For the first segment of my trip to Zimbabwe, I flew SWISS’ Boeing 777-300ER first class on the 8hr20min overnight flight from Miami (MIA) to Zurich (ZRH). This was my first time in many years flying SWISS first class, and I was looking forward to seeing how the experience was holding up.
Continue reading: Review: SWISS First Class Boeing 777 (MIA-ZRH)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
20 (!) ads popped up by the time I reached your conclusion to this (nice) tripreport.
It honestly ruins the experience reading your blog.
Swiss business is dire. First class looks decent. Sadly priced out at a 2k upgrade cost though.
For those who are able to book SWISS first ahead of time, they offer first class passengers entrees that aren't on the menu, and I have found these to be quite good.
For sleeping, SWISS also does a nice job at keeping the first cabin cool, which makes all the difference between a good night's sleep and tossing and turning trying to cool off.
Thanks for the great report!
$1920 is not too bad to upgrade to Swiss F.
Per comparison, I had booked a J award on AF (JFK-CDG) and the offer to upgrade to "La Première " was over $3000.
God, the lounge situation in Miami's South Terminal is just bleak. The Turkish Lounge is always heaving with passengers and the LATAM lounge is only marginally better. I can't believe Star Alliance, or Lufthansa - or anyone - hasn't stepped up to offer something better; there's dead retail space in Concourse H and J that could be converted to more lounge space.
I'm not a fan of Swiss J but $1920 J-->F seems excessive (to me). BA (yeah, I know - not the same) is only 18,000 Avios J-->F if there is award space, which seems much more reasonable.
All that said, the Champagne / Food premium for Swiss, and the wonderful seat, may justify it for some...
Ben that is the worst redemption I’ve ever seen . 70k plus $2000 (remember the original $74) for F when already in J.
I actually think the redemption is fine at $2K and 70K. This is Bens business. Everything is deductible. Simply a cost of doing business. I actually admire OMAT as I have been following this blog since the start and Ben could easily get the airlines to comp him tickets - but he chooses to remain independent. Good for him.
3 windows - hah! Just flew JAL business 777 and I was shocked to have 4 windows! Never a plastic wrap around as the moment I opened a package , barely before it reached a surface - FA picked it up with a warm smile. The food - insanely good Japanese. Wines - meh. Even higher cost Asian carriers best American and European carries. QR, SQ, JAL - literally unbeatable.
This is awesome! $1920 upgrade is not that bad. It's roughly the same cost of staying in a Four Seasons yacht suite for 1 night. The last time I flew Swiss First class was back in summer 2014. I booked it right before Swiss implemented the rule requiring elite status. Can't believe it's been almost 10 years.
It's insulting they take you to the LATAM or Turkish (priority pass) lounges! Why cant Lufthansa, Swiss, TAP, etc create a small Star Alliance lounge with at least one dish instead of eating a croissant at those nasty lounges?
hey Ben, your not alone. We did the same thing and waited at the gate. No La Prarie anymore 🙁
was the best experience in F Swiss otherwise. liked the lamp 🙂
I love your site but it’s becoming beyond annoying to navigate. The ads pop up and I can’t click off them. Please accept my advice and try to find a way we can easily enjoy your content.
Literally as I was writing this advice, an ad popped up and I couldn’t click off it to post this comment and had to refresh and rewrite it all. All the best.
I have used the LATAM lounge at Miami when flying Air France business-class to Paris. Air France now sends its customers to LATAM, not Delta. I think LATAM's lounge is better than any Delta Sky Club. At least wine. LATAM serves Chandon sparkling wine for free. While not an actual champagne, it's better than the complimentary sparkling wine served by Delta in the Sky Club and certainly better than the complimentary sparkling wine served at several of the Air France and KLM lounges in North America. I can't speak to the Turkish lounge. But it is odd that they don't at least have a reserved area for first-class passengers in the LATAM lounge.
HB-JNB, like most of the initial 777 batch delivered to SWISS, was delivered to SWISS Global Airlines, operating for SWISS, before being transferred to SWISS ownership in 2018. HB-JNA, -JNB, -JNC, -JND, -JNE and -JNF were delivered in 2016.
"Boarding took place through the second set of doors, where I was greeted by the maître de cabine, and pointed left into first class". Anybody remember a time when F class passengers were walked to their seats? Yes I am that many years old.
