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Review: Swiss 777 Business Class (HKG-ZRH)

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I made it to gate 22 at 11:30 PM, and boarding was delayed by a while, though I stayed within the “circle” that was starting to form by the gate. Unfortunately, I was pushed past by a man who made his way to be the first in line, though I’m all for people being excited near planes, so I wasn’t about to make a commotion. 😉 In all honesty, I didn’t really care – if people are going to cut me even though I’ve been standing there for ten minutes prior to them approaching the gate, they’ll be in my pictures…not my problem.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong Airport

I thought it was cool that this plane was the exact same plane that I flew from Hong Kong to Zurich back in July 2016 – the only difference would be my seat, as I would be in the main cabin this time.

Swiss Flight 139
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Origin: Hong Kong (HKG) Gate: 22 Dep: 00:10 (00:55)
Destination: Zurich (ZRH) Gate: D39 Arr: 06:10 (06:20)
Duration: 12 h (11 h 25 min)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER Reg: HB-JNC
Seat: 16A (Business Class)

I beat the man that cut me down the walkways to the gate, and made it to a short queue behind all people that needed help boarding. I was greeted by the purser, though it was much less of a procedure as it was in July, which meant faster boarding (while I’m a fan of service from the heart, I prefer walking to my seat alone to waiting ten minutes to be warmly greeted and pointed to my seat).

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class

I had reserved seats near the back of the main cabin. While I wanted to sit in the forward cabin much like last time, there weren’t enough available seats this flight, and we had a party of eleven (which is more than the ten seats that they provide up there).

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class

Swiss’ colour tones are gorgeous, and I love the checkered patterns and wooden finishes.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class

I had selected seat 16A, which was the last “throne” seat on the left side of the cabin. I selected seats 15A and 15B for my mom and Hailey so they could sit together, and another throne seat (14A) for my dad. While my preference is generally to sit on the right side of the cabin, there was only one throne seat available to non-HON Circle members, so I stuck to the left side.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Seat 16A

I had a peek at the economy cabin. A 3-4-3 economy configuration on a 777 is never appealing, in my opinion, but in terms of seat comfort this looked like one of the nicer ones.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Economy Class

The bulkhead seats do have a ton of legroom, so I wonder how much more it costs to reserve them.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Economy Class

I reacquainted with my seat for a little. One thing I love about throne seats is that there’s actually more storage space than there is seat width. The seat itself was also well padded.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Seat 16A

As with many other fully flat seats, legroom isn’t a problem in this seat.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Legroom

To my left was a table where I could place a laptop, my glasses, or anything “flat” that I didn’t need during the flight. The one issue with reverse herringbone seats (otherwise my favourite configuration thus far) is that there’s not much space within arm’s reach – I can put my laptop on the side table, but glasses, the menu, leftover chocolates, a pillow I don’t need, a jacket, amenity kits, etc. would be a bit of a stretch. 😉 That’s not an issue here, which is one of the reasons I love staggered seats.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Side Console

I took this opportunity to take a few cabin photos before the cabin filled up completely.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Cabin

While I definitely wouldn’t pick one of the “couple” window seats if I had the choice, it’s actually not too bad if you’re travelling with a partner, as I learned on the way from Zurich to Hong Kong. There’s zero storage space, which is a huge minus, but talking to your partner isn’t impossible, despite the high divider.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Seats 15A and 15B

Each seat features a reading light and a headphone jack – I was happy to finally be able to use my own headphones when watching a movie on a plane, as my headphones are Bluetooth-enabled and I held back on getting an auxiliary cable until last October. (My headphones came with an auxiliary cable of its own, but I promptly lost it.)

