Please consider passing this link on to whomever might be interested in supporting Shirat Machar - and in seeing them perform live in North America.  If you are interested in making a contribution, you can use the link above.  This is still a conditional request - the contribution will only be accepted if the project goes ahead. 

If you are looking for a taste of Shirat Machar music - try this link to Some Nights or this link to Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen Version). 

Many thanks and best regards,

Ken
 

Yom Haatzmaut 2013 - Chag Sameach

I was fortunate to be able to get back to Israel for Yom Haatzmaut - Israel Independence Day - in time to celebrate Israel's 65th anniversary.  I was away for an extended period to have the chance to celebrate Pesach in Toronto - so it is nice to be back for such a great occasion.

Yom Haatzmaut, of course, is always the day after Yom Hazikaron - Israeli Rememberance Day.  For Israelis, the cost of building and maintaining a state has been tremendous.  More than 22,000 solidiers have been killed in defending the State and some 4,000 civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks.  Of course, the line between soldier and civilian in Israel is very much blurred since most Israelis are conscripted to serve in the army for some period of time and then become available as reserves for years afterwards.  It is fitting that Israel remembers its fallen so poignantly the day before celebrating Independence Day.  It is reminder of the bittersweet essence of life.  It also undescores the level of honour, respect and dignity shown to those who have lost their lives or been injured fighting for the freedom of rest of us.  In Israel, on Yom Hazikaron, a siren sounds at 11 a.m. and everyone stops for a moment of silence.  Cars pull over on the highway and drivers get out of their cars.  Buses pull over and all of the passengers get out of the bus and stand for a moment of silence.  Everything comes to a complete halt.  Radio stations play sombre music all day.
 
As the sun sets, Yom Haatzmaut begins and the country shifts from commemoration to celebration.

In the evening, Erev Yom Haatzmaut, (the holiday begins the night before as with every other Jewish holiday), there are concerts and events across the country.   We attended the Ra'anana celebrations, which this year featured Rami Kleinstein and Harel Skat. 

Ra'anana has close to 80,000 residents.  I wouldn't want to try to guess how many were in the park but it was quite a signficant number.  There were food vendors selling everything from pizza to hamburgers, bourekas to ice cream - and other vendors selling all kinds of must have items for kids ranging from glow in the dark watches and blow-up hammers to helium balloons and all kinds of crazy hats and headgear.

At one end of the park was the main stage.  It featured various kids' dance troupes for the first couple of hours, accompanied by recorded music.  Some of the dance groups were elementary school students and others were semi-professional dancers from some of the city's sophisticated high school dance programs.  Of course, this was hardly religious or even Israeli music.  Most of the dancing was accompanied by current pop, rap, hip-hop or other North American and British influenced music.  All of the groups were well rehearsed and some were quite entertaining.

At about 10 p.m., the City ran a 10-15 minute fireworks display.  After that, Israeli singer Harel Skat performed on the main stage.  He is quite young, having been a runner-up in the Israeli version of American Idol.  He was quite entertaining and the audience enjoyed his music.  His set was only about a half hour long but it was really good.  Most well known Israeli performers go from city to city playing at a number of venues on Yom Haatzmaut - and earning huge fees.  I don't know what Skat's schedule was like - but the Israeli papers reported that singer Eyal Golan was performing at five venues and earning about 120,000 shequels per performance (each of which were probably about a half hour long).

After Skat's peformance ended, the next performer due up was Rami Kleinstein.  He was nowhere to be found at 10:30 p.m. - probably at some other performance - so the crowd was subjected to a tortorous DJ using a stage name of "Brian's Freak Show."  He hurled obscenities at the crowd and played atrociously vulgar music, mostly uncensored rap and house music.  It is little wonder that Ra'anana's religious community runs a second stage at the other end of the park, which features, primarily, religious music.  At the main stage, which included many young children, this DJ's performance was simply obscene.  (And of course, many of you know that MY threshold is reasonably high...).  I actually found it shocking that the city of Ra'anana would celebrate its Independence Day with such a vulguar performance.  I think many agreed with me.  Even those who were waiting to see Rami Kleinstein began to lose patience as this assault continued for about 1 1/2 hours.  The audience thinned noticeably though that was also due to the fact that it was getting quite late.  Even the intended target audience did not seem totally thrilled with this filler D.J. 

