The SWISS 777-300ER has a lot going for it. A great hard product in business class, good IFE, wi-fi, and generally professional service. But there were some rough edges. Food was poor and one particular FA was quite rude.
This was a summer family trip to Germany and I opted to fly SWISS in order avoid a connection. My in-laws live about 45 minutes from Zurich.
Prior to the flight, we spent about 30 minutes in the beautiful Star Alliance Lounge at LAX. Boarding began at 6:40p. We were able to pre-board thanks to little 9-month-old Augustine.
> Read More: Star Alliance Lounge LAX Review
SWISS 0041
Los Angeles (LAX) – Zurich (ZRH)
Thursday, July 06
Depart: 7:20PM
Arrive: 3:15PM+1
Duration: 10hr,55min
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 6G (Business Class)
SWISS 777-300ER Business Class Seat
The business class cabin was beautiful…I loved the woodgrain accents on the seats and black/white contrast. It’s a great looking seat. Even more importantly, the seat is very comfortable and contains several helpful storage compartments and adjustable lumbar support. I know that some people complain that the footwell for the seats makes sleeping claustrophobic, but that was not my experience.
Note that the single throne seats are reserved for Miles & More Senator members or can be purchased. The cost for my flight was 99CHF (~$100USD). If unclaimed, these seats are free during check-in.
Personal storage, power ports, and seat controls:
Little Augustine approved of the seat:
Bedding is also nice. Both the pillow and blanket are soft. I appreciated that a FA (not the one I describe below) offered to prepare my bed while I brushed my teeth and changed into pajamas (not provided onboard) after the meal service.
SWISS 777-300ER Business Class Bassinet
We had ordered a bassinet in advance for Augustine and thankfully he still fit in it…when we came home a month later, he was too big for one. It latched on nicely to the bulkhead in row six and the baby slept well for the duration of the flight, though not before crawling around a bit after takeoff. The bulkhead had a pointillism image of the Matterhorn sketched on the wall.
SWISS 777-300ER Business Class Service
The crew was quite friendly, efficient, and kind…with the exception of one member who worked my side of the aisle. I appreciated that the crew took the initiative to often check in on baby Augustine. It was also nice to see the crew work as a team throughout the two meal services. But the FA working my aisle refused to speak to me in German: I found that very annoying. My German certainly has an American accent, but every time I spoke in German she responded in English. Every time…and it’s not like she was from the French speaking part of Switzerland, for she spoke German to her fellow crew members while they were serving dinner.
After dinner I ordered a cappuccino and she forgot about it. 40 minutes later I flagged her down and asked about my drink and she responded, “Oh I forgot!”. It only took two more minutes to bring my drink, but she never apologized for forgetting. That’s just not professional.
SWISS 777-300ER Business Class Food
Prior to departure, beverages were offered: orange juice, water, or champagne.
After takeoff, a thin hot towel was offered, followed by a choice of beverage and a ramekin of cashews, served warm.
Menus were also distributed.
The appetizer included Prosciutto with melon or salmon with grapefruit — you could choose one or the other. It was served with a side salad and choice of bread. A cheese course was also included on the appetizer tray. SWISS uses paper S&P packets in business class.
For my main course, I chose beef tenderloin, which sounded great on the menu but was leathery and dry. Furthermore, the sauce made it even worse. It was clearly a low-grade cut of meat and a very disappointing choice.
But Heidi’s chicken was not any better…and arguably even worse. It tasted like the worst kind of banquet chicken. For a country that boasts such a rich culinary tradition, it was a very disappointing meal.
Dessert was better…a cheesecake with raspberry sauce with cappuccino. Chocolate truffles were also offered.
I slept well during the flight and was not even awake to consider any mid-flight snacks, but did notice a small snack area was already set up in the galley before I went to sleep.
Only about an hour prior to arrival, the cabin lights were turned on for breakfast. Service commenced via trolley (much like SAS) where you could take what you wanted. I had bircher muesli, fruit, and eggs.
The orange juice was not worth drinking, but the coffee was very good.
The best part of breakfast was the berry smoothie, of which I had several…
SWISS 777-300ER Business Class IFE + Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is available, but in typical Swiss fashion, very expensive. It was late enough in the day that I passed on it.
During dinner, I watched a great movie called A United Kingdom…a wonderful true story.
Plenty of movies (50+), TV shows, games, and a moving map were available. Noise cancelling headphones were offered and worked well.
SWISS is one of the airlines that allows onboard calling. Here’s a shocker–no one abused the privilege. But SWISS, did shut it down after the meal service and duty free sales were complete.
> Read More: Here’s Why I Support In-Flight Cell Phone Calls
SWISS 777-300ER Business Class Lavatory
I used the lavatory twice during the flight: once to change into my pajamas and once to change out. It wasn’t spacious, but kept very clean.
