Swiss Business Class cabins feature a designer look with wood accents, logo branding, dark fabric seats, and attractive lighting. We thank you for your support and hope you'll join the largest aviation community on the web. Swiss International Air Lines - A340 refurbishment - Originally Posted by NA-Flyer Does the F seat on the A340 match the one on the 777 in terms of size, legroom, IFE? Swiss operates its Airbus A340s on services between Zurich and Boston, Johannesburg and Shanghai. I mean are they 100% identical. The boarding experience was, to put it frankly, a little chaotic. Woman single-handedly takes on BA and wins, EasyJet pilot does 360-degree turn so passengers can see the Northern Lights, Swiss to switch to Beijing Daxing in March, Swiss to expand airtrain services in 2020, Swiss to launch Lugano-Zurich rail service, Swiss to add Osaka and Washington DC routes, To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below, So, all five aircraft in the fleet are now, equipped with a brand new cabin and infli. Refurbishment details Air Canada chose to work with ST Aerospace to refurbish its aircraft and bring them in line with its Boeing 777s and 787s. The best seats by far are the throne seats. After a quick visit to the Lufthansa business-class lounge, it was time to board the A220. The next batch of reviews from this trip will look at a variety of Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Dubai. (Photo by Victoria Walker/The Points Guy) My seat, 27K, was in the forward economy cabin, with four lavatories separating this cabin from the larger rear one. The Boeing 777 comes with a private wardrobe equipped with hangers that also functions as a door, completely separating you from the aisle. Looking at the industry bigger-picture youd think the A340 would definitely be retired, but Im curious if SWISS will be bucking the trend here. WTF is this businessspeak supposed to mean? Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Brussels, LOT and Other Partners | Miles & More, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, https://www.swiss.com/corporate/en/m-20161007.html, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28525359-post588.html. By David Flynn, October 14 2021 Share this article: Swiss is set to rid its fleet of the Airbus A340, with the big four-engined jet facing a use-by date of 2024 or 2025 at the latest. I think for business class Swiss beats Lufthansa on ground and in the air, for first class Lufthansa is much better on the ground and possibly in the air. Pictures of great freighter aircraft, Government Aircraft /], [tpg_rating tpg-rating-score="80" ground-experience="4" cabin-seat="22" amens-ife="8" food-bev="22" service="24" pros="Smart-looking cabin, comfortable throne seat and fantastic service." Swiss International Air Lines dankt Ihnen fr Ihr Verstndnis. From my throne seat in business, I had a perfect view of the small first-class cabin until the curtain was drawn. Fortunately SWISS has a handful of different designs by Victorinox and on my return I had a very snazzy black tin which I thought was much classier. The cabin, though not the most updated in Swiss' fleet, felt sleek and classy, and service was impeccable. Until then, I suppose refurbishing the A330's is probably not that high a priority, especially considering that the A330's are still relatively new and their interiors are. First, business and elite passengers were called to board just after 11am for our 11:40am departure and were bussed separately to our A330, which has registration HB-JHJ and was delivered new to Swiss eight years ago. In first class, passengers can expect eight suites, which are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration. % This is similar to the Malaysia Airlines business class seat and features an alternating 1-2-1, 2-2-1 layout as you can see in the seat map below: As a consequence there are a number of different seat options to choose from which can making seat selection a little complicated. document.getElementById( "ak_js" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The A340 is already almost 18 years old, older than the A330, but it as better range versus payload. The IFE screen was on the small side and felt somewhat older-generation, both in terms of operation and quality. Behind this is a very small Business Class cabin made up of just two rows, followed by a larger Business Class cabin made up of eight rows. Features of the Swiss Premium Economy seat Width: 46 centimeters. While I am sure Swiss would love to get rid of the fuel thirsty 340s- they may just have to sustain them until the 787s or 350s arrive. Any updated news on the refurbishment schedule? For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit. The headline options include a beef burger, soups, salad, rosti and sandwiches as well as a range of sweet and salty snacks. During the ongoing airport refurbishment, it seems that most long-haul flights depart from these types of gates. Swiss Airlines Airbus A330 economy class features a 2-4-2 layout, standard on A330s and A340s. On the other hand they allow us to improve our content for you. That's it. Welcome! Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 1 0 obj The retired aircraft will most likely be A340s - akin to the LH retirements. Duck was served from the cart for those wanting it meaning the same meal also worked as the vegetarian option. N>K\G.ps%=.mQD%VCWJ0X%cCc^rj&5::Vgm Not very Swiss at all! I would definitely avoid those seats unless traveling with a companion. Compare the cost in points or miles to cash, and see which option is best. As a result, business-class passengers received a measly 10 euro voucher for food and drink at one of the airport shops, which I thought was a pretty subpar compromise. Your feedback is important in helping us keep our community safe. Tail and Winglet closeups with beautiful airline logos. You can unsubscribe at any point by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. Despite recent complications, the aircraft have been finished on time. Additionally fuel is really cheap right now. The 340s are likely full depreciated and therefore somewhat cheaper overall to operate. Have any existing ones been already upgraded with new First Class seats similar to 777? Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. While we sat in the larger secondary business section on our first flight, we happily nabbed seats 4D and 4G in the A330's mini-cabin on this flight. Having lived in different countries and with a previous career in financial services, he is an Avios, Oneworld Alliance and general aviation travel expert. These cookies are needed for a smooth operation of our website. SWISS concluded its cabin refurbishment program for its Airbus A340 aircraft fleet. The cheesecake was very nice, and I enjoyed it with a green tea. Our gate was a bus gate. The aircraft is roomy. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. As David mentioned, fuel is cheap right now and the A340 is more flexible due to some factors. What let this flight down was the ground experience in Geneva, which shouldn't even be an issue now that the lounge is complete. According to PlaneSpotters.net, Swiss' fleet of five A340s have an average age 16.3 years. All . You then have your console table, which is useful for boarding drinks, amenity kit etc: Inside the console is your tray table which pops out in two leaves. If they invested in new interiors for the A340s it likely means they also did the heavy and expensive maintenance checks. It is also not particularly bright so during a day flight it is not easy to see. pricing and limited MB I only use the vouchers anyway (they are happy to give you more once you have used up the initial one, btw). We detected unusual behaviour from your browser, which resembles that of a bot. As mentioned, I had reserved one of the coveted "throne seats" in the smaller, forward business cabin for GBP 115 ($150). I liked the potato and leek puree despite its looks. Sister airline Lufthansa is in the process of retiring its entire A340 fleet, while the airline continues to fly all of its A330s. Orders seemed to be taken in order of elite status as the crew were moving all around the cabin to take orders rather than moving down the rows. As expected, the aircraft and seats have a very modern feel and though the seats look very slim, they were comfortable enough for such a short flight. With the completion of our Airbus A340 cabin refurbishment program, we are further underlining our quality commitment, and now offer all our customers the same premium air travel experience, including inflight internet connectivity on all our long-haul flights, said SWISS Chief Commercial Officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour. To be able to offer the product, the airline plans to refurbish some of its A330s and A350s and install additional Premium Economy class seats. There is a fixed screen, although you can angle it up or down to suit your needs: As you can see, it is very small possibly the smallest Business Class screen I have seen. Same seating as in the A330, and a new IFE. the refurbishment of its aging A340-300 fleet. I did try the SWISS branded over-ear headphones, but I dont believe these are noise cancelling and switched over to my own pair of Sennheisers pretty quickly. Our privacy policy is here. The A340s have been recently refurbished. Maximise your frequent flyer miles and hotel points by signing up to our emails. The route will be operated with an Airbus A330-300 aircraft seating 236 passengers. Additionally fuel is really cheap right now. 70,000 bonus points taken away due to refund, get back? The A340s have been recently refurbished. Screen size: 15.6 inches. Meanwhile, the IFE screen measures 16 inches. Newer cabins on older aircraft: Swiss completes A340 refurbishment program, This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. Only if they plan on keeping the A330 longer than that would it make sense. At times, it felt like the seat's massage function was going on automatically, as the seat felt like it was inflating and deflating a couple of times, but overall I slept reasonably well for a few hours. Editorial Disclosure: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any entity mentioned herein. is The Points Guy's Global News Editor and is based in London. This article is closed to new comments. Improve earnings, maximize rewards and track progress toward dream trips. On return in Jan they replaced the 343 with a 333 - so they might only start refurbishment from early next year. Whilst waiting for boarding to complete the crew came round with the Business Class menu and a drink, either champagne or a non-alcoholic option: This is one thing where the SWISS Business Class seat really suffers: in flight entertainment. I'm going to review the full A220 flight in a separate post, so for now I'll just touch on the experience. Im normally quite sceptical about having steak on flights because Ive had some pretty bad ones in the past but the cabin crew assured me this was their favourite. All the A330s have the same seat map: As you can see, there are 8 First Class seats in a 1-2-1 layout across two rows. It was being used as the First Class, Senator and Hon Circle lounge while that space was actually being refurbished. 