SWISS INTERNATIONAL AIR LINES   Customer Reviews and Trip Reports

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  21 November 2009 by Stuart Walker   (Australia)

JNB-ZRH-JFK Business. Swiss use the Premium Club lounge at JNB which is pretty basic. Flight on A330 with old business seats. Despite them being hard and not lie flat I managed a good sleep. Food okay and crew just OK. The main business lounge for Swiss at ZRH was fine - nice breads for breakfast. The showers are small but adequate. ZRH to JFK was a more professional flight. New business class seat which is lie flat. The aircushioning is a gimmick as it did not seem to make much difference to my seat. Food was good, wine not so good. AVOD not bad. All flights on time.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  20 November 2009 by Urs Christen   (Switzerland)

Zurich to Miami return. I was disappointed and would have expected more. Still the old business class seats where you "slide down" while sleeping - entertainment system that resets at least 3-4 times during the movie, no "real coffee" from an espresso machine and on the return flight even red wine was gone and only minimal drinking water was supplied. For the price Swiss is charging for Business Class this is lousy. Staff was friendly but this does not compensate the companies missed investments. My next trip I will be carefully checking options first before choosing Swiss Business again.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  19 November 2009 by Erich Koller   (Switzerland)

Business trip ZRH-MAD-ZRH same day. Overall a good experience with load factors below 60% on both legs. Travel time of over 2 hours and hence we got more than a muffin with a croissant and coffee/tea in the morning and a choice of sandwich in the evening. I cannot complain for the price we paid except for the fact that the handling agent at MAD was not too helpful when asked for a change of flight. LX has a good standard of service in Europe, with old but clean aircraft and standardised crew service levels. A320's in the fleet needs a replacement rather sooner than later.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  17 November 2009 by M Clement   (Switzerland)

ZRH-BKK. Lounge stops serving food 1:45 before departure and closes 45 minutes for departure, meaning that you get to wait at the gate with everyone else. No pre-dinner drinks offered on flights that depart after 22:00 according to the flight attendant. Dinner was served approximately 1:30 after departure, when most people just want to get to sleep - and choices were a "light" dinner of chicken, soup, or tofu. Flight attendants were brusque and business- like. Not exactly the experience I was hoping for when I paid over CHF4500- for a ticket. Next time I'll fly with Thai. Equivalent seat and massively better service.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  17 November 2009 by Ron Miller   (USA)

LHR-LUG return Business class. The one thing I found disappointing about these flights was the lack of legroom. The seats are the same as in coach, but the middle seat is kept free. Otherwise, FAs were wonderful as was the food - even managing a sandwich on the 20 minute flight between Zurich and Lugano.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  15 November 2009 by Tolga Emin   (Netherlands)

AMS-ZRH-LIS return. All flights on time. Legs flown by a mix of A320/A321. Planes were not the newest but cabin looked clean. Croissant and cold sandwich together with drinks served on the shorter legs and a small hot snack on 2:15 hour legs. Cabin crew professional and attentive. Transfer at Zurich was good arranged with gate info given on board the plane before landing. Will save a lot in case you run out of time at transfer. Good to see that there are some airlines left keeping their full service level in these times of non-service madness.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  12 November 2009 by Gary Binas   (USA)

LAX to Brussels then to Athens round trip. Flight attendants spoke excellent English and some of the friendliest I've encountered. LAX to Brussels we were served two meals and two snacks and drink service in between meals, and they served small bottles of wine for free ! I've flown United and American most of my life and there is a noticeable difference.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  11 November 2009 by Alan Lacey   (UK)

Miami to Zurich was very disappointing. A340 with old style interior and harsh lighting. Crew were pleasant but service seemed chaotic. Some passengers were missed for welcome drinks. No offer of pre-dinner drinkks (they were busy taking breakfast orders!). No attempt to re-fill wine glasses and no offer of brandy or liqueurs. Food was okay (no more). Passengers were then given a small bottle of water and crew disappeared. Cabin overheated and seat uncomfortable so sleep was difficult.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  10 November 2009 by Louis FitzPatrick   (France)

LYS-ZRH-PVG return in Economy Class. Very satisfied. Highly recommended from Lyon Airport to Asia. Allows us to avoid Air France atrocious service and prices and Charles de Gaulle. Paid 450€ instead of more than 800 with AF so great value for money and less time travelling also. Service excellent, food not so exciting but inflight entertainment excellent and a flow of surprises: ice cream, drinks, toblerone.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  9 November 2009 by P Enz   (Switzerland)

ZRH-BKK-ZRH and ZRH-HKG-ZRH in Economy Class. Seats ok, but AVOD box under the front seat takes too much space. The staff is basically friendly and food always been good. However, on these long haul flights to Asia dinner is served shortly after take off. After that there is no real service anymore for nearly ten hours, except some water from time to time. Approximately one hour before landing they serve a very simple breakfast in a cheap paper box. Personally I think Swiss is a good Airline for flight within Europe or to North America, but for Asia, there are many better airlines.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  8 November 2009 by Johan Vranken   (Belgium)

