Flight Review – Swiss First Class A330 Zurich to Mumbai
Introduction
Swiss Airlines is a part of the Star Alliance network and is one of the few European airlines which runs a full service first class product to India. Swiss & Lufthansa were running a great companion fare to India from London and we booked a return trip for 2 passengers for around INR 270,000 (GBP 3,000) which is an incredible fare. We had heard great reviews about Swiss First Class and we were super pumped for this incredible journey. So let’s get started.
Flight Details
- Route – Zurich to Mumbai
- Flight Number – LX 154
- Aircraft Type – Airbus A330-300
- Flight Time – 09:45 to 22:30
- Flight Duration – 8 Hours 15 minutes
Airport Transit
We arrived from London on time but had an extremely short layover of around 65 minutes. Also, we were super hungry as there was some issue on our Swiss Flight from London to Zurich. We had asked for Asian Veg meals and were served Hindu meals and it looked like it contained meat (More on that later). Our Flight was in a different corner of the Airport and we had to take a transit train. We were not even sure if we would have enough time to even stay in the First Class Lounge.
The Lounge
We were lucky to reach the Lounge with 40 minutes to spare. The lounge is not super large when compared to the ones in London but it was comfortable with around 50% occupancy around 9 AM. The lounge has a minimalist Swiss design. There was an open Bar and you could literally take anything you wanted.
The First thing that surprised us was there was hardly any self serve options. The only items we could find were Swiss Chocolates, nuts and popcorn.
Everything else was a la carte. As soon as we took our seats, we were presented with the menu. The menu also had a special section highlighting the culinary delights from Swiss Canton of St. Gallen. In addition to that there was an A la carte section and a Breakfast Section. There was only one veg item in the A la carte menu and none in the Special menu which was a big disappointment. We ordered Veg momos and hot chocolate. The Breakfast section had a few Veg items but still left a lot to be desired.
Boarding was about to start and we were still super hungry. Ended up having hot chocolate along with Croissant and we had to skip the momos as we were getting late. The best feature of this lounge is that it has a terrace area with sweeping views of the tarmac on either side. Unfortunately the terrace was closed due to the rains. They also had binoculars for aviation geeks.
There was plenty of seating area divided into 3 sections. Two primarily for meals and drinks and one for lounging around. Small but elegant sums it up nicely.
Boarding
Our Airbus A330 was located a short walk from the First Class Lounge (luckily) but a large queue had already formed. There was a separate counter for passport control for all passengers including a dedicated one for First / Business / Star Alliance Gold.
We were waiting in queue and allowed two elderly people to use this counter. One of them was on a wheelchair and was unable to print his ticket to board and the other lady was asking where her wheelchair was. Out of nowhere an Indian passenger bypasses all of us and gets his passport stamped. On protesting he says that he’s traveling in First Class and when we explain so are we, he simply says sorry and walks off. I get really mad when people do this and more often than not, I’m the only one complaining and nobody supports me. I guess that’s the reason why Indians tend to do this a lot (We are not good at policing ourselves and people hardly support and consider it the norm).
The passenger later apologised during boarding and tried to defend himself. The Swiss lady managing the counter also apologised saying she should have made him stand in the queue. Anyway, on reaching first class we don’t find him there at all. I guess sometimes people tend to lie to get away with anything. In India more often than not the first thing people say when they are caught by anyone is “Do you know who I am ?”. Anyway, enough about this. The staff looked at our tickets and escorted us to our First Class cabin.
Seating
First class is two rows in 1-2-1 configuration. The seats are massive and really comfortable. There is an adjustable ottoman which can be used for dining together. There are two large storage compartments which contain the In Flight Entertainment controller, USB Charging slots and the headphones. An elegant reading lamp is situated right next to the seat and you can control the level of lighting easily with controls right next to it. Each seat also has a small privacy slider which goes upto the edge of the armrest. Middle seats also have an additional slider (Shown below) which goes up for privacy but you can still look to the other side.
The entertainment screen is fairly large but needs to be operated using the controller only. While we have gotten used to touch screen’s in business class, I guess the seat is so large that you would struggle to touch the screen everytime anyway. The seat also has inbuilt massage functions. One distinguishing feature was that the seat automatically adjusted firmness throughout the flight. Thanks to this our ride was really comfortable even in turbulence.