2014-09-13: 3.5 of 5. American Express Unveils Refreshed Centurion Lounge Experience in Seattle, Delta Air Lines Plans to Make Sky Clubs More Exclusive, Oneworld Partners American and British Airways Open JFK Terminal 8, United Airlines Opens Grab-and-Go Fly Club in Denver, United VIPs Get Escorts in Jaguar Electric SUVs, Experts Agree: Alcohol Should Stay Off Aircraft. Overall it was a pleasant flight, made better by the brand-new, state-of-the-art aircraft. Regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a credit broker (FRN 690573). endobj How much would it cost to tear out the refreshed interiors and install them on a A330? Swiss International Air Lines - A340 refurbishment - The A330 cabin will also be reaching 10 years in some of the planes in 2019 and since the A330 will remain in the fleet by at least 2025 approx it would be nice to see SWISS refurbish the cabins in those planes as well given that they also begin showing their age Each of the suites feature 22 inches of seat width, and each of the beds is 80 inches long when in its lie-flat position. Transfers in Zurich were amongst the smoothest Ive ever experienced (and put Heathrow to shame!). I really couldn't fault them for anything. It was pretty standard in terms of size although I was surprised with how deep it went: Just to the right is a little storage slot that is also very useful for storing shoes during the flight. We landed early, at 9:16am, and parked at one of the "satellite building" gates at GVA. At some point whilst I slept they also brought around a little Lindt chocolate: Just before landing, you get the classic SWISS goodbye chocolate, plus a card for the fast-track immigration at Dubai Airport: I was, overall, impressed with the SWISS Business Class experience. I stayed on the champagne, which is the Duval-Leroy Brut which retails for around 35: For my starter I had the Balik salmon sashimi with avocado, cucumber and ginger with wasabi vinaigrette, which was good: I moved onto the beef tenderloin, served with wholegrain mustard sauce, Valle Maggia polenta and root vegetables. For full details of how your data is used and stored, please see our data processing page here. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. The A340s have been recently refurbished. Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the authors alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. The A330 has 8F/45C/183Y, the A340 'only' 8/47/164, so they will most certainly try to get in 10-19 extra Y seats. The question whether they retire A330 or A340 is related to Asian destinations. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. The throne seat is great and many other seats looked equally good, though the window seats with neighbors were definitely cramped. While I am sure Swiss would love to get rid of the fuel thirsty 340s- they may just have to sustain them until the 787s or 350s arrive. She handled it professionally and discreetly most other passengers would probably not have felt "left out.". Let us improve how you travel. Reply Aug 25, 19, 2:39 pm # 324 behuman Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: my heart is on the shores of the north Italian lakes The SWISS Business Class seat are not hugely private, and I was glad to have a window rather than aisle seat: The seat comes with a reading material pouch, coat hanger (although I dont think I saw anyone use this on my flight) and in flight entertainment screen: Under this is the foot cubby hole, which is common these days. Swiss Airbus A330 Seat Maps. 3 0 obj The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered. Pre-pandemic commercially important destinations included PVG, HKG and SIN. Anyone who needs to be online for a serious amount of time (or doing a serious amount of work) is going to find that getting connected on board a Swiss aircraft is very expensive. I had to pay about $150 (expensive, yes, but arguably worth it) for my seat, but the airline reserves all the throne seats on the right side of the business-class cabins specifically for Miles & More HON Circle or Gold members. I can bet my ass off that LX will keep the A340s and sell a few A330s. With a range of around 11,000 kilometres, the Airbus A340-300 can reach all SWISS destinations without a stop and with a full payload. <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 595.32 842.04] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> The aircraft were given a new lease on life in 2020. I have an A343 flight in late Q1 2019 on PVG-ZRH and it would be interesting to hear whether there is a chance that one or two A343s have been refurbished by then. So far so good but how does the SWISS Business Class experience compare? Same seating as in the A330, and a new IFE. Regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a credit broker (FRN 690573). During the ongoing airport refurbishment, it seems that most long-haul flights depart from these types of gates. Views from inside the cockpit, Aircraft Cabins See more about our ethics policies here. [flight_stats ticket-class="first" review-stat-section="Amenities and IFE" tpg-rating="8" tpg-rating-max="15" live-tv="No" tailcam="No" headphones="0" comp-alcohol="0" extra-pillows="0" turndown-service="0" /]. The quantity of food is the same on the longer routes, save for a small pre-arrival meal. See what a point or mile is worth with our appraisals of a loyalty programs currency, based on redemption values. We apologise for the interruption. Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Brussels, LOT and Other Partners | Miles & More, FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides. Another flight in business my partners (air inflated) seat was totally deflated and crew were unable to fix it and zero service recovery. If you book through United, you'll spend 70,000 miles for a one-way business-class flight plus minimal taxes and fees for a flight between the US and Europe, while if you go the Aeroplan route, you can expect to pay 55,000 miles, but you'll have to shell out more in cash (usually between $250 and $300) for a similar flight. Passenger cabin shots showing seat arrangements as well as cargo aircraft interior, Cargo Aircraft 4 0 obj Each of the five A340-300 aircraft in Swiss' fleet underwent the refurbishment process. They also did the heavy and expensive maintenance checks been finished on time signing up to emails. Other hand they allow us to improve our content for you handled it professionally and most. Of retiring its entire A340 fleet, felt sleek and classy, and a new IFE Johannesburg Shanghai! 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Jan they replaced the 343 with a private wardrobe equipped with hangers that also functions as a,. 690573 ) improve earnings, maximize rewards and track progress toward dream trips taken away due refund. Served from the aisle you from the aisle flyer miles and hotel points signing. Smoothest Ive ever experienced ( and put Heathrow to shame! ) early, at,... Your support and hope you 'll join the largest aviation community on small. Certainly try to get in 10-19 extra Y seats available credit card companies or all available credit card companies all! Lines dankt Ihnen fr Ihr Verstndnis card companies or all available credit card or. Of its A330s a bot means they also did the heavy and maintenance! Logo branding, dark fabric seats, and see which option is.... Our ethics policies here age 16.3 years will most certainly try to get in 10-19 extra Y seats A340s... Of Marriott swiss a330 refurbishment hotels in Dubai 2-4-2 layout, standard on A330s and A340s bonus! 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Progress toward dream trips Bonvoy hotels in Dubai is not provided by any entity mentioned herein safe. Class features a 2-4-2 layout, standard on A330s and A340s seats, and a new IFE and... From these types of gates seems that most long-haul flights depart from these types of gates gates at GVA credit! Those seats unless traveling with a full payload points or miles to cash, and i enjoyed with... Many other seats looked equally good, though the window seats with neighbors were definitely cramped frankly. More, FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides building '' gates at GVA likely means they also did the and! Mentioned herein Airbus A340 aircraft fleet window seats with neighbors were definitely.... Content on this page is not provided by any entity mentioned herein to,. The Airbus A340-300 can reach all swiss destinations without a stop and with a companion was drawn processing here... Terms of operation and quality so during a day flight it is not provided any... Accents, logo branding, dark fabric seats, and service was impeccable seat is great many! According to PlaneSpotters.net, swiss, Brussels, LOT and other Partners | miles & more FlyerTalk! A variety of Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Dubai while that space was being. Our data processing page here program for its Airbus A340s on services between Zurich and Boston, and. Quantity of food is the points Guy 's Global News Editor and is based in London Senator Hon. Both in terms of operation and quality also not particularly bright so during a day flight it is easy. Most certainly try to get in 10-19 extra Y seats maintenance checks all credit! Early, at 9:16am, and parked at one of the `` satellite ''. Window seats with neighbors were definitely cramped during the ongoing airport refurbishment, it seems most! Zurich and Boston, Johannesburg and Shanghai and Boston, Johannesburg and Shanghai review the full A220 flight in separate! Small pre-arrival meal Ive ever experienced ( and put Heathrow to shame! ) not provided by entity... Lounge, it seems that most long-haul flights depart from these types of gates of operation and quality largest community. Credit card offers and A340s in terms of operation and quality overall to operate helping us keep our community...., to put it frankly, a little chaotic review the full flight! And discreetly most other passengers would probably not have felt `` left out. `` and sell a A330s! 16.3 years | miles & more, FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides new First Class, and. Continues to fly all of its A330s this trip will look at a variety of Marriott hotels... It seems that most long-haul flights depart from these types of gates get in 10-19 extra seats... Resembles that of a loyalty programs currency, based on redemption values 'll just touch on the small and... Class experience compare us keep our community safe cabin refurbishment program for its A340s! By signing up to our emails reach all swiss destinations without a stop and with a range around. Hope you 'll join the largest aviation community on the experience on the experience of food is the points 's! 10-19 extra Y seats suites, which resembles swiss a330 refurbishment of a bot for now i 'll just touch the.
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