Yahtzee
May 21, 12, 2:39 pm
I was surfing the “Good Deal Premium Fares 2012” thread and learned that Swiss was having a spring sale on C class fares. In particular, I found a good one for a Friday-Sunday going BOS-ZRH-LHR-ZRH-BOS. I need to front load my *A gold qualification early this year and had only flown Swiss business once before. Plus, there was availability on a weekend after a big project was going to be due so I decided to indulge in an upgraded mileage run. A quick photo-less trip report follows:
Logan Airport Lounge Hopping:
When flying out of Terminal E in Logan, I typically like to use my Priority Pass to access the Air France lounge. When I arrived at 7:30, the BOS-CDG flight had already left, but it was like a tornado had gone through – holy sh*t the place was a disaster. Only 8-10 people there but trash, empty glasses and empty plates everywhere. I ended up taking one of the private rooms and taking trash out of that myself. Credit to the staff for cleaning most of it up quickly. Stayed for a half glass of prosecco, a vodka tonic or two, a chocolate chip cookie or two and some cheese and crackers.
Then, I headed over the LH Senator lounge. This is a much smaller lounge – seating for about 24 plus a café area. It was about 3/4 full. I asked for champagne but the attendant said none was on offer. The liquor was all a step up over the AF lounge and there was hot food. A beef stew type of thing was quite tasty.
I prefer the size and openness of the Graf lounge (when clean) but the items on offer in the Senator Lounge were clearly a cut above. I might prefer the Virgin Clubhouse in Boston (and it’s no prize) over the other two.
LX 53 to ZRH and then LX332 to London
When I called Swiss for seat assignments, they gave me 5K in the mini cabin. I like the odd numbered K seats that provide a table between you and the aisle and did enjoy the mini cabin. For light sleepers, 5K might not be the best since you could hear the toilet flushing behind the wall from time to time and there was some galley noise. But, it did feel like a private plane even though that cabin was 100% full. I’m not sure that there were any passengers in first.
They serve a single-tray dinner on the redeye (which takes off at 9:45 pm). I ordered the filet which was pretty underdone to my tastes (rare to medium rare). Champagne wasn’t the greatest, but I was about out of steam at this point and didn’t care too much. Watched a few sitcoms and then crashed. I find the Swiss lie-flat seats very comfortable and slept for several hours straight.
The flight to London was uneventful. Typical European business class seating (3 across with an empty seat), but included a full lunch service and very good cabin crew.
London
I believe the plane parked in Oxford; at least I felt that I walked that far to get to the UK border. I was not given a fast track pass and was a bit apprehensive given the stories from a couple of weeks ago. But, immigration was extremely quick – was through in 5 minutes. Took Heathrow Express into the city and then a taxi to my hotel – the 45 Park Lane Hotel, a new hotel that is part of the Dorchester Collection.
Two thumbs up! – this place was great. Had to wait about 30 minutes for my room to be ready, but it was worth it. They offered me drinks and upgraded me to a corner executive room with great view of Hyde Park, huge HDTV, nice couch and arm chair, full-sized desk, about 5 phones, great shower – with both rain shower and conventional one that you could run simultaneously. Huge soaking tub and bathroom embedded in the mirror. Lots of technology in the room (may even outdo the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas) to control temperature, blinds, TV, lights. There's even an iPad available to use for messages, to order room service or surf. Weekend rate was at a substantial discount from the normal rate and included full English breakfast.
Hit Hyde Park, saw friends at a couple of Mayfair publs I like (Audley & Ye Grapes), watched some Chelsea-Bayern Munich, went to mass at the Farm Street Jesuit Church off Mount Street (very nice church if you're even in Mayfair – about 100 yards from The Connaught) and headed back to LHR in the morning via taxi and Heathrow Express.
LX319 to ZRH and LX 53 to BOS
After hitting a very crowded Star Alliance lounge at Terminal 1, I made my way to the gate and enjoyed the quick trip back to Switzerland. Again, a quick lunch was served and staff was friendly and efficient.
