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SWISS Business Class - Dubai to Zürich

SWISS Business Class - Dubai to Zürich

Old Apr 13, 2018, 11:41 pm
  #1  
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SWISS Business Class - Dubai to Zürich



INTRODUCTION
I check out of the Doubletree in Al Barsha at around 21h00 on Thursday evening and make my way to the airport for the flight back to Switzerland. The departure time is scheduled for 01h35. I really don’t like these flights that leave in the middle of the night. Especially when they’re as short as the one from Dubai to Zürich. By the time you step onto the plane you’re exhausted from a really long day and no matter what you do, it’s a fact that you’re not going to get enough sleep because the flight time is not nearly long enough…





CHECK-IN
SWISS checks in at Terminal 1, together with all the other foreign carriers at DXB. With the exception of the low-cost carriers and Hajj flights that is, which operate out of Terminal 2.







SWISS is located on row 5. There are only two counters available: one for Economy Class and another for First Class and HON Circle passengers.

AIRSIDE & LOUNGE
This is the first time I’m using the new D gates. The facility is rather nice, mainly because there are not as many people milling about as there normally are on the Emirates concourses.





SWISS uses the Lufthansa lounge in Dubai. The lounge looks quite new and is designed in the typical Lufthansa corporate design. It’s a style that either you like or you don’t…











The lounge is rather small and feels very cramped. So that eventually it gets too crowded for me and I decide to go for a walk through the terminal instead. Along the way, I come across these rather strange containers that I’ve never seen at any other airport. Apparently, if you have excess baggage, you can dump it in one of the containers for Dubai airport to dispose of. But I don’t get it. I mean, who would bother to make the schlep to get airside with an entire suitcase, only to dump it behind security? Is there something I’m missing here?







THE CABIN
I’m seated on 4A, which is one of the so called throne seats. Rows 4 and 5 are the first two rows of Business Class, located between the First Class cabin and the L2 galley. With only two rows, this mini cabin feels quite intimate and a lot quieter than the larger Business Class section behind the L2 galley.

The first thing I notice about the seat is that it doesn’t seem to have aged all that well. The seat and the cabin are well maintained, that’s not what I mean. But rather, the whole cabin and seat are starting to look a bit old fashioned.

AMENITIES
As for the amenities, there’s a vanity kit at my seat, a pillow and a towel. There have been some improvements here. The vanity kit is in the shape of an aluminium tin that is Victorinox branded. It contains lip balm, a toothbrush and toothpaste, an eye mask, ear plugs and socks. There are additional cosmetics in the toilets.





But perhaps the most positive development for me are the blankets. They’re really quite nice and thick. And so’s the pillow.

SERVICE
The crews are always SWISS’ weakness, I think. All of them have a rather disgruntled expression and not one of them seems to be overly enthusiastic about their job. There is no drinks service on the ground. Before we depart, the crew distribute flimsy scented hot towels. After that they pass through the cabin with the menus for the flight and the order forms for breakfast. I think this is a really good idea, because is significantly shortens the duration of the service in the morning, giving passengers more time to sleep.

As soon as we’re airborne, I extend my seat into a bed and go off to Noddy land.

SECOND MEAL SERVICE
I awake about seventy minutes out of Zürich, just as the meal service is about to start. So I quickly head for the toilets to change back into my normal clothes, ahead of the usual rush before landing.

The breakfast service consists of plain yoghurt, a bowl of fruit, two buns with butter and cherry jam, a glass of orange juice, a cup of coffee and the hot meal. The latter consists of a pancake filled with scrambled egg, a hash brown and some grilled veg and spinach. The bread is really good. But the egg/pancake thing has this very strange eggy flavour with a hind of plastic. It’s really not very good.

After the meal, I ask for a second cup of coffee, which one of the younger flight attendants brings me. I say ‘thank you’ but all I get in return is ‘I’m going to have to come back to collect that now…’. Was it something I said…?

















ARRIVAL & ARRIVALS LOUNGE
Eventually we land just slightly ahead of schedule. It’s nice to be home again after two weeks. It’s also nice to be back in cooler temperatures again. Our flight ends at the E pier, from where you need to catch the underground metro to get to the main terminal area. But we’re only the second arrival of the day. So the train is not too crowded and immigration is swift.





As soon as I collect my bags from the belt, I head out through customs and then one floor up, which is where the SWISS arrivals lounge is located. Luckily enough a shower room is available for me to freshen up before I head into the office. The arrivals lounge is nice and convenient. It’s also surprisingly empty and quiet this morning.

CONCLUSION
All in all, this wasn’t a bad flight with SWISS. I don’t think I’ll ever be fan but they got me home in one piece. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to travel with them. I think when I next fly to Dubai Emirates will be my first choice. Simply because Dubai is their hub and they therefore have the superior product on the ground. In addition, I also think Emirates provide the better on board experience. At least their crew aren’t so grumpy all the time.
William Agius is offline  
Old Apr 14, 2018, 12:19 am
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That excess baggage bins is weird.

The plates in Swiss business look like plastic melamine plates.

Thanks for posting.
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 10:03 am
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Thanks for a good TR. I was always tempted to try SWISS to DXB .... I think I might give it a miss. The soft product seems poor in comparison to EK.

