SWISS First Class Airbus A350 Review: A Double Suite In The Sky!

For the grand finale of my Four Seasons Yacht via Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia adventure, I flew SWISS’ Airbus A350-900 first class on the 7hr30min flight from Zurich (ZRH) to Boston (BOS).

While I had flown SWISS’ Boeing 777-300ER first class before, I was looking forward to this flight, since the A350 is the first plane to feature the new SWISS Senses cabins. Since SWISS is in Lufthansa Group, this is essentially the same concept as Lufthansa Allegris first class, except with SWISS finishes and service.

All-in-all, I had a very good flight, and this experience makes my list of the world’s best first class airlines. I also lucked out in being able to assign the double suite in the center, which really gives you an unreal amount of personal space. Beyond that, the flight had friendly service, nice amenities, and good food, though I’m not sure there’s a whole lot that really has a “wow” factor, given how competitive first class is nowadays.

How I booked my SWISS first class ticket

There aren’t many ways to redeem miles for SWISS first class. First class award availability on the airline is only available through the Miles & More frequent flyer program, and it’s reserved for higher tier elite members, including Senator and HON Circle members. So I booked using Miles & More miles, as a friend who is a Senator member kindly helped me out with the booking.

While SWISS doesn’t explicitly block first class awards on planes with its new first class, the much smaller cabin (three seats vs. eight seats) does mean that availability is harder to come by. It’s not just that space is limited, but the search process isn’t easy either, since it’s not bookable online. That means the only way to inquire about award availability is to call Miles & More. In my research, I’m pretty sure I spoke to half the population of South Africa.

Based on my experience, it appears that first class awards on the A350 are generally only made available in the days leading up to departure, assuming the load is light. In my case, availability opened up three days before departure, and the cost was 110,000 Miles & More miles plus $1,128 in taxes and carrier imposed surcharges. Obviously those surcharges are really rough, but hey, I wanted to review the new product, so this was the best option.

For what it’s worth, I booked the following flight:

8/01 LX54 Zurich to Boston departing 1:00PM arriving 3:10PM

At the time that I booked, the first class cabin was totally empty.

The new Lufthansa and SWISS first class have the unique “Suite Plus” concept, whereby the middle seat can technically accommodate up to two people. Nowadays the airline lets any first class passenger assign that suite at no extra cost, so of course I had to pick it.

SWISS first class lounge & boarding

Part of the joy of flying SWISS first class is the ground experience, as the airline has two excellent first class lounges — there’s the SWISS First Lounge Terminal A and SWISS First Lounge Terminal E, both of which I just reviewed, and I rank them as being among the best in the world.

My flight was departing from gate E26, with boarding scheduled for 12:20PM, 40 minutes before departure.

I headed to the gate a bit early to check things out, and it was rather busy, as it seems like the flight was oversold in lower cabins. Some sort of a cash upgrade “specialist” (who I guess just goes to gates and tries to sell upgrades) came to the gate, and tried several times to sell upgrades.

There didn’t seem to be much interest, so eventually they just started processing operational upgrades. And with that, I went from having the first class cabin to myself, to the two other first class seats being occupied as well.

Boarding ended up being delayed a bit, because we were waiting for some connecting passengers and there was no point in starting boarding early. So it ended up starting at 12:40PM, 20 minutes behind schedule.

SWISS A350 first class cabin & seats

I boarded the SWISS A350 through the second door on the left, where I was greeted by the crew, and pointed toward first class. It doesn’t bother me one bit, but it’s interesting how there’s no offer to be escorted to the seat on SWISS, which is usually something that top airlines do in first class.

Getting to first class first required walking through the forward SWISS Senses A350 business class cabin, an experience that I’ve reviewed before.

The two standard seats in first class are 1A and 1K, which are the two window seats. The idea is that the standard suites are pretty typical first class suites with privacy doors (or more like privacy partitions, as they’re pretty flimsy).