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Light

There’s also a storage nook – in bulkhead seats, you can actually put an entire 13″ MacBook in there, but I was fine with putting a phone and glasses in there on this flight.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Storage Compartment

Next to the seat was a cuplder, which was holding a bottle of water.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Bottle Nook

There were also headphones. Swiss’ headphones are fine – they’re actually really comfortable, though the sound quality is average.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Headphones and Clothes Hanger

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Headphones

To the left was a storage compartment that I didn’t get last time, and I still don’t get now. I believe it’s meant to be a shoe cubby, though my shoes didn’t fit in there this time round (my mom made me wear snow boots on the flight, so I just left them in the walkway from my seat to the aisle). They’d be much better off with real doors, or at least a “fan” door like you’d see in Cathay Pacific’s reverse herringbone business class shoe cubby.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Storage Compartment

To the right was a drawer, which is one of the things I love about Swiss’ version of this seat. It’s an innovative way to use the space, in my opinion.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Drawer

The seat controls were intuitive, and near the remote is another set of seat controls that are equally easy to use (the massage function isn’t great, though).

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Seat Controls

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Seat Controls

The remote itself was touchscreen and easy to use, though I’ll save the inflight entertainment until later.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entertainment Remote Control

Swiss puts their business class amenities in rather quirky amenity kits – they had a rather practical tote bag the first time I flew them that we’re still using, and they had a bag the second time, which was kind of cheap but still practical. I wasn’t a fan of the neck warmer they gave us this time, though. The material didn’t seem great, and it seems weird to stuff amenities into a neck warmer of all things.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Amenity Kit

The amenities in the kit were basic, but useful.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Amenity Kit

Each seat also comes with a power port and USB plug, both of which were activated on the ground. I find that both Swiss and Lufthansa seem to turn their power ports on on the ground at outstations, while they don’t do so at their hubs.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class USB and Power Plug

For the time being, I stared out of the window.

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Asiana Airbus A321 Hong Kong Airport

The captain soon came onto the speaker, and said that due to strong tailwinds and a curfew at Zurich Airport that prohibited aircraft from landing prior to 6 AM, we’d be waiting at the gate for 35 minutes. It would’ve been nice to get to Zurich Airport stupid early, but at least I was sure we’d make our connection.

I love looking at passing traffic, but you can only look at an Asiana A321 for so long before getting bored/in need of a toilet break. So I visited the bathroom, which is one of the nicest business class bathrooms I’ve seen. I’ve been in the exact same bathroom before, so I won’t reiterate how refined everything looks in there, but everything in there looks really refined. 😉

Before I entered the toilet, I clarified with the male flight attendant (that would be serving my aisle) if we’d be there for 35 minutes. He said yes, but then asked which seat I was from, rather sternly. I said 16A, and got a nod of approval from him. This cabin crew sure did take the curtain between business and economy seriously (more on that later).

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Lavatory

Soon the flight attendant serving my aisle came and apologised for being mean, as he just saw me coming up from behind. I found that a really nice touch, and from there I was pretty sure it’d be a pretty nice flight.

I didn’t get the flight attendant’s name, but he offered me pre-departure beverages, a hot towel and a menu. I just had a glass of water.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Water and Hot Towel

Soon we pulled out from the gate and made our way to the runway, which is a pretty long process when you’re taxiing from gate 22.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Cabin upon Taxi

The safety video played, which was actively boring (a captivating video draws passengers’ attention, and this…wasn’t captivating).

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Safety Video Screening

At some point the male flight attendant came back to take main course orders. I wanted to put his service to the test, so I asked for his recommendation. He said, “It depends on what you like.” No crap. “I would go for the chicken, actually.” I went with what he recommended.

The pilot soon came back on the PA to apologise for the delay and suggest a flight time of eleven hours and fifteen minutes.

We taxied past some interesting aircraft, so my eyes were glued to the window. These included A350s, 777s, 737s…too bad my camera’s not too great at focusing at night, or I’d have gotten really good pictures.

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Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-900 Hong Kong Airport

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China Airlines Boeing 737-800 Hong Kong Airport

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Cathay Dragon Airbus A330-300 Hong Kong Airport

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Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong Airport

Right before we took off, a notice popped up on the screen saying “kung hei fat choi”. There was no punctuation, no capitalisation, and was definitely an afterthought on the part of whoever put that on the board. I found that rather hilarious and whipped out my camera, though the message only lasted five seconds, so I narrowly missed it.

We lifted off at around 1:10 AM, but I couldn’t capture any good photos.

