Review: Swiss Business Class, throne seat on A330 Montreal to Zurich

by Anshul
8 comments
a seat with a pillow and a table with a window

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Swiss business class is a solid product and I have flown them several times before. In fact, Swiss is my go-to airline when trying to book via Aeroplan. This flight was part of my trip to India, YUL-ZRH-BOM and was booked using Aeroplan miles, 75K + $75.45 CAD in taxes.

Flt LX 87 Montreal (YUL) – Zurich (ZRH)
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300ER
Duration: 7hr 25min
Seat: 12A (Business Class – Throne Seat)

Swiss Business Class Throne Seat

When flying solo, my favorite seats in Business class are the ‘Throne seats’ which offer a great mix of space and privacy – 4A/6A/8A/10A. I do my best to snag them at the time of booking or during online check-in, 24 hrs before the flight. This time I was in seat 12A.

Swiss Business Class

Swiss A330 Business and First seat configuration via Seatguru

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Throne Seat

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class throne seat layout

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Non-Thrown-Seat layout

Boarding, Seat amenities and Pre-Departure service

I arrived at the gate 5 minutes before boarding and was surprised to see a long lineup of Business/Priority passengers already queued up in the ‘Business’ lane. Once boarding commenced, it was quick and easy. I boarded the flight and settled into my throne seat, 12A. A pillow, blanket and an amenity kit were already placed on the seats. My view out the window was in good company of Air Transat, Air France and a couple of Air Canada flights.

Swiss Business Class

Window view from seat 12A

Shortly upon settling in, we were offered a hot towel service followed by our pre-departure drink. I chose a glass of champagne (Duval-Leroy Brut) and browsed the menu.

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Pre departure drink, hot towel service and menu

 

Swiss Business Class

Customary champagne+wing click, because why not!

 

Swiss Business Class

Plenty of leg room and storage area around the throne seat

 

Swiss Business Class

12 A entertainment unit – Old equipment but good picture quality.

 

Swiss Business Class

Plenty of room for work and play – Food tray, Seat controls and remote control

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class reading lights, power plug and headphone jack

I particularly like the feature to adjust the seat cushion softness. I prefer a firmer ‘bed’ but a softer seat, if that makes sense. Personally, it makes a huge difference to my seat comfort and experience.

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Seat cushion controls with massage, mood lighting and seat config

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class USB plug and that other thing I never use?!

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Headphones

 

The amenity kit was a neatly designed Swiss bag with the standard amenities of eye mask, socks, dental kit, lip balm etc. Perfectly adequate.

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Amenity kit

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Amenity contents – Eye Mask, Socks, dental kit, lip balm and ear plugs.

 

A quick push-back and a short taxi later, we were ready to hit the sky!

Swiss Business Class

Homie! AC flight with new livery

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Air A330 over the St. Lawrence river

 

In-Flight Service

Once in the air and at cruising altitude, the crew was quickly in action with a drinks service followed by the first meal. For passengers that don’t like a full dinner service, the quick ‘Dine and Recline’ option is great. I usually opt for this when connecting after a long flight onto the next. For this flight however, I was set to experience the full service.

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Drinks menu

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Food Menu

Just before take-off, the crew had already collected a breakfast order.

Swiss Business Class

The meal service started with drinks and a bowl of cheese/black olives/sun-dried tomatoes – yum! So much better than a bowl of nuts, in my opinion.

Swiss Business Class

 

Swiss Business Class

Best part of the drinks service 😉

I did not mind the crew re-filling my bowl of olives and sun-dried tomatoes, also generous re-fills of the champagne 🙂 . Shortly thereafter, meal was served. I wanted to try something new and the crew recommended the Bramata (Swiss Polenta with mushrooms and spinach). The Bramata lived up to its reputation and some more. It was incredibly flavorful and delicious!

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Dinner

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Salad

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Main Course – Traditional Swiss Bramata

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Cheese plate

The espresso and the cheesecake hit the spot!

