In November 2020 it was announced that Lufthansa Group airlines will begin offering a buy on board food & drink concept in economy on short and medium haul flights. We had already learned the details of Lufthansa’s new buy on board concept, and now we’ve learned the details of SWISS’ new buy on board concept.
Continue reading: SWISS Details New Economy Buy On Board Service
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I’m excited. I plan on using Swiss for BER. ZRH.EWR on 30MAR. Is there any word on the reopening of the lounges in Zurich?
Sad to see this service diminution.
The European legacy carriers are getting it all wrong, in my view. By stripping out services they weaken rather than strengthen their competitive advantage versus the low end carriers like Ryanair. I would go the other way: smart uniforms (which Swiss has), a good service ethos, lots of eye candy and a full meal and drinks service.
Alex Cruz and Willie Walsh were obviously right that others will begin to follow
Swiss's food in Economy may have been free but it was also dismal, both quality and quantity-wisw. I therefore see this as an improvement. It is also true of Very Short Haul Business Class.
This is a step back. I don't fly enough to get real status (certainly not now with the pandemic) so economy is the way to fly for me. With BOB, there is really no reason why I should pay more for. legacy carrier instead of Ryanair. Ryanair has steadily been improving their offer and has a very large network. I would have hoped that Swiss would not succumb to this drive to the bottom but alas.
On the free food being awful: even if it is awful, it is the gesture of being served throughout t he flight. You don't have to do anything, you are being taken care off. BOB takes away that magic.
@A340TCAS: The lounges are classified as restaurants in Switzerland and therefore closed during lockdown.
The government has announced that outdoor restaurants can open from 1 April, however, congress is debating whether to open earlier and/or also indoors. Therefore, it's really not clear when airport lounges will be able to re-open.
BA started off with decent quality, freshish food when it first launched BoB and then over time it became more and more processed carb junk. Let’s see what Swiss is serving in two years time.
Confiserie Sprüngli is a very good and reputable brand in Switzerland. Their chocolate is definitely up there in terms of quality, and also served as after dinner chocolate in SWISS First these days... Although pricey (as is the rest of Switzerland), I'm excited...
I totally agree with Ben Dover: if the legacy carriers are imitating the low cost carriers with regards to service, why bother flying the legacy carriers?
I have been willing to pay extra to fly with legacy carriers all of my life but I am starting to wonder how long before I may as well try LCCs on some routes, something I have been opposed to up till now.
(In a normal year I fly 100-150 times)
"SWISS is calling this the exclusive “SWISS Altitude 1150” mineral water, made in collaboration with water supplier RAMSEIER Suisse AG."
I'm pretty sure Ramseier, or any other company for that matter, doesn't MAKE water.
Looks good on paper, however: looking at BOB menus it’s typically sad sandwiches, Pringles and other unhealthy snacks. This makes sense, as uptake will be different on each flight, and if you carry too many fresh options they’ll have to be thrown in the bin if they’re not sold.
Agree with the previous posters on the fact that legacy carriers need to differentiate themselves from the LCCs. They can never compete purely on cost due to a more complex product (eg connectivity, fleet etc), so they need to provide an incentive for people to pay more. FFPs is a great incentive, but many airlines have hollowed these out. Getting a cup of coffee on a morning flight, or a glass of wine on your way home from a stressful day. Simple things, not costing much either. And last, but not least: great IRROPS recovery.
I wish they could offer cheese fondue 😉