Staff Welcome
There were 2 staff members handling the First Class Cabin. They cordially welcomed us and escorted us to our seats (We had one window and the neighbouring aisle seat). We were served a welcome drink (We chose water), warm nuts and a hot towel. The warm nuts were some of the best we have had on an airplane with a hint of herb seasoning. They also presented us with the amenity kit, slippers and pyjamas. The pyjamas are from Zimmerli and are slightly larger than usual with extremely loose fitting.
The Amenity kit is from Bally which is a Luxury Swiss Brand. It contained mints from Ricola, Tissues, Brush, Comb, Earplugs, toothpaste, Shoe horn, Socks, Eye Mask and Luxury toiletries from La Prairie.
The first thing we requested from the staff was regarding our pre booked meals. We had a Hindu meal booked by the airline and we were concerned as we felt we had been served non vegetarian on the earlier flight when everyone else was served a specific asian vegetarian meal. The staff said that the meals had come on the flight around 10 minutes ago and they checked and said that they were not 100% sure if it was vegetarian. They were kind enough to get one serving to show us. Luckily there was Rice and Lentils but we were not sure of the main course. The staff requested us for some time so that they could check if they could arrange something for us. We had booked our meals over the phone and were a bit annoyed that our meal selection may have been bungled up due to a staff error.
The flight took off on time but it was raining non-stop. I so wanted to see the Swiss Alps but the cloud cover was just too much to see anything.
Our Lunch
We menu was presented to us shortly after takeoff. Swiss runs a special Connoisseur menu for two weeks four times a year and we were lucky to be traveling during this time. The special item on offer during this time was the White Alba Truffle. This is considered to be quite a delicacy in gastronomy and for a change we were able to experience it unlike caviar since its vegetarian (Truffles are a tuber which is hunted using special dogs as we have not be able to successfully cultivate them on our own and is extremely expensive)
Luckily for us they also had a vegetarian option in the menu but they only had one portion. Thanks to the Swiss Connoisseur menu, there was an additional vegetarian option and all our worries just faded away. We started off our First course with some Champagne and a Mango starter with some breadsticks.
The Starter was not really in the menu and kudos to the staff for preparing something for us. The portions were small and neatly spaced out so that you could enjoy your dining experience at your own pace. The second course consisted of lentils served with small chunks of mango. They were accompanied by a savoury coconut dish mixed with herbs and pomegranate. Some breads were also served which were really yummy.
After these two delightful small courses we moved on the wonderful Cream of Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Chive and a Crostini (Minus the quail). The staff then came and sliced the White Alba Truffles right in front of you. It is one of the best soups we have tasted on a flight.
The fourth course was from the Swiss Connoisseur menu which consisted of Tagliatelle served with White Truffles freshly grated in front of you. The main course was good and added a nice touch after the tasty soup.
The other fourth course option we had was the Asian Vegetarian Option and that was really massive. I don’t think we have ever had a single course with so many options on the table. I don’t think a business class seat would even be able to accommodate so many dishes on the table. There were two varieties of rice and were well cooked. The dishes were tasty as well.
We generally do not eat so much during flight but the food was literally quite delicious. We decided to completely skip the Fifth course which consisted of a wide range of Swiss Cheese, Fresh Fruits and cookies which looked extremely appetising. The entire food tray was out and you could choose anything you liked.
For the Sixth course we decided to try something from the Swiss Connoisseur menu and I went with the Chocolate Truffle with mango and Truffle ragout served with Sweet Chestnut ice cream. This was a very unique dessert and the chestnut ice cream was a very unique flavour we have never tried before. I guess we did have an overdose of truffles on the flight though.
A Swiss meal cannot be complete without the legendary chocolates from Switzerland and the airline certainly did not disappoint in this department. You get served a box of chocolates from Sprungli which is a world renowned Swiss Luxury Confectionary. I did try 4 – 5 different flavours but they were a bit of a hit and a miss. Some of them were really awesome and some just about average.
