I love Swiss. They’re easily one of the best airlines in the world, so naturally I’m happy when they expand their route network. Starting June 2, 2010, Swiss will begin 6x weekly service to San Francisco operated with A343-300s. The schedule for the flight will be as follows:
San Francisco-Zurich (SFO-ZRH) LX 39 dep. 7:25 p.m. arr 3:40 p.m.+
Zurich-San Francisco (ZRH-SFO) LX 38 dep. 1:15 p.m. arr 4:30 p.m.
+following day
Even if you don’t plan on flying this particular flight, you should still be excited about this. It will ease up the bookings a bit (at least among connecting passengers) on the Los Angeles to Zurich flight, which can be tough to get award seats on.
Unavaca-I flew the LX A340 in economy a few years back, and it was very cramped. The seats look nice, and they have big screens, but if the person in front of you reclines, their seatback is so close to you that the screen is difficult to even see.
Thyeri-that's interesting that you find LX availability on Aeroplan's site. This has never worked for me, but I haven't tried the Geneva trick. Overall though I'd...
Unavaca-I flew the LX A340 in economy a few years back, and it was very cramped. The seats look nice, and they have big screens, but if the person in front of you reclines, their seatback is so close to you that the screen is difficult to even see.
Thyeri-that's interesting that you find LX availability on Aeroplan's site. This has never worked for me, but I haven't tried the Geneva trick. Overall though I'd say you can't rely on Aeroplan's results to paint a realistic portrait of actual availability.
And I second the poster who mentioned that even if availability shows on Expertflyer, that doesn't mean you'll actually get those seats through a partner airline. It's all pretty mysterious.
You can check LX availability on aeroplan too. If you don't find direct flights from Zurich, try with Geneva (connecting for the same flight in Zurich). It often works this way.
My Swiss uncle will like being able to take a direct flight again from ZRH, and the new C & F classes look to be excellent.
@lucky -- Thanks. That explains. I guess it's time to join my first kiddie frequent flyer program.
@unavaca -- I shudder at the thought.
How's LX in Economy? Yes, some of us still fly in the back of the bus...
@ whakojacko @ Gene -- Kind of funny, eh? I believe the reasoning is that you get 2,500 miles for joining JetFriends, and you need miles in your Miles & More account to search award availability. As far as the availability goes (directed at Gene's question), there's no difference between the JetFriends site and the normal Miles & More site, but not all Miles & More Swiss availability is available to Star Alliance partners.
@lucky -- What's the deal with JetFriends? Why would the Swiss award inventory be available on a website for children but not on the "adult" website?
Jetfriends as in the LH kid's website/club? wtf?
@ Gene -- I wouldn't be surprised if it's temporary. They're probably trying to feel out the market a bit first, and I'm sure plenty of award inventory will be released soon enough.
@ whakojacko -- As Gene points out, ExpertFlyer or JetFriends are the way to go. It's worth noting, however, that not all availability found on those sites is available to Star Alliance partners, and it goes beyond Starnet blocking.
@whakojacko -- LX availability can be found on Expertflyer.com (subscription required) and some other thing called JetFriends (?).
@Gene, @lucky-btw, where does one check LX award availability? ANA doesnt show it...
Yes, I am psyched about this! However, I am a little disappointed to see that premium award seats are scarce for the dates filed so far (June 2 to September 28). Hopefully more seats will open up after the peak summer season.
@ Despina -- I'd say the hard product is slightly better than United's new hard product. The new business class seats are flat beds and are somewhat staggered which makes them private. The food and service on Swiss is truly top notch as well.
Since I fly J with my family, this is good news about the reconfiguration. Apologize for the potentially silly question, but is J on Swiss better than J on new configuration UA from a hard product point-of-view. I saw these on FT yesterday and am very happy. The layover in ZRH is going to be 5 hours though. I figure that 5 hours in ZRH is better than 4 in FRA.
@ whakojacko -- My understanding is that Swiss is reconfiguring 343s with the new business class product, but not the new first class product.
But no new premium cabins in the 343, correct?