Lufthansa First Class vs. Swiss First Class
 

A classic match up between the two best European carriers. Lufthansa vs. Swiss. I was not originally going to write this report, however when my Lufthansa flight was cancelled(Due to the wonderful pilot strike) I was left with a 16 hour indirect Business class option or Swiss First Class. As most know, A few years back, Swiss First Class restricted their First Class to only their elite members making this impossible to get through points. Aim of this report is to compare the two airlines and see which one comes up on top.

Full trip report available here

Index:

Lufthansa First Class – YUL – MUC
Lufthansa First Class Terminal
Swiss First Class Lounge
Swiss First Class – ZRH – YUL

First Class Route map!

Both flights were fantastic and the differences between Lufthansa and Swiss was very close. Take your bets now as to who comes up on top !

Outline of trip:

LH475: Montreal – Munich - A330
August 23rd 2015 20h20 – 09h55
Seats 2D, 2G
Load 3/8



Montreal Airport

YUL made some great improvements to the airport in the last couple of years and now is much nicer to transit through. It took all of 10 mins to pass security. The international part of the terminal now has some decent restaurants with a microbrewery(Archibald) and wine bar. The Microbrewery has pretty good local beers and it much more enjoyable than the MLL which seems always packed early evening.

Boarding started on time and we were first on board today which allowed a quick couple of snaps of the cabin.



We started with a glass of Comptes de Champagne Taittinger Rosé 2006. I was told Lufthansa only had a 150 bottles of this Champagne. It was a fantastic start. An amuse bouche was served of smoked watermelon and buffalo mozzarella. Yes SMOKED watermelon. It tasted surprisingly good. However I wish Lufthansa would not experiment with food. At least this usually only happened with the amuse-bouche. One bottle of Rosé later and the only other passenger arrived. This was going to be a great flight !


The menu was as follows :

Choice of Appetizers
Caviar with the traditional Garnishes
Shrimp Cocktail with Cucumber and Yellow Tomato Salad
Smoked Chicken and Yellow Beet with Red Pepper Vinaigrette
Spicy Sofrito with Rice and Nori and Wakame Seaweed
Seasonal Salad with pickled Red Onion, fresh Raspberries and Blue Cheese Crumble presented with Dressing

Choice of Main Courses
Prosciutto and Mushroom wrapped Beef Filet, roasted Vegetables and Puff Pastry served with Red Wine Sauce
Maryland Lump Crab Cakes with roasted Corn and Tomato Succotash, grilled Baby Zucchini and Patty Pan Squash, spicy Tomato Sauce Hollandaise
Traditional Vegetarian Lasagna with Mozzarella Cheese and Tomato Sauce
Petite Surf’N’Turf
Grilled Tenderloin Medallion with sautéed Scallops and Shrimp Scampi, Turnips, Beets and Carrots, whipped Yukon and Celeriac Potatoes, Burgundy Sauce
Lobster Bisque

Selection of Cheese and Dessert
Kilchurn Estate Cave Aged Cheddar Cheese, New England Coulommier, Mountain Gouda, Smoked Cheddar, Cave Aged Bleu Cheese

Tiramisu
Brownie and Ice Cream Sundae

We started with the caviar( Sorry no pic !)

Then went for the three appitiers. The smoked chicken and shrimp cocktail were great. ‘The Spicy Sofrito with Rice and Nori and Wakame Seaweed ‘was really just a ball of rubbery rice.


For the appetizer both my wife and I had the Petite Surf’N’Turf. It included shrimps, Scallops and a great steak. People always complain about steaks on Lufthansa. I found this one perfect.


I had a glass (or three !) of the Luce 2008 a beautiful Italian wine with Merlot and Sangioves.



At this point I was more full than full, however with the cheese course and deserts coming up I could not say no ! So I said yes :)

The Cheese was fine, nothing special, however the Brownie with Ice Cream Sundae was out of this world. The presentation was excellent and I was suprised to see how well it tasted compard to previous LH F deserts. Lufthansa are really uping their game in terms of their First Class food offerings and is significantly better than what I experienced a couple of years ago.


