Here’s a classic report from 2011, but published for the first time and for good reason. I recently flew the A340 on Lufthansa in first class and am compiling a series of comparison posts from the four European airlines (Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa, and SWISS) that offer a first class product.
Although this flight occurred eight years ago (my how time flies…), the hard product today is identical and the soft product is nearly identical. Even the flight number is the same. Since this represents a different first class seat on SWISS than the 777-3ooER or A330-300, which I’ve also reviewed, it is worth a belated review.
But also note that this trip report will not nearly be as detailed as my current ones. A draft of the flight report was already written so it represents my concurrent thoughts, but I was not all that meticulous back in 2011 in documenting menus and amenity kits.
Hopefully some of you will find it still worth reading.
-Matthew
SWISS may offer an outdated first class seat aboard its A340-300, but it does offer a tremendous soft product.
My brother and I had spent over a week in China, starting in Beijing then traveling by train to Xi’an, and finally spending the last couple nights in Shanghai. Back in the day, SWISS used to open first class awards to its Star Alliance members, making it rather easy to book a first class seat on SWISS, even months in advance. SWISS now operates an A330 on its Shanghai to Zurich route and highly restricts first class award space to only Senator or HON members of the Miles & More program.
About 45 minutes prior to departure time, boarding commenced.
SWISS 189
Shanghai (PVG) – Zurich (ZRH)
Friday, January 7
Depart: 9:45 AM
Arrive: 3:55 PM
Duration: 13hr, 10min
Aircraft: A340-300
Seat: 1G
We were we welcomed aboard and ushered to our seats in the first row of first class.
SWISS A340 First Class Service
What struck me most about this flight was the tremendous service onboard. The two male FAs working first class were exceptionally professional, friendly, and unmistakably loved their jobs. It is usually very easy to tell who loves their jobs and who is just going through the motions (even if going through the motions in a professional way). These gentlemen were simply charming and went out of their way to make the flight comfortable for each first class passenger.
SWISS A340 First Class Seating
As I alluded to earlier, SWISS has an older first class seat aboard its A340-300 than its 777-300ER or A330-300. First the plan was to retire the gas-guzzling A340 fleet. Then SWISS decided to keep the A340 in the fleet but refresh the cabin. Business and economy class were refreshed, but first class is still waiting. It was supposed to happen in 2017 but was pushed to 2018. It was supposed to happen in 2018 but was pushed to 2019. Now the plan is to unveil the updated first class seats this summer, though I have my doubts.
The good news is that the “old” first class seats are spacious and comfortable. Power outlets have been aded and although the built-in IFE is outdated, the seat is very comfortable in various positions.
Most of all, though, it is comfortable in lie-flat mode. SWISS offers excellent bedding that is lightweight and warm and includes a mattress pad, comforter, and plush pillow. Despite the lack of personal air vents, I spent over 10 hours sleeping. It was a smooth ride and I was not even stirred from my slumber once. 10 hours is quite impressive for any flight and I still managed two meal services as well.
SWISS A340 First Class Dining
The salt and pepper mills have been updated with wooden ones and the doilies are gone, but you can still expect nearly identical meal service now as I did on my flight.
Shortly after takeoff, FAs prepared the cabin for lunch. While service is on-demand, it had been several hours since I ate and I wanted to sleep, so I chose to eat right away.
The amuse bouche included a parmesan breadstick, warmed pita triangle with olive tapenade, and a potato ball. I also enjoyed a glass of red wine and sparkling water.
Next, flight attendants set the table for lunch. Service included a large charger, salt and pepper mills, olive oil, and fresh bread from the oven (olive and French roll).
Appetizers are served smorgasbord style. I enjoyed a taste of Balik salmon, shrimp, scallops, and crab meat with a pepper chutney on top. On another plate, I had a grilled zucchini and bell pepper “sandwich” along with sliced mushroom and a cherry tomato filled with feta cheese. Everything was light and refreshing.
Next, a bowl of chunky tomato soup perfectly spiced with freshly ground pepper.
Next, a small green salad with croutons and vinaigrette dressing.
Delicious Main Course
My main course included a beautiful halibut filet and a delicious linguini pasta drizzled in a lemon butter sauce. With fresh al dente vegetables, it made for an incredible meal.
> Read More: Fish + Pasta = Delicious in SWISS First Class
The meal continued with fruit and cheese, though I requested only a very small portion and skipped the brie and bleu cheese.
