I’ll start my next trip report series next, but first, a diversion to a special experience I recently enjoyed. As seen in my teaser post, I recently managed to score an upgrade to SWISS B777-300ER First Class. Though I booked this flight in Business Class, an upgrade offer at check-in proved too hard to resist. I originally redeemed 70,000 Aerolplan points for the route from Zürich to Dallas, plus CAD 161.90 (~$120) in fees. I then paid CHF 2,070 (~$2,490) for the upgrade to First Class. Why? Because as I said earlier, a fool and his money are soon parted, and I’m living proof.
SWISS (LX) Flight 8
- Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- Depart: Flughafen Zürich (ZRH), Terminal 2, Gate E26, 13:27, 22m late
- Arrive: Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Terminal 5, Gate M20, 15:42, 13m early
- Duration: 9 hours 15 minutes
- Seat 2A
- Equipment: Boeing 777-300ER
Check-In and Boarding
I kind of messed up from the start, reporting to the Schengen check-in area to check in. Inadvertently, though, I actually did myself a favor, as it let me check out the SWISS First Class Lounge A. After an excellent experience at both the A and E lounges, I headed to the gate about 10 minutes before boarding. SWISS does a decent job of separating the various boarding groups at Zürich. Each group number is separated into a different line at the gate. Soon enough, after preboarding, the agents called Group 1, and I headed onboard with the sole other First Class passenger.
SWISS B777-300ER First Class – Seating and Interior
The First Class cabin on the SWISS B777-300ER consists of 8 suites in a 1-2-1 configuration. Seats measure 22″ wide, and fold into an 80″ long bed fully flat. The design of the suite somewhat reminded me of ANA’s First Class “Square”. I found the blue cloth seats with wood trim simple, yet elegant. It’s very much in keeping with the design of SWISS’s lounges. In addition, I appreciate the varied seating options available in First. If you value privacy, the window seats certainly deliver. On the other hand, if traveling as a couple, the center seats actually allow you to talk to each other.
Before settling in, I also took a quick peek at the Business Class cabin. SWISS Business Class is relatively accessible with miles, but isn’t really a competitive product at this point. Alternating rows don’t even offer direct aisle access fuselage-side seats.
The window seats feature an oversized storage area on the window side. It’s plenty big enough to store your laptop while eating.
Additional storage is inside a compartment hidden within the suite door. It’s primarily meant for coat storage, but there are a couple of cubbies, and space for laptop/briefcase/purse storage at the bottom as well.
For additional lighting, there’s a neat lamp along the window. It reminded me a little of the lamps in Air France La Première on the B777-300ER.
Basic seat controls are on the window-side armrest. A more comprehensive set of controls is inside the armrest console, next to the IFE controller. Somehow, I completely missed these controls, which included a massage function. No matter, even the basic controls allow you to find a comfortable position.
Waiting at each seat was a “Zimmerli” amenity kit. The exact style and color vary by season, but the offering on this flight was a black soft-sided pouch. I found it a good quality bag, but perhaps a bit on the large side? Then again, it’s perhaps a perfect road trip bag for a party of three. I can easily stick toiletries for three in here and shove it in the corner of the trunk or backseat.
The kit includes toothpaste, a toothbrush, eye shades, ear plugs, and Sisley beauty products. Beauty products are in a separate bag, and include lip balm, hand cream, and face cream. Don’t get me wrong, the Sisley products are very good. But why not provide amenities from a Swiss brand?
Separately, the FA completed the amenity kit by handing out socks and a small box of Ricola. (There was actually a choice of a couple of other items, but I forgot what they were. Sadly, they won’t give you an alphorn with the Ricola, though.)
When you’re ready for bed, the seat folds into a bed measuring 6 feet 8 inches long. The FA will also make the bed for you with a mattress pad and duvet. She couldn’t get my seat completely into bed mode. Fortunately, though, with only two other First Class passengers, she made the bed in Seat 1D instead. I found it quite comfy in bed mode. With the mattress pad and cozy comforter, I ended up sleeping for almost four hours.
With the door closed, it’s reasonably private inside the suite. However, this isn’t like the Singapore A380 or Korean Air 747 First Class Suites, with floor-to-ceiling walls. It’s more like the half-doors in modern Business Class products, like the British Airways or Delta One suites. You can still see inside each seat when walking down the aisle.
One other notable feature of the suites – window seats include fully closable blinds.
Compared to the Lufthansa Group’s other First Class option, SWISS definitely beats Lufthansa’s classic First Class seats. As much as I enjoyed LH First, the seats just aren’t particularly special. SWISS at least offers a competitive hard product, if not leading edge.
In-Flight Entertainment
SWISS B777-300ER First Class seats come equipped with a 32″ TV screen. These screens are high quality, offering excellent resolution. I’ve seen conflicting reports on whether this has touchscreen capability or not. However, given the distance from the seat to the screen, good luck actually using it as a touchscreen.
As mentioned earlier, the IFE controller is in the console in the window-side armrest. I found it fairly responsive and easy to use. There is also a 110v power outlet and USB port inside the console.