By this point I pretty much passed out due to over eating and after the bed was made I was out like a light until pretty much touchdown. We connected to the main terminal so no car for me today :(

The lounge in Munich is small but well appointed. I actually prefer the overall fell of this lounge compared to the Terminal in Frankfurt, however the food as you will see soon is significantly nicer at the First Class Terminal.

The MUC-FRA flight was nothing special however I was impressed at how a full lunch was being distributed in Business Class, the flight attendants did a fantastic job on such a quick flight.

Summary

Believe the hype ! Lufthansa are the best First Class airline which are readily available on points. Is it the best airline in the world ? No. However is it in the Top 10 ? Easily.

In terms of rating I rate Lufthansa for this flight as follows :

Crew : 9/10. The crew were excellent on this flight. I could not say enough good things about them !

Food : 7/10. The food was good. There were a couple of items which just did not make sense ( Rice Balls and Cheese selection)

Champagne & Wine : 8/10 2 excellent Champagnes were served and the red wine selection was excellent. However dissapointed with the Sweet wine choice and White wine selection. (do not have the menu, this is just by memory)

Ground Service : 7/10 ( I had to fight to get into the FCT, not a big deal however it annoyed me enough for the lower rating)

Hard Product : 7/10 – Screen’s are too small. Also why are the cabins always hot ?

Total : 38/50



Next up First Class Terminal Frankfurt

Lufthansa First Class Terminal
 

After arriving in Frankfurt I decided I would test the ground service to see how good it was ;) If you read any of the trip reports online you will believe that the Lufthansa First Class Ground Service is amazing from door to door. Well on this trip I found out it was not quite as good as what people make out. Since I was coming off of a Business Class flight even though I had a same day First Class ticket I knew I had access to the FCT (First Class Terminal) however when approaching the agent at the FCL (First Class Lounge) I was told no, 100% not, since I had an onward Economy ticket, and Economy ticket holders do not get lounge access. I then asked where the FCT was (second test), I was informed not to go there since I was not allowed in. I re-asked her where it was and she would not tell me! Lucky I knew exactly where it was however what this shows is that Lufthansa ground staff do not always know the rule. To summarize:

Access to FCT (Lufthansa First Class Terminal) = Same day arriving or departing Swiss or Lufthansa First Class ticket to any LH or LX airports.

Once arriving at the FCT the experience chaned, I was walked through security within seconds. They checked all documents and I had then a quick tour around the Lounge(Terminal). How good is the FCT? A place I would not get board if I ever had a plane delay of 12 hours :) There is plenty of room and it never felt overcrowded. There is a Bar, Restaurant, Cigar Lounge, Showers/Baths, 2 day beds (which we needed!).

Once we arrived the first stop was the Day rooms. We have a 5 hour layover and were exhausted. The day rooms are well appointed and we both crashed out for a couple of hours to get our much needed sleep.

After a couple of hours of sleep we felt a lot better and so I headed to have a bath and collect my rubber ducky. I think I must have spent too much time preparing the duck for photos as you can see.


After a much needed bath for both me and ducky headed out to find my Wife waiting for me in the Restaurant. The food in the FCT is catered by Do&Co. The food is to put it lightly AMAZING. The quality of the food makes this lounge one of the top for food in the world. They have both an A La Carte and a Buffet. If going to the FCT I would highly recommend the Wiener Schnitzel. It was spectacular! Also they have 6 different Champagnes as well as an excellent selection of both White/Red wine and a great Whisky selection. If coming to the FCT ensure you give yourself enough time to fully enojy it. Minimum 5 hours :) Here are a few pictures taken inside:

If I had to have one complaint it would be that there is no view, which sort of annoys me since I do enjoy looking out at the different planes taking off. Also it is a little hassle to get to. However these are really 'First Class Problems'

Overall how would I rate the FCT?