So by the time Rami Kleinstein showed up, and Brian's "freak show" mercifully ended, many of the people who would have enjoyed Kleinstein had left.  He performed for about a half hour and it was a great show - but it was not his ideal crowd.  Where in his live peformances, people all sing along and dance to his music, the reception here was much more subdued.

We left the park around midnight, even though the party was continuing on until 4 or 5 a.m.  My son tells me that there was a DJ called "Eazy" playing predominantly "dub step" starting at about 12:30 a.m.  It Sounds like it was even worse than "Brian's Freak Show."  I suppose each generation complains about the musical tastes of the younger generation.  But there is lots of great new music out there today, much of it popular with young crowds. So it is puzzling to me why the biggest public celebrations would feature the trashiest type of entertainment.

On Yom Haatzmaut itself, we slept in and missed morning tefilloth.  Many observant Israelis include a special Hallel prayer on Yom Haatzmaut, a prayer that is reservered for the most important holy days on the Jewish calendar.  But when we finally woke up, we performed the Israeli duty of having a barbecue on Independence Day...which was followed by a really nice, festive Birkat Hamazon to make up for the service that we had missed in the morning.

Israelis also celebrate by Independence Day by holding an International Bible Contest in Jerusalem (the finals of an event that takes place all over the world).  As well, Israeli President Shimon Peres hosted a musical event at the President's residence.

Overall, there are many opportunities to enjoy wonderful music, to celebrate with people everywhere and to contemplate Israel's future and past accomplishments.  Maybe next year, we will find a different venue for the evening event with more tasteful entertainment (not that I'm complaining about either Rami Kleinstein or Harel Skat, both of whom were great). 

Chag Sameach from Israel!

Blackberry Z10 in Israel: Not Kosher?

Blackberry Z10

For: April 1, 2013

Although the new Blackberry Z10 is apparently selling well in some markets, especially Canada, it is likely to face some hurdles in Israel unless it is re-branded.

During Hol-Hamoed this week, Rabbi Tolayim, a Satmar Rabbi from Mea She'arim, issued a pasuk barring his followers from using blackberries.

"It is well known that there is an increasingly high risk of insect infestation with blackberries and blueberries, particularly when they are cleaned without proper supervision.  These berries are also highly susceptible to worm attacks which can destroy everything from the inside out.  As a result, we must insist that Torah-observant Jews refrain from using blackberries, blueberries or similar devices unless they are under proper full-time supervision."

While berries can be thoroughly cleaned and will then be Kosher approved, they must be soaked completely in water, agitated and then rinsed.  This is obviously impractical for most smart phones.  I can tell you this from personal experience, having witnessed the tragic demise of a family member's cell phone that went through a washing machine cycle.  (No names released here....).  In any event, the Star-K guidelines for cleaning blackberries properly can be found here.

Rabbi Tolayim has asked the Knesset to issue an outright ban on these devices.  He has also been in contact with newly elected Cabinet Minister Naftali Bennett to ask about Israeli government involvement in a negotiated settlement.  The ultra-orthodox have apparently proposed other names for the device that would lower the risk of contamination.  "Grape" was considered for use in Israel since Israel has so many vineyards.  However, they quickly determined that these devices would be impractical as they could only be turned on or off by observant Jews.  "Strawberrry" was rejected as it would have created some of the same concerns as with the other berries, especially if the device was available in a green colour.  According to some Kashruth agencies, the top (green part) of the strawberry should be always be removed before the strawberry is served (or used, in this case).  "Orange" was not approved as it is already the name of one of Israel's largest cell phone companies. 