Finally, I finished off the meal with a piece of cheesecake and afternoon tea. Look how beautiful the SWISS silver tea service is.
This meal represented one of my best airline meals of all time and is a remarkable testament to the fact that catering can be excellent out of Mainland China. I wish U.S. carriers would invest a bit more like SWISS in ex-China catering.
Mid-Flight Snack
While I slept during the flight, my brother was up for part of it and was served ice cream about halfway through the flight.
Pre-Arrival Meal
After waking up about 90 minutes outside of Zurich, a flight attendant offered a light snack. I ordered a quiche with salad while my brother had bratwurst with potato salad and beer.
We each had an apple tart for dessert.
Incidentally, this was the identical pre-arrival meal I had when flying from Zurich to LA last year.
CONCLUSION
If you want details on what the IFE, lavatories, amenity kit, pajamas, and slippers look like please see my 777-300ER first class report. I’m never hesitant to publish older reports, but this one pushes the limit. Even so, it still gives you a good idea of what to expect aboard a SWISS A340-300 in first class.
You’ll see how this review fits into my comparison series next week.
I fly swiss first for years. I tried other airlines, but even the cabin is a bit dated, still swiss remain number one.
Y0u took the words out of my mouth… I couldn’t believe that meal was being served on ANY airline that’s being catered in mainland China.
I just got back from a trip on China Eastern. The meal out of LA was fine and the catering in Singapore (pork chop with noodles) was outstanding, but the 2 meals that came from PVG MU catering were pretty bad.
I do agree on almost anything you say, however would like to straighten up some facts: Business and economy class were refreshed, but first class is still waiting. <-where did you get those information? As far as I know the whole 340 will be refreshed.
Quote: SWISS now operates an A330 on its Shanghai to Zurich route and highly restricts first class award space to only Senator or HON members of the Miles & More program. <- this is partly correct, SWISS is currently operating a mixed fleet (330/340) to PVG. In case of 330 operation, no First Class will be available.
Hi Hobbs,
Thanks for your comments.
Are you saying that the A340s still have the old business class seats on them?
Also, the A330s on PVG-ZRH have first class but it is not used?
The 340 has a previous version of the one now available in the 777. Old screen, less privacy, etc.
The 330 is used as crew rest, as the 330 has no crew bunk.
That is incorrect. All A340 have been refurbished with new Economy, new Business Class and New First Class last year, all of which are very similar to the B777-300ER one.
Nick, this post was from year ago.
Any reason why you guys didnt cover Hyatt cat changes?
It is coming.
Next up, here’s my outlook on the upcoming 2012 Iowa Caucus.
It’s going to be a great day for Rick Santorum.
Looking forward to your review of JFK to LHR on Pan Am!
That ice cream is cheap crap you can get for $1 in any convenience store in the PRC. And everyone knows the milk source in the PRC is sketchy based on prior incidents. Good luck to your brother on his consumption.
The food on Swiss and I have to say, the serving size of the main course, put carriers such as Cathay to shame.
Perhaps Matthew you could do an article on where food is generally ‘good’ or ‘bad’ out of, irrespective of the carrier. My votes would be Sydney as good and Hong Kong as bad.
I would like to comment on some details on your report which are not quite accurate or lack a little background information:
First of all the A340-300 has been refreshed in Business and Economy over ten years ago. This was at the same time when Swiss received their A330 aircraft with a new Business seat (It used to be a 2-2-2 configuration). They wanted to make the Business class experience the same all over the fleet.
The current refreshment of the cabin (the first aircraft is already being retrofitted in Dresden right now) will be completed by this Summer and include a refreshment in all Classes: First, Business and Economy. You can expect it to be very similar to the design of the current B77W cabins.
This brings us to the third thing: To allow one aircraft being retrofitted at the time Swiss has to stretch their aircraft usage enormously: Some routes usually purely served by A340 have been switched to a mixture of A340/A330 because of that. Those routes include JNB and PVG. An unfortunate side effect of this is that the A330 doesn’t have a designated crew rest, so on flights to PVG the first class cabin is not sold, but used for crew rest instead. The route to JNB, when served by A330, does still offer First Class, because the flight time is just short enough to only have to block 1-2 seats in First for crew rest.
PS: In conclusion: The First Class seat revied above will have vanished by Summer 2019.
Thanks for weighing in, Nick.