What’s age got to do with this? It’s the airline! Jal, SQ and QR will do this even in business. And even BA does that in First. Its the German- Swiss culture - devoid of polite niceties.
"I ultimately decided against it when he described it as “a Florida take” on fondue."
Was it an off-menu item?
Well, he considers La Premiere to be one of the top first class products, and this, not so much (though still a good overall first class).
Ad blocked deprives site owner of all (or most) revenue. Not fair for sites one enjoys and uses often.
At the same time, ads do need to be kept at reasonable level (in general. I did not get 20 on this page)
So I wonder how do they keep fondue pot warm on the plane? Surely not candle?
Is it electric or do they just pre-heat it?
There definetly is potential for a Star Alliance Lounge at MIA in the South Terminal. The Turkish Lounge is way to crowded during peak times, even if you take all of the Priority Pass folks out.
There is definetly demand, and plenty of airlines who would use it. and if such a Lounge opens, maybe LOT would move their flight from Concourse E to J.
Troplong Mondot is excellent. Last time I flew Swiss F I was the only one in the cabin and they just left the whole bottle of 2012 Pontet Canet at my seat!
I mean, I keep barking on about you eating fish because it's funny and annoying, but srsly why wouldn't you take a 'special' fondue on offer, when flying Swiss, and eat a piece of salmon? Come on. Lurrrve your work 😉
Was the F/C Upgrade for $1900 really worth it. I looked that the menu and the alcohol selection was "meh" to quote you. I have flown Swiss Business class and it is in the middle of the pack.
A little bit of history. I think that that the reason that IFE is turned on well after passing 10,000 feet during climb out is that an overheated IFE taking off from Canada caused the plane to crash (was it a 777, can't remember?). There is an Air Disasters episode that documented the incident.
I’ve flown those twice in the past several due to my Lufthansa flights being cancelled (also got EU261 comp on both which was nice).
Once on the 330 (ZRH - ORD) and once on the 777 (SFO - ZRH). I found the service and food to be excellent, but it would be nice if they would do caviar the full year round like other airlines (I don’t like salmon). Also, I found the lounges in Zurich are exclusive, but are crowded at peak times (I had to wait for a seat in the E gates lounge). Happy to fly it if offered for a good price, but the cash copay keeps it out of most “influencers” bookings (which is a good thing).
SWISS remains my favourite First product. Right along with Lufthansa. Obviously, these are always very subjective preferences. I've tried others in First - Emirates, Asiana, Korean, and BA. For me, there is just something both comfortable and approachable about LX/LH rather than the glitz and stiffness of the others. That said, I'm looking forward to LH's upcoming First product.
Total l’y agrée: Ben your site has be come lately almost unreadable with so much ads poping up… please do smth or i believe you will loose Reader’s…
@ Nico -- Understood, and I appreciate the feedback (which I've heard on a widespread basis). Working on getting this back to a more manageable level. 🙂
@ Jason -- That's a great question! I definitely think La Premiere has the edge, though I'm not sure the difference is necessarily that huge. In fairness, I think I got lucky on this flight, with a total of only three passengers. If first class had been full, I imagine service wouldn't have been quite as attentive.
You can't beat La Premiere in terms of the combination of the small cabin, the attentive service, and the privacy (though the small cabin is a double edged sword in terms of actually being able to snag a seat).
@ seanp78 -- British Airways first class upgrades with Avios are a phenomenal value, as you not, but the challenge is that I find that award availability is really tough to come by. In this case, SWISS first class upgrades have near last seat availability, so it's definitely more accessible, though also much more expensive.
@ D3kingg -- The worst redemption you've ever seen? Have you seen Delta SkyMiles award pricing? 😉
@ James S -- Yeah, I agree 100000%. The lounge situation is really, really bad, and I end up just sitting in the gate area in the afternoons, regardless of which airline I'm flying. And unfortunately unlike when flying out of Concourse D, I can't cut it too tight, because security in the South Terminal is unpredictable.
@ Joey -- Ah, those were the good old days. I remember flying SWISS first class constantly back in the day using Air Canada Aeroplan miles and US Airways Dividend Miles. Fun times!
@ SMC4222 -- I appreciate the feedback, and hear you. We're working on making some changes there, so please stay tuned.