SWISS 777-300ER Business Class Amenity Kit
An unremarkable amenity kit featured only socks, eyeshades, ear plugs, a dental kit, and a chapstick-sized container of lotion.
CONCLUSION
I slept well and appreciated the roominess and comfort of the SWISS Business Class 777-300ER seat. Nevertheless, I won’t rush back to SWISS for the below average onboard meals and arrogant attitude displayed by the FA who sadly worked my aisle during the flight.
But it’s a great use of miles, when available, and Aeroplan does not pass on fuel surcharges on SWISS flights.
I agree on all counts. I flew LX the other direction ZRH-LAX earlier this year, and to be honest, I’d rather fly UA in C.
Did the flight attendant speak High German to the rest of the flight crew? The Swiss often prefer Swiss German. My brother lives in Switzerland (we’re half Swiss), and informed my wife to speak English rather than German to the Swiss. Apparently the Americans are held in higher regard than the Germans. Just a guess.
She definitely spoke Schweitzer Deutsch. But that’s still rude.
Swiss’s vegetarian/vegan catering is outstanding, btw. That probably won’t matter for most people, but it’s worth noting that they partner with an actual restaurant to come up with their veg options.
Your kid is adorable!!
The food on SWISS is always best flying out of Zurich, in my experience.
The smoothies are from the UK brand Innocent and are very popular in Switzerland.
So the only rude thing the FA did was forget your drink and not apologize?
No, try reading it again.
Maybe your accent is too heavy and she´d rather talk in English.
Nope, it wasn’t that.
When someone asks me something on the streets with some rly bad german, i normally answer in english… it‘s just polite
No, she was just a jerk. I never have an issue on Lufthansa.
I was thinking the same thing as Christian stated. You must have offended her Swiss decency by speaking GERMAN German instead of SWISS German. How dare you!
Of course she couldn’t lower herself to sully her language by responding to you. No wonder all the surrounding countries think the Swiss are stuck up.
What a bitch.
I’m really surprised by the terrible food. I’ve blown them on the return back to LAX from Zurich and everything was delicious.
Hmmm. I have an upcoming MAD-XXX-LAX and LX J via ZRH is available. I’ve heard poor things about the seat so I am surprised you had such positive things to say. I’m hoping to take BA or LH F (I know, two different worlds), so I am passing on LX even though the timing is right. It just doesn’t seem like that nice of a J product although the finishes are eye pleasing. Am I wrong?
Seat really wasn’t bad, in my opinion.
I’d take LH F or BA (A380) F in a heartbeat over LX J.
But I’d take LX J over BA or LH J due to fuel surcharges.
I will be flying on the same aircraft as you. Traveling solo . Would you recommend 4k( bulkseat with passenger next to me) or 12 G (center seat with passenger beside me but I would have aisle access)?
Thanks for the review
I’d take 12G, but keep an eye out for thrones to open up.
If the only things the FA did to earn a criticism of “quote rude” was to persistently speak to you in English and to not apologize for forgetting your coffee, I suggest you thicken your skin.
Speaking in English is not rude. Speaking in English when I spoke to her in German is rude. And her sloppy, pathetic service showed in that she completely forgot my coffee. Don’t try to defend her.
Matthew is right. The fa is in a service industry. This one of the little things that differentiate a great airline from a mediocre one.
Ha. This is totally my experience with LX. Great hard product on the 77W. Food not good at all.
Indifferent, sometimes rude service. My last flight, the purser personally welcomed all the German speakers (or maybe just the Swiss), and passed right by me.
Still a great TATL option to/from the west coast based on hard product, excellent ground experience at ZRH, and late departure from both LAX/SFO.
Butt coffee? Sounds nasty!
Oops. It was actually good coffee.
Augustine is absolutely delightful! Thank you for the sweet picture.
Interesting reading Mathew. Compliments on a very comprehensive report. Have just flown Swiss from Singapore to Zurich, seated in 14A, a throne seat, for which I had to pay a surcharge. The whole on board flight experience on Swiss business class is more approaching a premium economy product in terms of service and meals. The hot towels are too thin and too small. It took almost 1 hour to receive the main course for dinner after the appetiser!! The footwell is very narrow and there is insufficient height to move one’s legs freely in this very confined space!! The crew never mention you by your name, as they do on Singapore Airlines, Cathay and Qantas. Overall a 3.5 star airline in business. Qantas even provide pyjamas and a mattress comforter!!
How big is your baby?
Does swiss have a Max weight/age for ising bassinet?
At the time he was eight months old. He barely fit.
Matthew, Swiss F/A-s are strongly underpaid for Swiss standards and especially for this very stressful job, so fluctuation is high among the cabin crew. First Class F/As are specially trained, Business F/As not really though.
Remember, their 1st priority is your safety, not to be at your service. Even though their job looks like waitress in the air, they are not. Far from it.
