Swiss First Class Flight
 

Full trip report to be found here

LX86: Zurich-Montreal - A330

September 8th 2015 12h50 - 15h10

Seats 2D, 2G

After being dropped off at the terminal we made our way immediately onboard.


As soon as we got on it felt similar to the Lufthansa F cabin. However if anything I preferred the Swiss F Cabin. It felt more rustic (I know that makes no sense!), I say this just due to the wood which seemed to be all over the place.

Something which I noticed immediately was the size of the screen. Lufthansa has finished their re-fresh however I find that this old Swiss Screen (which will soon be replaced) is around twice the size of the Lufthansa screen. Watching T.V was significantly easier, especially if you do not have perfect vision. I cannot think of a screen larger in a first class cabin!


After settling in we received our menu and amenity kits and pyjamas. Sorry no photos of the pyjamas/amenity kits. The pyjamas were of slightly better quality than the ones we received on Lufthansa. They were also more comfortable as well. The amenity kits were more or less the same.

The menu is found below and was spectacular. We were lucky to be travelling on one of the Swiss Connoisseur Experiences flights which they offered their Swiss Steakhouse option. These experiences run 4 times a year and other experiences include: Truffle, Seafood and Caviar. I was disappointed we were not on another one of these flights. Here is hoping for another Lufthansa flight cancellation ;)


While looking through the menu we were offered a glass of Champagne! Who could say no to a glass or two of the Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle. The glass of Champagne also came with an excellent Amuse-bouche, I cannot remember exactly what it was (due to my over excitement of being in Swiss First Class, however I know it was significantly better than what I had on Lufthansa). The Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle was exactly the same Champagne that Lufthansa offer. However I have noticed that there are usually more than one choice of Champagnes on Lufthansa, compared to Swiss where there is only one. However, it is still a very good one nevertheless.



Within 40 minutes the other couple of passengers arrived and we got ready for the departure. The departure was smooth and within 15 minutes of arriving at cruising altitude the cabin crew started to prepare our tables for lunch.

The problem with Swiss First Class food is that everything on the menu looked amazing: from the appetizers to the deserts. Unlike Lufthansa, where even though there was plenty of choice there were items which I would maybe skip, on the Swiss flight I would had eaten everything (Which I tried to do!)


The First course consisted of a selection of appetizers from the trolly. My wife went with the Salmon, where I went with a bit of everything ;) . The Salmon and dry aired meats were out of this world good.


Not knowing which wine to take, the flight attendant suggested I try all the white wines to find one I liked. Don't mind if I do! :) I went with the Chardonnay however all 3 including the wine from Switzerland were very good.


I then moved on to the salad with blue cheese dressing. This was good however the salad I had on the Lufthansa flight was better. This was the only courses that I was a bit meh.


Next was the Apple soup, this might sound like a filler in terms of a menu however my wife is telling me she is still dreaming of that soup. It was that good!


Next up: The Steaks. We both had the Dry Aged Irish Fillet. The word spectacular does not do it justice. If I had these steaks in a restaurant in NYC I would be impressed. The fact I was having them 38,000 ft in the air was just mind blowing. I also was unsure which Red wine to have with this course so I had another small tasting ;) The Cos d'Estournel 2008 from Bordeaux (St-Emillion) won. Even though the 2008 was not a great year and probably could have been kept another couple of years it was still a very good wine.


After that amazing steak I was pretty full, however the food continued to roll out. Next up was the cheese cart. I had some fantastic Ice Cider from Inniskillin to accompany the cheese course(Yes, I know the pic below is a glass of red, I finished that first!).


Finally we had the desert. I had the Alpine Dream. While, my wife has the cheesecake. Both were again fantastic. The presentation of the Alpine Dream was excellent.


After all that eating I spent the next couple of hours digesting one of the best meals I have ever had on a plane. In fact I will change that statement. The best meal I have ever had on a plane. Others will disagree however I cannot remember another flight which had as good food as what I had on the Swiss Flight. JAL and Singapore Airlines comes very close. Maybe Air France is not that far behind however what struck me most of all was the quality of food I had was equivalent to some high end restaurants. It was that good.

A couple of hours went by along with a couple more glasses of LPGC. Then I was asked if I fancied a snack. 'Ummm not really..... Did you see how much food I just ate?' Flight Attendant: ' Are you sure?' Me: 'Well ok then I will take a little of everything :) ' I took a bite out of everything however the Quiche was particularly good


The table was then cleared and we started to make our decent and landed on time, for once I was disappointed that we arrived on time ;)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/691/2...f5bd576f_z.jpg

Summary

This flight was definitely in my top 3 flights I have ever taken. I would go as far as saying the top. However I know I am planning to fly Singapore and Cathay next year so maybe I might change again ;). However Swiss is definitely the top Airline in Europe. The food was spectacular. The service was excellent and the wine choices were of a very high standard again. The biggest problem I have with airlines today is that they spend a lot of money on Champagne however significantly less on the wine menu. Swiss really excelled on this flight in terms of the selection of wine. It was a pleasure to fly them.

