Hot Mess – Swiss Business Class A330 Review from Montreal to Zurich

Booking Swiss Business Class

Last month, I found myself heading to Toulouse (TLS), France, to host the very first edition of PMB Experiences, a curated weekend that brought together a niche group of 20 points travellers for AvGeek activities. Based in Ottawa, Canada, the most logical routing was to position to Montreal (YUL) and then continue onward to TLS with an Air Canada nonstop flight from Montreal (YUL) to Toulouse. However, that direct flight was priced at a painful 130,000 Aeroplan points. Instead, I opted for what can only be described as a classic milk run, YUL–ZRH–FRA–TLS. Not elegant or efficient, but definitely cheaper. I booked it as a Business Class Flexible Reward through Aeroplan for 85,000 points plus $190 in taxes and fees, which felt far more reasonable given the circumstances.

The first leg, Montreal (YUL) to Zurich (ZRH), was with Swiss Airlines on board their A330 in Business Class. I’ve flown Swiss Business on the A330 enough times to know exactly what I was signing up for. The throne seats are more hype than substance, and the rest of the cabin offers very little in the way of privacy, especially if you’re flying solo, as I was. Still, at that redemption price, this flight was about managing expectations and making the best of it.

Unfortunately, Aeroplan threw a curveball. At the time of booking, the seat map wouldn’t load and kept prompting me to contact the airline directly. Odd, given that Aeroplan usually allows seat selection on Swiss without issue. I completed the booking with the intention of coming back later to select a seat. That… never happened, as it slid down my priority list first and then completely dropped off. By the time check-in rolled around, my fate was sealed with an auto-assigned middle seat, 14D, in a full business class cabin.

Swiss Business Class A330-300ER
Montreal (YUL) – Zurich (ZRH)
7 hours 25 minutes
Seat 14D

Swiss Business Class Cabin Motif

Business Class Cabin and Seat 14D

The silver lining was that a couple of friends were joining me on the same routing to TLS, which softened the blow of a ~24-hour transit time. After spending some time in the impressive new Aspire International Lounge YUL, we made our way to Gate 59 for the scheduled 4:45 pm departure. Boarding was set for 4:00 pm, but when we arrived a couple of minutes early, we realized it was already well underway. The Business Class lane was empty, Economy boarding had already started, and any hope of early boarding for cabin photos was gone. We ended up among the last few passengers to board a full Business Class cabin.

Boarding Gate 59 at YUL

Seat 14D was already set up with a blanket, an amenity kit, bottled water, and headphones, all neatly at the seat. Credit where it’s due, as the cabin was clean, and the upholstery still looked sharp despite the aircraft’s age. That said, the space felt noticeably cramped, and the IFE screen also seemed smaller than I remember.

Swiss Business Class Amenity Kit, and welcome drink

Swiss Business Class A330 Cabin

Row 12 Middle Seats

Storage was minimal, though I did appreciate the standard Swiss service of offering to hang jackets in the closet up front. The biggest immediate issue, however, was the cabin temperature. Boarding felt like stepping into a convection oven. Passengers were fanning themselves with menus and safety cards, and the crew, clearly uncomfortable themselves, were genuinely apologetic, assuring us the A/C would kick in soon. One crew member delivering pre-departure snacks and drinks was visibly flushed and struggling with the heat. Flying in suits under those conditions could not have been pleasant for cabin crew either.

Seat 14D

The seat itself offered direct aisle access and a decent amount of table space to my left, but minimal separation from my seatmate on the right. Maneuvering in and out of the seat required a careful side shuffle on tiptoes, especially with size 12 boots, to avoid getting stuck. During one such maneuver, I managed to knock over my elderberry welcome drink directly onto the seat controls. Not ideal. Thankfully, the controls survived, and everything worked normally for the rest of the flight.

Roughly an hour after boarding, upon takeoff, the A/C finally came to life, offering some much-needed relief from the sauna-like conditions.

Swiss Business Class – Meals and Service

Once airborne, my attention shifted to the menu. Given the 7-hour red eye arriving in Zurich at 6:00 am local time (2:00 am by my body clock), I had opted to skip the pre-landing breakfast in favour of maximizing sleep, an optimistic decision, as it turned out. My seatmate (stranger to the right), on Zurich time, did the opposite and skipped dinner.

Breakfast Menu – skipped

Dinner Service Menu

Service began shortly after takeoff with drinks and warm nuts. I stuck with my usual G&T routine, this time with lots of ice. The first course, bread, cheese, and green salad, was served together on a single tray. The quinoa salad, described as a “Quinoa and Vegetable Thai Salad with peanut butter and soya dressing,” was underwhelming, not Thai in any way, with walnuts past their prime. Bland would be a generous description. The green salad, on the other hand, was fresh and well-executed, and the bread was excellent, as expected from a European airline.

First Course, Salad and Cheese Tray

For the main course, I chose the Braised Beef Cheek with shallot jus, served with mashed potatoes, sautéed sugar snap peas, and red radish confit. Presentation wasn’t winning any beauty contests, but the flavour absolutely delivered. The beef was tender, the jus paired beautifully with the mashed potatoes, and the snap peas and radish added a welcome bit of freshness.

Main Course – Beef Cheek

Dessert was an apple crumble, which was perfectly acceptable for an airplane dessert, but nothing memorable. The cheese plate worked well alongside it, and the Swiss chocolate was a fitting and satisfying end to the meal.

Dessert Course – Apple Crumble

Overall, the food and beverage offering significantly outperformed the hard product. It did a lot of heavy lifting to compensate for the tight seat and dated IFE.

Heat Issues in the Cabin – Trouble Sleeping

After dinner, I settled in for what I hoped would be a solid 5 hours of sleep ahead of a long travel day onward to Toulouse. I assumed the cabin temperature would cool down once service wrapped up and most passengers drifted off. It didn’t.

Over the next four hours, I woke up repeatedly, once to remove my socks because my feet were uncomfortably warm, and again to ditch the blanket entirely because it was actively working against me. At one point, I realized my pillow was warm and slightly damp from sweat, which is not a sentence anyone wants to write in a Business Class review.

I’m well aware that European carriers tend to keep cabins warmer than their North American counterparts, but the temperature on this flight was an ongoing issue from boarding to landing. I overheard the couple seated in front of me eventually call the crew to complain, right around the time my patience was wearing thin. Unfortunately, there was no noticeable improvement, and the remainder of the flight was spent in a state best described as “trying to sleep.”

Takeaway

By the time we descended into Zurich Airport, I was more relieved than refreshed. This wasn’t a terrible flight, but it was an entirely forgettable one, aside from the damp pillow, which will unfortunately live rent-free in my memory.

Between the constrained seating, dated cabin, underwhelming IFE, and persistent heat issues, I can’t recommend flying Business Class on Swiss’s A330. The silver lining for Montreal-based travellers, however, is that Swiss has upgraded the YUL–ZRH route to the Airbus A350 featuring the new Swiss Senses product, alongside the Boston–Zurich route.

Even better? I’m booked to try the A350 on this very route in March 2026, and I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing how much of an improvement it delivers. Sometimes, the best takeaway from a flight is knowing that something better is coming next.