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View upon Takeoff Hong Kong Airport

The cabin did look great though, as it lit up with orange mood lighting.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Cabin upon Takeoff

This switched to blue mood lighting as we got further up.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Cabin upon Takeoff

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Cabin upon Takeoff

I wandered back to economy in hopes of finding their snack display, so I could photograph it. I couldn’t find it, however, so I just took a picture of the cabin then promptly popped back into business class. Bummer.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Economy Class

I asked the male flight attendant if I could take some pictures of the entryway, as Swiss’ 777 entryway is gorgeous. He let me stand in the “announcement” area so I could get a better picture, and whipped out a flashlight. He shone the flashlight on a light-detective sensor, and the entryway lights switched on. I found that really nice of him, and the female flight attendant there promptly did the same to the other side as well. I don’t think I was disturbing other passengers too much, so I found that an amazing touch on the service front.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entryway

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entryway

I didn’t want to disturb, but still snapped a couple of good pictures before popping back to my seat at the back of the business class cabin.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entryway

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entryway

I went back to my seat and explored the entertainment system. The music selection still wasn’t great, so I passed.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entertainment Selection

I’m not a movie expert, but in my opinion it didn’t look great. Here are some of the movies that were loaded onto my flight.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entertainment Selection

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entertainment Selection

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entertainment Selection

The TV selection wasn’t great either, though their was an episode of the Junior Bake Off, which was enough for me.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entertainment Selection

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entertainment Selection

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Entertainment Selection

Unfortunately, one bake off episode is around 20 minutes, so it didn’t last me the whole flight.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Watching Junior Bake Off

One redeeming quality of Swiss’ entertainment programme is that I love the airshow and the different views it has. My favorite was the “cockpit control” system, which allowed us to see quite a few statistics of our flight. I do love it as an avgeek that I’m able to see the plane’s exact pitch, roll, altitude, etc.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Airshow

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Airshow

Once we were airborne I played around with the entertainment system, as I’m definitely not going to get 120 MB of WiFi at 39 CHF (~HK$300). I had a look at Swiss’ descriptions of their products – I find it kind of funny how they only use one strand to describe their seat. I mean, that’s the sole reason most people are paying for business class.

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Swiss Business Class Description

They market their intra-European business class well, at least…

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Swiss European Business Class Description

I watched a documentary on a plan that Zurich and Paris’ (Charles de Gaulle) airports were implementing, which our flight was actually affected by. The airport systems would create a roster estimated landing times for every single aircraft, and the pilots would send over their estimated flying time based on a day-by-day situation. The departure time would, therefore, be adjusted so that no aircraft would have to perform any go-arounds. I found this an excellent idea as it reduces passenger inconvenience, flying time and carbon footprint, but I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the programme. Does anyone know what I’m talking about?

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Swiss iStream Zurich Documentary

I also watched a documentary on “Switzerland from Above”, which was basically a project that involved taking great pictures of Switzerland. I wasn’t in the mood for watching the whole thing despite how great the pictures were, as it was past 1 AM and I was in the mood for sleep (I would have, but you guys know that reviewing everything I can is my first and only priority when onboard).

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Remote

Soon the meal service started. I’m not sure, but I think that Swiss starts at the back on all their meal services in business class, especially between Hong Kong and Zurich. They could follow FEBO, but the bread I was served was cold the last two times I sat in the mini-cabin, while I got warm bread on this flight. I’ll talk about that later.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Menu

The wine list was surprisingly short for a Swiss airline, but it read as follows:

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Wine List

A junior female flight attendant came with a cart for the drink service. Unlike the last two junior flight attendants I had, she was really cheerful, friendly and chipper. I was on a “no fake food” diet during the flight (yeah, it didn’t last), so I just selected a sparkling water.

I don’t know why, but I hate how Swiss’ glasses are really dry by the sides, so they feel unpleasant on the skin. This is the most first world problem I’ve probably ever documented on the blog, but it was a pet peeve throughout the meal service.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Drink Service – Sparkling Water

The appetiser was soon served, which consisted of seared tuna. It was served with a cheese/fruit plate and a side salad. The side salad was fine (I didn’t take a picture of it individually, unfortunately…I was rather out of my element at this time of day).