Each of the two first class suites is 35″ wide, and converts into a 79″ flat bed, with a 32″ 4K UHD display. Seats have ottomans, plus plenty of charging (USB-A, USB-C, AC power, and wireless). Below you can see seat 1A, which shares the aisle with the center suite, so it’s the less private of the suites, and would be my last choice in the cabin.

The most private suite, meanwhile, is seat 1K, since it has the right aisle all to itself. It’s otherwise identical to seat 1A.

For those curious, below is the view from seat 1K, as you’re basically just looking at the wall of the center suite.

Beyond the two standard suites, there’s the double suite in the center. The idea is that this can accommodate up to two people, though a solo traveler can also reserve this at no extra cost (and yes, there would be an extra cost to take a second person).

As a solo traveler, this is an amazing product, and it’s quite an impressive sight. However, if I were traveling with someone, I’d be less jazzed about this. You see, while the standard suites are 35″ wide, the double suite is 49″ wide, so it’s not even 50% wider.

Initially Lufthansa and SWISS tried to charge two full first class fares for people to sit here, and that was just a ridiculous ripoff. But the current setup — where any first class passengers can assign it at no extra cost — is quite nice!

Let’s take a closer look at the seat. The roughly 49″ double suite is basically made up of two seats that are each a little over 24″ wide, and they can be controlled independently. That’s not to say that you’ll necessarily find the same features on both sides, though.

Along the interior side of the suite is a small enclosed storage compartment, which also has several charging options, and next to that is a wireless charging pad.

The primary tray table folds out from the far side of the suite, and it’s massive. The catch, however, is that there’s only one tray table for both seats to share, so if you were traveling as a pair, you’d want to dine across from one another.

Meanwhile by the aisle there’s a small tray that’s big enough for placing a couple of drinks, but not much more.

You’ll also find some more USB-A and USB-C charging right by the aisle.

The aisle side of the seat also has a panel with all the seat pre-sets, if you want to recline the seat, put it upright, etc.

Speaking of controlling seat functions, there’s a tablet on each side of the seat, and that can be used to control mood lighting, seat positions, and even the entertainment.

One thing that absolutely delighted me about SWISS first class is that there was an air nozzle on each side of the suite. Interestingly, Lufthansa Allegris doesn’t have that (at least as far as I can remember), so that’s a big plus for SWISS… yay!

The double suite has a 43″ entertainment screen, so that’s impressive, as it’s one of the largest TVs you’ll find on any airline.

Underneath that is the ottoman, which can also be opened to expose the seat’s primary storage space, given that there are no overhead bins in the cabin.

There’s also a wardrobe to the side of the seat, though it’s not terribly deep, so don’t expect to store more than a couple of jackets there.

All-in-all, the SWISS Senses first class hard product is excellent, and ranks among the best out there. Admittedly there’s a difference between the single suites and the double suite, so getting the double suite really takes the experience to the next level.

SWISS A350 first class entertainment & Wi-Fi

When it comes to entertainment, being able to enjoy programming on a 43″ 4K UHD display is of course a treat. That being said, actually browsing the entertainment selection isn’t necessarily so easy. Best I could tell, this had to be done on the tablet, which makes it hard to go through a large number of options.

Nonetheless, the entertainment selection was solid, with a good number of movies, TV shows, games, and music, to choose from. I couldn’t really get a good picture of the selection, since the tablet only displays so many titles at once.

SWISS also has bluetooth audio, so you can pair your own headphones with the entertainment system.

While SWISS A350s will eventually offer free Starlink Wi-Fi, that’s not yet available. For now, there’s a paid service provided by Panasonic.

As far as Wi-Fi pricing goes, the general options were either a free messaging pass, 25 CHF (31 USD) for four hours of Wi-Fi, or 35 CHF (43 USD) for Wi-Fi for the entire flight.

However, first class passengers do receive free Wi-Fi, with no data caps, and the ability to switch between devices.

Wi-Fi on this flight was on the slow side, more so than usual, so I’m not sure what was going on. I suppose there were just more people than usual connecting to the system?

SWISS first class amenities

When it comes to amenities, waiting at each seat upon boarding was a light pillow and blanket. These were more decorative and for lounging around, while there’s a proper turndown service, with more substantial bedding, when it’s time to sleep.

