Kudos to Glacier Express & Hertz

My wife, son and I rode the Glacier Express (www.glacierexpress.ch) from Zermatt to St. Moritz, Switzerland, on June 2, 2008, and we were planning on renting a car in St. Moritz to drive to Bolzano and Lago Maggiore in Italy.

Our AAA travel agent advised us that the train would not arrive in St. Moritz until 5 p.m. and that the Hertz rental agency, located about five miles from the train station, closed at 5:30. I decided that it would be close, but, since Swiss trains are “never late,” we could make it.

The train left Zermatt right on time, but 10 minutes later it stopped. Another train was disabled on a single-track section of the line and we could not get by.

Two and a half hours later we were on our way, and the conductor advised us that the train would arrive in St. Moritz at 7 p.m., long after the Hertz agency closed. I talked to the conductor about our predicament, and he said, “No problem. Give me the telephone number and your information and I will take care of it.”

He called the ticket agent in St. Moritz and had the ticket agent call Hertz to get the Hertz agency to deliver the car to the train station in St. Moritz and leave the keys with the ticket agent.

When we arrived in St. Moritz, we went to the ticket agent, signed the rental agreement, got the keys, found the car in the parking lot and were off and driving in less than five minutes.

This says a lot about the Glacier Express employees as well as the Hertz people. They truly need to be commended for their service, which was way above the call of duty.

Thank you, Glacier Express and Hertz, for helping to make our vacation a memorable one, in the good sense of the word. By the way, the train ride was marvelous.

WENDELL S. JOHNSON

Charleston, SC