I’m a US Air platinum although I have not been flying them much at all this year – most of my miles have come from Virgin or United. Every time I fly on a Star Alliance carrier, I run through a Star Alliance upgrade request to see if it will work. To date, it had only worked on SQ for a couple of intra-Asia medium hauls. But, to my surprise, I got back an “available” on my ZRH-BOS flight and jumped at the chance for 50K miles.
I actually don’t think I realized that it was my first international airline first class trip until I was actually sitting on the plane. I’ve done the SQ all business SIN-EWR which was pretty close as well as long haul business class on CX, VS, AC, LH, SQ and JAL, but this was a first. And, I have to say, it was worth it. Not sure it would be worth the extra $6-8,000 my ticket would have cost, but definitely worth it.
Needed to clear immigration at ZRH to access the First Class Lounge. The guy thought I was a little strange but no big deal. I liked the lounge and was there for about 3 hours. What did I do? Had some rose champagne (meh); switched to brut and it was good; watched some TV shows on my iPad; went out and did some duty free shopping; enjoyed a nice lunch in the mini restaurant (gazpacho and crispy fried shrimp –very good); had a Stoli on the rocks; lost my watch; looked for my watch; never found my watch. It’s a cheapy so not a big deal but it was weird.
Now, the first of two odd/disappointing experiences. The lounge staff said a shuttle would take me to the plane at 5:00 to the 5:40 flight. I got to the desk at 4:55 and a man says he’s the driver and will be back in 10-15 minutes. Well, it eventually gets to 5:25 and another Boston passenger and I are sitting in the chairs up front. Finally, the front desk crew starts to panic. They rush the two of us and 4 JFK passengers downstairs, through passport control. End up having to cram our luggage into the back of the mini bus. I don’t know what happened, but they had clearly lost track of time or flights or something and the smooth Swiss façade cracked a bit. So, for the second time in my last two European flights (see haiku trip report on Virgin upper class), I was the very last passenger to board the flight. Not something I particularly like.
I took my seat in 1K and was immediately offered Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle, a champagne I really liked. Ended up enjoying several glasses of that before and during the flight. The primary attendant offered an amuse bouche. I originally thought it was just twisted bread sticks and started to decline but then noticed that it was a piece of warm trout. Delish and went well with the champagne.
Five of eight seats in first were occupied. One woman had a small dog in a carrier – does a dog really not need to do its business over the course of 9 hours on a plane? She freaked out a bit (the woman not the pooch) when we hit quite rough turbulence early on.
The service was excellent, nearly perfect. The purser stopped by 3-4 times and thanked me for my business and wished me well. The two attendants were always available and appropriately attentive and professional without being stiff. Swiss should be very happy with them.
The hard product was tremendous; huge screen for the air show and movies (more on that in a moment); a side lamp; great seat controls with many different angles of seating; three windows; throw pillows; a privacy shield even though not really needed. I’m 6 feet tall and my feet could barely touch the guest seat/ottoman. The SQ A340 seat might actually be wider, but this was really enjoyable.
There was a problem with the entertainment system. I watched one movie (about saving the Alaskan whales – got, um, a little dusty but that could have been the champagne effect) and then the system just stopped working for all movies and TV. Quite disappointing, and the crew tried repeatedly to reset the system but nothing worked. The air show still worked and my iPad (no, not stolen from the 45 Park Lane) and book and a nap provided enough entertainment to get me through. But if I had paid full freight for my ticket, I would not have been pleased.
Another first: I bought a watch through duty free.
The food I had was restaurant quality. Starters: filet of Balik salmon that melted in my mouth; a little piece of grilled tofu between a tomato and a wafer; a lobster coconut ball served with mussels and octopus. These were served from a tray. Cannot say enough about that salmon. Went with a Portuguese white wine with that. Followed up with a simple green salad. For main, they had a special -- a rabbit ragout with polenta and vegetables. Top notch. Had a Swiss Italian red with that. The cheese course was quite good too – generous assortment of 4-5 cheeses -- and enjoyed port with that. I didn’t have dessert or the pre-arrival meal (too full).
We landed 20-30 minutes early and with global entry I was home 10 minutes after our scheduled arrival time.