I fly about 60-80 times a year with Swiss, 95% business class, and there are very few flight attendants who I didn’t like. I think you overreacted a bit – you could have always asked her to speak in German.
Other than this, I really like your reports, needless to say.
not surprised by the rude crew…I flew once from Nairobi back to Zurich in J. I thanked the crew before they got off at Dar … i told them my bf works for brussels airlines and he said they are all his colleagues…then once older female crew just said “you should talk to the next crew, we are leaving”… and I was not travelling with a reduced fair ticket… shocked…
told the whole thing to my bf, he said she must take me fore rebait passenger…
Would you recommend 6D&G for a couple? I thought I read the bulkhead has more legroom? Thanks.
I would recommend it. Great seats for couples.
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for such a detailed and informative review. I will be travelling back to Chile from London on Swiss (LHR-ZRH-GRU-SCL) with my 8-year-old daughter and was lucky enough to snag a pretty good deal on a “promotional” business fare. We are currently booked into the very first row of the business cabin, just behind first, in seats 4K and 4J. Just like most kids, my daughter loves to fly next to the window, so, in your opinion, and considering that this is a red-eye, would you stick with these seats (I’d be shielding her from possible aisleway disturbances and she’ll probably wake me anyway when she needs to use the toilet) or would you go with the roomier centre pair of seats? Thanks in advance for your advice!
Hi Claudio, I would stick to those seats for exactly the reasons you laid out. Enjoy your trip with your daughter!
Thanks Matthew! Keep up the great work! Don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but our main flight outbound is on a Lufthansa 747-8… any recommendations for seats in their business class? Upper or lower deck?
Thanks again!
See my 747-8 review:
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2018/07/18/lufthansa-747-8-business-class-review/
I prefer upstairs seating.
Are you sure the FA was speaking German to her fellow FA? In my experience, Swiss folk speak Swiss German to each other, which is similar sounding but very different to German.
Swiss German and Austrian German are dialects, much like Schwabish. Not a separate language.
Good read, thank you for the review!
I find the seats in the cabin quite different to each other. The window seats dont give you much space and also less storage than the middle seats and there is merely enough space to crawl over your partner. Also, the claustrophobic seats you are talking about… one of thepair seats have less leg room than the other, so my partner had more room than me and I did feel claustrophobic at my window seat. I think the two seats in the middle, which you had, have quite a lot of leg room.
I agree with the food and the service can be arrogant sometimes, I experienced the same (also on the ground)
I have one question . Did it feel bothersome to be so close to the alley and toilet? Did it smell, was it loud?
Thanks again!
It was not too loud: I was thankful for that.
Thank you for this review! I agree with your points!
I habe a wuestion though. Did you find it bothersome to sit so close to the alley and toilets? Did it smell, was it noisy?
Dankeschön!
(sorry for the misspelling!)
OMG, sorry again for the repost, thought my first post was lost. Gee, fell like a first time internet user… sorry!
Thank you for your answer, I will try those seats then on my return from SIN, didnt like our window seats.
No smell, thankfully!
Nice review! I have an upcoming trip ORD-ZRH in LX J booked via Aeroplan with an infant award attached.
Question for you when booking the bassinet –
Our son will be just over 8 months when we travel and I have attempted to book a bassinet, but I am being told that infants must be younger than 8-months of age in order to reserve. The agent claimed this was based on the infant birth date attached to the reservation and the system could not be overridden to book the bassinet. You mentioned that Augustine was 9 months – did you have any issue in getting the bassinet reserved?
Thanks!
DW
We also ran into that issue, but I told them to order it anyway and they did. No problems onboard, as you can see.
Hi Matthew,
Question about booking the bassinet. I called SWISS and requested a bassinet and was assigned seating 7J & 7K. But I realized you said the bulkhead should be on row 6? Did the reservation agent make a mistake?
Hi Ethan, are you also flying a 777-300ER?
Hi Matthew,
I am in this same situation – just called LX for a bassinet seat and we were assigned 7J/K. Seatguru describes both seats as only standard business class seats, and not with a bulkhead as 6D/G are (despite a bulkhead being behind a bulkhead).
Do you happen to remember/have any photos showing whether 7J/K are also sized as a bulkhead seat?
Hello Matthew, We tried to book buisness class on our trip from LAX to London Heathrow and then from Italy to LAX. They said they were sold out. We booked in June and our flight is in mid April. What up with that? Also since we will be flying from Italy to Switzerland to catch the flight to LAX with they have different standards on the luggage size and weight. This is our first time hope the flight is not unbearable. I guess you need to have a lot of pull to get an upgraded seat. 🙂
Hi Valerie, SWISS often releases business class award space in the few days leading up to the flight. Check back next April to see if business class has opened. If it has, it is worth spending the extra miles.
The Food out of LA is yeah… but out of ZRH, great, delicious. The Caterer in ZRH is far more better!!!!!