Brussels to Bangkok business. Check in Brussels quick and friendly. Brussels Airlines lounge comfortable with drinks and snacks. BRU-ZRH Avro 100, seat 1A comfortable, cold snack and good drinks. Crew friendly. ZRH-BKK on A340, seat 5B. Crew very old, not overfriendly but hard working. Food nothing to write home about but drinks plentiful. Arrived in Bangkok early and fast track coupon for immigration was a plus.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  4 November 2009 by B Lakin   (UK)

Birmingham - Istanbul via Zurich. Unfriendly check in at Birmingham and took nearly 90mins to clear immigration and customs at Istanbul airport. Otherwise, flights punctual with attentive service and quite reasonable food on all sectors.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  4 November 2009 by David Gartside   (UK)

MAN-ZRH-VIE return Economy. On/ahead of time, clean aircraft well maintained. Inflight food and drink fit for purpose given sector lengths. Gate details and connection details displayed on-board prior to arrival at ZRH helped a smooth transfer. Internet check-in at VIE handled by Lufthansa - not immediately obvious from Swiss web- site - need to look at FAQs - and Lufthansa website struggled (and failed) to cope with connecting flight details. However self- service check-in at Vienna worked OK.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  29 October 2009 by C Mak   (USA)

Business HKG-Zurich-FRA The Hong Kong leg was great except for the seat which was flat but angled downward - not a good angle. The flight attendants were very attentive and friendly, food top notch, entertainment system was weak. The screen was old-fashion pull-out one from under the armrest. It obstructed the dining fold-out table. The selection was terrible. Zurich to Frankfurt leg was ok - business class seat was the same as economy seat except that the seat next to you was empty and they served food.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  28 October 2009 by J Schwind   (Switzerland)

ZRH to VIE Economy. Check-in at Zurich a complete mess. Ground staff picked passengers at random and forced them to use quick-check-in desks. The rest was guided to a check-in for all passengers - no matter if business, economy or baggage drop-off. As a Frequent Traveller I usually enjoy checking-in at business-class check-in. So check-in took me 15 minutes - for 10 passengers altogether. Used business lounge for waiting - uneventful, even though a little bit short on food selection. Boarding quick, but bussing to a remote stand was a hassle and took quite long - downturn of Schengen agreement. The flight was uneventful, one round of drinks and a cold sandwich, FA's professional and friendly. Luggage arrived shortly after arrival in VIE.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  13 October 2009 by E Cabilis   (Philippines)

FCO-ZRH-LAX. Rome to Zurich on A320, on time and they served croissants and hot drink. Transfer at Zurich airport a breeze. Zurich to Los Angeles on A340. The aircraft was well maintained, long haul flight on Swiss Economy products from meals to entertainment is quite competitive but they need to improve their cabin staff. They work a little bit slow and lack personal touch doing the service - they are a bit uptight and cold. It feels like they don't value that much the economy cabin class passenger.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  8 October 2009 by K Crawford   (Belgium)

BRU-ZRH-MAD in Business - first sector with Helvetic F100 sandwich & drink only and remotely parked at ZRH so bussed to Terminal. ZRH-MAD Full A320 but Maitre de Cabine and stewardess in Business coped well and excellent service - hot meal. Return MAD-ZRH A320 light load in Business and excellent service from steward in Business - hot meal. Pre departure individual bottle of water is great to have. Senator Lounge in ZRH not too busy and good selection of food and drink - just as well as ZRH-BRU A319 only had sandwich & drink service.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  8 October 2009 by Chris Joynes   (Switzerland)

BSL-LCY-BSL in C class. Onboard the usual product, except this time they only had a vegetarian meal for me which was less appetising than the normal meal. No curtains between C & Y, so a constant line of pax queuing for the WC. No lounge at LCY, only a £4 voucher. Café prices have increased at LCY, so £4 doesn't even cover the price of a tea and croissant. One suitcase destroyed (second time this year) and one case damaged and needed repairing. Confusing system for replacing cases - 2 months, so far, and still waiting! On the positive side Basel lounge very good, on-time flights, friendly FA, clean aircraft.

SWISS INT'L AIR LINES customer review :  7 October 2009 by Y Akbar   (Hungary)

ZRH-PVG First Class. Outstanding service in First Class lounge at ZRH, decent choice of hot food, restaurant style seating area. Beverage selection excellent with a waiter to serve drinks. Well appointed shower rooms, Bulgari and La Prairie products. Taken by limousine to Terminal E. Inflight on the old First Class A340-300 : just two passengers in F class cabin. The seat is extremely comfortable and when reclined to flat bed provides a very pleasant sleep - LX provides Van Laack pyjamas, decent amenity kit, full size pillow and duvet/comforter. 5 course meal and wine list is outstanding and presented superbly. Cheese selection one of the best I have encountered in intercontinental travel. Flight attendants were attentive without being overbearing. Flight on time and we were met at PVG airport by a guide to speed up immigration formalities. Bags arrived within 5 mins of arriving at carousel - first on to the belt.