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Appetiser – Seared Pepper Crusted Tuna with Orange Slices

The male flight attendant came with some bread. I just wanted to photograph the basket, but didn’t feel so good not taking one, so I took one of the…I’m not sure what its name was, though it was hard as rock.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Bread Selection

The tuna seemed rather dry/hard for raw tuna, but I get that, as it had probably been frozen before the flight so it wouldn’t go bad.

However, the flavors of the dish were incredible. Between the sweetness of the oranges and the saltiness of the tuna, this was such a well-composed dish. I’m not even trying to BS here…it was really great for airline food, and if the tuna had been a little fresher, I’d have given it full marks in a restaurant. I also loved how well-presented the dish was.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Appetiser – Seared Pepper Crusted Tuna with Orange Slices

After around 25 minutes, the main course was brought out. As I’d mentioned earlier, I was recommended the chicken by the flight attendant. I don’t remember ever having good chicken on a plane (actually, I kind of do), and I figured this would be no exception. However, I know that I’ll be flying an airline later this year that’s renowned for pretty good food, so I figured I’d need a piece of dried-out chicken so the “worst business class meal of the year” choice would be a little easier, as I’d had dinner prior and wasn’t too hungry. Boy, how wrong I was.

The chicken was amazing. It was so juicy, and apart from some sous-vide chicken by a Greek chef in an underground restaurant (in Zermatt) last July, I don’t remember the last time I’ve had such perfectly cooked chicken, in the ground or in the air. The spaetzle was buttery, rich and there was a nice sear to it at the end (as you’d see commonly with gnocchi, but less commonly with spaetzle, though I loved it), and the carrots and snap peas were great as well. To round it off, the morel sauce was the best mushroom sauce I remember having.

I think this blows the chicken dish I had on Dragonair from Hong Kong to Fukuoka a couple of years ago (which I named the best business class dish of 2014) out of the water, from the cut of the chicken, to the portions, to the different flavors on the plate. That’s actually saying a lot, as I loved that dish. (I won’t go on to talk about the experiences I’ve had with chicken on Cathay Pacific from Paris to Hong Kong, or Korean Air from Seoul to Hong Kong.)

There is something to be said for presentation, though. I think Swiss needs bigger plates if they want truly gourmet dining, as it did look a bit like a Thanksgiving leftover tray. However, it’s easily the most impressive meal I’ve had in all three years of flight reviewing.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Main Course – Roast Chicken Filet with Morel Sauce, Spaetzle, Carrots and Snap Peas

I mean, just look at that beauty. Do you see the juices glistening on that cut of meat? You should be able to see how juicy that is without zooming in.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Main Course Chicken

No, the skin wasn’t crispy, but it was flavourful. It’s a shame they didn’t have better plating to work with on this flight.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Main Course Chicken

My mom had the grouper, which she enjoyed, though she also commended the chicken (which I gave her some of) for being “really good”, which is pretty rare.

The cheese was nothing special, and I only had a few bites, since cheese is never my favorite (unless it’s melted).

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Cheese Plate

My tray was then cleared and I was asked if I wanted dessert. I did, so I had the chocolate mousse, which was rich, decadent and by far the best of the three desserts I’ve had on Swiss.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Dessert – Chocolate Mousse with Toblerone Shavings

Look at that…yum! I actually love that they put Toblerone shavings on top, as there was that “chew” between the crunchiness of the chocolate and just brought another texture to the entire dessert. If only I could have had two of these…or three…or four…

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Dessert

Yeah.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Dessert

The meal was rounded off with some chocolate (or pralines, if you wish), which is always a nice way to end off the meal. I took a picture and wanted to decline, though the female flight attendant insisted – “now you’ve taken a picture, you have to try one”.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Chocolates

The meal service was finished a couple of hours into the flight. I thought the meal service was amazing and perfectly done for our flight length. It didn’t drag on too much and the crew were efficient, it didn’t feel like an assembly line despite the use of carts, and all the food I was served blew me away beyond belief. Collectively I’m pretty sure this is the best airline meal I’ve ever had in the sky (though plating-wise there’s room for Qatar Airways to beat that in July).