The updated, rabbincally approved list of alternate names currently includes "date" ("tamar"), "pepper,"("pilpel") "watermelon,"("avatiach") "celery" ("selery") and "carrot." ("gezer").  It is unclear which name Rabbi Tolayim and his followers will favour and whether Blackberry (formerly RIM) will agree to a special re-branding for the Israeli market.  However, according to spokespeople from Blackberry, avatiach was too much of a mouthful.  "Celery" was considered too bland and carrot might evoke red-head ("jinji") jokes in Israel.  It is expected that "pepper" and "date" (pilpel and tamar) will be the frontrunners although some Israeli ex-Montrealers have already raised concerns about calling anything a "pepper."

This whole controversy comes less than a year after Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a Jerusalem Rabbi, ordered his followers to burn their Iphones, as reported in the Huffington Post here and the Jerusalem Post, here. I assure you that these postings are not fabricated.  You can't make some of this stuff up!

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky

Meanwhile, Samsung has apparently escaped much of this nomenclature controversy in Israel, which bodes well for the Galaxy 4,which is due to be released shortly.  Despite the ongoing controversy over the age of the universe, the Galaxy has not attracted as much rabbinical condemnation as the other devices.   

Israelis can take comfort that the new Minister of Religious Affairs in Israel will come from the Yesh Atid political party.  This is likely to lead to the liberalization of many religious laws in Israel.  It is anticipated that obstacles to the sale of blackberries, apples, blueberries and other fruit-named smartphones will soon be eliminated.

Now that we are about half way through pesach, perhaps the same logic will apply to the eating of kitniyot (legumes).  Perhaps by next year, with the change to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Ashkenazi Rabbis everywhere (or at least throughout Israel) will realize that the kitniyot ban has nothing to do with hametz and that there is no legitimate legal (halachic) reason for banning corn, rice and various types of beans from the Pesach table.    

In the meantime, the same logic that causes observant Ashkenazi Jews to shun kitniyot during Pesach will continue to cause the ultra-orthodox to avoid fruit-named smartphones, especially those smartphones that are named after fruit that carry high risks of insect infestation.

President Obama In Israel

 As everyone knows, U.S. President Barack Obama delivered a speech yesterday to a group of Israelis at the Jerusalem Convention Center.  The full text of the speech is here, courtesy of YNet news.   If you would prefer to watch the full speech, the You Tube link for it is here.

President Obama did not present any kind of peace proposal during his brief visit to Israel.  Nor did he propose any specific details in reviewing the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. 

As is often the case when political leaders deliver speeches, the speech has been criticized from the right and the left.  Some, on the left, including the Israeli left, would have preferred President Obama to propose a peace plan and then arm twist both sides into accepting it.  This was the approach taken by President Clinton.  The difficulty is that, by most accounts, Israel made significant, meaningful concessions but still could not come to a deal with the Palestinians.  While many in the international community believe that Israel is the obstinate party, that is probably a significant distortion of reality.  It seems fairly clear that both sides will have to make concessions if a peace deal is to be concluded. 

Others, on the right, including newly elected MK and cabinet minister Naftali Bennett argued that an Israeli withdrawal from disputed territories would lead to an extremely precarious security situation for Israel.  Bennett referred to the missile attacks that Israel has faced in Sderot since leaving Gaza unilaterally.  To make its point during President Obama's visit, Hamas fired a number of missiles at Sderot while Obama was visiting.

Ultimately, the President's speech was very well written and well delivered. President Obama touched on a number of themes, including the shared bond between the people of the United States and the people of Israel.  He referenced the upcoming holiday of pesach (Passover) and tied the Exodus story to the history of African-Americans in the United States.  And then he moved to the argument that peace is necessary, just and possible.

It is beyond my blog to consider each of those three points in great detail.  I believe most Israelis would have a hard time disputing the idea that peace is necessary (though there are certainly a few).  I also think that most Israelis would accept that peace is "just" though there would certainly be a dispute over what a "just" settlement might look like.  The most significant push-back would probably be over the issue of whether peace is currently possible.  The optimist in all of us wants to believe that peace is possible.  We hope it is.  I think many, if not most Israelis are willing to make significant concessions and sacrifices for peace.  But there will need to be the same attitude towards concessions and sacrifices on the other side.

