Review: Swiss Business Class 777 San Francisco To Zurich

Great review, it's not first class but live and let live!

Did you try to adjust the seat firmness using the two buttons for that? That made all the difference for me.

So this is the evolution of their prior Vantage seat - clearly some more privacy and storage. BUT is the actual seat cushion / length, etc. the exact same? Basically the update is more cosmetic?

> I found the seat to be way too hard, the cabin warm, the bedding awful, and the food unmemorable.

This sounds so "snobbish." I love it! That's exactly what we look for in a review, honest and to the point.

I only flew SWISS Business Class internationally once (ZRH-JNB) and I share a lot of your sentiments. I wanted and expected to be impressed, but there was much to be desired. I won't go out of my way to fly them again.

How does this compare to TK? We have to choose between TK & Swiss (using miles) and leaning toward the latter as Mrs B does not want to risk being stuck in Ankara in event of irrops.

A very timely post for me as I’m looking for a way to get to Japan from the west coast. LX has a competitive fare via ZRH and I was kinda excited to try it out but now I’ll pass. There are way better options for similar or better prices.

@Lucky- What happened with your flight path? Preflight you were heading into the arctic over Hudson Bay and across Baffin Island.

However, you ended up flying across mid-Michigan and below the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Seems like this would add a substantial amount of time to the flight.

You mentioned the UA lounge was overcrowded. I’d think you would make a beeline for the centurion lounge instead 😛

Thanks for the honest assessment Ben. Swiss is one of those brands that seems to have a special mystique attached to it -- though I am not sure why? In the Bay Area the SFO to Zurich flight is lightheartedly referred to as the Roche Coach because of the airlines contract to fly Roche employees.

Having flown the route several times myself I, like you, just cannot drink the kool-aid of adoration. The route is much better with the introduction of the 777. It is a solid business class service, but it is just another business class flight. Oh yeah, it ALWAYS leaves late! And the cabin is always roasting. You hit it right on the head with your description of Lufthansa efficiency. If anything I tend to feel like every phase of inflight service is a race.

I will say that Zurich as a hub is a nice alternative to Frankfurt (but may not be as fluid as Munich).

Will I fly the Roach Coach again? Sure! Will it change my world? Nope.

Keep up the good work Ben. Happy travels!

No snack menu? Or mid-flight snacks of any kind?

@Lucky, why not bring a USB power fan to help w/ the hot cabin?

With these seats, the window seats with someone next to you look horrendous if you needed to get out while your separate is sleeping. At least with the basic 2-2-2 forward facing or even BA club world, you have a chance of stepping over the person next to you. This looks like you'd be basically trapped.

*seatmate

I flew Swiss J from Miami to Zurich in a throne seat last November. I could not agree with Lucky any more. The seat was hard, the pillow was the equivalent of an economy pillow on all other airlines, the foot-well was tiny, and the cabin was way too warm. I tossed and turned for about an hour and a half before I gave up on trying to sleep.

I reiterate my request. @Lucky please make the cabin temperature a regular feature of your reviews going forward.

I've only flown the Swiss A340, but I, too, found the seats to be much to hard, even when using the seat in a fully inflated mode.

My crews have been mixed. Sometimes amazing, sometimes polite but cold. My meals have generally been good, but I haven't flown them in a couple of years, so my data are out of date.

Lucky, I’d be most appreciative if you would do a ranking of European carriers

I’m flying to Prague this fall and need to choose between Swiss, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Air France, KLM

Would love to see a ranking.

I appreciate these, even though I know it’s subjective and even though I know you look at things from a single perspective when I don’t fly solo

Flying alone I would chose AF if you can get the new seats or avoid at all costs. AC is also nice with the new cabins on the 787 but I’ve have the worst service with AC. SWISS and Lufthansa will be similar. It would depend on your schedule. I don’t know anyone who has ever flow KLM business.

Flew TLV-ZRH on the Swiss A330 and ZRH-LAX on the 77w recently.

