Swiss Intl Air Lines

Flying with Swiss longhaul is always a gamble when it comes to service. The hard product is usually pretty ok but in general the service provided is usually not that overwhelming and does not live up to their slogans. On a recent flight ZRH-NYC-ZRH this was again visible. The service to NYC was quite good and especially one flight attendant was very friendly and polite. The return leg was overshadowed by one flight attendant who was very rude and unfriendly and barking at passengers in a very brusque way when it came to the drinks service. The younger attendants seem to be better and still have that customer focus but still there is a long way to go to be world class.

Zurich to London Heathrow A320 easy check-in very nice lounge lovely airport. Slightly late departure due to late inbound aircraft. Ground staff and flight crew did all they could to do fast turnaround and apologise for delay. Clean aircraft and free decent food in economy including nice Swiss chocolate bar. Full aircraft but fast boarding. Very fast luggage retrieval at Heathrow. Overall an excellent flight and good value.

ZRH-JNB in Business. Service was pathetic. You depart at 23.00 at night and it took more than one hour before they even started serving the drinks. I had to ask for my dessert 2.5 hours later. When I complained about the service to the head purser telling him that this was the worst service in C on Swiss ever the response was simply "Really?" The poor service continued the next morning. Breakfast was served consisting of bread a fruit salad and some cheese. Half an hour later they came around offering the eggs - everyone was however done eating by then. It so much depends on the crew on the flight. Most of the time I get the feeling they are just flying along with you not really there to serve you. Friendliness seems like a burden to the crew.

Flew from Bangkok to Zurich return. I have mixed feelings about writing this review as the flight home was spectacular but the service on the flight over was amongst the worst I had ever experienced. Summary: Flights both legs were on time. Modern fleet in good condition - good inflight entertainment (would be great except poor quality headphones). Service terrible on way over. Attendants would not reply to bell and had to get up for water at night whilst attendants were talking at back of aircraft (they looked at me like it was an inconvenience when I asked for water - I felt like I was rude for asking). I must say however the crew on the flight home were the opposite and I could not speak highly enough of the service and would be amongst the best I have experienced. Anyway my overall opinion would be to give them a go as if it was anything like the way back I would recommend.

JFK–GVA–JFK in economy. The aircraft seating and IFE were great. The food was appalling (even by airplane standard). The crew were disinterested and outright rude. I asked for a glass of water 4 hours in and was told to get it at the back galley. When I got there all the crew were sitting around chatting. They ran out of white wine within 90 minutes of leaving Geneva. Overall the service was really poor.

LHR to Palma Mallorca via Zurich outward on the 3rd July in Y class return on 10th July in C. Trouble free check in at Terminal 1 slight delayed departure to Zurich but we were kept informed and the crew came round with a tray of chocolates as we were waiting 10mins which was a nice touch. Spotlessly clean Airbus 321 with welcoming crew. Fresh croissants served with a hot drink. Plenty to keep you occupied during the connection at Zurich airport with a wide range of shops and facilities. Flight to Palma full legroom fine in Y class not cramped good quality Sandwich and hot and cold drinks again served by great flight attendants. 3D route map shown on overhead screens informative. Return in C class was fantastic I was booked on the 1735 departure from PMI but because the departure of that aircraft from ZRH was 30 mins delayed I was automatically switched to an earlier flight at 1630 to ZRH. PMI to ZHR was with Eidelweiss airlines (same group as Swiss) excellent meal in Business food was well presented and served professionally then a cheese board. The Lounge at Zurich is not the best food choice is rather limited but didn't need to eat. Onward connection to LHR busy but plenty of room in Business class more mature but professional crew meal and drinks served. Again well maintained aircraft interior. Sadly the problems started as we approached LHR as usual had to hold for 30 mins before landing and then they were not expecting us at the allocated air bridge so no staff were there to meet the aircraft. After waiting 15 mins they did find a member of the ground staff and we had to disembark via the rear exit onto buses which took us to the terminal as they could not use the airbridge.

This was our first flight with Swiss Air. We flew from Zurich to Newark. The only complaint we could come up with concerns the Zurich Airport. Very chic but ultimately passenger unfriendly. Allow yourself extra time to navigate all the ups downs corners and corridors!

Economy LCY-ZRH-MUC (codeshare meant LH ZRH-MUC). C MUC-ZRH-LCY. All in all good experience. Everything on time minimal hassle in the ZRH connections. Good roll in Y to ZRH chocolate bar from LH ZRH-MUC. Food in C on way back good. Roomy on jumbolinos so no complaints - decent Swiss wine helped. Only bizarre event was leaving a/c at gate B35 ZRH ascending to passport control and wandering along corridors to D35 to board the same a/c.

Flew LHR-IST. Check in quick and efficient at Heathrow nice lounge for a European flight. Service was good and the crew very friendly changeover at Zurich very well organised with priority boarding - was the only pax in business to IST so a very personalised service with two FA s looking after me. Will definitely fly again.

Flew on three sectors. LHR-ZRH ZRH-GVA and GVA-JFK. European flights were pretty standard business class. Coach class seating but with a light meal and wine thrown in. Crew on European flights were absolutely delightful. Geneva New York on an A330 on 15 August 2012 was delightful. Seats not super comfortable but they are lie-flat. Food was really not very palatable but that's true of virtually every airline. Wines were lovely deserts were nice. Crew were attentive. The aircraft was immaculate with larger than usual washrooms. Would happily fly them again.