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Coffee and Dessert

Quite often the meal service in Business Class tends to be long and drawn out. Not on this flight though, the service was really well paced and allowed sufficient time after to get some work done before tucking in for the night.

Wifi OnBoard

Unfortunately, I could not even pretend to be busy – Wifi was available on-board but did not work. Several resets later, I was still unable to log on. Wasn’t complaining though, those seats lie flat for a reason 😉

Swiss Business Class

 

Swiss Business Class

 

Swiss Business Class

 

Lie Flat bed

The sole reason I choose not to fly economy, if the flight time is more than 4 hours. The lie flat configuration of the seats was great and allowed me a good 4 hour sleep overnight, worth-every-mile-spent. Swiss Business Class seats allow me great shoulder room while sleeping, which is a bonus for a broad shouldered person like me.

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Lie Flat Bed

 

Swiss Business Class

I woke up just in time to experience yet another beautiful sunrise, one of my favorite perks of flying! 🙂

Swiss Business Class

Sunrise over the English Channel

I got up exactly an hour to go, just as the breakfast was being served.

Swiss Business Class

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Breakfast

And Just like that it was time to change out of my PJ’s, in preparation for landing.

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Washroom

 

Swiss Business Class

 

Swiss Business Class

Swiss Business Class Toiletries

 

Take Away

Swiss Air Business Class is my go-to option for an Aeroplan redemption. If you haven’t tried it yet, you must. Hard to go wrong with 75K one-way to India and no fuel surcharges (55K from NA to Europe). It is a solid product and if you are able to snag a throne seat, even better! The friendly and attentive crew running a tight service was the cherry on top. The only critique (if I must) is that the setup (entertainment system etc.) on my flight was dated and seems ready for a refresh. Would love to try the new Swiss Air business class product on that route. I hope the new Air Canada loyalty program , set to release in 2020, continues to offer Swiss Air Business Class at the same rates, such a great redemption.

8 comments

ASK60 March 27, 2019 - 12:25 pm

Thank you for a very informative and upbeat review. Based in part on your description, we re-booked our flight to Vienna from Montreal on to Swiss from Austrian Air. I sensed a recurrent theme about the “throne” seats and would like to splurge but my significant other wants to be close to me – not sure why because she sleeps during flights and I do not!!! I also loved your description of the food and beverage service … did you find the stewards liberal in coming around with drinks during the flight? Thank you again for the great review!

Reply
Points Miles and Bling March 27, 2019 - 3:49 pm

Thanks for the positive feedback, much appreciated! Yes, in my years of doing swiss biz on this route, they are more than generous with the pours and come around often. You can also keep requesting after the service has stopped, no issues 🙂

Throne seats can now be booked only 48 hrs before checkin, if available. You can do the two middle with one side a bit more open to aisle and other a quazi-throne. Maybe a peaceful solution for you, lol

Enjoy your trip! Feel free to drop a line after and let us know how it panned out – cheers!

Reply
Lucas Diaz March 25, 2018 - 10:44 am

Great Review! Going on Swiss biz this summer!

Reply
Points Miles and Bling March 25, 2018 - 11:04 am

Awesome! Hope you get to enjoy the thone seats as well 🙂 Regardless, swiss is a great product. Cheers!

Reply
cahdot May 19, 2017 - 6:01 pm

are all Biz seats throne like???

Reply
Bling May 20, 2017 - 5:54 am

No – 4A/6A/8A/10A/12A are throne seats. Check the first picture of the seat map, its easy to see how most other seats are “exposed” to the aisle. Semi-thrones if you will, not fit for a king 😉

Reply
Flight Detective May 19, 2017 - 10:16 am

Really nice report – thanks for sharing! That Bramata looks excellent and is probably what I would have tried as it’s the “local” dish. Great to see what Swiss are doing long haul – sounds like an excellent flight!

Reply
Bling May 19, 2017 - 10:22 am

Thanks Trent! Me too, always look for a local dish and had never tried the Bramata – loved it! Cheers 🙂

Reply

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