Pilot: ‘Let me show you the best of Switzerland’

The passengers of a Swiss flight from Barcelona to Zurich have been given an unexpected tour.

The pilot decided to make a scenic detour while in a holding pattern over Zurich airport until it was the plane’s turn to land. “Let me show you the best of Switzerland,” he said over the loudspeakers, according to passenger Lars Jensen. 

The unexpected in-flight menu: the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, the Matterhorn and the Aletsch Glacier.

“Pilots are permitted to fly different holding patterns [for example over the Alps instead of over the central plateau] if authorised by air traffic control,” a spokesperson for Swiss International Air Lines told swissinfo.ch. 

“Safety is always our first priority. However, holding patterns over the Alps do not differ from holding patterns elsewhere in terms of safety or concerning arrival time.”