Swiss Intl Air Lines

LUX-ZRH-ARN in C. The crews were smiling and calling me by name the food was outstandingly good and the business lounge in Zurich is a blast! They have the longest attended lounge bar in the world and are mixing great cocktails. This was the best business class experience I've had! (Even if all the European airlines sell economy class seats as business class.) Forget about Lufthansa.

Flights from Heathrow to Zurich and on to Newark 0333 and 0018. Problems boarding a to Heathrow and 45 minutes late departing. With a 40 minute connection at Zurich could have been a problem but not for Swiss. Picked up 25 minutes on the flight and met at gate driven across to next flight and seated with 10 minutes to spare. On both flights delightful crews excellent service food and seats and I like their lie flat bed. Recommend Swiss and find Zurich a great connection point. Have used them often in the last couple of years.

July 24 Geneva-London (City). Breaking system problem reported 10 minutes before landing: The flight is thus diverted to the less crowded Stansted airport. Of course Stansted is a low-cost over crowded airport. Doesn't matter: we safely landed. Fortunately the taxi driver came to Stansted to pick me up there. July 25: London (Heathrow)-Geneva: Air-traffic jam delays the flight by 1.5 hour. No apologies. I rarely fly Swiss but I feel that the quality has strongly dropped since the last time (3 years ago) I took it.

On leaving Mumbai we were given a modest meal. I asked for a glass of red wine knowing that the airline has a great Italian vintage. The stewardess served me just a glass of wine instead of bringing the bottle and serving the wine from the bottle. We were asked to fill out a form indicating our breakfast order. I checked out the boxes for (a) regular coffee and (b) with milk. The next morning my breakfast was served without coffee. The stewardess bought just a cup and the coffee spilt over the papers that I had laid out on the table adjacent to my seat. I tasted the coffee. It was cold. I requested another cup indicating that it should be served with a saucer. This time the coffee was served hot. The coffee should have been served in the first place in a cup with a saucer. What is the point of making me fill out a form in advance and then not serving me with my order? I was unhappy with this low-cost business class.

HKG-ZRH. Having arrived on a CX A340 it was a bit stark being on LX. Overall the plane was a bit tired (the tartanesque seat coverings don't help) and are in need of a good scrubbing. Dinner was good there was no choice for breakfast - you got what they gave you which is silly in a hyper-competitive long-haul market. Crew were reserved but efficient in 4 languages: Swiss German standard German French and English. In flight entertainment is poor and the screen quality poorer.

ZRH-SFO April 26 2014 in First: First Lounge in ZRH excellent very nice decor excellent food and good service. Very good is also the car shuttle to the gate. Flight: Very old layout of cabin seats are very old and dated without any touch of luxury. There is very limited privacy between the seats. The TV screen is very small. The seat adjustment panel shows its age some buttons do not work properly. The toilets have also absolutely no luxury features they look more like economy than first class very limited amenities (only one hand lotion and one face lotion but no lip balm no mouth wash etc.) after some hours they are out of tissues so you have to use paper tissues - very economy style! Amenities OK but again no luxury. The pyjamas are good quality. Food is OK but not on First standard (same choice and quality as Business Class). Limited choice. The chicken had absolutely no taste the rice also tasteless - overall really not good. Good is the quality of the wines. During the flight there is no food available - worse than in Business Class where they serve sandwiches etc. Service very disappointing: 3 empty water bottles remained for more than 5 hours beside me. The maitre de cabin however was nice and tried to accommodate us as much as possible. Overall very disappointing far away from Premium airlines like Emirates Etihad and Singapore Airlines. The First experience is at most on Business level of these Premium airlines. SWISS really needs to make an effort.

Airbus 330-300 from Miami to Zurich - Economy seats didn't have width for my arms to be by my hips as I held a book to read had to put them on the arm rests. I am 5 ft. tall and weigh 125 lbs. The very large people in front of me both reclined their seats the moment we were allowed and the man's head was literally in my lap - so close I could no longer hold a book in front of me but also had to recline and hold the book up. The lack of space for even a person of below average size was unacceptable. At meal time they made everyone put their seats upright as trays could not be opened with a seat in front of you reclined. However many more passengers they squeezed in by changing seats to this uncomfortable size was not worth it!

Fantastic flight and service ZRH-SFO. Honestly the first class experience was simply perfect. Smiling efficient courteous crew. The meal was excellent with an abundance of appetizers. Wines were well chosen and fitting to a first class cabin. The crew efficiently made up the beds with the duvet. Only the IFE left something to be desired at the screen is of average size and average resolution. Zurich airport is painless and easy to manage. No lines at check in. All in all I rank Swiss No. 1 across the Atlantic.

ZRH-NCE 08.55am departure 28 June 2014. Selected because they are the sole full-service airline flying this route non-stop. At boarding gate at ZRH agent refused to let me onboard with my carry-on size rollaboard - which I've used for years and which no airline has ever previously refused to let me take onboard. I was rudely asked to step aside to tag and check the bag at the gate - "This is a small plane today" actually it was a regular A320. When trying to board later of course my boarding pass did not scan in - extra delay and hassle. Once I boarded I saw that overhead bins were mostly empty (and there were plenty of empty seats). No food except a croissant and a mini chocolate offered (by perfunctory and non-smiling staff). No IFE. Despite LX's obsession with checking carryon-size bags departed gate at ZRH late and landed at NCE approximately 15 min late. Followed by 20 min wait at baggage claim for the bag. I fly 50k-100k every year and this was hands-down the worst service I've seen in coach on any airline within at least the past 10 years. Swiss? Never again.

GVA-LCY in Economy 'Light' - a low fare with hand baggage only. Excellent value for money. The flight was completely full so trolley bags were checked in (free) at the gate no fuss at all. In spite of being totally full staff smiling efficient drinks sandwich and chocolate all handled on a 1hr 15mins flight. Now if only Geneva Airport could sort out the security queues.