LX64A332 From Switzerland, joined Aug 2007, 272 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 years 2 months 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 15880 times:
Hello Fellow A.netters,
This is my first Trip Report and after reading them since many years, I have finally decided to start one. The trip will cover the ZRH-MIA portion of a ZRH-MIA-NAS trip with LX and AA.
The reason that I am only covering the ZRH-MIA portion was partly because I was very tired, and the fact that I slept for 30 of the 40 minute American Eagle ATR-72 flight, which was nothing special to say the least.
Sorry in advance for the quality and light for some of the pictures, I am after all an aviation enthusiast and not an aviation photographer!
The day begins…
So I wake up at 8:00 am which is ample time for my 13:00 departure to MIA. I slept at my grandparents house which is closer to ZRH than my college dorm in St. Gallen. I took the train to the airport, which was done in the comfortable S5 of the SBB Swiss Railways. Arriving into ZRH by train is very attractive, because there is a LX check in desk by the railway station, which always has less people. I checked in at the First Class/Senator desks, and received my assigned seat, 9D in the forward C cabin of LX’s A332.
Business/Senator Check in Desks
First Class/HON Circle Island Check in
Modern Departure Board – shame, I miss the old flip-board
LX/Star Alliance Economy Class Check in area
LX Economy Class Ticketing Desks
LX Business and Senator Ticketing Desks
View of Departure Hall
A Formula 1 BMW on display
Kiosk….ahhh how I will miss these over in NAS
After heading through passport control, where the officer didn’t even open my swiss passport, I went duty free shopping in the Airside Center. I bought sone Lindt and Sprungli pralines for my parents at an outrageous price. Oh well I could have bought the same pralines at the factory store in Kilchberg for 10 CHF less. After my little shopping spree I went to the LX lounge. By this time it was 11:45, and upon showing my boarding pass, the attendant told me I only had until 12:00 because I need to ride the skymetro ro the E gates and clear security. I have travelled through ZRH more times than I can count, and I know with a C class ticket to clear security and ride the train doesn’t take an hour.
After I calmed a little bit, I went to the bar and got a beer (for free! Hear that UA!) and some little nut/pretzel/cracker nibbles. Also on offer were various pastries, an array of fruit, Swiss chocolates, Sandwiches, and I believe it was a Cream of Tomato soup. After enjoying my cold beer, I decided to check my e-mail at one of the available computer stations. By this time it was 12:15, so I decided to pack up and head towards dock E.
LX Lounge Overview
Food Selection: Different nibbles, they also had soup, and sandwiches.
Lounge Seating
Lounge Computers (LX lingo: e-corner)
The longest attended airport lounge bar in the world. Sorry for the light quality!
View from lounge – I hate those bars across the windows!
Airside Center Symetro Station
Symetro track
Inside the Skymetro
The ride to Dock E was short, and so was the wait at security. Surprisingly I didn’t have to rake off my shoes as I had sneakers with rubber soles. This is a first for me, as in the US the TSA always make me take of my shoes. Prior to boarding US flights in ZRH, you have to get your boarding pass stamped at a little kiosk. With stamped boarding pass and passport in hand I board the LX A332. Upon entering, my coat was taken, and was offered a pre-takeoff drink of champagne, OJ or water, of which I had OJ. Boarding was completed, the safety video shown, surprisingly only in English, which is unusual for a multi-lingual carrier like LX, and then we took of from runway 16 directly overlying the airport after a sharp turn.
C Class Seat
Ample Legroom
Video Screen
After we levelled of we were served a delighting lunch. The menu was given to us, and it read:
Switzerland to North America – Lunch
First Course
Sliced air-dried venison and smoked salmon with a dill and mustard sauce accompanied by ratatouille salad
Or
Cream of tomato soup with basil
Main Course
Filet steak with herb butter and jus lie served with red and yellow carrots and a truffle potato timbale
Or
Roasted chicken breast in a creamy mushroom sauce served with Brussels sprouts, carrots and dumplings
Or
Red snapper in Hollandaise sauce with chives accompanied by sautéed green beans, fresh diced tomatoes and potatoes
Or
Gratinated chestnut lasagne with red lentil sauce and chard
Cheese
A selection of Swiss cheeses accompanied with pear bread
Dessert
Chocolate truffle cake served on blackberry coulois
Or
Fresh fruit salad
Swiss Chocolates
Coffee/Tea
Mixed nuts and a 7up to start the meal
First Course: Sliced Air dried Venison and Smoked Salmon accompanied by a dill mustard sauce and a ratatouille salad.