Ben said it, but I can't stress enough: avoid those coveted throne seats at all costs. I'm 6'0 with a size 10.5 shoe and the footwell went a third of the way up my thigh and would simply not let me move. I hate to complain since I'm always grateful to fly in business class, especially in a cabin this pretty, but man! I didn't get a wink of rest.

The older A330 cabin, by contrast, was a dream for sleeping. It may have been the 4am takeoff from Tell Aviv, but as a side sleeper I found the non-throne window seat to be great for a serious nap.

Overall I think Ben may have gone overboard with his overall assessment, but a) I'm very easy to please and b) he understated the footwell issue on the throne seats.

A lot of bloggers write about the Swiss thrones in business class, but I wonder if any of them have actually spent time in them. It was a giant waste of points, in my mind.

If flying the Swiss 77w in biz, I'd take the aisle seats in the center column any damn day.

Also, I'm not sure if Ben ever reports his height or weight or shoe size in these reviews, but if you're reading, Lucky, you might consider doing so: a shorter person with smaller feet may do just fine in the throne's footwell.

Thank you Cedric!

Ben, while it's great you are finding your voice with regards to speaking up as we saw recently on your Lufthansa flight, you can also do it for less serious situations.

Pillow is too small or thin? Ask for another one. Heck, sometimes they even give you an extra pillow in economy if you ask nicely!

Not sure what the egg dish is on the menu? Ask them while they are serving you. I mean, LX is know for serving different types of egg dishes in business class, so it never hurts to ask before being served if the FAs know what is in the egg dish. Sometimes even the FAs won't know, but at least you can say you tried.

Do the outside armrests for the aisle and non-throne window seats come down in bed mode? From the photos is looks like they might. If so, the non-throne window seats look like the best choice for sleeping - wider sleeping area, probably wider footwell, no disturbance from the aisle. The only drawback is having to step over the person next to you if you need to leave your seat at night - hopefully not a frequent event.

I echo what others said and I think this could be a good comparison article, Lucky. How would you rank European airlines in business class? Leaving from the US sometimes we're stuck with so many options like KLM, AIr France, Lufthansa, or Swiss, which one should we choose? I think it'd make a great article.

An accurate description of Swiss business class. I’ve flown this route twice on the daytime ZRH-SFO and was underwhelmed both times. Poor lounges in ZRH (although a new one has opened since then), mediocre catering with a TERRIBLE second ‘meal’, if you can call it that, and mediocre seats.

My favorite *Alliance business class across the Atlantic is a tie between Austrian and SAS (with Austrian having slightly better catering, and SAS having slightly better seats and airport experience in CPH).

@Ryan "Poor lounges in Zurich?" Really? I think the Business lounge in the E concourse is one of the best lounges I have ever been to. The food is excellent and the outdoor seating is unparalleled.

I feel lucky to have snagged 3 business seats ZRH-LAX this May using Aeroplan, so I am still looking forward to the flight. Having the nonstop back to LA is great, and the Swiss seating configuration (I reserved a "triangle" of seats with a throne and the 2 behind) worked the best for 3 people who want to be close and interact.

Though I am glad we are doing a west-bound day flight given the comments on the seat firmness.

the beverages are well above average. the swiss wines are in the $50-$65 range and the red south African about $40 and excellent. don't miss the eu-de-vie from etter, a mighty fine swiss producer. distillation takes time to perfect and etter has all that. then there is nonino... swiss seems to have good priorities. keep showing us menus especially all beverages!! thank you.

@Lucky, it is painful how often you use the word "Stunning." Seriously - soooo overused. "Stunning" should be reserved for events that are truly extraordinary. When you use the word multiple times in the same post, in multiple posts in close proximity to one another, the word loses it's meaning. Please, please reconsider how you use this word, as it's a great word that has become essentially worthless through your overuse.

KLM has to be the worst of the major European carriers business class offerings,it pales in comparison to JAL economy.