Many on the right, inside and outside of Israeli criticized President Obama for having visited Egypt early on in his presidency but not visiting Israel.  Leading up to the election, some thought he might visit Israel before the election, which, of course, may have been viewed somewhat cynically.  Now, early on in his second term, President Obama chose to plan a trip to Israel.  Those same right wing commentators, such as Caroline Glick, who had criticized President Obama for not having visited earlier, criticized him now for coming to Israel and for the "hidden motives" that he may have had  in doing so.   

One of Caroline Glick's points is certainly noteworthy.  I think it is fair comment to criticize President Obama for not addressing Israel's Knesset.  He was apparently invited, but chose to speak in a convention center instead, in front of a hand picked group of Israelis.  Giving a speech to a large group of Israelis is certainly a wonderful idea.  But President Obama really does need to engage Israel's elected officials, even those with whom he disagrees.

Overall, it seems to me that this was a positive visit.  President Obama reaffirmed and strengthened his relationship with Israel and its leaders.  There were no major incidents with Prime Minister Netanyahu and that relationship may have also improved somewhat.  It is unclear whether President Obama has managed to increase his popularity among the Israeli public, which according to some approval rating surveys, sits as low as 10%.    

The difficult challenges are ahead, as President Obama and his team will need to work with Israel's newly elected government and with the Palestinian leadership to move things ahead.  So far, there is little indication how or when that might happen.

Israel's New Coalition Government

The Israeli coalition talks are all but completed and the different parties are expected to sign a coalition deal very shortly.  Assuming that the deal gets signed, Israel will have a new government just in time for the visit of President Obama.

In some ways, this could be one of the most change-oriented governments that Israel will have seen in a long time.  There are some very exciting possibilities. 

The Israeli government, so far, will be made up of Likud-Beitenu (31 seats), Yesh Atid (19 seats), Habayit Hayehudi (12 Seats) and Hatnuah (6) seats for a total of 68 seats in the 120 seat Knesset.  The biggest sea change is that this will be one of the few governments in Israel's history without an ultra-orthodox party in the government.  For many years, the ultra-orthodox parties, representing somewhere in the range of 15% of the population, have held the balance of power.  They have been able to extract huge concessions including financial support of Yeshivot, control over rabbinic affairs in Israel, exemptions from military service, preferential housing arrangements and many other terms.  If this new coalition holds together, many of these deals are about to come unraveled.

Yair Lapid campaigned on a platform of making significant changes to domestic policy.  Many Israelis doubted that he could achieve very many of his goals and were quite pessimistic given the way Israeli governments have been managed historically.  However, if the coalition talks are any indication, Israel will see some very significant changes quite quickly.  Lapid withstood enormous pressure from Prime Minister Netanyahu and from the ultra-orthodox.  He managed to come up with a coalition agreement that included major concessions.  The ultra-orthodox will no longer be exempt from the army and mandatory service for all Israeli men will be reduced from 3 years to 2 years. Lapid's party will control the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance. This means that here will be major educational reform - including mandatory secular subjects for all Israelis.  Budget allocations to ultra-orthodox institutions will undoubtedly be reduced dramatically.  Lapid has also indicated that he will pushing to change, liberalize and modernize the relationship between the state and its religious groups.  In other words, he will aim to reduce the power of Israel's ultra-orthodox rabbis and emphasize pluralism, greater equality and opportunity for liberal streams of Judaism.  There are all kinds of possibilities here, ranging from better treatment of Conservative and Reform Jewish organizations, changes to how the Kotel is run, changes to marriage, divorce and other laws and changes in many other areas.  The religious character of Israel is about to undergo a major transformation.  If Lapid can continue to deliver in many of these areas, his support will grow dramatically and he may even wind up forming the next Israeli government.

Lapid could not have achieved all of this alone.  The other big winner in these coalition talks has been Naftali Bennett.  Although Bennett is painted as a right wing extremist in some areas, he proved to be very pragmatic in working with Lapid in these coalition talks.  He solidly supported the notion of universal mandatory service and many of the other platforms that Lapid has put forward.  Bennett has even called for the institution of Sunday as a second day off for Israel so that Israel can move to a 5 day work week.  Bennett proved that he was a man of his word and he stuck by Lapid even has Prime Minister Netanyahu did everything he could to break the understanding that Lapid and Bennett had.  Bennett was a major victor in these coalition talks.

