Three-Person SWISS First Grand Suite: “Private As Never Before?”

SWISS will soon be introducing new cabins on long haul flights, which will be known as SWISS Senses. These will initially be available on newly delivered Airbus A350s, prior to being retrofitted on existing wide body aircraft.

Since SWISS is part of Lufthansa Group, the airline is essentially inheriting the Lufthansa Allegris first class and business class concept, just with SWISS branding. However, SWISS is getting a little creative with how it’s marketing part of its first class cabin.

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SWISS Senses will offer three-person first class suite

Much like on Lufthansa’s A350s, the SWISS Senses first class cabin will consist of three suites. There are two single suites along the windows, and a center suite that can potentially seat up to two people. I’ve flown Lufthansa’s Allegris A350 first class, and as I’ve written about, the way it’s currently executed makes little sense.

So SWISS is trying to get creative… sort of (like in the sense that an intern was given a task, and came up with some flashy marketing that lacks substance). The airline has announced the SWISS First Grand Suite, described as “a commercial flight, private as never before.”

Long story short, the idea is that passengers can book the left single suite plus the center double suite, and since both open up into the left aisle, that can be viewed as the “SWISS First Grand Suite,” with a capacity for up to three people.

The SWISS First Grand Suite is described as a “self-contained space that can serve as a bedroom, an office or a meeting room,” and as “a personal loft above the clouds.” The idea is that this could work for couples, families, or business travelers, who value having an individual space.

Here’s how SWISS Chief Commercial Officer Heike Birlenbach describes this:

“With our new SWISS First Grand Suite, we’re further expanding our First Class service product with an option that is specifically aimed at those of our top premium customers who are seeking even more privacy and even more scope to design their personal space on board.Our Grand Suite should give our guests all the feeling of having their own ‘loft aloft’ – a space that they can use as they wish, to relax, to work or just to enjoy the experience. It’s a further step in our development of our SWISS Senses concept, which is aimed squarely at delivering a truly premium air travel experience.”

SWISS claims that this new product will be bookable by early 2026, though it can exclusively be reserved via the SWISS First hotline, so it can’t be booked online.

My take on the SWISS First Grand Suite concept

Hey, there’s nothing wrong with trying to find different ways to market a product. I do think there’s perhaps a bit of over hyping happening here:

• There’s nothing actually private about this space, as you’re still separated by an aisle, and you still have to share a single bathroom with the other first class passenger, plus the pilots
• Claiming this is “private as never before” for commercial aviation is a real stretch, as this doesn’t really stack up to The Residence on Etihad’s A380s

Ultimately I have no issues with Lufthansa or SWISS having a double suite in first class. My issue is with how the airline is trying to monetize it. On Lufthansa, two passengers have to pay the full first class cost to reserve the center suite together, even though it’s materially smaller than two individual suites combined.

For this concept to work, the price has to be right, or else the airline is just going to be assigning “regular” first class passengers the center suite for free.

So I’m going to be very curious to see how SWISS tries to monetize this Grand Suite Plus concept, since it can be sold to either two or three passengers. Will you have to pay the full cost for three passengers no matter what, or…?

I’d also argue that having to pick up the phone to book this is an unnecessary hurdle — it shouldn’t be that hard to give an airline your money. Why not enable bookings online? The same is true of Lufthansa’s existing Allegris first class double suite.

I recently heard from a friend who shared what I’d consider to be a wild experience. He was trying to book a family of four in Allegris first class on one ticket, and no one at Lufthansa could figure out how to do it. He was shuffled between departments, so it’s kind of wild how the airline doesn’t seem to have much of a procedure for doing this.

Bottom line

Ahead of the launch of the SWISS Senses concept, the airline has unveiled the SWISS First Grand Suite. In reality, there’s nothing actually innovative here, but instead, the airline is just creating a new name for those who choose to book a first class window suite in conjunction with the double suite in the center.

There’s nothing wrong with coming up with another way to market this product. I’m just curious if Lufthansa Group gets any smarter with how it monetizes these seats, since you’ve gotta give people some sort of a deal on that center space.

What do you make of the SWISS First Grand Suite concept?