Review: SWISS Business Class Airbus A330 (YUL-ZRH)

I actually love the modular breakfast. ÖBB does the same thing on Nightjets and I find this much better than fixed options which have too little of what I want and too much of what I don't want.

Of course I understand it sucks if you want a hot breakfast (and it should definitely be an option) but I imagine most people flying LX would go for continental anyway.

Not surprised to hear this; I have seen a few other unenthusiastic reviews of this business class product. Think I will choose another option when flying across the Atlantic.

Ben, did you try the arrivals lounge in Zurich? Wondering since so few airports have them.

Garbage food for Biz class.. what happened to the old Swiss. I know.. pick me.. LUFTHANSA!

Hi Ben. Great review as always. It always amazes me how much variance there is across carriers. It would be great to see an article showing you best standard versus the cost to see if there is any correlation between the cost of ticket and quality of the business class experience.

That chicken looks almost identical to what they often serve in economy (which is actually quite competitive on Swiss)…

Still beats Air Canada!

Swiss business class absolutely sucks. I seem to forget and try it again every year and get reminded of this.

Flew JFK-ZRH a few weeks back. The seat is uncomfortable (way too hard) when flat and randomly seems to put itself in massage mode or some lumbar support mode which I don't actually want. The food is underwhelming. I like the pre-order concept but not being able to serve at least _something_ warm is just ridiculous. On the ground I find their lounges just don't seem to actually have much food available and the wait for a shower is frequently ~1.5 hours.

Avoid avoid avoid. The problem is they have pretty good reward availability so I might end up on them again. I guess no one wants to pay cash!

Swiss reflects the brand ethos of Luthansa. Tired, dated products, and mediocre service, albeit with a smile. The Swiss cabins are circa 2009. Swiss is also rarely punctual. It's a shame because it was the best in the Lufthansa brand portfolio.

Don't forget inflated prices.

LH Group's strategy revolves around the network. They know they can overcharge and underdeliver when most of their customers don't have a choice to fly with someone else.

Have recently flown Swiss Business EWR-ZRH and had practically the same experience. Just okay-ish. Unfortunately within Switzerland this airline is still percieved as very good. They made a promotional campaign about becoming top notch airline etc., but in reality not much has changed.
Compared to airlines from Asia, business class standards and services of Lufthansa Group are subpar (ok, Austrian has good food...).
There is no real competition within Europe, hopefully new AF business class will stir things a bit?
BTW, Ben, your site is amazing!

I have the same opinion as the author. Swiss was "just fine". Not in anyway memorable.

Flew ZRH-SFO pre-covid, and the throne seat was lackluster, but damn, that steak was the best steak I ever ate on an airplane, and even beats a decent chunk of steak I ate in restaurants.

En route to Italy we flew YUL-ZRH in J on LX's A340 last year. Wasn't spectacular but there aren't too many competitive options bet. YUL and Europe. LX has little incentive to upgrade its hard product serving YUL.

‘Maître de cabine’! Meine gott!

I’m reminded upon hearing this of Pam-Ann’s description of this role - the ‘CSD’.

IYKNY.

The 'overcharging' only applies to certain markets. Things like intra-Europe business from the UK to Eastern Europe, or first class to Asia from Scandinavia, are often less than half the price of their competitors. It may not be the most polished product, but the value proposition for connecting pax tends to be better than paying KLM a similar amount to fly in the next class down.

I think the view of Swiss as a premium airline brand is wrong, as Ben you have noted previously that you viewed the Lufthansa group airlines as a series of brands while Lufthansa views them as a series of hubs. That would imply Lufthansa’s view is not necessarily that Swiss or any other airline in the group should be more “premium” in the sense of more elevated service (and I think most people would characterize the service you experienced as similar to what you get on LH). Second, the “premium” part of LX is not that they have a better hard product / soft product / service, but that their planes have a higher proportion of premium seats relative to other LH group airlines. In that sense, LX is “premium” the same way that United’s high-J 767 is - same service level in J or PE, but more J / PE seats available.

You gotta be some kind of d-bag to moan about the (free) whiskey selection on a plane.

perfect, accurate report!!! also from Asia, SWISS is minimalist at best, sorry for the crews..; food (seriously Aldi supermarket offer better bread), IFE, seat comfort - all per DIKTAT from Lufthansa, not realizing/not caring? that they have completely destroyed the once great Swiss brand...TK economy food better than LX biz...