From a domestic perspective, it seems to me that this could turn into one of the best governments that Israel has ever had.  It looks like it will be a government committed to trade and investment, education, improvements to health and medical care, technology and significant liberalization of Israeli society in many areas.

However, there are also major challenges.  Netanyahu also included HaTenuah, led by Tsipi Livni, in the government.  Livni is committed to beginning new peace negotiations with the Palestinians immediately and she is supported in that area by Lapid.  Netanyahu also agreed to this as a term of Livni joining the government.  However, Bennett, based on what he has said so far, is adamantly opposed to having Israel make any concessions.  So with respect to peace talks with the Palestinians, it is unclear what this government will do.  If Bennett decides to take a pragmatic approach, as he showed that he can do in these coalition talks, there may still be opportunities for this government to take some bold steps and try to reach some kind of deal with the Palestinians.  Lapid and Livni are certainly willing to take these steps, though it is unclear whether Netanyahu (and Bennett) are willing to join them.  In any event, the flip side is that the Palestinians will also have to make significant concessions to get a deal.  It is quite clear that this government is not about to make any concessions on Jerusalem, nor is it about to leave the major Israeli settlement blocs in the West Bank.  These areas will almost certainly be annexed by Israel even if that is part of some kind of land/territory swap. 

In some ways, this government is a big defeat for Prime Minister Netanyahu.  He was unable to keep the ultra-orthodox in the government after they have supported his party for so many years.  He lost more ministerial portfolios than he would have liked and he even agreed to reduce the size of the cabinet down to 22 members from a high point of more than 30.  In fact, he was forced to make concessions in almost every area that Bennett and Lapid demanded.  This was a major lesson in humility for a Prime Minister who was in such a stronger position after the previous election.  However, he is still the Prime Minister and he will still have a great deal of power.

The new government must also be seen as a major defeat for Shelly Yacomovitch and the Labour Party.  Rather than join in these talks - and try to work with Lapid and his centrist ideas, Labour opted to take the position that they would refuse to join the government under any conditions.  They missed a tremendous opportunity to be a part of what may shape up to be a very progressive government.  As a result, if Lapid is successful, it seems to me that Labour will face a significant decline in popular support by the next election.  Labour would be better off ousting its current leader and joining this government as part of a national unity coalition, while they can still get some reasonable concessions.

The new government is also a huge defeat for the ultra-orthodox parties who will sit with Labour in the opposition benches.  In a way, there was not much that the ultra-orthodox could do after the election results.  Lapid wound up with more power than the ultra-orthodox and he was prepared to use it - unlike many Israeli politicians in the past.  The Haredi parties have tried to paint this is some type of "anti-Haredi" movement - even hatred of the ultra-orthodox.  I don't think that is really the point.  For years, the ultra-orthodox have played the system, held the balance of power and extracted enormous concessions, all of which have affected Israelis across the spectrum.  This is now an opportunity to try something different - a government without ultra-orthodox - which will have the chance to change things around.

Overall, Israel faces many different challenges - ranging from existential and military challenges posed by Iran, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, the Palestinians, Hezbollah and various other hostile neighbours to the challenges of increasing world isolation and in some cases (like with Turkey), outright anti-Israel hostility, even bald anti-Semitism.  Israel also has a wide range of domestic challenges including its national debt, the growing gap between rich and poor, the very high cost of living and the tensions between the ultra-religious, the religious and the secular. 

With all of these challenges, the new government will have lots of work to do.   But it seems to me that it is much better equipped to tackle some of these challenges than many of the governments Israel has had in the past.

 

Swiss: Tel-Aviv to Toronto Route Review: March 2013

Flying Over Switzerland - From Inside Swiss plane

Over my three years of travelling back and forth between Toronto and Tel-Aviv, I have managed to sample most of the Star Alliance partners that travel this route.  Travelling Star Alliance allows me to collect Aeroplan points, which seems like the best option for this route.

I have reviewed the various options in different blog posts, which are all listed in the Contents By Topic page.  While I try to take a direct flight as often as I can, the price difference is often so significant that it is worthwhile trying a different route.