So, all in all, a great weekend jaunt that wasn’t cheap and was probably too much flying for such a short period. But, it truly felt like a bargain versus what full boat on hotel or flight would have been. One of these days I’ll be adventurous enough to do a photo report.
Logan Airport Lounge Hopping:
When flying out of Terminal E in Logan, I typically like to use my Priority Pass to access the Air France lounge. When I arrived at 7:30, the BOS-CDG flight had already left, but it was like a tornado had gone through – holy sh*t the place was a disaster. Only 8-10 people there but trash, empty glasses and empty plates everywhere. I ended up taking one of the private rooms and taking trash out of that myself. Credit to the staff for cleaning most of it up quickly. Stayed for a half glass of prosecco, a vodka tonic or two, a chocolate chip cookie or two and some cheese and crackers.
Then, I headed over the LH Senator lounge. This is a much smaller lounge – seating for about 24 plus a café area. It was about 3/4 full. I asked for champagne but the attendant said none was on offer. The liquor was all a step up over the AF lounge and there was hot food. A beef stew type of thing was quite tasty.
I prefer the size and openness of the Graf lounge (when clean) but the items on offer in the Senator Lounge were clearly a cut above. I might prefer the Virgin Clubhouse in Boston (and it’s no prize) over the other two.
LX 53 to ZRH and then LX332 to London
When I called Swiss for seat assignments, they gave me 5K in the mini cabin. I like the odd numbered K seats that provide a table between you and the aisle and did enjoy the mini cabin. For light sleepers, 5K might not be the best since you could hear the toilet flushing behind the wall from time to time and there was some galley noise. But, it did feel like a private plane even though that cabin was 100% full. I’m not sure that there were any passengers in first.
They serve a single-tray dinner on the redeye (which takes off at 9:45 pm). I ordered the filet which was pretty underdone to my tastes (rare to medium rare). Champagne wasn’t the greatest, but I was about out of steam at this point and didn’t care too much. Watched a few sitcoms and then crashed. I find the Swiss lie-flat seats very comfortable and slept for several hours straight.
The flight to London was uneventful. Typical European business class seating (3 across with an empty seat), but included a full lunch service and very good cabin crew.
London
I believe the plane parked in Oxford; at least I felt that I walked that far to get to the UK border. I was not given a fast track pass and was a bit apprehensive given the stories from a couple of weeks ago. But, immigration was extremely quick – was through in 5 minutes. Took Heathrow Express into the city and then a taxi to my hotel – the 45 Park Lane Hotel, a new hotel that is part of the Dorchester Collection.
Two thumbs up! – this place was great. Had to wait about 30 minutes for my room to be ready, but it was worth it. They offered me drinks and upgraded me to a corner executive room with great view of Hyde Park, huge HDTV, nice couch and arm chair, full-sized desk, about 5 phones, great shower – with both rain shower and conventional one that you could run simultaneously. Huge soaking tub and bathroom embedded in the mirror. Lots of technology in the room (may even outdo the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas) to control temperature, blinds, TV, lights. There's even an iPad available to use for messages, to order room service or surf. Weekend rate was at a substantial discount from the normal rate and included full English breakfast.
Hit Hyde Park, saw friends at a couple of Mayfair publs I like (Audley & Ye Grapes), watched some Chelsea-Bayern Munich, went to mass at the Farm Street Jesuit Church off Mount Street (very nice church if you're even in Mayfair – about 100 yards from The Connaught) and headed back to LHR in the morning via taxi and Heathrow Express.
LX319 to ZRH and LX 53 to BOS
After hitting a very crowded Star Alliance lounge at Terminal 1, I made my way to the gate and enjoyed the quick trip back to Switzerland. Again, a quick lunch was served and staff was friendly and efficient.
I’m a US Air platinum although I have not been flying them much at all this year – most of my miles have come from Virgin or United. Every time I fly on a Star Alliance carrier, I run through a Star Alliance upgrade request to see if it will work. To date, it had only worked on SQ for a couple of intra-Asia medium hauls. But, to my surprise, I got back an “available” on my ZRH-BOS flight and jumped at the chance for 50K miles.