Sounds like a typical LX flight, lately.

LX fired a bunch of F/A during COVID, of which almost none came back.
Across the below average salary (for Swiss standards...) and unacceptable working conditions, LX has troubles finding sufficient crew - which lead to a huge detoriation in requirements for working at SWISS. Almost no local is willing to work as FA for SWISS - you literally make a lot more sitting at a grocery store.

In terms of service, LX differentiates between an afternoon and a night departure from the US. I have flown the 11pm EWR-ZRH quite a lot, and usually had my meal within 30 minutes after departure. Meanwhile on the afternoon flights they do this stupidly long service.

Hi,
A few werks ago I flew Swiss business from Zurich to Bangkok snd back. Very disappointing. I agree completely with everyting you write here. Really sad, Swiss used to be a lot better.

Not impressive at all. Would rather fly Polaris across the Atlantic. I guess Austrian is the best transatlantic J product in LH Group until LH gets new seats across the fleet.

Recently flew ZRH-HKG in C and your review matches with my experience.
-Assemlyline-like service, with no room for personalization
-Badly stocked amenity kit, and overall just a lack of amenities
-Very poor bedding
-Limited (average at best) IFE selection
-Food just "ok", tray service, meh

I flew HKG-FRA two weeks later and I was shocked the experience on LH was better.
-Better IFE selection
-Way better bedding & amenity kit
-Pyamas (top)
-More personalized service
-...

Swiss anno 2024 is hardly the premium airline they are pretending to be and I will be actively avoiding flying with them.

Unfortunately, your experience is sort of the usual with LX long-haul Business Class. Very narrow seats, partly without aisle access, some habitual delay because of insufficient turn-around time, lengthy meal service on overnight flights.

Austrian is good in terms of food. The hard product is even more worn out than on LX (perhaps that will change with the arrival of the 787).

Wow the breakfast was strictly a "continental " breakfast, no eggs/warm options!

One thing I would really like to know when reading reviews of business class products is whether there is an adjustable leg rest. I like to get my legs up but often I don't want to lie down. Take Qatar Q suite for example - I love most things about it, but the only way to get my legs up is to recline the seat until it is virtually in bed mode, which is not what I want if I am watching a movie, for example. Do you think you could describe this aspect of the seat's function in future reviews please?

Due to my once Zürich centric travel from Australia, I was for years a very frequent user of Swiss (in business) , and before that Swissair (in First). I often connected to Swiss (LX) with Qantas (QF), and the contrast in how they handled short red eyes - those 7 to 8 hour over-nighters couldn’t be more different.

LX always took forever to get the dinner orders, and only did it after take-off; QF took the orders pre-take off. LX had a status-driven ordering sequence, so the FA would hop all over the cabin to take the orders, which really slowed the process. On red eyes, both had a quick meal option, on QF it appeared very quickly after take off. On LX it came out the same time as everyones full meal, somewhat defeating the purpose. QF quickly dimmed the lights for service, LX not. Approaching Australia on those overnighters, QF crew would serve breakfast to those who wanted it, in the dark, with little clip on torches. With LX, it’s lights on, bright, everybody up! On QF, some sleep maximisation was possible.

On top of that the main reason for giving up Swiss was the incredible discomfort of the narrow hard seats, with an air pump thing that did nothing for anyone, even on the occasions it worked, on top of the really noisy 777s they mostly fly. Because of the interleaved design of the seat rows, it is effectively 10 across the Swiss 777. The throne may be wide, but the seat is too narrow for comfort.

Until the Russian war, we moved to Qantas/Finnair day flights as the easiest route Australia to Europe, but since overflying Russia is now not possible, we are finding the sandbox airlines are hard to beat for schedule, service and comfort, and have left Swiss in the dust.

@uncleronnie,
1. The whiskey is NOT free. It is part of the curated price that is charged for Business Class, just the same as the food, service, and amenity kit.
2. Looking back over Ben's report, I've gotta admit that I'm inclined to agree with your 'd-bag' friend - but on a wider scale The liquor / spirit list is certainly NOT anything that echoes 'premium'. Bog standard Bacardi rum, a pretty ordinary vodka, Jim Bean bourbon. A single malt 7 year old Swiss Scotch (wow, there's something new), a 12 yr old Chivas blend sometimes found in Economy (where a 15 or 18 yr old product is normally served in J) .. I'd sorta suggest your buddy might actually be 'on pointe' on his complaint / discussion with the crew.

