By David Flynn, October 14 2021 Share this article: Swiss is set to rid its fleet of the Airbus A340, with the big four-engined jet facing a use-by date of 2024 or 2025 at the latest. Swiss International Air Lines has been working away at its fleet refurbishment - with five Airbus A340-300 frames having been completed. Bericht zur Gleichstellung und zur Entgeltgleichheit, Health Management and Occupational Safety, Financial strategy & value-based management, Corporate Governance Declaration, Section 289f HGB, Declaration of compliance, Section 161 AktG, Information on corporate governance practises, Board of Management and Supervisory Board procedures, Compensation of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board, Law on the equal participation of women and men in executive positions, Articles of Association and Rules of Procedure, Shares held by members of the Executive Board. Despite recent complications, the aircraft have been finished on time. The next batch of reviews from this trip will look at a variety of Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Dubai. It was nice to see they had a special diversity section with a range of LGBT content. The upside of a bus gate and boarding via steps is, of course, all the views of the aircraft, which allowed for some AvGeek pictures. The USB was a little difficult to spot initially, as it was tucked into the "shelf" under the IFE screen, which also made it a bit awkward for plugging in devices. I really couldn't fault them for anything. What I find surprising is that SWISS is allegedly deciding between retiring some A330s and retiring all A340s. The aircraft was also outfitted with wifi and, in the interest of a complete review, I thought I should test it out . Plus, your own feed of TPG content. Swiss A330 Business-Class Cabin. . Next to the 777, the A340 has proven to be a workhorse during the crisis. I was seated in 1A and legroom was wholly adequate. (Photo by Victoria Walker/The Points Guy) My seat, 27K, was in the forward economy cabin, with four lavatories separating this cabin from the larger rear one. The boarding experience was, to put it frankly, a little chaotic. Business Class features a staggered lie flat seat. The SWISS Business Class seat are not hugely private, and I was glad to have a window rather than aisle seat: The seat comes with a reading material pouch, coat hanger (although I dont think I saw anyone use this on my flight) and in flight entertainment screen: Under this is the foot cubby hole, which is common these days. %PDF-1.5 Views from inside the cockpit, Aircraft Cabins Review: EgyptAir Lounge Cairo Airport (CAI), Another Year On The Executive Platinum Hamster Wheel. 1 0 obj The arrival meal consisted of couscous salad with pomegranate and oranges. Since they are keeping A340s anyway, a big chunk of the economics of scale for selling A340s is gone anyway. Certain a343s do not have belts on the ottomans, and the crew would not allow face to face dining on these. These are alternating in that odd numbers have the seat directly next to the window with the console on the aisle, whilst even numbers have the seat on the aisle and the console table on the window. Have any existing ones been already upgraded with new First Class seats similar to 777? What American Express bonuses are you still eligible for? What are the most valuable credit card sign-up bonuses? Since cargo is paying any long haul flying right now, that is an really important factor. I mean are they 100% identical. 6]Ds0SDO#LO.Mi/ (iq#/UI_Ow)SL8uRV)260x/R/wz8*#i}Ewdd@zce]]%':nJN$ :UC%oQ>. /], [tpg_rating tpg-rating-score="80" ground-experience="4" cabin-seat="22" amens-ife="8" food-bev="22" service="24" pros="Smart-looking cabin, comfortable throne seat and fantastic service." They also offer far less privacy than many new Business Class seats. . Each of the suites feature 22 inches of seat width, and each of the beds is 80 inches long when in its lie-flat position. After take-off the crew popped around and took another round of drinks orders. It was a daytime flight (and light outside throughout even though all shades had been drawn), but I'm used to arrival meals being somewhat closer to the actual arrival. Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points. [flight_stats ticket-class="first" review-stat-section="Service" tpg-rating="24" tpg-rating-max="25" live-tv="0" tailcam="0" headphones="0" comp-alcohol="0" extra-pillows="No" turndown-service="No" /]. wiki shows fleet of 5 340s, and their announcement is 5 long haul cuts, and parent Lufthansa ending 340s, so i'm guessing that's it, despite SLR range to Asia. Please view our advertising policy page for more information. As part of the refurbishment, each of the first-class suites also features a 32-inch inflight entertainment screen. How do BA American Express companion vouchers work? First, business and elite passengers were called to board just after 11am for our 11:40am departure and were bussed separately to our A330, which has registration HB-JHJ and was delivered new to Swiss eight years ago. The A330 in question will be stored and not retired. As expected, the aircraft and seats have a very modern feel and though the seats look very slim, they were comfortable enough for such a short flight. Swiss A330s feature first, business and economy class cabins. B773s have Props and jets from the good old days, Flight Decks The A359 will replace the A340 superbly and the 789 the same with the A333.. although I think the best airplane to replace the A333 would be definitely the A339neo. I flew Swiss recently and also found the boarding process to be chaotic, however if the gate has the electronic, self scan option then scanning your boarding pass allows you to pass, without needing to queue for the annoying document checks. We'll run a soft credit check to find special offers, but it wont affect your credit score. The transformation planned will be conducted over the next three years through our reach strategic programme, with which we aim to realign our company to the changed market situation and achieve sustainable cost savings of some CHF 500 million.. Having slept all the way through the Swiss flight from Dubai to Zurich, I felt refreshed and ready to enjoy the on-board amenities en route to New York. The tray table was of decent size though it was clunky to get in and out of the side armrest -- similar to what you'd find on American Airlines' Boeing 767 business-class product. Hopefully by then they'll be in better financial shape, too. Anything is better than BA first to South Africa . Programs: LH HON, QF CL, SQ TPPS, VA TCL, EK Gold, HH Diamond, WoH Globalist, Marriott Gold, Location: Stoke on Trent, UK (MAN ), BUE, BKK, DBV. They have a much bigger cargo capacity. Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the authors alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. The A330s are in storage right now. For this first round of completed refreshes, each aircraft was taken out of service for five to six weeks. Special features Each of the seats measures 17.1 inches wide and offers 31 inches of pitch. The A330 forms the backbone of the SWISS long haul fleet with fourteen aircraft. I did try the SWISS branded over-ear headphones, but I dont believe these are noise cancelling and switched over to my own pair of Sennheisers pretty quickly. The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. As far as I know, a schedule has not been set. Seriously, the concept of being plain spoken has been lost and that's sad. What let this flight down was the ground experience in Geneva, which shouldn't even be an issue now that the lounge is complete. Every seat in the middle section has aisle access and they're in a staggered arrangement. Fortunately SWISS has a handful of different designs by Victorinox and on my return I had a very snazzy black tin which I thought was much classier. Same seating as in the A330, and a new IFE. Photos taken by airborne photographers of airborne aircraft, Special Paint Schemes Some of the west coast and Asian routes may not be able to serviced by A330 and the 77W have way too much capacity for these thinner routes. Included as part of the refurbishment program, which started in early 2019, are new cabins and inflight entertainment systems across the first, business and economy cabins. Here are the right contact partners for your specific queries of the Lufthansa Group: Investor Relations contacts for private and professional investors: Should you wish to contact Lufthansa as a customer or business partner, please phone our hotline in Germany on +49 69 86 799 799. After a quick visit to the Lufthansa business-class lounge, it was time to board the A220. Since I'd eaten already in the Lufthansa lounge, I chose a lighter meal of muesli and tea, which was nicely presented on real china. Just because things end in an s doesnt meant you just put the apostrophe at the end and call it a day. The 340s are likely full depreciated and therefore somewhat cheaper overall to operate. Plus, your own feed of TPG content. the refurbishment of its aging A340-300 fleet. It's the simple things. I had the salmon tataki to start, which was great, both in presentation and taste. ght entertainment system with internet connectivity. Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. Compare the cost in points or miles to cash, and see which option is best. Another option is using Avianca's LifeMiles program, which is what we used to book my flight from London (LHR) to New York (JFK) via Geneva (GVA). Sorry - just a stylistic point ( the content is really good as always). SWISS operates two aircraft on long-haul international flights, the Airbus A330 which has long been the workhorse of the SWISS fleet and a sparkling new ensemble of Boeing 777-300ERs. We will never sell your email address or use it for anything except sending our newsletters. The bus was completely packed, though, so it didn't feel like a premium experience. Which Way is Luxury Hotel Pricing Going in 2023? <> (they are happy to give you more once you have used up the initial one, btw). There are normally 10 crew members on this A330, though on my flight there were 11, as one was a trainee. I understood that this would only happen 2018. Yesterday it operated its first commercial flight with the new cabins: Flight AC311, a 4:41 flight from . Overall, both the food, presentation and general service was of good quality and nicely done. Everything from the Goodyear blimp to the Zeppelin, Night Photos Outside of banner ads published through the Boarding Area network, this compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site. It is used to analyse traffic to determine if it is automated traffic generated by bots or a human user. By logging into your account, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and the use of cookies as described therein. The question whether they retire A330 or A340 is related to Asian destinations. Anyways the decision is also linked to any ease contracts and what LH plans on doing with the planes. I think Swiss should have set up some sort of arrangement with a Priority Pass lounge, or it could have offered more than a food voucher for its long-haul business-class passengers. The five Airbus A340 aircraft have been fitted with new cabins in First, Business and Economy Class. What nonsense! Furthermore I'll be looking forward to when A359s will be introduced with LX :). Does anyone has any update on progress of A340 refurbishment? Probably once they get all 9 of the new A340's by next year, they will go ahead and start refurbishing the A330's. Yeah, they wouldn't refurbish them for just 6-7 years of service. <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 595.32 842.04] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Though I was only transiting, all passengers had to clear passport control as if they were entering Switzerland. The IFE screen was on the small side and felt somewhat older-generation, both in terms of operation and quality. [flight_stats ticket-class="first" review-stat-section="Food and Beverage" tpg-rating="22" tpg-rating-max="25" live-tv="0" tailcam="0" headphones="0" meals="2" dine-on-demand="No" comp-alcohol="0" extra-pillows="0" turndown-service="0" /]. Sound analysis. It's easy to come by miles in either of these programs, too, since United is a 1:1 transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Aeroplan is a 1:1 transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards. Each of the IFE screens at the seats measures 11 inches. On long-haul flights, the airline flies the Airbus A330-300 and A340-300 and the Boeing B777-300ER.The staggered, forward-facing 1-2-1 and 2-2-1 seating is a plus for many passengers, but it is wise to select the right seat for your needs in advance. While we sat in the larger secondary business section on our first flight, we happily nabbed seats 4D and 4G in the A330's mini-cabin on this flight. 70,000 bonus points taken away due to refund, get back? Before we took off, there was a choice of Champagne, orange juice or water. Menus were handed out before takeoff as well I liked both the design, size and classiness of the menu, which was in English, German, French and Italian. The cheesecake was very nice, and I enjoyed it with a green tea. See what a point or mile is worth with our appraisals of a loyalty programs currency, based on redemption values. Seat: 23A: From: Zurich-Zrich-Kloten(ZRH) To: Miami-Miami International Airport(MIA) Seat 23A is a bulkhead seat. A number of plans are available, though there isn't one that covers the duration of the flight the maximum available is 220MB which comes at a steep CHF 59 (roughly $60). It out reviews from this trip will look at a variety of Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Dubai offers, it... Look at a variety of Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Dubai and the crew popped around and took another round completed... To face dining on these, so it did n't feel like a premium experience by. 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