After arriving in Zurich on our SWISS A330 Business Class Flight from New York-JFK, we headed straight for our connecting flight to Prague.
Booking
This flight was the second leg of our JFK-ZRH-PRG routing that we booked for 70,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $74 in taxes and fees per person. We were originally scheduled to fly United Polaris IAD-BRU and connect onto Brussels Airlines for our final leg to Prague, but had to modify our reservation a couple of weeks before departure.
Pre-Flight
Our flight from New York-JFK to Zurich arrived slightly behind schedule which left us with just over an hour to make our connection in Zurich. We arrived in Terminal E and our flight to Prague was departing from Terminal A. We followed the signs for transfers and ended up at the Skymetro tram station which would take us over to the main terminal. Since we were one of the first international arrivals, the whole airport was calm and empty.
After a three minute train ride we found ourselves in the main terminal area and followed the signs over to Terminal A.
Our flight to Prague was departing from gate A55 which happened to be a bus gate. There was a waiting area upstairs with a decent amount of seating and some shopping.
A few minutes before boarding was scheduled to begin, we headed downstairs to our gate.
Lounge
SWISS Business Class passengers have access to three SWISS Business Lounges in Terminals A, B/D, and E. The locations, hours of operation, and entry requirements can be found here.
Boarding
Boarding began on time with Group 1 being invited to board first. Unfortunately our bus wasn’t at the gate yet so we scanned our boarding passes and waited in a small holding area. The bus for our flight arrived a couple of minutes after boarding began.
Swiss International Air Lines
LX 1485
ZRH-PRG (Zurich – Prague Vaclav Havel)
Seat: 1A (Business)
A220-100 (HB-JBH)
Scheduled: 7:25a-8:40a
Actual: 7:17a-8:40a
A single bus was used for all passengers which was less than ideal, especially since we sat at the gate for 10 minutes before starting our drive out to the plane.
A light rain was falling as we stepped off the bus, though the only impact was to my photos. The airstairs were covered so we were able to stay dry during boarding. Soon we were stepping onboard HB-JBH, a nearly 7 year old A220-100, one of the first delivered to SWISS back when it was the CS100, a few seconds after getting off the bus.
Seat
The SWISS Airbus A220 is laid out in a 2-3 seating configuration, which is very passenger friendly as there is only one middle seat per row. In Business Class it was the typical EuroBiz setup which consisted of an economy seat with a blocked middle. In the two seat side of the cabin, this meant you didn’t have a seatmate at all as either the window or the aisle seat was blocked. I would recommend the A-B seats for solo travelers in Business Class.
Since we were traveling together, I assigned us seats 1D and 1F, the window and aisle bulkhead seats on the right side of the aircraft. The bulkhead seats have the tray table located in the armrest, so the seat width is slightly decreased.
Legroom in the bulkhead was good, and much better than the rest of the plane. Since Mrs. ATX wanted to try and sleep, she took 1F while I took 1D. If you’re tall 1D is great as the legroom is limitless. However, you are easily bumped in this seat as the aisle to the galley is off center. On a longer flight this trade off may be worth it for taller flyers.
A bottle of water and a moist towelette were handed out during boarding.
As boarding wrapped up, I noticed that Business Class was only 30% full and asked the flight attendant if I could move over to 1A and they happily obliged. Guess I’d be able to get some photos after all.
The interiors on the SWISS A220s were pretty bare bones with power not being offered in the cabin and a lack of many other amenities. There was however a small monitor overhead that showed the moving map and information about the flight. Individual air nozzles and a reading light were also located above each seat.
Departure
We had a light load this morning and even though we had a small delay boarding the bus, we still managed to complete the boarding process almost 10 minutes early. The crew performed the safety demonstration and then shut the curtain to the galley before we pulled off the stand.
Our hardstand position was a long way from our departure runway and we had a 15-20 minute taxi over to the takeoff queue.
Our flight was departing during the early morning departure bank and we were 4th in line for takeoff, behind an Edelweiss A320, Air Baltic A220, and a new SWISS A321neo.
Twenty minutes after leaving our hardstand it was our turn. We blasted off of Runway 28 to the west before looping around and heading East towards Prague.
During our climb, we passed over a few villages on the outskirts of Zurich that were just waking up for the day.
In-Flight
As we crossed through 10,000 feet, the flight crew hopped up and began our inflight service. The crew working our cabin came through first to take drink orders, I asked for a glass of champagne which was poured at my seat. Though a menu wasn’t distributed the champagne on offer was respectable, especially for EuroBiz, and was the Nicolas Feuillatte Reserve Exclusive Brut.
We had some light chop on our climb out and for the remainder of our flight. The captain kept the seatbelt sign off for the duration of the flight. As the sun rose, the views below our aircraft got even better.
We didn’t get any menus on this flight so breakfast was a mystery until it was delivered. Even now, writing this report, I have no idea what we had. A bread basket was offered along with breakfast and I chose a croissant.
While the croissant and prosciutto were delicious, that was the extent of the good parts of this meal. I ended up sending the rest back after a bite or two. In exchange, the flight attendants kindly topped off my champagne again.
Roughly 30 minutes before arrival, I decided to check out the Business Class lavatory at the front of the aircraft. While the A220 isn’t large, even by narrowbody standards, the lavatory was a decent size and had plenty of room to move around.
Toiletries were a collaboration between Soeder and SWISS and lotion and face spray were available on offer.
As I returned to my seat, the pilot announced our initial descent into Prague. The flight attendant working the Business Class cabin brought me one final refill of champagne along with a small Swiss chocolate.
Arrival
As we descended into Prague we took the long way around to Vaclav Havel Airport, overflying the center of town before circling around to land from the northeast. This gave us great views of the city during our approach.
We landed on Runway 24 and taxied over to our arrival gate in Concourse C.
Since we were seated in the first row, we were off of the plane just seconds after arrival. This portion of the terminal had glass jet bridges so we were able to get one final look at our SWISS A220-100.
We parked at the far end of Concourse C and made the long walk to baggage claim.
Our bags beat us to the belt and we were headed outside to meet our driver ten minutes after arrival.
Summary
In Economy and Business Class the A220 offers a great passenger experience. Though we had a fairly short trip, the SWISS cabin crew went above and beyond to make us feel at home. My only gripes about this flight are related to the food as the breakfast itself wasn’t great and no menu was offered to let us know what was being served. Compared to other European carriers, SWISS Business Class is above average and I would gladly fly with them again.
In This Trip Report
- Introduction
- Delta B737-800 Comfort+ (AUS-JFK)
- Delta Sky Club Terminal 4 Concourse A (JFK)
- Lufthansa Business Class Lounge Terminal 1 (JFK)
- Lufthansa Senator Lounge Terminal 1 (JFK)
- SWISS A330-300 Business Class (JFK-ZRH)
- SWISS A220-100 Business Class (ZRH-PRG)
- Andaz Prague
- Three Days in Prague
- Erste Premier Lounge Prague (PRG)
- KLM Cityhopper EMB-195 Economy (PRG-AMS)
- KLM Boeing 737-800 Economy (AMS-BGO)
- Widerøe EMB-190 Economy (BGO-TOS)
- Clarion Hotel The Edge Tromsø
- Exploring Tromsø and Chasing the Northern Lights
- Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) A320 Premium Economy (TOS-ARN)
- Sheraton Stockholm
- Exploring Stockholm
- KLM Boeing 737-800 Business Class (ARN-AMS)
- KLM B787-9 Business Class (AMS-AUS)