SWISS also offers a pair of decent quality headphones to use with the IFE unit.
The entertainment system on the 777 provides a wide variety of movies, across several genres. In particular, there’s an extensive selection of European and Swiss selections to peruse.
I found the TV selection a bit more limited, but nonetheless, along with the movies, there’s still plenty to keep you occupied for 9 hours.
There’s also a specific kids selection if traveling with the entire family.
And if you forgot to load music to your iPhone, there is a substantial selection of audio to choose from.
SWISS does offer free WiFi to first class passengers by way of a promo code. All other passengers can purchase a full flight pass for CHF 35 (~$42). That’s a bit steep, but at least there are no data caps. Alternatively, SWISS offers a 4-hour pass for CHF 25, or a complimentary messaging-only plan.
I didn’t try to work, but I found speeds satisfactory for basic web surfing, social media, and email. It is also possible to switch between devices during the flight.
And of course, you can avgeek out to your heart’s content with the moving map.
SWISS B777-300ER First Class – Food, Beverage, and Service
First, I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about SWISS’s pre-ordering service for onboard meals. First and Business Class passengers may pre-order meals from 6 weeks to 24 hours before departure. Meanwhile, Economy Class passengers and pre-order buy-on-board meals up to 12 hours before departure. Note that the Flyertalk forums suggest SWISS does not offer pre-ordering departing the USA. So this may not work when flying to Europe. To get started, go to the manage booking section of the SWISS website. Then, scroll down to the “Everything for your Trip” section and click on “Pre-select your meal”.
After selecting your flights, the menu appears for you to make your selections. SWISS does offer additional selections only available online, marked “Pre-Select Exclusive”. Note that the menu applies to the cabin originally booked, so the system presented me the Business Class menu. However, if you later upgrade, SWISS does honor your online selection.
I confess, I thought long and hard about ordering the burger. But ultimately, I got pulled in by the “capuns”, or traditional Swiss dumplings. As a cheese and cream sauce freak, the picture just looked too delicious to pass up.
Service kicked off with a very hearty welcome from the First Class FA, who cheerfully gave me a quick overview of the seat and asked if I wanted a pre-departure beverage. As usual, I chose the champagne for the obligatory champagne selfie.
SWISS offers Pommery Cuvée Louise Brut Millésime 2006 in First Class. For you champagne snobs, this is a pretty high-end offering that retails for about $200/bottle. The drink came accompanied with rosemary cashews.
Shortly thereafter, the FA brought the menu for the flight. If you didn’t pre-order, or just changed your mind, there is a full selection of main courses to order from. One thing to consider, though, is that if you purchase an upgrade too close to departure, you may find limited options if you didn’t pre-order.
Before departure, the captain came through the First Class cabin to personally provide each passenger the flight plan. This is a small gesture I’ve consistently found on European airlines in First, which I appreciate.
Approximately 35 minutes after departure, the FA took drink orders. This was served shortly with an amuse bouche of a breadstick and seared scallop. After enjoying some Swiss wines in the E Lounge before departure, I went with a Swiss white once again.
I really enjoyed the Petite Arvine, a wine with primarily a mix of citrus and apple, but also a bit of a salty note. It made for an intriguing mix of flavors. Apparently, this wine has graced the rotation in SWISS First for a while now. It’s also fairly reasonably priced at CHF 25 (~$30) per bottle. You’ll also notice, the ottoman by the TV doubles as a buddy seat with the table extended. However, it’s a bit of a tight fit to get in and out of the second seat.
About 15 minutes later, the FA came by again to properly set the table for lunch.
About 10 minutes after that, the FA presented the appetizer course, and a bread basket. You can mix and match pretty much anything you want off the appetizer menu. I started off with the salmon filet. Yeah, I know, I don’t do fish. But I’ve really taken a liking to smoked salmon.
I found the salmon quite delicious with the accompaniments. Sorry, but if you’re looking for caviar, SWISS doesn’t offer it. To go with the salmon, I took an excellent pretzel roll from the basket. Nothing quite like having pretzel bread in a part of the world where they know how to make pretzel bread.
I also ordered the soup, a wild garlic soup with sumac salmon, quinoa, onion, and panko.
I wasn’t enamored with the soup. It looks beautiful, but the entire dish just felt overcooked throughout. I found the salmon a little tough, and the garlic base tasted over-roasted.
About 30 minutes later, the much awaited main course arrived. As mentioned earlier, I pre-ordered the capuns. A dish the FA seemed to be really proud of. I also switched over to the Swiss red, a Syrah, a little before the meal arrived.
Capuns are traditional Swiss dumplings from the canton of Graubünden (Grisons), in the far east of Switzerland. Generally, capuns are made with Spätzle dough, stuffed with dried meat and cheese, and then wrapped in a chard leaf. Then, the dish is finished with a cream or bouillon sauce and Alpine cheese. This version, a vegetarian one, skipped the dried meat, and came with a Bechamel sauce. Sort of like a cannelloni with a Swiss chard wrapping.