There was also an amenity kit waiting at my seat, which consisted of a large, leather binder of sorts. The concept here is interesting. Rather than having a very well stocked amenity, it only has the basics, and then the crew comes around with a basket, where you can select as many things as you’d like. Here’s what my “setup” looked like after I took several products from the basket.

It’s worth noting that SWISS has Sisley products in first class — very nice!

There were also some well padded slippers at the seat, which were super comfy.

Pajamas were also offered after takeoff, and were from Zimmerli. They’re fairly nice, though I don’t find them to be particularly soft, and I also wish there were a bit more airline branding on them.

Accompanying the pajamas was a tote bag, I guess intended to make it easy to carry stuff to the lavatory when changing.

There were also headphones, which sucked, quite frankly. These seem like really low quality headphones for first class. Then again, with bluetooth audio, that’s not a huge deal.

Once settled in, the lovely crew came by to welcome me onboard, familiarize me with the seat, and offer me a pre-departure drink. I went with a glass of champagne, and was offered some water and a warm towel to go along with that.

SWISS has historically offered an amuse bouche in first class to accompany the pre-departure drink, though in this case it was just warm breadsticks. That’s better than nothing, but seems like a downgrade over the old concept.

The crew also offered me the menu and drink list for the flight, with the explanation that I could eat whenever I wanted, thanks to a dine on demand concept.

SWISS A350 departure from Zurich

At 1:05PM the captain was on the PA to announce that we were waiting for a few more connecting passengers before we could depart, and that once airborne, our flight time would be 7hr30min. Sure enough, a couple dozen people showed up minutes later, and at 1:20PM, the main cabin door closed.

We left with a full load in first class, with the other two passengers being operational upgrades. The guy seated across from me spent an inordinate amount of time complaining to the crew about how much he didn’t like the suite, and how it was enclosed and not open. I’m sure someone in business class would’ve been happy to swap with him!

I didn’t have any view from my center suite, and SWISS doesn’t even have a tail camera on its A350s, so I don’t have any pictures from the taxi. However, we pushed back at 1:25PM, and that’s when the safety video was screened.

We then taxied at 1:30PM, and were cleared for takeoff at 1:40PM, from runway 28, the airport’s shortest runway. We had a bit of turbulence on the climb out, so the seatbelt sign stayed on for around 20 minutes. Once off, the crew sprung into action to perform the service.

SWISS first class menu & meal service

Once the seatbelt sign was turned off, it was lunch time, SWISS first class edition! Let me say upfront that the main meal service was at a very leisurely pace, and lasted a few hours. However, that’s not at all an issue on a daytime flight, and it wasn’t because the crew was slow. They just didn’t rush things, and there were a lot of courses.

You can find the SWISS first class menu below.

You can find the SWISS first class drink list below.

Service began with a colorful amuse bouche trio. I ordered a glass of Pommery Cuvee Louise Millesime 2008 Parcelles to go along with that, which I enjoyed immensely (the bottle is also pretty!).

Next up, it was time for the starter, so my tray table was set. I love SWISS’ salt and pepper mills, as they’re the nicest offered by any airline, in my opinion.

The starters were all displayed on a trolley. SWISS doesn’t typically serve caviar in first class, but instead, filet of balik salmon is the “signature” appetizer, and there were several other choices to go along with that. Of them, I selected the artichokes alla Siciliana, with lemon and cream cheese mousse, fried capers, and lemon gremolata.

Next it was time for the soup, a chilled smoked bell pepper soup with tomatoes and goat cheese praline.

That was followed by a summer salad with roasted broccolini, strawberries, radish, and puffed buckwheat, with strawberry vinaigrette

That was followed by a sorbet palate cleanser. To be honest, I was already full at this point, but c’mon, I have a job to do, and I can’t let y’all down. 😉

Of the four main course choices, I selected the black cod with pepper, saffron beurre blanc, beluga lentils, zucchini, pepper drops, and basil oil.

After that, the crew insisted I have some cheese, so I asked for a plate with a little of each.

