Swiss Intl Air Lines

Flew from Bangkok to Zurich return. I have mixed feelings about writing this review as the flight home was spectacular but the service on the flight over was amongst the worst I had ever experienced. Summary: Flights both legs were on time. Modern fleet in good condition - good inflight entertainment (would be great except poor quality headphones). Service terrible on way over. Attendants would not reply to bell and had to get up for water at night whilst attendants were talking at back of aircraft (they looked at me like it was an inconvenience when I asked for water - I felt like I was rude for asking). I must say however the crew on the flight home were the opposite and I could not speak highly enough of the service and would be amongst the best I have experienced. Anyway my overall opinion would be to give them a go as if it was anything like the way back I would recommend.

JFK–GVA–JFK in economy. The aircraft seating and IFE were great. The food was appalling (even by airplane standard). The crew were disinterested and outright rude. I asked for a glass of water 4 hours in and was told to get it at the back galley. When I got there all the crew were sitting around chatting. They ran out of white wine within 90 minutes of leaving Geneva. Overall the service was really poor.

LHR to Palma Mallorca via Zurich outward on the 3rd July in Y class return on 10th July in C. Trouble free check in at Terminal 1 slight delayed departure to Zurich but we were kept informed and the crew came round with a tray of chocolates as we were waiting 10mins which was a nice touch. Spotlessly clean Airbus 321 with welcoming crew. Fresh croissants served with a hot drink. Plenty to keep you occupied during the connection at Zurich airport with a wide range of shops and facilities. Flight to Palma full legroom fine in Y class not cramped good quality Sandwich and hot and cold drinks again served by great flight attendants. 3D route map shown on overhead screens informative. Return in C class was fantastic I was booked on the 1735 departure from PMI but because the departure of that aircraft from ZRH was 30 mins delayed I was automatically switched to an earlier flight at 1630 to ZRH. PMI to ZHR was with Eidelweiss airlines (same group as Swiss) excellent meal in Business food was well presented and served professionally then a cheese board. The Lounge at Zurich is not the best food choice is rather limited but didn't need to eat. Onward connection to LHR busy but plenty of room in Business class more mature but professional crew meal and drinks served. Again well maintained aircraft interior. Sadly the problems started as we approached LHR as usual had to hold for 30 mins before landing and then they were not expecting us at the allocated air bridge so no staff were there to meet the aircraft. After waiting 15 mins they did find a member of the ground staff and we had to disembark via the rear exit onto buses which took us to the terminal as they could not use the airbridge.

This was our first flight with Swiss Air. We flew from Zurich to Newark. The only complaint we could come up with concerns the Zurich Airport. Very chic but ultimately passenger unfriendly. Allow yourself extra time to navigate all the ups downs corners and corridors!

Economy LCY-ZRH-MUC (codeshare meant LH ZRH-MUC). C MUC-ZRH-LCY. All in all good experience. Everything on time minimal hassle in the ZRH connections. Good roll in Y to ZRH chocolate bar from LH ZRH-MUC. Food in C on way back good. Roomy on jumbolinos so no complaints - decent Swiss wine helped. Only bizarre event was leaving a/c at gate B35 ZRH ascending to passport control and wandering along corridors to D35 to board the same a/c.

Flew LHR-IST. Check in quick and efficient at Heathrow nice lounge for a European flight. Service was good and the crew very friendly changeover at Zurich very well organised with priority boarding - was the only pax in business to IST so a very personalised service with two FA s looking after me. Will definitely fly again.

Flew on three sectors. LHR-ZRH ZRH-GVA and GVA-JFK. European flights were pretty standard business class. Coach class seating but with a light meal and wine thrown in. Crew on European flights were absolutely delightful. Geneva New York on an A330 on 15 August 2012 was delightful. Seats not super comfortable but they are lie-flat. Food was really not very palatable but that's true of virtually every airline. Wines were lovely deserts were nice. Crew were attentive. The aircraft was immaculate with larger than usual washrooms. Would happily fly them again.

My flight was direct from Zurich to Los Angeles and I had it booked online two months ago. First of all Swissair had changed my flight status to Standby because they had over booked which was very upsetting to me. I was finally able to get on the flight just to find out that my seat was right in "front" of the toilet door! I had never been in a plane where they had taken out a set of toilets to add passenger seats there! Not only did I and the other two passengers next to me had to tolerate the stench from the bathrooms the whole flight we also had to tolerate the heigh traffic of passengers using those bathrooms and the loud noise of the flushes on a constant basis! I also had no leg room because they had placed a metal case under the passenger seat in front of me! I really expected so much more from the Swiss!

Lounge in Oslo average at best. Oslo - Zurich leg delayed due to late incoming aircraft from Zurich. I have flown this leg 4 times and it has been delayed 3 out of 4. So much for the alleged Swiss punctuality. Service and food pretty good with friendly crew. With a short connection in Zurich and due to the delay transferring passengers to Delhi were driven from gate to gate. Nice (and necessary) gesture. Promised that baggage would make it too but this was not to be the case. Service on Zurich - Delhi leg pretty average even below average at times. The maitre de cabine was more interested in chatting with a non-rev passenger than answering call-buttons resulting in a 30 minute wait to have faulty earphones changed. Was then brought yet another pair of faulty earphones. Three is a charm. Wine was good food below average. Starter dry and practically inedible main course badly presented. Crew slightly disorganized and looked tired and harassed. Second meal service was tasty but insubstantial in amount resulting in landing slightly hungry in Delhi. Informed by the maitre de cabine that luggage did not make it who was very apologetic. Ground staff in Delhi delightful and did their best to lessen the inconvenience. Took 1.5 days to receive luggage which is a shame on a three day business trip. Claim for compensation for expenditure is still unanswered. On return trip used Lufthansa lounge in Delhi. Pretty good offering but a bit too small and no showers. Delhi - Zurich leg ok seated in the comfy Stübli with extra room for legs. Light snack before sleeping for 4-5 hours on the fully flat bed. Breakfast too insubstantial unfortunately. Service slightly rushed and somewhat disorganized. No amenities in bathroom. With a slight delay transfer in Zurich was a hassle having to run through long corridors security immigration train etc (no car this time). Zurich - Oslo leg pretty good but again slightly delayed. Crew pretty good however food offering should change more often as they have had the same breakfast for years.

HKG-ZRH-ATH flew business class seats 5A and B excellent check in adequate lounge at HKG full load in all classes flight crew friendly captain walked through the cabin regularly. Cabin crew excellent. Food excellent and plentiful. Arrivals lounge in Zurich superb nice showers food and ambience. Flight to Athens full again and once more excellent service and food. The desserts were best I have ever had. Was great to have china plates and metal cutlery! Highly recommend.