- Service: 8/10 - I was always checked on however it took them an hour to clean the bath/shower rooms which seemed a bit excessive
- Food - 9/10 - This is where Lufthansa & Do&C shine
- Position/View from lounge - 6/10 - No view :(
- Amenities - 9/10 - The only amenity missing is a spa. Great chairs, sofa's , Wi-fi shower rooms & Day beds

FCT = 32/40

Next up Swiss First Class Lounge, Zurich. Full trip report here

Nice report and pics but... if you mean the two best European carriers for First Class, I'm thinking that you haven't flown Air France First Class. ;)

Great start, and photos! Looking forward to seeing LX F, you don't see it too often.

Best quote of the day :)

Love it, can't get enough of TR's like that.
Looking forward to the rest, alexisonsmith ... ^

You're SO predictable SFO777... :D

I wrote that just for you SFO777 ;) I did a few years back. However based on your recent trip report I believe I will need to give it another go...Your TR looked amazing! Will be difficult to go back to LH F for MRS SFO777 ;)

Thanks! I took a lot more photos on the way back. LX F is pretty special

[CENTER]Thanks! And I know ;)

Nice! Looking forward to the Swiss section. Their design is so sleek and minimal and colors very soothing - a personal favorite. Admittedly, the colors are similar to Lufthansa's...

Looking forward to the rest. ^

(Please take the following in the light-hearted manner intended.)

(bolding mine)
Oh yeah, I'm sure it was the "over eating" that did it. :D

Really, nothing you could tell Economy-passengers, but I know this problem. I also prefer a Lounge with a view or at least proper windows....

Very annoying indeed, especially as all the lounges in FRA that have a view (C / F & SEN lounges) have these weird horizontal "strips" in the window, which make it difficult to look outside.

Maybe it's off topic, but IB is my favorite carrier across the Pond in business class now :)

Swiss First Class Lounge
 

Itinerary:

LX86: Zurich-Montreal - A330

September 8th 2015 12h50 - 15h10

Seats 2D, 2G

Load 4/8

Swiss First Class Lounge

So on the 7th of September our Lufthansa First Class ticket was cancelled(due to the pilot strike) and so after a small bit of rearranging/negotiating with Lufthansa, we found ourselves on a Swiss First Class flight :) We flew in from Istanbul the day prior and so spent the night at the Radisson Blu Zurich Airport. Great hotel located within Zurich Airport.

Arriving at Zurich Airport is always good fun since being in Business or First, since I tend to find myself within the lounge in around 10 minutes.

We then checked in and within a few minutes, our bags were taken and pointed towards the security and Lounge. As usual I was within the lounge under 10 minutes! :)


The Swiss First Class Lounge is located upstairs to the main departure gate. Once boarding passes were checked we were given a small tour of the Lounge.

The Lounge is much smaller than most first class Lounges that I have visited, however at least when we arrived it was very peaceful. It was around 10h30 with our flight leaving at 12h50, this gave us over 2 hours to enjoy this Lounge.

The Swiss First Class Lounge comprises of the following:

• Restaurant
• Buffet
• Sitting Area
• Shower Rooms

The First Class Lounge is actually pretty small, It takes less than 30 seconds to walk from one side to the other. It is probably around 1/4 of the size of the LH FCT. By the time we had left to catch our flight the Lounge was completely full. I am not sure how normal that was since all LH flights were cancelled so most First Class passengers were probably moved on to Swiss flights.

After a tour around the Lounge it was time for breakfast in the restaurant. We were a little late for the buffet offering since it was being replaced by lunch, however in the restaurant you can order anything you wanted either on or off of the menu. This is excellent since my Wife is a big fan of Bircher muesli which they did not have on the A La Carte menu. The Food was of excellent quality. I would easily compare everything I ate from the buffet and from the restaurant as of a similar standard to that from the LH FCT.


After a great breakfast we headed to the sitting area for the last hour to wait for our flight. I also went via the buffet to see how the other food looked.

