Swiss Intl Air Lines

ZRH-MUC on December 7 early morning flight. Flight left and arrived on time. The cabin service was a disaster. The flight was operated by OLT Express F100. Flight attendants were rude. Coffee was not available and this at 7.30am! I will avoid flying to MUC with Swiss or their sub companies.

GVA-JFK SFO-ZRH. Nice and modern cabins (A330 and A340) very good corporate design comfortable seats and very friendly staff.

Return leg from BKK-AGP. As with the outbound all flights ran slightly early. Staff again professional and efficient and some friendlier than the normal Swiss staff. The Cabin Manger was very attentive and spoke to all passengers individually over dinner (interestingly he was in fact Spanish). Dinner as on the outbound was very good and as a late night departure quickly served which was appreciated. Fully flat beds again which is normal for the A340 and woken the usual 90 minutes prior to landing for a (very poor) breakfast which let this flight down. Could not find the arrivals lounge at Zurich but not important as has a shower at the departure lounge while waiting for the second flight. Again no complaints a full lunch with champagne served despite being 10.30am but acceptable as being awake for many hours and travelling in a different time zone. As always have no problem recommending Swiss.

AGP to BKK via ZRH. All flights ran slightly early. I find Swiss to be consistently good but not fabulous. Prices in Business out of Spain always one of the best and makes the 7 hour layover in ZRH justifiable. Fully flat seat a little hard even after choosing soft function. One of the best steak meals ever enjoyed on a flight which was one of the celebrity chefs signature dishes. Champagne and drinks of good quality and usual service a little cold and slow but always polite. Overall never disappointed never wowed but this means trust and worth repeat business.

I've flown twice with Swiss once from Tegel (Berlin) to Cairo Egypt via Zurich and the other time was from Tegel (Berlin) to Milano. Both times were extremely nice even with very short flights like Zurich-Milano you feel taken care of. Zurich-Cairo flight was very comfortable entertainment system was good. On the bad side the cabin crew repeated instructions every time in at least 4 languages (English French German and Swiss) it got a bit much sometimes.

Birmingham - Zurich - Sao Paulo return. Last-minute on-the-day booking due to family circumstances. Flight from Birmingham to Zurich was late turning a tight connection into a stressful experience. Once on board the long haul run to Sao Paulo it was about as bearable as a 12-hour overnighter in economy can be. The return leg was similar - 12-hour overnighter from Zurich to Sao Paulo - I had pre-booked an aisle seat but was assigned at check-in to a middle seat - only when I threatened to call Swiss in Zurich did an aisle seat miraculously become available. However this turned out to be a rear seat with limited recline. As I am not a sleeper on night flights that was not a huge problem and it was good that the crew came around regularly with water. The food was standard fare - not good. 7-hour layover in Zurich was very welcome with the excellent Dayrooms facility at Zurich Airport. I was able to get 4 good hours of sleep before my onward flight and drive home. By the way I have rated the seat-comfort as very poor - this is not a reflection on Swiss - all economy seating is akin to purgatory on any long-haul.

GVA-ZRH-EWR. Very nice flight I read a lot of comments about economy class on the A343 but the cabin was very clean and comfortable the entertainment system was a bit old but had plenty of movies. Food tasty and cabin crew very friendly.

JFK-GVA A330. I had been wait listed for Business from my full flexi economy ticket however all ground staff I talked to simply fobbed me off with 'only if there is a no show'. I had blocked 40k miles for this. Upon boarding was told business was full and was not going to happen. Strangely enough there was over 4 empty seats in Business when all passengers were seated. FA when asked said it was out of her control. In Economy - cabin was full and seat space is very compact. IFE is on demand however I found the screens even at the lowest brightness to be still very bright. Earphones painful after an hour. Food was acceptable however there was no choice only chicken provided. Breakfast was a croissant and yoghurt and the FA did come around again with a second batch of croissants. FA on our aisle was young and very friendly. However on occasion some of the older crew would come by barking orders at customers. Seat quality for sleeping is terrible new Recarro seats they should not be used for long haul. No possible way to get comfortable. The cabin temperature dropped massively during the night. Eventually the crew when torn away from their chatting at the back turned the temp back up. This was my first and last time using Swiss Long haul. Much better products out there.

NBO-ZRH. I was really looking forward to C class on Swiss and while it was fine it was not quite what I expected. Seats are full flat but getting into the flat position is awkward. Staff nice. Entertainment was only fair. Food was a let down. There was a late night supper with a less than exciting macaroni and cheese but dessert was quite good and the chocolates are a nice touch. Breakfast was decent. The arrival lounge at ZRH was great.

ZRH-CPH-ZRH in C and ZRH-BCN and MUC-ZRH with LX in Y. Nothing noteworthy and the typical efficient Swiss flights in Europe as one could expect. Slight delay to BCN but on time from MUC and CPH. Staff a mix of friendly and cold but still better than some other airlines. Breakfast in C to and from CPH which was cheese with a fruit salad and warm bread and choice of sandwich between ZRH-BCN which is a nice change in Y. Swiss offers a consistent product but could improve on the cabin staff friendliness as this aspect is the inconsistent factor with Swiss and always has been. Staff in C is usually much friendlier though which is expected of course.