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- Happy you had a good experience! The food and drink selection definitely isn't bad, as you note. My bigger issue is that almost every seat was taken, and this is Miami, so every other person was on a phone call using speakerphone, or was watching a video on their phone without headphones.
@ Robert J Fahr -- Hah, yes, it's still very common on many airlines. I was a bit surprised that it wasn't offered on SWISS (though selfishly I like when it's not offered, since it makes it easier to snap pictures quickly).
@ Julia -- It was an off-menu item. And while I perhaps could have ordered both, I honestly couldn't bring myself to order any more food, as I already had a five course meal.
@ polarbear -- I suspect the pot is just heated up in the galley, and then doesn't stay warm for very long. I could be wrong, though.
@ Nate Dyer -- I knew fondue would be on the menu in the lounge, so I figured that made a more interesting order there. But I hear you. 🙂
@ Anthony Joseph -- I definitely wouldn't pay this price for the upgrade regularly, as it's a lot of money to spend, especially for an overnight flight. As I'm sure you can understand, my motivation here was to be able to try the product once again, so that I'm up to date on what the world's best first class products are. So I thought it was worth it in this situation, but I wouldn't pay it regularly.
Had it been me, I would have complained to Swiss. It's absurd they don't at least have a private area for first-class passengers. Delta used to rope off a section of the small Miami Sky Club for Air France La Première passengers. But I think it's odd that Star Alliance member Swiss is not using the Miami lounge of Star Alliance member Turkish.
Totally agree, you want the real Swiss fondue not the “Florida fondue”.
I do not even order a cheese platter in Business from LAX to ZRH because they only offer US cheeses.
On the way back to the US I sure eat the Swiss cheese.
General comment about Swiss. It has become a lot more of a German since LH bought them. People from Switzerland will understand what I mean. A lot more German FA’s with the gracious service that it comes with.
Have flown many F class segments on Swiss in the past 3 years. Service is definitely best for a European airline but only in F.
F class Catering is faultless on all flights departing Zurich but definitely sub standard departing US, especially SFO where it is quite bad.
Hard product on a330 is not as spacious as on 777. F cabins are showing signs of wear and tear and need refreshing/updating on all aircraft.
Most lounges they contract with outside Switzerland are terrible, especially ORD.
F lounges in Zurich are my favorites.
Nice touch in F class, FA’s usually also speak French, as well as German and English and address you in the language based on your miles and more profile. I tested this by switching language on the profile. Doesn’t work in J class though.
On a personal preference note, I am a huge fan of JL and NH premium cabin service. I don’t get the hype around SQ service as I find it a well rehearsed choreography of fake smiles.
In terms of service and catering my favorites F cabins are JL,NH,LX & AF.
SQ & EK are overrated in my view, whilst LH & BA are underwhelming.
I very much appreciate Ben’s reviews, although less restraint on his criticism of airlines, would be great, in the hope that airlines would up their game from harsher criticism in a larger public forum.
Ben, what a great flight you've shared with us.
Flight is magical on its own, but with the comfort and luxury of flying 'up front', it's even more fun. Having just arrived in Tel Aviv, anything beats El Al's awkward business class seats.
Swiss First is still my preferred travel partner going from Europe to the North America. As a small business owner, and a M&M Senator I have ample possibilities to upgrade from Business to First using either Partner Plus Benefit points, vouchers or miles. I prefer the first-mentioned option.
The A330-300 seats are getting rather long in the tooth. I was on one of them back in February. I actually think the small sub-fleet of refurbished A340-300s provide the best First Class experience followed by the B777-300ERs.
I love the "theme weeks" and have unknowingly, picked the "Seafood Weeks" twice.
I do sorely miss the pre-Covid trolleys: first with all the starters, then later on with the cheeses.
Swiss air was a disaster last month, not only they lost my luggage!
They failed to feed me , or even take care of me when i was incapacitated on the plane in Zurich , all now what i remember from my experiance was shouting from the staff to get off the plane by a few crew members because the airplane was boarding other passengers!
I ended up in a hospital with a long bill , when all i needed was a wheelchair and a sip of water.
How did swiss air response! with a discount voucher to use on a future departure, Yea as if i will even click on your website again! mind you i was a business class passenger , how would they have treated me if i was on economy?