With a Glass of Champagne in hand we headed to the window seat to look across the airport for the last hour prior to boarding. This is where the Swiss First Class Lounge outshone the Lufthansa FCT. The views are amazing. Instead of looking at office buildings you actually see you are in an airport!


With 30 minutes to go we were driven to our flight. At which point the lounge was completely full.


Overall how would I rate the Swiss First Class Lounge?

Service: 9/10 - Service was very good however not perfect compared to other Lounges (SQ or CX)

Food - 8/10 - Food was excellent

Position/View from lounge - 10/10 - Could not be better!

Amenities - 7/10 - Shower rooms were not as nice, no day bed nether to my knowledge

First Class Lounge = 35/40

For a full trip report click here

Great detailed report! Only don´t understand why excellent food gets 8 of 10 and pretty good service 9 of 10

Good point. Service was actually very good. I will update the post to make it clearer....

Lufthansa First Class vs. Swiss First Class
 

Was the Excellent food rated at 8/10 because of "limited" selection? I'm curious what would have created a higher food score.

I'm a bit disappointed that the LH FCL agent was so determined to not allow access! It feels alarming and rude. Did the agent recognize that you had just flown in C so should at least be allowed into the Business lounge? Other pax may have felt afraid to go to FCL or fct if they were less aware of their access rights.

I look forward to the lx F report. Thank you for these TRs!

Thanks for reading! The food was great however I was really only there for Breakfast and so was difficult to evaluate the food on Breakfast alone. I tried a couple of items from the buffet non-breakfast however not enough to properly evaluate....

Lufthansa First Class vs. Swiss First Class
 

To answer your second point yes it was very discouraging that the rules are not clear...I was expecting more from LH ground crew

This is not entirely accurate. In addition to the conditions mentioned (or holding HON Circle status) you have to be departing on Swiss or Lufthansa in order to gain access to the FCT.

According to Lufthansa's official policy the FCT is a departure terminal and if you ask any LH employee they will usually tell you that transfer passengers do not have access to the FCT. However, this rule has not been enforced and as far as we know nobody has reported being turned away as a transfer passenger meeting the above criteria.

To quote from LH's lounge access rules

Lufthansa First Class vs. Swiss First Class
 

@NewbieRunner you raise a good point. I checked with both LH call centre and the staff at the FCT and both said if you had an arriving flight you had access. what is clear is that the rule is not clear ;)

The rule (as written down) is clear. The interpretation isn't. In the LH forum we advise that 'transfer passengers are not arriving passengers'. ;)

FCT staff of course know the rule is not enforced. You were lucky to get call centre staff who knew how the rule worked in reality.

So let me see if I understand the rule and a scenario under which it's not typically enforced, since it could pertain to a trip my wife and I might take next year: LIS (LH J) - FRA (LH J) - MUC (LH F) - YVR. If I understand this correctly, under the rule we could not access the FRA FCT. But under typical practice it would be allowed?

In any event, a fun TR so far. Looking forward to the LX review and comparison!

I don't want to turn this into another FCT FAQ thread (which already exists in the LH forum) but provided your FRA-MUC flight is on the same day as your MUC-YVR flight it will be within the written rule because you will be on "a confirmed same-day departing First Class flight on Lufthansa or SWISS".

Indeed, I should have looked for that thread. But thanks very much for the very helpful reply.

This would make sense, since you have to walk from the LH terminal to the FCT, however, then why is LH allowing us access to the FCT if we are connecting from a LH F to LH J flight? LH could elevate the whole experience by givening transportation to the FCT if people want to use it, I thought the walk was OK but was a bit of a distance.

Thanks for posting this. I have an upcoming outbound from LAX to FRA in F next month and the return on Swiss F. This was helpful.

Are you going to post the LX flights? OR did I miss something

Lufthansa First Class vs. Swiss First Class
 

Yes....Tomorrow morning. Sorry about the delay.....

Is it not an "official" rule (whether enforced or not) that FCT/FCL for HON guests must be same flight but LX F lounge is guests on any LX/LH/OS flight?

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?