Flight Review: flying SWISS Business Class within Europe (on an A320)
Flight #: LX725
From: Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS)
To: Zurich Kloten (ZRH)
Flight time: 1.5h approx.
Aircraft: Airbus A320neo
Since we covered SWISS short-haul Economy Class not so long ago (and also way back, in 2016!), it was about time to write something, as well, about the business class product Switzerland’s flag carrier currently offers on short-haul routes.
A morning flight between Amsterdam and Zürich, on my way to visit the state-of-the-art centre Lufthansa Aviation Training near Zürich Airport, offered this opportunity.
This journey provided also an opportunity to review the Star Alliance Lounge at Schiphol airport, which is used by SWISS as well as all other fellow Star partners.
What follows is my review of SWISS business class product on A320 single-aisle aircraft.
The flight was provided courtesy of SWISS. Opinions are all my own.
Pre-flight: Star Alliance Lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol
Schiphol is not a Star Alliance base, nevertheless, it gets enough traffic from the alliance’s partner members to have its own Star Alliance lounger, which include, obviously, SWISS. This lounge is located airside within the Schengen area of the airport (while not an EU member, Switzerland is within the Schengen free travel area), one floor up from the main halls.
This is the lounge I hit early in the morning (around 7am) in order to have a light breakfast before my flight.
The lounge was pretty empty and calm at that time of the morning, which is a real luxury nowadays!
As you can see, the style and decor of the lounge are pretty modern. Clean, minimalistic lines and some warm, subdued colours.
It was very, very clean and provided a sense of spaciousness (even the toilets!), maybe it’s because it was not that busy at that hour.
To be honest, the food available for breakfast was a bit limited and the selection was far from what we could call exuberant, but it did its job (I needed to review the inflight breakfast shortly after, anyway!)
There were a good number of armchairs and soft seats to sit on comfortably and the lounge is also fitted with a good number of work stations.
The lounge has also its own high-speed internet network.
Another interesting aspect, but one that I did no use fully because it was still quite dark when it was time to go to the gate, is the fact that the lounge is located next to a panoramic terrace and has views of the outside, so it can get natural light.
The cabin
SWISS operates its A320s in a rather plain configuration with 180 seats. The seat pitch is, therefore, a bit better than the typical low-cost airline but not dramatically so (even in business).
In fact, while it offers two classes on its European flights (Business and Economy), there is very little physical separation between the two.
The business class section is, actually, not really segregated. At least on this particular flight, there was not even a “soft” or temporary barrier between the two sections of the cabin.
The seats are also the same, although if you travel in business, you are guaranteed an empty middle seat.
The main differentiation of SWISS business class is, thus, not on the seat, but in other elements, such as lounge access and inflight food.
In terms of amenities, the only thing that is provided, is a little wipe to wash your hands and bottle of water.
The seats are the typical slim seats fitted with a hard pocket (mostly) for the airline’s own literature (including shopping catalogues and safety instructions) and a net-like pocket at the bottom for the passenger’s own items.
A couple of additional details about the SWISS A320 cabin: no seatback screens, but we did have the possibility of checking the trip’s progress through these overhead screens.
Also, the seats were fitted with in-seat power for USB and C-type chargers.
There was no wifi or inflight entertainment (IFE) onboard, although this will soon change, since all airlines of the Lufthansa Group will soon start rolling out high-speed Starlink broadband. The service will be offered for free to all passengers that have previously obtained a Lufthansa Group digital ID, for example, by signing for the Miles & More frequent flyer program.
Food, drink and amenities
This is possibly the main differentiating element of SWISS business class inflight experience vs. regular economy.
To be fair, the SWISS Saveurs food selection, which economy class passengers can order (and pay for), is pretty good and reasonably priced (particularly for Switzerland price levels), business class passengers, however, have their onboard meals and drinks covered.
In my case, since this was a morning flight, we were served breakfast and a pretty good one at that! I am not an expert in the matter, but I guess this is what is commonly known as “Continental Breakfast”.
And, of course, also the signature chocolates, pretty much a classic of the Lufthansa Group inflight experience by now.
To be fair, in such a short flight there is no time to do much more, BUT I did have the chance to fly SWISS business class on short haul again on the same day, evening time and, then, we were served dinner.
I have not written a separate review for that flight since so much of the experience is pretty much the same, but I am posting a picture below so that you can get a better idea of the selection of foods you can find onboard if you are traveling throughout Europe on SWISS at different times of the day.
Service, btw, was excellent on both flights!
In terms of entertainment. As mentioned earlier there is little. But there is an inflight magazine which is pretty good. There’s just a catch: it is digital, so is best to have it downloaded before the plane takes off!
Our Take
SWISS offers an efficient and functional, not particularly luxurious, business class product on its short haul flights, which I guess is well optimized for a business clientele which can reach most of Europe in less than 2 hours from its very central base in Switzerland. Some of its hard elements, like the seating are more on the “hybrid” side of the spectrum, while the food is solidly on the premium side.