Really? Tell me what’s wrong with the AC business class product compared to this review.

In fairness, the whisky selection is quite bad. Chivas 12 is totally mediocre. Jim Beam is terrible. And the 7-year old Swiss malt might be fine, but no one has ever heard of it (and 7 is pretty young for single malt). They should ditch the Chivas, and have at least have one high-quality Scottish single malt instead. Ironically, United's whisky choices are way better: Glenfarclas 12 (which is quite solid) and Buffalo Trace, way better than Swiss!

Alas, Ben's booze opinions seem limited to googling how expensive the Champagne is.

Just flew Swiss JFK-ZRH last Monday. Review accurately reflects hard and soft products.
Chose 2 singles on right side. Would have liked a mattress pad. Neither of us hungry but husband's beef very tough. Didn't even turn on IFE. We were connecting to Thai flight to BKK so with long day of travel just wanted space and getting award seats. With specific travel dates this was what we could find. We are retired leisure travelers so our needs and expectations are modest. Being able to fly J and get a bit of sleep and something light to eat most important. Sure, we've experienced better but this was adequate for us.
Not big breakfast eaters so continental met our needs. Also don't drink alcohol so can't comment on what is good or bad.

I see the "throne seats" to be quite overrated - I'd rather fly current Lufthansa business class (yes, the one without a direct isle access) than Swiss' tired business class. I wouldn't say that it's better than LH busineee class, just because the most of the seats has a direct isle access. The service was quite surprising - the service level of FA you had on this flight is quite equivalent of below-average FA at the US Big Three carriers (one of the FA whose level is below average compared to the majority of other FA of the carrier, I mean). Is Swiss a "luxury" brand in the Lufthansa Group? Definitely not... again, LH itself would be better. Even Air Canada or United Trans-Atlantic business class experience would have been better.

Hi Ben
Interesting & informative review, thanks

You may want to correct a typo "...prior to releasing the breaks"

Neither Swiss nor Lufthansa have any commendable products - whether it is the IFE or seats of meals or service. Fair enough if you are using miles but paying the exorbitant fares and surcharges, it is not worth it. I flew recently from ZRH-DXB in Business class and the level of service and quality of meals was pathetic. I wrote to them and they acknowledged it and sent me a voucher for 100 Swiss francs for a future trip which I doubt I will ever take with them.

LX is the most profitable airline in LH Group. That's the only thing premium about this airline: the O/D fares and the yield they reap from them.

A monopoly on a high purchase power clientele that does not really know what good service will do that...

To be fair, wages are so high in CH that it's difficult to offer good service at internationally competitive prices.

I'm not surprised the product is poor on North America bound flights where Star Alliance dominates and the only competition comes from AA and Delta.

I am surprised to read in the comment that even for Asia no effort is done.

Any clue if Switzerland is closed to 5th freedom flights ? I'm sure a well-timed JFK flight from an actually premium carrier would increase pressure do to better. What about rumours of JetBlue recruiting in GVA?

Its an old aircraft so what did you expect.You may call yourself a reviewer but most of your airline reviews are negative unless they are US based which does not surprise me.Try turning right instead of left on these long haul flights and paying for a ticket and then you can criticise all the time you like being as you hardly ever pay for a ticket due to your so called expertise on your own website which you set up supposedly to help people with the way they travel.I have worked in travel for over 40 years and have far more experience then you and your mainly one sided opinions.You obviously do not care what people think as you never respond to positive or negative comments because you are constantly flying around the world flying premium class and staying in first class accommodation.Its a great job if you can get it but do not criticise unless you are actually paying for something.

AC is far superior. The only meaningful difference is that there's is no 1st class. I've flown J, PY, and Y, and can say that the experience is quite good across all cabins. And AC J is way better than what Ben described on this review.

A very well-written and honest review of Swiss even though it seems to bug Julian who seems to be a staff of this company.

It seems they have cut down on the service as I would always get an option of either cold cuts or scrambled eggs along with the continental breakfast.

