SWISS offers a solid economy class product on its A330-300 with excellent onboard dining and a comfortable seat, though there are some drawbacks as well.

SWISS A330-300 Economy Class (ZRH-ORD)

My children and I flew from Zurich to Chicago on a SWISS A330-300, which was our first longhaul flight in SWISS economy since the height of the pandemic in 2021. We arrived in ZRH about two hours before our flight, not sure how bad passport control lines would be.

You’ll often notice huge midday lines stretching down the A Gates, but these can be avoided by taking the elevator downstairs. We were soon on a train to the E Gates and spent a little time in the SWISS Senator Lounge prior to the flight.

Boarding began 40 minutes prior to departure from gate E26,

SWISS 008
Zurich (ZRH) – Chicago (ORD)
Friday, April 3
Depart: 1:05 PM
Arrive: 3:55 PM
Duration: 9hr, 50min
Distance: 4,443 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Seat: 39E,F, G (Economy Class)

Stepping onboard, we walked through business class and the front economy class cabin to our seats in the rear economy class cabin, all the way back in row 39.

Seat

I bought basic economy tickets (because why not when you know 100% you are going to travel…), which meant the system auto-assigned seats during check-in. The A330 has a 2-4-2 configuration (except in the very rear rows, 42-45, where it narrows to 2-3-2) and we were placed in a section of four, with a stranger on one of the aisles. The flight departed with every seat occupied, though it was Good Friday and many may have been traveling for the Easter holiday.

SWISS uses the Recaro CL3810 slimline seats, though it sis well-padded. The cabin has 183 seats and each standard seat has 31 inches of pitch and is 18 inches wide. Recline is six inches…which is double what United offers in economy class.

It’s not that the seat is uncomfortable…as far as economy class seats go, I found it fairly comfortable, but legroom felt tight and recline very generous which made working on my laptop very difficult. I can’t sleep in economy class no matter how hard I try, but you might sleeping is easier on these seats because they go back far.

Furthermore, the cabin was very warm and there were no personal air vents…a perennial problem on SWISS. To make matters worse, there are no A/C outlets in economy class, so ensure your devices are charged prior to stepping onboard. There is a USB-A port under the seatback monitor, but it did not have a lot of juice…you may leave your phone there for hours and still not get a full charge.

Each seat had a blanket and pillow, which would have been appreciated if the cabin was cold but totally unnecessary in such a warm cabin.

Also, the cabin was not particularly clean. There was a lot of dirt and debris in the seat, especially around the IFE personal control unit.

IFE + Wi-Fi

SWISS offers a seatback IFE library with movies, TV shows, games, and music, though the selection is more limited than on United Airlines, which also flies from ZRH-ORD. I watched a movie starting Robert Pattinson called Mickey 17.

Complimentary earbuds were provided, which really did not work unless you turned the sound way up. I was glad I brought along better over-ear headphones for the kids, but wish I had brought some for myself!

This was a long nine hours…the last couple of hours were difficult in that cramped seat with the lady in front of me fully reclined, especially because the Wi-Fi did not work (I paid for a Wi-Fi package, but it only worked sporadically and as we crossed into North America, stopped working altogether).

Three Wi-Fi packages are available:

• Messaging – free
• Four hours – 25CHF/28USD
• Fun flight – 35CHF/39USD

You may notice that pricing was in Swiss Francs or U.S. dollars and you could choose which currency to pay in. The USD has weakened this year, so you want to pay in USD, even if you have a Swiss or other European credit card. CHF 25 is currently USD 31.70, so the USD 28 was a good deal (even though the Wi-Fi did not work…).

Food + Drink

While the cabin may have been warm and the Wi-Fi inoperable, the catering was delightful. Shortly after takeoff, water bottles and moist towelettes were offered to each passenger.

Lunch

Lunch serve began with cheese cubes (same thing served in business class). They were delicious…I even had a glass of bubbles with it and while no means Champagne, it wasn’t a horrible sparkling wine…

Alcoholic beverages are free in economy class, though unfortunately the Alpine Essence cocktail was not available (that is available only for purchase in economy class on intra-European flights)

> Read More: A Perfect Aperitif At 35,000 Feet: SWISS Alpine Essence Cocktail

Next came another round of beverages followed by the main course.

There were two lunch choices: vegetarian penne pasta in tomato sauce (which my kids enjoyed) or a delicious chicken dish in a creamy sauce with mashed pates and green beans. The lentil side dish was fresh and even the bread roll was very high quality…an absolute 10/10 for an economy class meal.

Even the coffee and cake were excellent…and note the “real” tableware.

Mid-Flight

Midway through the flight, chocolate ice cream from Mövenpick was offered…bravo. It really hit the spot.

In the rear galley, a selection of Swiss-made snacks were also available and the kids really got a week’s worth of sugar with all the chocolate bars they had…

I was glad to find the olive crackers, which have been a staple on SWISS for as long as I can remember.

Pre-Arrival

Two hours before landing, a second lighter meal was served, which included more delicious bread and a fresh bulgur salad that hit the spot along with a spiced cake for dessert (it tasted a little bit like Christmas…yum).

Needless to say, I really enjoyed the food on this flight and appreciate that SWISS invests a little more in catering on its longhaul flights.

Service

Flight attendants were very attentive with three rounds of beverages during lunch (plus a coffee and tea service), frequent water runs between meal services, and another round of beverages followed by coffee and tea before landing.

Easter bunnies chocolate in lieu of the normal chocolate were offered before landing.

After takeoff, flight attendants also offered the kids their choice of items from a kid’s basket, including a very cute bracelet that Claire Marie chose.

Lavatories

The A330 has four lavatories located in between the front and rear economy class cabin, with no lavatories in the rear of the aircraft (that’s exclusively a galley area). You can see from my picture that the lavatory felt a bit tight.

CONCLUSION

We ran into persistent headwinds that slowed our arrival into Chicago by about 30 minutes, ultimately reaching our gate at 4:25 pm.

In summary, the service onboard was excellent and the meals were excellent…a truly impressive showing of Swiss quality. The seat was not horrible, but there were no a/c power outlets, legroom was tight, and the generous recline was annoying when you were the one reclined on. The cabin was also warm.

I’m not “enthusiastic” to fly economy class period, but I would not hesitate to fly SWISS again for the thoughtful menus onboard. That matters to me and I was also grateful for the excellent service onboard. Everything else about the experience was below average.

You can read my SWISS A330-300 first class review here and business class review here. You can also check out my SWISS 777-300 economy class review here to compare the A333 versus 773.

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