bullshit

for me, the convenience of:

not having to cover possible lodging costs (related to connecting flights)
only having ONE company to deal with
not having to worry about missed connections (and possible fees related to re-scheduling)
baggage arriving at the same time as me

are worth the extra dollars. i had a bit of an odyssey last summer "saving money" with multiple carriers--i lost at least one piece of valuable luggage (hard to replace work-related items) and had to pay for my own lodging in london for 3 nights.

one could also save quite a bit flying with an american carrier, but you have to deal with their weirdnesses (cancellations, strange transfer points and other inconveniences.)

i initially discovered swiss because they were the cheapest non-american carrier for my trip to spain a few years ago. i was going in the winter so i didn't want to transfer in nyc/east coast (snow) or get stuck in atlanta when delta would probably cancel the flight.

all said, i agree that swiss isn't *cheap* but there's no "less expensive in'tl airfare" tribe. ;)

not sure where you saw the angel wings, but thanks for the compliment anyway.