Trip Report: The SWISS "Roche coach" to Zurich

Starting July 6, there will be two SWISS A340 flights per day at SFO (Chris McGinnis)

Starting July 4, there will be two SWISS A340 flights per day at SFO (Chris McGinnis)

Last month I flew SWISS International Air Lines in business class from San Francisco to Madrid via Zurich, and returned three days later from Barcelona via Zurich to San Francisco. I was super excited to give the airline a try since it had been since Swissair days that I’d flown a Swiss airline!

My economy class roundtrip fare was $1,380, but my contacts at the airline were able to finagle last minute business class upgrades in both directions for this review.

SWISS is a member of the Star Alliance, and is a subsidiary of Lufthansa.

Here’s my report:

First off…. why “Roche coach?” Well, back in 2009 South San Francisco-based Genentech was acquired by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche. Roche is based in Switzerland and wanted a daily nonstop to San Francisco for its executives, so it signed a guarantee with SWISS to buy a certain number of business class seats each year- enough to keep the route in the black for the airline. That had locals in San Francisco chuckling that the daily A340 flight should be dubbed the “Roche coach” due to the company’s support.

With or without the support of Roche, the flight has done very well– so much so that SWISS is doubling its daily frequencies between SFO and Zurich for the summer season. My flights in both directions were sold out.

SWISS deploys it flagship Airbus A340 on the SFO-ZRH route, which is an older, four engine jet, but its business class seat and cabin are new as of 2009. The plane has 219 seats: Eight in first class, 47 in business class, and 164 in economy. There is no premium economy section. (When SWISS gets its new Boeing 777s in 2016, the San Francisco route will likely get one.)

For those who plan to sleep or work in flight, the best seats in business and economy class are in two forward cabins that are much smaller and quieter than the larger aft sections. See seat map here. I suggest booking seats in the forward cabin for the overnight flight from the US to Switzerland, and in the larger, more convivial larger rear cabins (and ice cream cones) for the long daylight flight back.

Unfortunately, wi-fi is not available any SWISS flights yet. But I bet it will likely be on those new 777s when they come into service next year.

I will report on the food and drink offered on my SWISS flights in a future post so stay tuned…UPDATE: Here’s our report on inflight dining onboard SWISS

Seat 4K on the bulkhead row between first and business class (Chris McGinnis)

My seat on the overnight SFO-ZRH flight was 4K- a bulkhead business class seat on the right side with a good view through the curtain into the first class cabin and no seat next to me. Since I was in the forward business class cabin with just nine seats, it almost felt like flying private and was very good for sleeping on the nice flat bed seat.

A blueberry sunset over San Francisco (Chris McGinnis)

A blueberry sunset over San Francisco from a SWISS A340 departing 7:30 pm (Chris McGinnis)

From SFO to Zurich, flight #39 departs very late– at 7:30pm and arrives at 4:00pm the next day. That was perfect timing for watching a lovely blueberry sunset out the window at takeoff. The summer seasonal flight #37 departs SFO at 2:30 pm and arrives at 11 a.m the next day.

SWISS A340 business class (Image: SeatGuru)

Note the unusual staggered seat configuration & single seat along the windows (Chris McGinnis)

SWISS uses a staggered layout in business class, similar to that used by Aer Lingus (See Aer Lingus Trip Report). This means that there are some excellent, private options for single travelers– with five “Captain Kirk” style seats on each flight: 4A, 6A, 8A (no window), 10A and 12A.

The best seats for couples traveling together are 7AB, 9AB, 11AB, and 14AB (there is no row 13 on this plane.)

The best single seats along the right side are those with a console protecting the passenger from the aisle– 5K, 7K, 9K, 11K and 14K.

The best economy class seats are on row 23, a bulkhead row that offers extensive legroom and no lavatory nearby.

Business class seats are dark brown with pleasant pale blue stitching (Chris McGinnis)

Single seats with consoles on both sides are the best seats on the plane! (Chris McGinnis)

The seatback entertainment system felt a bit outdated, but offered a robust selection of good movies (Chris McGinnis)

The inflight entertainment system on this SWISS A340 felt a little dated compared to some of the newfangled offerings I’ve experienced lately. Nonetheless, the movie selection was good (Big Eyes, Still Alice, Interstellar, Birdman in May) and I really liked that nook under the screen for easy access to items needed during the flight, like my notebook, camera, phone, headset and water.

Sleep is easy in the quiet forward section in business class- just 9 seats (Chris McGinnis)

The best part about the lie-flat seats on SWISS is that when fully extended, the are very close to the cabin floor, which felt quieter, darker and more removed from the hubbub at higher cabin altitudes.

Seat controller on SWISS A340 business class– note the cushion firmness control & massage function (Chris McGinnis)

A smart, spartan amenity kit (Chris McGinnis)

And of course, a selection of fine Swiss chocolates to end the meal service (Chris McGinnis)

I’m going to create a separate post about inflight dining on my SFO-ZRH-MAD-BCN-SFO journey so stay tuned for that. For now, here’s a look at the Swiss chocolates offered at the end of meal service. 🙂

I will report on the food and drink offered on my SWISS flights in a future post so stay tuned…UPDATE: Here’s our report on inflight dining onboard SWISS

My seat in lie-flat position ready to whisk me away to dreamland (Chris McGinnis)

With the help of a hearty serving of spaetzle with cream and gruyere cheese, I was able to snag about five hours of pretty good sleep on this lie-flat bed somewhere between Canada and Ireland. (Stay tuned for future post about food on these flights)

Unlike many foreign carriers, SWISS kept the cabin nice and cool all night long, which helped with sleeping. There’s not much more irritating (and regrettably common) that an overheated cabin on an overnight flight. Yuck!

Economy class on on a SWISS A340 is configured 2-4-2 except at rear where fuselage narrows (Chris McGinnis)

The best economy class seats are on row 23, just behind the business class section. On SWISS, you must pay a premium to reserve these seats ahead of time. The worst seats in economy are those with inflight entertainment system boxes interfering with legroom. These boxes are in all economy class rows seats A, D and K. You’ll get the most legroom in aisle seats B and J.

I fell asleep somewhere over Canada and awoke over Ireland (Chris McGinnis)

Breakfast eggs, mushrooms, tomato and asparagus (Chris McGinnis)

After a heavy dinner I could not fathom eating breakfast, but these looked nice. There were also croissants and bircher muesli on offer for breaky. Stay tuned for a separate Trip Report about the food on my SWISS flights.

Guten morgen Zurich! Well, it’s actually 4 pm in Europe (Chris McGinnis)

Our SWISS Airbus A320 at Madrid Barajas airport (Chris McGinnis)

SWISS Airbus A320 that I took from Zurich to Madrid Barajas airport (Chris McGinnis)

Intra-European style business class on the short flight between Barcelona and Zurich on an Airbus A321 (Chris McGinnis)

Tarmac transfers at ZRH via Mercedes-Benz (Chris McGinnis)

SWISS provides Mercedes tarmac transfers to first class, HON Circle members and VIPs to/from flights at the open stand at Zurich Airport.

Since Zurich airport is so small and so efficient, there is very little connection time between flights, so I was unable to take a look at the SWISS lounges located there. The biggest problem for me at Zurich Airport was the unwieldy process one must submit to to access wi-fi. It requires logging on, filling out a form, then waiting for a special code to be sent to your mobile phone in order to get online. In the few short minutes I had in Zurich, I attempted this twice to no avail.