Review Swiss new Business Class Service from Bangkok to Zurich

Paul‘s Flight review for
Swiss International Air Lines
Flight: LX181
Route: BKK - ZRH
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Flight Time: 11hrs 30min
Travel Class: Business Class

General Impressions: 🐑🐑🐑🐑

Before the Flight :
Check-in Process: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
Security Control: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Lounge: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
Information: 🐑🐑🐑
Boarding @ Gate: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Staff @ these points: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Boarding in Cabin: 🐑🐑🐑
Welcome Drinks: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Punctuality: 🐑🐑🐑, 4 min delay
During the Flight :
Food presentation: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
Food quality: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
Drinks: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Service Procedure: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Amenity Kit: 🐑🐑🐑
Entertainment System: 🐑🐑🐑
Seat Quality: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Legroom: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Lavatories: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Cleanliness: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
General Atmosphere: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Announcement Pilots: 🐑🐑🐑
Announcement Cabin: 🐑🐑🐑
Cabin Crew: 🐑🐑🐑🌿
After the Flight :
De-Boarding: 🐑🐑🐑
Baggage Delivery: 🐑🐑
—-
🐑 = bad, a lot of work needs to be done
🐑🐑 = poor, you will be busy with corrections
🐑🐑🐑 = good & normal, nothing special
🐑🐑🐑🐑 = high level, but the icing on the cake is missing
🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑 = topnotch, leave me here!
🌿 = Half a Point/sheep
—-
On the Ground:
We checked in on the mobile app the day before. We arrived at the airport a little more than two hours prior departure and went to a check-in counter to drop our luggage.
The Swiss / Lufthansa Group check-in is in Area G at Suvarnabhumi Airport. They have 3 counters for priority check-in. There was no queue at all in front of us. The agent was very friendly and the check-in process was done in no time.
There is a special priority security check point right at the beginning of the terminal.
No queue at all at security and we could walk straight to the checkpoint.
Agents were friendly.
As we had to go through emigration there was no queue at all and also here we were able to simply walk through without queuing. Staff was super friendly.
Once through security and emigration, we made our way to the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge, which is the contracted lounge of Swiss in Bangkok.
The lounge is located right below security on the lower level.
The lounge got a little facelift since our last visit and is quite big in size. Staff at reception was very friendly. No problems to find some seating space.
The buffet is very big with many cold and warm options and they offer a fresh soup on a live cooking station.
There are soft drinks as well as some wine and beer available.
Food was really good and tasty.
As the lounge is in the main terminal and Swiss is now departing from the satellite building, you need 15 - 20 minutes to get to the gate.
The two terminals are connected with a underground train.
Boarding started 35 minutes prior departure. The gate was well manned with a lot of staff.
Distinction was made for first / business & priority as well as economy.
Announcements were all pre recorded and boarding was done according procedures.
Staff at the gate was okay and they did their job.
At the aircraft door we were greeted by the maitre the cabine and a crew member in the galley.
No crew in the cabin for boarding.

The seats were already fully equipped with headphones, amenity kits, a bottle of water as well as a pillow and blanket.

Once everyone was on board, the crew passed with welcome drinks. You had the choice between champagne, orange juice and an elder flower drink.
After that, the crew distributed the menu cards as well as some hot towels.
The they came to take the order for the first course as well as the main.
Inflight:
Swiss Boeing 777 has a whopping total of 62 business class seats. They are divided in 2 rows with 10 seats right behind First Class and before door 2 and 52 seats in the section behind door 2.
The layout is a staggered 1/2/2 or 2/2/1 seating configuration with 5 abrest in Business class.
The seats are very comfortable and still okay considered the older product Swiss is offering but much much much better than the Lufthansa product we had on the A350 flying into Bangkok from Munich.
After take off, the cabin crew set up the tables with a table cloth and started the service.
Swiss has a new business class service since a few weeks and I was pleased to experience and test it during this flight.
So the crew starts with an aperitif service where you get the choice of nuts or olives as a snack and I tried the new Swiss Signature Cocktail which was very yummy.
As the new service has no more trays, they then set up the table with cutlery, bread plate, butter and surfed salad, first course (2 choices) and some fresh bread with olive oil. They followed with drinks again.
The empty plates were cleared and a delicious pumpkin lemongrass soup was served which was followed by the main (4 options available). They offered refills of drinks and second helping of bread.
The table was cleared and they offered cheese and desert together with Port, coffee and digestive.
I have to say wowww, I simply love the new service as a customer.
Thanks to more trolley service it is less hectic in the cabin, the soup course is a improvement of the whole service.
It simply felt smoother, more complete and definitely a fantastic business class service.
Compared to the Lufthansa service on our outbound flight, the Swiss service was a high end product.
In between the 2 main services the crew passed with ice cream, sandwiches and a hot pad Thai snack.
Drinks were only offered on request and except the services, the crew was unfortunately never seen in the cabin.

Around 2 hours prior to landing, the crew started with the light snack service prior arrival. There was an option of a chicken burger or salad with shrimps and some fresh fruit. Everything was presenter on a full size tray. A full drink service was provided with that service.

As said above, the crew was so so.
When they were in the cabin for the service, they were interacting with the customers and offered help where needed.
I between the services they were never be seen.

Bathrooms were checked throughout the flight and were always clean and restocked.

The amenity kit is ok and offers the regular content. (toothbrush, eye mask and some lipbalm and cream as well as some earplugs).

The inflight entertainment is good and the screens worked fine. Each seat has a huge screen and the resolution is good. The screens are touch screens but you can also choose the handheld devices to navigate.
Swiss has a wide variety of movies, films and series and offers the better choice than Lufthansa.
The aircraft is equipped with WiFi. The prices nowadays are rather expensive with 39$ for the full flight, as there are already airlines offering free full connectivity for everyone.
Swiss at least offers free messaging for everyone.

The Swiss and Lufthansa Group app has improved a lot. You get all the necessary information within the app and the most important information is pushed on your devices or email.

Pilot did a sole announcement in English prior to departure in Bangkok but no other language. At least it was clear and understandable.

Cabin crew announcements were okay. A little to fast and German was much more understandable than the English one.

After the flight:
Arrival in Zurich was 6 minutes ahead of schedule and we were parked at a gate position in Terminal E.
Immigration worked very well. No queue at all and we were through in less than 2 minutes.
First class bags were delivered 18 minutes after arriving on the parking position and the rest of the priority bags just followed afterwards.
Priority bags were delivered first.

Summary:

All in all a very good flight with Swiss. A massive difference to the outbound flight with Lufthansa.
We loved the new business class service which is definitely an improvement to the old one and we felt very comfortable on this flight.
Good and friendly crew when they were in the cabin for the services but otherwise never seen during the flight and minimal interaction with customers.
Old but still okay hardware on this Boeing 777 of Swiss.
Good airport experience in Bangkok on departure and good Airport experience in Zurich on arrival.
Notes:
- For all my flight reports and- Paul the Sheep does not get any benefits from the Hotels/Airlines etc.
- Paul will always pay for the services in order to be able to rate freely and truly about the experiences.
- If you are interested in more details, please send me a private message and I will be happy to share