According to LinkedIn he's a manager at BCD travel. Maybe his customers avood certain airlines and/or planes after reading Ben's reviews ?

After all it's probably corporate contracts that maintain those subpar products (and miles redemptions as award tickets are usually "cheaper"). I'd be interested to see what business class would be if airlines actually had to fight for paying customers (and did not sell discounted tickets through point redemptions)

"your airline reviews are negative unless they are US based"

While Lucky can be very mercurial in his view of airline quality, he gives good reviews to many non-US airlines, especially in the Middle East and Asia. And he also gives European airlines credit when it is due, like on his recent Air France flights.

1) If a plane is old it is 100% the airline's responsibility to keep it modern, e.g. by refurbishing its cabin. In this case, Swiss hasn't kept the cabin all that fresh, so it only makes sense that Ben would mention that.

2) Who do you think pays for his tickets? You're implying that someone else does so, but if he actually criticized airlines unfairly all the time, like you're saying, would they provide him with free tickets, or what?

3) Please do bother reading his Swiss A340 review and then come back and tell us if you still think he only does negative reviews.

I know I'm probably losing my time writing this, but in case you actually read it...

Exactly. The mainline LH Group airlines (LH/LX/OS) operate as one. Most decisions are taken centrally and the goal is to make the experience consistent across the board. Only Eurowings and SN have a distinct product/strategy.

Unless you are being sarcastic, your comment is just absolutely ridiculous.
Ben's job, when writing a review is to provide his view of the experience. He is by far the most detailed reviewer out there, so you, the reader, can form your own opinion. If you are not interested in Ben's view, this blog would be a terrible place for you to pass the time.
Was the aircarft that old? possibly. Is that an important part of the review? absolutely.
The amenities on the flight seem very basic. The food seems like standard coach food. (the wine list was interesting though). The description of the service made me lose any interest in flying Swiss.
Is it possible that one could have an entirely different experience on a different aircraft, different menu and a better crew? Absolutely. As it happens, it wasn't Ben's experience, and he can only report on what his flight was like.

Wow guys. Just wow. Some of the comments here the last week are getting really out of control. I think Ben will be the first to admit that he's not a great writer, but that's not the point of his content. He reviews flights and does so with perfect humility and humor. Personally I think he's one of the best in the business, so for some of you to suggest it's irresponsible and inappropriate to be spending so much time away from his child/husband/dog is frankly ridiculous. Keep it up, Lucky! #avgeek 😉

@Samo yep, for the main LH hubs of FRA/MUC/ZRH/VIE (and soon maybe FCO too), it's no different than the US airlines or Air Canada with multiple hubs that have different destination mixes / types of aircraft / mix of seats based on a combination of geographical positioning and O&D demand of the hub. The only difference is that while the US airlines or Air Canada fly with the exact same livery from each hub while LH has different liveries, seats, etc. from different hubs. Even for SN, they are arguably doing the same thing but with a much more niche destination mix focused on Africa.

ROTFLMFAO!! This comment is 100% on point

avood?

Good call. Also, what's up with all the comments ripping on this blog for not being written well? So what if he says 'and then' to begin most of his paragraphs and always calls himself an AV geek? Get a life ppl

Avoid. My apology.

Thank you! I‘m always disappointed in the whisky selection on planes. They spend more on the champagne that fills maybe 7 glasses than on a bottle of whisky that fills 35… and all seem to have this disappointing Chivas. The 7yo Swiss whisky seems actually interesting, so already a step up from other airlines.

This post stuck in my head as I was about to travel on SWISS - JFK - GVA - JFK.
I could not disagree more - the crew was absolutely awesome. Our family of 4 was pampered and we had a great flight.
I think no one like snubs and Ben is a snub.

Wow the food quanity for business class was terrible. Especially the breakfast Swiss really underperformed with their meals on this flight!

Single malts are... they're damned single malts, it's not magic, it's aged in a single barrel. I've aged and I can't tell whether it's because my palate has gotten more sophisticated or because the quality of the classic malts has declined in the last 30 years, or whether it was always just hype and marketing. Prices have definitely increased. Taiwanese whiskeys are supposed to be the best in the world now, but I drink blended not-for-export Japanese supermarket whiskey from Suntory.

oh course he ate the chicken, another reason that these premium (F and J) reviews are useless. He is such a fussy eater and never tries anything worth eating....