Review: SWISS A320 Economy Class

This week I’m “liveblogging” my trip to Ukraine. Unlike traditional reports, these posts will be shorter and more frequent.

My final flight leg on my outbound journey took me from Zurich to Warsaw onboard a SWISS A320 in economy class. The flight was quick and without drama and had a pleasant surprise.

SWISS A320 Economy Class Review

After a very lovely stay in the SWISS Alpine Lounge, I headed over to my nearby gate, where boarding would shortly commence for my flight to Warsaw.

This flight was originally scheduled to utilize an Airbus A220, which I was quite looking forward to, but a last-minute swap inserted an older Airbus A320 in its place (this turned out, potentially at least, to be a very good upgrade…I’ll explain why below).

Boarding began shortly after I reached the gate.

SWISS 1348
Zurich (ZRH) – Warsaw (WAW)
Depart: 12:05 PM
Arrive: 01:55 PM
Duration: 01hr, 50min
Distance: 642 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A320
Seat: 6F (Economy Class)

SWISS economy class seating on the A320ceo (ceo stands for classic engine option versus the A320neo or new engine option) is 3-3, with 38 rows. SWISS uses Recaro slimline seats, with a seat pitch of 17.7 inches. Legroom varies from 28-32 (exit rows have 34 inches).

Tip: choose economy seats toward the front on the SWISS A320, as the first 13 rows all have at least 30 inches of seat pitch while rows 14-38 only offer between 28-29 inches of legroom.

To put it bluntly, these are not comfortable seats, but for a flight under two hours were fine.

There were no power outlets or USB charging ports available.

Perhaps the surprise of the flight was that wi-fi internet access was available and on a complimentary basis:

> Read More: Free Wi-Fi In SWISS Economy Class?!

As we took off, we flew over an Emirates A380 preparing for departure…such a beautiful whale.

The best IFE on the flight was looking out the window as we flew over the Alps. What a beautiful day for flying!

SWISS no longer offers complimentary snacks or meals onboard its shorthaul service, but a SWISS Saveurs buy onboard menu offered a number of beverages, snacks, and food items for sale.

I was going to order the fondue just for the novelty of it, but saw in fine print that “hot” items on the menu (including a cheeseburger with French Fries) were only available on longer flights within Europe and to Northern Africa.

Part of me was glad of that because I was stuffed after a delicious lunch in the lounge.

During the flight, the FAs did come around with a complimentary bottle of water and chocolate (this time, hearts instead of the usual SWISS-branded chocolates).

With the internet working well, I stayed occupied until we landed on a near-freezing gray day in Warsaw.

Now the real adventure was about to begin.

CONCLUSION

The free wi-fi was an unexpected surprise on this flight. Otherwise, it was a very pedestrian intra-Europe flight on SWISS. If you want to eat or drink anything besides water and chocolate on SWISS, you must pay up. Legroom is tight, but these flights are generally not full (in my experience) so you have a better chance of securing an open middle seat.

Next: Frustrations Getting Into Warsaw