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Award Travel Redemption
SWISS (Swiss International Air Lines) is a member of Star Alliance and the flag carrier of Switzerland, with headquarters in Zurich. It has been rated as one of the world’s best airlines for many years. So for this return flight to the U.S., I specifically chose SWISS to finally give it a try. Here are the details of this trip:
- Hong Kong–Zurich: 80,000 United Airline miles earned from flying plus opening the explorer card -part 1; flight operated by SWISS
- Flight number: LX139
- Aircraft: Boeing 77W / 777-300ER
- Distance: 9821 km
- Duration: 12 hours 55 minutes
Here is the seat map. I was in seat 8A. I chose the window seat, even though it meant sacrificing some ease of access. This paired-seat layout really is a bit inconvenient: to get into the window seat, the person next to you has to stand up, or you have to climb past them. If you don’t like constantly getting up for other people, and you also don’t plan to walk around much yourself, the window seat is still the better choice. Otherwise, go with the aisle.
Hong Kong Airport: Singapore Airlines Lounge
Once we got to the airport and picked up our boarding passes, everything went smoothly. One interesting thing: when we went to check in, there was nobody in the economy line, while the business and first class lines were both backed up.
Since SWISS is also a Star Alliance member, the check-in staff strongly recommended that we use the Singapore Airlines lounge, so of course we obediently headed there. I had already heard great things about Singapore Airlines, so I was excited. After security, we still had to walk quite a bit inside the airport before finding the lounge. It wasn’t especially easy to spot.
Once inside, we showed our boarding passes at the front desk and were let right in. That’s when we realized just how crowded it was. The whole lounge was full. I had wanted to take a shower, but when I asked, there were still 5 people ahead of me in line, so I gave up. After standing around for about 10 minutes, a group finally left and we managed to grab a semi-private sofa seat, which felt pretty lucky.
The food selection in the Singapore Airlines lounge wasn’t huge, but what they had was genuinely pretty good. I especially recommend the ice cream.
SWISS LX139 Review: Hong Kong–Zurich
Boarding
After spending enough time in the lounge, we headed out for boarding. Since we wanted to see how early boarding worked, we got to the gate pretty early and waited there. But it turned out there were already plenty of people lined up. From a quick look around, it seemed that aside from the two of us, there was only one other Asian passenger on the flight.
Onboard Amenities
Once onboard, everything went smoothly. The plane felt pretty new, and I was happy with the screen.
The only downside was that my seat was connected to the one next to it, so if I wanted to get out, I either had to climb over the other passenger or ask her to stand up and let me through. Luckily, the older lady sitting next to me was extremely kind and cheerfully let me climb past every time.
The seat had plenty of storage space, and there was basically a place to put everything.
There was also a small shelf between the two seats where you could put books, a phone, and other small items. Since I couldn’t photograph the older lady next to me, the angle here is a bit limited—my apologies.
SWISS’s amenity kit was pretty interesting—it came packed inside a ski cap (on the left in the photo below). For me, though, this kind of thing is more of a souvenir, so I didn’t open it. The headphones were SWISS-branded. I tried them during the flight, and compared with my own QC35, well… they were fine.
On the side of the shelf closest to the seat, there was a remote control that could be pulled out.
Built-in cup holder and the complimentary bottle of water.
In-Flight Dining
The SWISS menu was a highlight. Some of the dishes were specially prepared by Peninsula Hotel executive chef Florian Trento. That said, after ordering them, I thought some were pretty good, while others were just hard for me to handle.
The items marked with the chef’s hat symbol were the ones recommended or prepared by the Peninsula chef.
Since the flight departed from Hong Kong, the menu was available in Chinese. However, the flight attendants didn’t speak Mandarin, so passengers had to choose from one of Switzerland’s four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh.
The presentation looked quite good, but I honestly just couldn’t get used to those cheeses.
Random Shots
A quick shot of the engine mid-flight. It looked great.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this business class experience was very satisfying. The cabin crew service was excellent, and the lie-flat seat was comfortable. My only complaint was that some of the food didn’t really suit my Asian palate. Still, this flight definitely sold me on SWISS.
- Round-the-World Business Class Trip (1): Hangzhou–Hong Kong
- Round-the-World Business Class Trip (2): Hong Kong–Zurich (this post)
- Round-the-World Business Class Trip (3): Zurich–Chicago