I actually don’t think I realized that it was my first international airline first class trip until I was actually sitting on the plane. I’ve done the SQ all business SIN-EWR which was pretty close as well as long haul business class on CX, VS, AC, LH, SQ and JAL, but this was a first. And, I have to say, it was worth it. Not sure it would be worth the extra $6-8,000 my ticket would have cost, but definitely worth it.
Needed to clear immigration at ZRH to access the First Class Lounge. The guy thought I was a little strange but no big deal. I liked the lounge and was there for about 3 hours. What did I do? Had some rose champagne (meh); switched to brut and it was good; watched some TV shows on my iPad; went out and did some duty free shopping; enjoyed a nice lunch in the mini restaurant (gazpacho and crispy fried shrimp –very good); had a Stoli on the rocks; lost my watch; looked for my watch; never found my watch. It’s a cheapy so not a big deal but it was weird.
Now, the first of two odd/disappointing experiences. The lounge staff said a shuttle would take me to the plane at 5:00 to the 5:40 flight. I got to the desk at 4:55 and a man says he’s the driver and will be back in 10-15 minutes. Well, it eventually gets to 5:25 and another Boston passenger and I are sitting in the chairs up front. Finally, the front desk crew starts to panic. They rush the two of us and 4 JFK passengers downstairs, through passport control. End up having to cram our luggage into the back of the mini bus. I don’t know what happened, but they had clearly lost track of time or flights or something and the smooth Swiss façade cracked a bit. So, for the second time in my last two European flights (see haiku trip report on Virgin upper class), I was the very last passenger to board the flight. Not something I particularly like.
I took my seat in 1K and was immediately offered Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle, a champagne I really liked. Ended up enjoying several glasses of that before and during the flight. The primary attendant offered an amuse bouche. I originally thought it was just twisted bread sticks and started to decline but then noticed that it was a piece of warm trout. Delish and went well with the champagne.
Five of eight seats in first were occupied. One woman had a small dog in a carrier – does a dog really not need to do its business over the course of 9 hours on a plane? She freaked out a bit (the woman not the pooch) when we hit quite rough turbulence early on.
The service was excellent, nearly perfect. The purser stopped by 3-4 times and thanked me for my business and wished me well. The two attendants were always available and appropriately attentive and professional without being stiff. Swiss should be very happy with them.
The hard product was tremendous; huge screen for the air show and movies (more on that in a moment); a side lamp; great seat controls with many different angles of seating; three windows; throw pillows; a privacy shield even though not really needed. I’m 6 feet tall and my feet could barely touch the guest seat/ottoman. The SQ A340 seat might actually be wider, but this was really enjoyable.
There was a problem with the entertainment system. I watched one movie (about saving the Alaskan whales – got, um, a little dusty but that could have been the champagne effect) and then the system just stopped working for all movies and TV. Quite disappointing, and the crew tried repeatedly to reset the system but nothing worked. The air show still worked and my iPad (no, not stolen from the 45 Park Lane) and book and a nap provided enough entertainment to get me through. But if I had paid full freight for my ticket, I would not have been pleased.
Another first: I bought a watch through duty free.
The food I had was restaurant quality. Starters: filet of Balik salmon that melted in my mouth; a little piece of grilled tofu between a tomato and a wafer; a lobster coconut ball served with mussels and octopus. These were served from a tray. Cannot say enough about that salmon. Went with a Portuguese white wine with that. Followed up with a simple green salad. For main, they had a special -- a rabbit ragout with polenta and vegetables. Top notch. Had a Swiss Italian red with that. The cheese course was quite good too – generous assortment of 4-5 cheeses -- and enjoyed port with that. I didn’t have dessert or the pre-arrival meal (too full).
We landed 20-30 minutes early and with global entry I was home 10 minutes after our scheduled arrival time.
So, all in all, a great weekend jaunt that wasn’t cheap and was probably too much flying for such a short period. But, it truly felt like a bargain versus what full boat on hotel or flight would have been. One of these days I’ll be adventurous enough to do a photo report.