Service during the meal was also exceptional. Whenever the male flight attendant came over, he tried to engage in small talk with me. He was pretty excited about my passion for flying and my excitement over flying business class (which never wears off, despite my added frequency of flying business class compared to a few years ago), and we did talk about how nice the business class lounge by the E gates was. He seemed genuinely happy when I commended how amazing the chicken was.

After the meal, I went and talked to the male flight attendant about my transfer in Zurich. He assured me that Zurich was a small airport, and there would be clear signage that would take me to the right place within an hour. My knowledge was that the plane would arrive at an E gate, which requires a monorail ride to the A gates. I didn’t think I would’ve been able to be the first onboard, and was definitely more concerned about my friends’ 50-minute connection to Geneva (spoiler alert – they didn’t make it, but we sure did, and ended up being on the same flight as they were rebooked on).

I worked for around 30 minutes or so, which consisted of resizing pictures for a trip report I still haven’t got around to publishing. I got too tired for that, though right before I went to sleep we hit some rough chop, so I stayed up for another five minutes or so until that subsided.

I reclined my seat into a bed, which I found very comfortable. I don’t love Swiss’ blankets, as they’re pretty thin, even if they aren’t scratchy. No matter what temperature the cabin is, I prefer a duvet – while I love Cathay Pacific’s setup with a true duvet, Lufthansa does it nicely enough with their comfortable quilt. Both are better than a light blanket as I got here, but I slept comfortably anyway with the big pillow and great padding.

While I love direct aisle access, I gotta admit that it’s a little hard to get out of these seats due to how small the space is between the console and the seat in front of you. I still far prefer that to prancing over someone else into the aisle, though.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Bed

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Bed

I didn’t find the footwell restrictive even with my big feet, though yes, it is going to be smaller than, say, in a reverse herringbone seat. I don’t bend my knees while sleeping, but I imagine that might be a problem if you do.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Footwell

I slept exceptionally well, but woke up after six hours, which is less than both other flights I’ve had on this aircraft. That’s not because the seat was uncomfortable, but rather just because I had napped during the day.

I worked offline for an hour or so (the only time I remember liking the IB Design course, as I can work offline on Evernote), and soon mood lighting came on, consisting of purple and orange hues to simulate a sunrise. I don’t think I remember seeing the crew between meal services, but whenever I needed the bathroom (and had to pass the galley), they were their own smiling, cheery selves.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Cabin

Soon the breakfast service started. It was also done by cart, though each element is put onto the tray individually – you are asked at your seat if you want muesli, yogurt, eggs, etc.

The drinks service rolled around first, and I asked what they had. The flight attendant said “um, we have all!” Before asking for a glass of blue vanilla juice topped with cocoa nibs, non-alcoholic champagne, non-alcoholic cognac, candy floss and salt around the rim, though (exaggeration – please don’t make me the above), the flight attendant walked me through the options available, including orange juice, a few other juices, and a berry smoothie, which I picked.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Breakfast Smoothie

Out of the breakfast options, I chose the hot egg dish, some cold cuts, a croissant, muesli and yogurt, all of which were presented nicely by the male flight attendant.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Breakfast

The croissant was good, though not great.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Breakfast Croissant

The cold cuts were fresh and tasted good, so I have no complaints there.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Breakfast Turkey and Ham

I’m not sure how muesli tastes on a plane since this was my first time tasting it, but it was soggy beyond belief. I won’t complain, though, as I need a few more tries.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Breakfast Muesli

The egg dish was decent. It wasn’t rubbery like the first time I flew Swiss, though both the egg and the mushrooms were fine and well seasoned. The sausage was great, though.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Breakfast Hot Dish – Omelet with Mushrooms and Sausage

I didn’t end up having the opportunity to eat the yogurt, as I was uncharacteristically stuffed.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Breakfast Yoghurt

Overall I thought the breakfast service was fine, though couldn’t hold a candle to the dinner service. I’d much prefer a single breakfast-y dish (or three courses, though that’s a lot to ask), such as a simple pancake stack (sweet or savory), some waffles, scrambled eggs or another main course option.

