Miles for Adventures

Swiss Air A350-900 Business Suites Review (ZRH-ICN)

I'm currently writing this while still in the Swiss Business Suite, and let me just say - this is probably one of my favorite products I've ever flown. An ever-so-slight edge still goes to Air India's all-suite product because EVERY suite is like this, but the overall experience is just so so so good.

Posts from this Trip Report:

One Small Caveat

I want to mention that the Business Class Suites typically are reserved for top-tier elite status holders on Lufthansa Group programs. Otherwise, you would need to pay an extra $500-700 ON TOP OF the normal Business Class fare to reserve it. One upside to my style of travel is that I often book last-minute award tickets, so when I booked there were only 3 seats left - all Suites. It's as if I booked a last minute ticket on United and the last seat left was in Economy+...oh no what a bummer ;)

The suites along the windows (4A, 4K, 8A, and 8K) are even more private and spacious with amazing window views in front of the wings. So I guess I could've been even MORE lucky, but hey I won't be too greedy and appear ungrateful :)

Connecting in Zurich Airport

Arrivals from the US are considered sterile and arrive directly into the terminal hall. We arrived at a remote stand in the D concourse and my connection was also departing from the D Gates. If your connecting flight is to the EU, you would need to go through immigration. If your connecting flight is departing between D and E gates, you will need to reclear security.

I stopped by the Lufthansa Lounge in Terminal D and got a small snack of chicken and mushroom over rice. The lounge was a bit of a maze but had a solid variety of seating options. The biggest downside is that the restrooms are located outside - not the most convenient.

So normally I would consider lounge-hopping and checking out the other lounges in Terminal E. And as much as I wanted to take the ZRH moo-train (literally), I didn't really want to bother with clearing security twice more (once at E and once back at D) so I ventured over to the gate area and zoned out to Noah Kahan's newest album (not a paid advertisement - it's just THAT good).

Boarding & Seat

Boarding began about 5 minutes behind schedule. The annoying thing was we had to wait three separate times between scanning our pass, waiting for the crew, and waiting for the wheelchairs to clear. Really wish they had just delayed boarding a little bit longer. Just like the flight from Boston, two jetbridges were connected to the plane, yet we only used one to board.

But all those nitpicks aside, the A350-900 is downright gorgeous. Swiss only has 2 of these planes flying right now - one to Boston and one to Seoul. So it's quite funny that I'm flying both routes that the plane is dedicated to. The cabin interior is new, engines are very quiet, and the ride was very comfortable.

The suite is almost in a league of its own - spacious, private, and a very solid competitive product for Business Class. But again, normally these come with a hefty price tag. I didn't get much of a chance to explore the normal seats, but can't imagine it was in any way "bad".

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These suites have no shortage of storage space. There were a total of 3 separate compartments ranging from "charging chord size" to "laptop size"

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Waiting at each seat was bedding (with a mattress pad this time!), another basic amenity kit, a water bottle, noise-cancelling headphones. The seat also features both USB charging and charger ports for laptops.

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There was also a set of pajamas "made from wood". I don't know what it is about airline pajamas but they are just so damn comfortable - this one was sooooooo soft!

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To the left of the seat is a tablet that controls the IFE system, an individual air nozzle (huzzah!) and a reading light.

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The IFE system could be separately controlled between the tablet and the big screen. You can have the signature Airbus camera on the tablet while you play a separate movie on the big screen.

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And yes, the camera can double as an artificial "window" too!

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In the lie-flat position, this seat is SO MUCH more spacious than the A330 I flew on earlier. It wasn't quite as long, but there was ample space to shift your body into a comfortable sleeping position.

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A special shoutout - the crew

From the start, the crew working this flight were super cordial and kind. The two people working my specific section were just super duper fantastic. Maybe it's because I offered one of them a Tide stick when she spilled some juice on her uniform :)

I literally tried for about 10 minutes to find where the plug is for my laptop charger. She seemed a little distressed and mentioned she also had no clue. I started chatting with her a little and got to learn that it was also their first time ever flying on the A350-900, so we all shared a chuckle as we tried figuring out all the seat functions.

Their service could not have been more balanced. They were all attentive, but not overbearing, and each of them carried a very warm smile. They passed by probably every 30 minutes offering refills on wine and additional snacks. I will say that the lunch service took a very long time - finishing only about 4 hours into the flight - but it was honestly great for me as I was trying to pace how many calories I was consuming over 24 hours :)

Food & Drink

Back to the traditional review. The lunch menu on this leg was even more extensive than the dinner one from the previous evening:

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And yes of course, the ever-so-impressive alcohol list. The wine list was the exact same as the other flight:

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Similar to the previous leg, crew handed out breakfast menus for selection. I committed to actually eat a full breakfast this time, aligning as much as possible with the Korean time zone in an effort to combat overall jetlag.

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And folks, let me tell you, the food did not disappoint! For the appetizer, I chose the chilled prawns:

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The cold soup was a little bland, but still surprisingly refreshing: 3Food2

I was tempted to get the bibimbap, considering just how tasty it is on most other airlines, but instead opted to get my protein fix with a portion of veal:

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And for dessert, strawberry rhubarb with mascarpone:

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Now for long-time readers, you may remember the story of how Xavier caused my worst flight hangover of all-time. I think that the crew today was also trying to get me way too wine-drunk. Maybe they saw how much I appreciated the different flavor combinations, or maybe they just liked me! Each course came with its own unique wine pairing recommendation. And they didn't miss!

Overall Ratings