In Flight Entertainment
I was really full after this seven course extravaganza and decided to watch a little bit of TV to pass the time. The Swiss first class screen is enormous and has plenty of content to spend your time. They had quite a few of the latest movies and TV series to binge watch so you are definitely spoilt for choice.
If i really want to be picky, the only disappointment here would be the headphones. They looked like their build quality was average and you kind of tend to expect better quality headphones in first class. We’ve had much better quality headphones in Business Class with Singapore Airlines (Bose Noise cancelling). However, the petty complaint about the looks aside, the headphones were comfortable despite binge watching around 3 hours of content at a stretch
A complimentary 50 MB Wi-Fi pass is also given to all first class passengers. This was the first time that Wi-Fi worked without any hiccups and I was even able to stream something on Youtube (Though the data ran out immediately). The Wi-Fi was fast and definitely sets the standards for what is to be expected in the sky.
Its Nap Time
We were feeling a little tired and the flight reaches late in the night which is rush hour for flight arrivals in India. Since we had to reach early to office the next day a few hours of sleep was essential.
Despite having outdone themselves in the food department, this is where Swiss really excelled. I don’t remember having slept like a baby for a straight 3 hours in a flight under 12 hours ever in either Business or First Class. You are given two super comfy pillows and a mattress along with comforter. They were really soft and I did not even realise till it was too close to landing. This is not just me but almost everyone slept like a baby in this luxurious bed.
A Light Dinner
I woke up when only had about 90 minutes to arrival. Despite having that massive meal I still felt like having a small dinner. I was presented with an Anytime Dining menu.
I decided to start off with the organic pumpkin soup. While I do love a good pumpkin soup, this was the first time I was trying the organic variety and was a bit disappointed. It was probably made a bit too healthy and was quite different from what I am used to. This is probably the only dish that I struggled to finish.
I decided to have the St. Gallen Cinnamon pie which was served with fresh Kiwi, Pineapple and berries served with Zweifel Crisps. These are some of the best crisps we’ve ever had on a flight.
I then had some popcorn served with Original Swiss Kambly biscuits. These were tasty and I was almost full.
The best drink on the flight was yet to come. I went for their cappuccino and it was to die for. This is the best coffee on a flight ever.
Overall Flight Experience
The Flight was one of the best we have taken in a long time. The staff was wonderful and courteous. While we did feel that there was a glitch in our meal selection which led to an initial tense feeling, we soon forgot about it. Swiss Airlines prides itself in projecting the best products from their Country. You cannot really escape it. From the Amenity Kit, Pyjamas, Food Menu, Chocolates to even potato crisps and Ice Cream, you feel like you are bombarded with Swiss Products. It’s something that airlines across the world can learn from. Don’t see that happening anytime soon but would be great to see Amenity Kits from the Indian house of Nappa Dori (Used by Qatar) and cosmetics from Indian Luxury Ayurveda Brand Forest Essentials on Indian Airlines.
If i really have to talk about one disappointment on this flight (and I am being really picky here) was the meal. When we had booked the flight we were told that the Vegetarian meals would be served by Hiltl which is the oldest Vegetarian restaurant in the world. I wanted to try that meal but to our surprise on this route some of the meals were in partnership with Oberoi. Don’t get us wrong, Oberoi is an exceptional hospitality chain in India but the possibility of experiencing food from one of the best restaurants just did not happen.
Post Flight Experience
We are big on sharing feedback with airlines especially when things go wrong. We sent an 8 point action plan to Swiss to ensure that such an issue with meal selection does not happen again. Most of the times, we do not receive any response and we simply hope that someone looks at it. To our utter surprise we received a response the next day itself. They apologised for the issue and said that their departments are looking into our constructive criticism. Best of all, they even gave us a voucher for our trouble which was a very pleasant unexpected surprise.
Conclusion
Swiss is an incredible airline with great staff both on Ground as well as in the Air. Despite our small hiccups, the airline managed to exceed our expectations. They were prompt, courteous and very polite in our interactions. The First Class cabin is really awesome and this is a trip that was worth it. Check out our Youtube video on the flight experience for more details. What do you think of Swiss First Class ?
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