Most recently, I flew on Swiss.  The price on Expedia was about $800 cheaper than flying on the available Air Canada flight for the dates I needed.  So I decided to save the money and take the roundabout route.

Most of the Swiss flights (if not all of them) fly from Zurich to Montreal, rather than Toronto.  So this is a major drawback.  I had to fly Tel-Aviv-Zurich-Montreal-Toronto (in order to save all that money).  I would  have spent the day travelling anyways, even with a direct flight, so although it was an inconvenience, it did not cause me to lose extra work time.

Like most of the other European flights from Tel-Aviv, the Swiss flights leave early in the morning, in this case 5:30 a.m.  That is just not that fun.  It means you have to arrive at the airport at about 3:30 a.m.  this is exhausting.  The highways were empty at 3:30 a.m. but Ben Gurion airport was completely packed.  Since so many of the flights to Europe leave early in the morning, the check-in area was wall to wall people.  It took quite a bit longer than usual to get through everything.  By contrast, the direct flight to Toronto on Air Canada leaves at 12:30 p.m. and the aiport is usually quite empty at that time.

The flight from Tel-Aviv to Zurich was uneventful.  The planes were similar to those used by Austrian and Lufthansa.  But I have to say that Swiss had the best in-flight entertainment selection that I have seen, by far, rivalled perhaps only by United, which would be a distant second.  There were hundreds of movies, and hundreds of musical choices in many different musical genres.  By contrast, for example, Austrian Air does not even have an entertainment system for its route between Tel-Aviv and Vienna.  Of course, I was too tired to watch a movie, having left at 5:30 a.m., but I listened to a bunch of new pop and rock albums while trying to catch up on some sleep.

Regretfully I went back to Kosher meals - since I didn't want to get stuck being served some kind of breakfast wurst or other meat which I would not have been able to eat.  So I had to make do with a hideous omelette look-alike that tasted like a hunk of rubber.  I jealously watched my seat neighbour enjoying a fresh salad and some fresh fruit even though his hunk of mystery meat that accompanied the healthy food did not tempt me at all.

In Zurich, I had about four hours to kill until the flight to Montreal.  I was able to hang out in the "Panorama Lounge" for a while.  This chintzy lounge only offered one hour of free wireless internet (I think it was one of the only lounges that I have been in that has this restriction).  There was a bit of food, some decent coffee and other items.  It was largely empty when I first arrived but as time passed, the lounge became completely overcrowed.  Apparently, there are not many lounge choices in Zurich so seats were at a real premium.

I also spent a bit of time poking around in the duty free stores, but the prices were really quite high.  I decided I had to buy a few bars of chocolate but that was really about it.

The flight from Zurich to Montreal was fine.  The plane featured the same great in-flight entertainment system so I was able to catch up on a few recent movies.  I actually quite enjoyed watching Silver Linings Playbook and I also checked out some more new music selections.  The kosher mystery beef dish that was served for lunch was quite questionable.  Probably should have ordered vegetarian...Near the end of the flight I was served some kind of deli sandwhich, which was equally less than appetizing.

The real problem with this flight was the extra delay of having to travel through Montreal.  Of course I love Montreal (I was born there after all) but this stop simply added an extra three or four hours to my travel time.  Fortunately, I was able to get on a standby list to leave on an earlier flight than scheduled (on Air Canada) and I wound up in Toronto about 2 hours earlier than scheduled at 5:30 p.m.  Total Travel time - 19 hours - including travel time, lounge time and everything in between.   It would have been 21 if I had not been able to get the earlier flight. 

Most Swiss flights award full Aeroplan points (unlike Austrian and many Lufthansa) and you get to see some really great scenery travelling into and out of Switzerland, if you have a window seat.  All in all, I would say that this was probably a preferable flight over Austrian and maybe even over Lufthansa but it wasn't as good as flying via United or US Air, if you have to make a stopover.

I won't rule it out for the future, particularly if I can save hundreds of dollars (not just one or two hundred...), but there is no doubt that it is preferable to fly direct if at all possible.