Swiss Intl Air Lines

DXB-ZRH-BCN. I am a frequent flyer and always use this airline within Europe. However yesterdays long-haul experience made me decide to never fly Swiss again. After appalling management from Dubai offices staff who has been unable to manage correctly a change of date for my return flight (outbound flight had been made in January) I was finally booked on the right day for a EUR 250 change fee. This has been a very bad flight: chaotic check-in made by rude ground-staff boarding was made in the same atmosphere. Sets were narrow on-board service nearly non-existent no interaction with cabin crew. Food was awful and poor. Temperature was cold with no personal air system. Transfer at Zurich was awful. However ZRH-BCN flight was excellent. If Swiss provides a good service within Europe transatlantic and intercontinental flights are overall a very bad product. Never again.

Was going to visit a friend in Trier Germany in the late July. Flew ARN-ZHR-LUX. A320 and BAE-146. Seats had a great leg space (I'm 174 cm tall) nothing wrong on the "Italian Snack" sandwich I got. Beverages were free to order. Happy and friendly crew no screen but who needs that on a 2hrs 45 minutes flight. No delays no hard landings.

ZRH-AMS-ZRH on A320 in Economy. Overall a good experience with good standards from A to Z for an intra Europe flight. FA a bit formal. One can clearly see that LX is part of LH-group those days.

Flew Dusseldorf to Zurich return. Onward flight was full but crew did their best. Pilot kept us informed during flight even when we were put on hold before landing in ZRH. Got a nice croissant as well as juice and a cup of coffee. Return flight was full again but at the boarding gate agent forced us to give one of our handbag up to be checked in. Agent was rude and was not polite at all. Once on board I asked the purser to get our bag as there was plenty of room in the bins. She approved to take our bag into the cabin. It fitted easily into the bin. Other passengers who had the same rude agent and did not complain their bags were checked into the belly. Flight crew did their best. Flight staff excellent gate staff very poor!

Flew outbound Geneva to Mumbai C-Class and return in First. The outgoing flight in C-Class was nothing special. The lounge in Zurich E terminal is lousy and cramped. The seating onboard is too narrow for me. Have been used to better food. Overall the Gulf airlines give you a better C-Class experience. First Class is a whole different story. Great seating and bedding. Personal transfer in Zurich between the two terminals and wonderful lounge. Definitely the best in the airline industry. Unfortunately Swiss are let down by the horrible feeder flight between Zurich and Geneva. Always cramped full bulkheads and stressed staff.

CAI-ZRH-LCY-ZRH-CAI. Flight and services were on time and of good quality. Transferring at ZRH can be tedious on a a short connection. In Flight moves were better on the A330 than on the A340 on the latter the screen was very poor. My only criticism is that I checked in with no hand luggage but a hold baggage that was 2.8 kilos over. I was charged 85 for this I thought very high as a silver star alliance member!

Flew HKG via Zurich to BHX. Overnight flight which was excellent especially bed made up to a great standard. Pyjamas were top class comfort. Highlight was FA asking me if she could get me my clothes when I woke! Crew were superb and very professional. Low light was waiting 20 minutes for only toilet in First Class while lady was oblivious to anyone else wanting to use it. Excellent food - huge portions. Wonderful check in at HKG with lady escorting me through security and immigration in minutes and again repeated on return to HK. Biggest disappointment not being able to use FC lounge in Zurich on either leg.

I flew from Budapest to Delhi via Zürich economy class. 29 April 2013. First flight on a brand new A320 slim seats to give space for the legs. Nice service nice croissant with coffee. Zurich airport is spotless nice design automatic train under the airport from one terminal to the other. Second flight to DEL brand new A330. Nice meal working entertainment system with consol for kids. The system got frozen they had to restart it two times but at the end we were able to watch the movies dedicated for first class too. During flight they offered water many times. Before landing light sandwich was ok. The staff were very friendly. Five star service.

A340 from Los Angeles to Zurich and return. Major complaint we have is that in economy class the video screens were difficult to see when the passengers in front of us reclined their seats. The screen doesn't tilt enough to compensate for the angle change created by reclining seats. We were unable to watch movies due to poor visibility. The video system seemed old and mine froze on me a couple of times and had to be rebooted. On a long flight the lack of satisfactory video was a huge drawback for us.

Geneva-Athens in an A319. A very smooth and pleasant flight. We had exit row seats but even the ordinary seats seamed to be comfortable and have adequate legroom. A small and tasty hot meal was served with beverages. The crew was polite and efficient. The plane was on time and the luggage appeared fairly promptly (albeit a little damp on the outside from having stood in the open during a connection at Geneva while it was raining). The proverbial nice touch - a chocolate - was appreciated.