Needless to say, this was cheese and cream overload. But if you like cheese and cream overload like I do, it’s sinfully delicious. Heavy, but delicious, and they even got the sauce to brown a little up top. I definitely didn’t regret ordering it. I also enjoyed the Syrah. It’s peppery as you expect from a Syrah, but also had some nice berry notes. The wine is moderately priced, at $50-60 a bottle
By this time, I felt way too full for dessert, so I ordered the cheese plate instead. Today’s selection included various cheeses from the canton of Uri, including Urner Alpkäse. I think it’s the rinded one on the bottom left. In any event, it was a tasty selection, with nice, ripe fruits as an accompaniment.
I intended to order the Swiss single malt, but before I could, the FA suggested the dessert wine. Alrighty then, if you insist. I did enjoy the Sauternes, so can’t argue with the recommendation.
Meal service definitely was a bit drawn out, concluding about 2 hours 45 minutes after departure. For a daytime westbound flight, that’s fine. I actually enjoy a drawn-out premium class meal service, which is why I prefer westbound flights from Europe. But hopefully the eastbound redeye service is a bit more efficient.
I finally woke up about an hour and a half before landing, and the FA handed me the snack menu.
Still feeling stuffed from lunch in the lounge and in the air, I ordered the dried meat and cheese plate. Or at least, the menu said meat and cheese, but it was only cold cuts. Regardless, the cold cuts were quite tasty. Accompanying the snack was some crusty white bread (also delicious), and a plain coffee. I forgot that SWISS offered espresso drinks on board. Doh!
Finally, service concluded with a choice of truffles from the Sprüngli box.
Overall, I found the meal service excellent. Most of the food and drink was tasty, and I appreciated the regional Swiss specialties available, both with the food and wine. Sure, it’s airplane food, but I appreciate it when airlines try to represent their home countries in the food department. And SWISS actually does a pretty good job delivering genuinely good food.
Service overall was really quite excellent. The veteran FA serving First Class provided warm, inviting service from start to finish, and seemed to genuinely enjoy her job and providing excellent service. I was curious about several of the food selections, and she seemed to quite enjoy sharing her knowledge of her home country.
One decided miss, at least compared to Lufthansa and Air France – SWISS offers no special ground handling on arrival.
Flightseeing
I enjoyed three days of incredible spring weather in Bavaria, which continued in Zürich on return day. This meant some excellent flightseeing as we left Zürich. First up, some planespotting of other jumbos, including another SWISS 77W, and an Edelweiss A340.
We took off directly to the west to begin our 9+ hour journey. With a seat facing south, the beautiful May afternoon afforded gorgeous views of the valleys and Alps of central Switzerland.
Later, we passed the Bristol Channel as we passed over England near Cardiff.
And finally, we left Europe for good as we passed the coast of Ireland.
As we approached Chicago, the local weather provided some fascinating scenery. Dense fog remained over Lake Michigan, but largely retreated from Chicago by mid-afternoon. The result? A blanket of fog lurking just offshore, tickling the far northern end of the downtown skyline.
We actually landed quite early at O’Hare, at 3:07 pm. Unfortunately, with a busy day at the airfield (the fog mucked things up earlier), that meant an extended trip to the penalty box. At least that meant more opportunities for planespotting. And the pickings were pretty good, starting with an Emirates 777.
And then a real treat – the Queen of the Skies still rules at Lufthansa, with the 747-8i.
United, of course, had many models to choose from at its home airport, including this 737.
Then, an ANA Triple-Seven as we finally limped our way to Terminal 5.
And finally, a pair of A350s, one from British Airways, and another from Cathay Pacific.
Even with the dreaded trip to the penalty box, we still arrived 13 minutes early. That meant one last junket before heading home. I had a better than 4-hour layover, with a departure just before 8 pm. That’s too late to try and eat at home, but O’Hare might have the most pathetic food selection of any major US airport. I mean, seriously, how is the absolute garbage at ORD even possible in a food town like Chicago? Anyway, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I ordered an Uber in search of Chicago-style pizza. But this time, I sought out thin crust, not deep dish. A little research took me to Gianni’s in Franklin Park, about 20 minutes from O’Hare.
Thin crust isn’t as effective in a medium pizza as it is in a large. But still, it was soooo much better than fast food at the airport.
Final Thoughts
There’s no question, SWISS First is an excellent product on the merits. SWISS provides excellent service and food, the First Class lounges are quite good, and the hard product is at least competitive, if not groundbreaking. But here’s the thing – I had to plunk down a LOT for this flight. SWISS simply doesn’t release First Class space to partners. Which means you’re talking somewhere around $2,000 for an upgrade, plus the points for a Business Class award. (Or paying a whole lot of cash outright.)
Was this worth 70,000 miles AND an extra $2,500 on top? Honestly, not really. I had fun trying this once, but I probably won’t do it again. Well, unless I win the lottery and paying $10,000 for a plane ticket is pocket change…