Thanks though!
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 11:23 am
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Is this flight catered for the round trip from ZRH?
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 2:06 pm
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Hi Annalisa

Thanks for commenting. Yes, I wasn't too convinced with the crockery either. It definitely was not plastic, but everything still felt kind of generic and strangely at odds with the premium image the airlines tries to convey.
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 2:08 pm
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Originally Posted by den3aah
Thanks for a good TR. I was always tempted to try SWISS to DXB .... I think I might give it a miss. The soft product seems poor in comparison to EK.

Thanks though!
Hi Den3aah

As I wrote, the flight was okay I guess and it's not their fault the flight is so short. But even so, I do feel that the overall level of service and professionalism of the crew are better on EK.
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 2:11 pm
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Originally Posted by hugolover
Is this flight catered for the round trip from ZRH?
Hi Hugolover

I suspect that some items are catered from Zurich, while others are local. Although I'm not sure if maybe they load the food for the inbound when the aircraft first lands in DXB and before it continues to Muscat. I'd say the hot meal was probably not from Zurich because the catering ex ZRH is usually better.
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 2:37 pm
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Thanks for sharing.

Can anyone comment on the baggage disposal bins? I've never seen this.
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 3:18 pm
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Oh wow that is a bummer that the crew wasn't so great. I flew Swiss on 4 segments last year and the crew were great, especially on LX 41 and 42 LAX to ZRH and back. The four of us were traveling to CPH for a cruise. Even though I was sitting next to my 86 year old grandmother, the purser came by frequently to checkup on her. The business class FA's on our aisle even took the time to take out the appetizers and the breakfast mains to show my grandmother before taking her order. And just before landing, the even purser came by and presented my grandmother with a box of the chocolates from the meal service.

I personally thought the nice clean white service ware was very Swiss simple but elegant.
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 6:45 pm
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Great TR - I assume that ME3 and Asian airlines will have staff that are sweeter and more comforting. The LX staff seemed more safety-oriented. I'm intrigued about those luggage containers and have a theory. Often the airport shops sell nice luggage. So maybe shoppers are buying new suitcases, placing their content in the new suitcases, and then disposing of the old suitcases in those containers.
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 8:37 pm
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dump for bags

i can only come to one conclusion, they see a lot of people buying so much duty free stuff that they can no longer haul all their stuff and just leave bags all over the place.

or people buy new luggage and repack their stuff and new acquisitions.

ex DXB duty free is very cheap, i think better than SIN for some euro items.
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 11:50 pm
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Originally Posted by theshaun
Thanks for sharing.

Can anyone comment on the baggage disposal bins? I've never seen this.
Passengers to certain destinations tend to bring a lot with them as hand luggage after maximizing their check in baggage allowance. It is not unusual to see passengers being stopped just short of the gate and asked to reduce or shed their carry-on. I have witnessed that several times on my visits to T1 DXB. So I suppose to deal with this, they have set up these special boxes so that abandoned luggage are not scattered all over the place. In my view, they should have stopped all these at check in or just before the immigration hall so that these poor passengers at least have a chance to send the excess luggage by alternative means or leave those with friends.
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Old Apr 15, 2018, 12:14 am
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Originally Posted by seat38a
Oh wow that is a bummer that the crew wasn't so great. I flew Swiss on 4 segments last year and the crew were great, especially on LX 41 and 42 LAX to ZRH and back. The four of us were traveling to CPH for a cruise. Even though I was sitting next to my 86 year old grandmother, the purser came by frequently to checkup on her. The business class FA's on our aisle even took the time to take out the appetizers and the breakfast mains to show my grandmother before taking her order. And just before landing, the even purser came by and presented my grandmother with a box of the chocolates from the meal service.

I personally thought the nice clean white service ware was very Swiss simple but elegant.
Hi seat38a,
I think the problem with SWISS is that you have such variance among the cabin crews. Usually if you happen to come across some of the older ones, perhaps that used to fly for Swissair, you're in luck. I mean, I don't expect the crews to put on a show when I'm on a plane, but I think some consistency in their service delivery would to SWISS good.
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Old Apr 15, 2018, 12:34 am
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Funny with the baggage disposal. Never saw something like that, even missed it at DXB so far. I would say it´s a good way to get rid off your no longer used luggage
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Old Jun 30, 2021, 6:52 am
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I know there was been quite some time that this was posted. I'm about to travel DXB - ZRH and just wondering if anyone has had any more recent experience of LX on this sector?

Do they only offer breakfast before landing or is there a light meal after take off? I never eat airplane breakfast.

Re the crews - I think like many things in life 'you get what you pay for'. I had always assumed that crew at Swiss were paid quite well and had fairly good T&C's. Apparently not.

WIth the demise of the old 'Swissair' the new 'Swiss' was born with a MUCH lower cost base. Especially when it came to staff salaries.A Polish friend of mine who had been flying as crew for Emirates for years left and accepted a job with Swiss as Cabin Crew. He was shocked at how poor the salary was (for Swiss standards) and how minimal the terms and conditions were. He said the management and working conditions were appalling and he left less than a year after he joined.

It's no excuse for poor service. But when any company has an ethos of 'get em cheap' they get staff who are 'here for a good time, not a long time'.
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