I was so full that there was no way I could order dessert, so I called it quits. It was obviously a huge meal, and the quality was very good across the board.

SWISS A350 first class lavatories

After the meal I checked out the lavatory. SWISS has one first class lavatory on the A350, located at the front of the cabin, right by the cockpit. The lavatory is a great size, and has nice finishes.

The lavatory also had some products from Sisley, including hand cream and body lotion.

SWISS A350 first class bed

After the meal, I asked the crew to prepare the bed so that I could get a little nap in. In terms of size, this double suite is possibly the most insane first class bed in the sky. However, I found it odd that unlike when I flew Lufthansa Allegris first class in this same product, SWISS only had bedding for one of the two seats.

That’s of course not a big deal — it’s not like I paid for the second seat — but you’d think they’d spend the extra few bucks on the bedding for the true “wow” factor. It was still a great bed, but it wasn’t as good as if it were the full double bed.

Once settled in, I closed my privacy door, which goes floor-to-ceiling, so the only privacy “gaps” are the two holes that act as handles for the door.

I also couldn’t help but turn on the mood lighting, and play around with that for a second. While I’m incredibly fortunate to fly premium cabins so much, there are some “pinch me” moments, and being in a suite like this was definitely one of them.

I ended up falling asleep around 3.5 hours after takeoff, as we were over the middle of the Atlantic…

…and I woke up around two hours later, as we were off the coast of Canada, with around two hours remaining to Boston.

SWISS first class snack service

Upon waking up, I asked for a cup of tea, which was nicely presented.

Before I knew it, we were just over an hour from landing in Boston, and it was “final call” for dining. Obviously I was anything but hungry at this point, but y’all expect a lot from me, so I did my job. 😉 You can find the SWISS first class snack menu below.

I don’t eat pork, or else I would’ve totally ordered the “bastardo” hot dog, definitely one of the odder things you’ll find on a first class menu.

Of the choices, I ordered the salmon with nut crust, saffron hollandaise, purple cauliflower, and root vegetables. I realize I ended up eating fish for both of my meals on this flight, so I should’ve probably worked backward and selected something else for my first meal. Either way, it was excellent.

For dessert, I had fresh fruit with some caramel cream, which was delicious.

Lastly, I finished off the meal with an espresso, and was given a chocolate bar to go along with that (which I took home).

SWISS first class crew & service

Service in SWISS first class was excellent. There were two ladies working the cabin, with one being assigned the galley, and the other working the aisle. They were both super friendly — they were seasoned professionals, and also really personable.

It’s interesting that for both of them, this was actually their first time working the SWISS Senses A350, so they did a great job, especially given the learning curve with a new product. So I have nothing but good things to say about the service on this flight.

The cabin manager was also professional, and greeted each first class passenger upon boarding, and solicited feedback before landing.

SWISS A350 arrival in Boston

At 2:25PM the first officer was on the PA to announce that we were entering US airspace, and would be landing in around 40 minutes. Around 15 minutes later we started our descent, and 15 minutes after that, the seatbelt sign was turned on.

We had a pretty direct approach to Boston, though had to fly out past the airport, and then turn back toward the north, as we were landing on runway 4R. We touched down at 3:10PM, and from there had a 10 minute taxi to our arrival gate, where we pulled in at 3:20PM, 10 minutes behind schedule.

I quickly cleared immigration thanks to Global Entry, and then grabbed a Delta flight down to Fort Lauderdale (FLL), to make it back home, marking the end of this trip. Thanks for following along, but worry not, there’s more coming soon!

Bottom line

I finally had the chance to check SWISS Senses A350 first class off my list, and I’m grateful I had the opportunity. Ultimately this product is very similar to Lufthansa Allegris A350 first class, so I largely knew what to expect.

I loved the double suite, the crew was great, and the food was tasty and plentiful. As I see it, SWISS first class is very good across the board, but by first class standards, there’s nothing that particularly stands out. That’s perfectly fine — the airline isn’t competing to be the best in the world, and it has a hub in a very lucrative market.

What’s your take on SWISS’ A350 first class?