In terms of rating:

Crew - 8/10 - Not quite as good as my Lufthansa crew flying out

Food - 10/10 - Yup it was that good

Champagne & Wine - 10/10 - Excellent choices for both White and Red

Ground Service - 8/10 - Not as many bells and whistles as the FCT however had everything I wanted it to have good food and good views :)

Hard Product - 9/10 - The only aspect which could be improved is to have enclosed suites to make it more private. I believe they are including this in their new 777-300ER aircraft.

Total: 45/50

Hope you enjoyed reading :)

Full trip report

The aim of this trip report was to compare Lufthansa and Swiss.

At the beginning of the report I mentioned in terms of how close the two airlines are. However having written this trip report I can safety say that Swiss comes out top. However let's go through the winners of each category:

Lounge: Swiss First Class Lounge. Yes the LH FCT is good however it lost a lot of points due to the position and view which I find important. All other aspects of the lounge were on par if not better than the Swiss Lounge. Also the fact that the rule of entry to the FCT is not clear also brought down the amount of points received.

Hard Product (on-board): Swiss First Class - Bigger Screens, more comfortable seats. This is in the old Swiss Class cabin as well. Also the IFE was more extensive

Soft Product (on-board): Swiss First Class - This for me is where Swiss excelled, the food and drink on board was really of a very high standard and not even comparable to Lufthansa.

So even though initially I wrote that these two airlines are very close, you can see that there is actually really only one winner. Has anyone else flown both airlines and agree with the above? I am interested to hear what other people think....

Thanks very much for the fun TR and useful comparison. I've flow LH F but not LX F, so I'm afraid I can't provide a comparison of my own.

If I may add a comment, in a full First Class cabin (8 pax) you may find annoying the fact that in LX you have only a restroom, while in LH you have two. And of course, in the A380 LH the two are also huge. For the rest I consider the two products very comparable, both excellent. Food in FCL/FCT in FRA or FCL MUC is definitely better that in FCL in Zurich

Was caviar served on LX F?

Thanks for reading! Just hope your next LH F flight is cancelled...then transfer to LX ;)

Yes agreed about the restroom situation however looking at loads the LX cabin is not often full compared to the LH cabin which from my experiences tends to be more full. As mentioned regarding the food I was really only there for Brunch, however I found both of similar quality

Nope, no caviar

Amazing report, looks like Swiss has a great F product, I saw your wrote that LX does not offer Caviar, is this on all LX long haul flights or just your flight? I have spoiled my partner on our LH A380 F flight, but do want to try LX.. Thanks for the report..

Thanks for reading! If I understand it correctly it is on all long haul flights. However I found that the LH Caviar is of less quality than before. Even the FA told me in advance. For me, I would fly LX F over LH F hands down, the caviar is not a huge factor for me.

No caviar at all. LX counters with Balik Salmon.

Pressed with a gun I'd say LX is just a wee tad bit better for soft service and overall experience. (Definitely better pyjamas :)). But it's like picking a favorite child.

On the flip side, a couple of times on LH i've been 1 of 3 pax, 1 of 2, and even solo pax. AND they have dedicated bed, and the upper deck, and the 747 nose arrangement..... Really a coin-flip decision

So hearing what you are saying, it's a personnel preference? Doesn't matter if you pick LX or LH?

and LH has the A380

IMO, the choice is pretty easy. While LX typically beats LH in onboard food and inflight service, LH seats are more comfortable and 744s and 380s are much better planes. But the biggest factor is the ground product at each of the primary hubs. The LX ZHR First Class product is not very First Class. So-so lounge that gets ridiculously crowded at peak transfer/departure times. The worst part is the horrifically bad boarding process. Yes, you get a (shared) van from the basement of the main terminal to the international departure concourse. But then you are dumped into the bowels for the concourse and then on your own. And this is what LX First Class boarding looks like...

https://sfo777.smugmug.com/Other/Swi...IMG_9957-L.jpg

Incorrect. I was brought to the boarding gate and onto the plane. When walking to the flight I noticed other flights leaving and the boarding process did not seem like the above. Different experiences, however at least we agree that the food is better ;)

You were very lucky as that has not been the norm for LX.

Really nice conclusion! The table set-up on LX looks much nicer, and that big table really gives the feeling of a ton of space (or so it seems). It just looks like you can have a glass or 3, a plate, flatware and bread plate on the table and not feel like you are going to knock something over.