At this point my sister was feeling a little queasy, so my mom moved to seat 15A and my sister sat on her lap, while I sat in 15B to make sure she was alright. One of the female flight attendants walked past not long after, and asked “what seat is she in? Is she in economy?” I explained the setup, and said “okay” and walked away. While I found that rather awkward and borderline rude, I understand that she was trying to enforce rules around the cabin, though I sure was glad that she wasn’t serving our aisle!

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Cabin during Breakfast

At this point we were around 45 minutes out, though the pilot came on and had the crew prepare the cabin for landing. I thought it was rather stupid that we were being prepared for landing this early, as we stayed at cruise level for quite a bit of time after that before starting our descent.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Airshow After Breakfast

I was amused to see how zigzagged our flight route was – we sure weren’t flying straight throughout the course of the flight!

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Airshow After Breakfast

While I thought I would miss out on a sunrise when I booked seats on the left side, judging how beautiful the sunrise was on my last flight from Hong Kong to Zurich from the right side of the plane, what I failed to consider was that the sun rises way later in Europe during wintertime. The entire flight was flown in the dark, which is a blessing if you want to sleep all the way till landing, and a curse if you want to take great pictures of planes on the tarmac.

I did love the ice crystals that formed on the bottom of the 777 windows – they came in beautiful shapes and sizes, and weren’t something that I noticed on past flights.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Window Ice Crystals

Soon we began our descent into Zurich, though there wasn’t much in the way of views due to how dark it was outside.

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Landing Zurich Airport

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Landing Zurich Airport

In line with safety requirements the cabin lights were dimmed, with blue mood lighting throughout.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Cabin upon Landing

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Landing Zurich Airport

We touched down at Zurich Airport at around 6:10 AM, which was our scheduled arrival time – oops. We started taxiing over to the gate after we exited the runway.

For some reason, we passed the E dock, which made me a little concerned as to where we were going. The plane went a bit further and stopped by gate D39, which is located by Dock B in the non-Schengen area of the terminal. That’s the first time I’ve seen a 777 there, and the first time the crew had seen this happen too.

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Swiss Bombardier CS100 Zurich Airport

We parked by an airberlin A320, where I was excited to deplane and make my transit.

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Airberlin Airbus A320 Zurich Airport

I took one last picture of the 777 before I left the plane. For some reason the jetbridge says B39, though I clearly remember seeing signage for D39 when I exited the jetway.

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Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Zurich Airport

I bid farewell to the crew, and made my way over towards the jetway. Now that I was in a completely new corner of Zurich Airport, I had no idea what to expect.

Bottom Line: Swiss’ 777 Business Class

I came in this flight with reasonable expectations, given that I had flown Swiss before and thought I knew enough about their product. However, I was blown away.

The crew and meal service were exceptional on this flight. The crew serving me were so attentive, friendly, and were eager to help at all times during the flight. The dinner service was exceptional across all courses (despite some improvements that can be made in terms of presentation), though the breakfast service wasn’t my favourite. The pillow and blanket weren’t great and the amenity kit was weird, so there’s also room for improvement there.

However, the hard product has room for improvement. I didn’t like the inflight entertainment much, and found the selection to be subpar. Staggered seats aren’t my favourite type of hard product, as I’m sure people in non-throne seats (especially B, J and aisle-exposed seats) didn’t enjoy the flight as much as I did. The blanket was also subpar for a longhaul flight.

Still, I loved the experience, and I’m thrilled to have kicked off 2017 with such a great flight!

Read more from this trip:

2 comments

  1. Thanks for your THOROUGH review of this flight, Alvin! I’ll be fully-prepared for my flight on LX139 later this month in a throne seat!

  2. Terminal B/D in which you arrived has two levels: Schengen (B) and Non-Schengen (D).
    The D and B Gates are the exact same ones: The B gates (upper level) are used for schengen departures, while the D Gates are used for non schengen departures, but the position where the plane stands is the exact same.

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