Main Course: Filet steak with herb butter and jus lie served with red and yellow carrots and a truffle potato timale.
Dessert: Dark chocolate truffle cake served on blackberry coulois.
After that amazing and filling meal I went for a walk around the plane and took some pictures of C and Y classes.
A look into the forward Business Class
Y-cabin view
C class lavatory
Moisturizing cream, lip balm, refreshing spray, and nail files available in the C class lavatory
Still have 8 hours to go!
The moving map channel: shame it never got any more detailed!
Today we took a northerly routing which is unusual for the MIA route, here we are over southern Greenland!
My favourite on all Switzerland to North America flights: Movenpic ice cream, this time caramelita in a waffle cone!
By this time I was settled into my seat and decided to watch a movie. LX has this outdated IFE system where all the movies start at the same time and play in a loop. This system has the disadvantage where as you’re not able to pause, rewind etc. the movie. After watching the Bourne Ultimatum, I settled for the in flight trivia.
Does anyone know the answer?
After they soon began serving the Light meal. The menu reads as follows:
Light Meal
Smoked guinea fowl breast slices in a lemon and pepper crust accompanied by a Mediterranean pasta and vegetable salad
Or
St. Moritz style saffron risotto with vegetable batons in a creamy herb sauce
Almond and forest fruit roulade served with crème anglaise
As you can see I chose the risotto, which was divine to say the least.
As soon as they finished serving the snack, we had already begun our descent into MIA. We landed slightly behind schedule, and docked at MIA’s new concourse J at gate J17. That’s when I noticed that they had forgotten to give out the Swiss chocolates ☹! However, to my surprise, there was a F/A with a whole basket handing them out at the door! So with my Swiss chocolates in hand I left the tranquil oasis of the LX C class and headed into MIA. I must say I really like the modern and airy feeling of MIA’s Concourse J, and it will beat Concourse F, LX’s previous concourse anytime!
I went through immigration and customs, and headed over to Concourse D for my connecting American Eagle flight to NAS.
Overall I really enjoyed LX and will of course fly them again, and I cant wait until they bring their A340-300 to MIA as of July 11th!
LX C class amenity kit
Shaving Kit, nail file, comb, shoehorn, and sewing kit are also available
Menu Cover
FF cards and boarding pass
Luggage tags
Thank you all for reading, and feedback is always appreciated!
PS: Can anyone guess the answer to that trivia question?
BrightCedars From Belgium, joined Nov 2004, 1278 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (5 years 2 months 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 15025 times:
Glad you enjoyed the trip.
Yes the entertainment is outdated by today's standard but this is a former Sabena aircraft as the upholstery attests and still according to the specs of some years ago.
Glad to see an S-Tail bird still flying, albeit in Swiss colours, how ironic.
AH332 From Algeria, joined Mar 2007, 276 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (5 years 2 months 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 14393 times:
Hi,
Excellent report my friend! I always enjoy reading LX trip report as they are the one airline I've been DYING to try, but haven't so far!
How much better is the J concourse compared to the F concourse? Unfortunetaly, the last time I flew out of MIA it was with AA, and this summer I'm flying to Algeria with IB, so still no J concourse for me yet.
Thanks again for the report!
Cheers,
Imad
Bledi Heya Al Djazaeer! // Next Flights: AB MIA-DUS-ORY, AF ORY-MRS-ALG
Babybus From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 3537 posts, RR: 6 Reply 7, posted (5 years 2 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 14316 times:
Great trip report. I have to say, I didn't think the menu offered was particularly appropriate to a business class service (maybe done to reflect Florida tastes?) and I thought the amenity kit was a bit mean. I liked the idea of the freebies in the loo though.
I've flown LX J class betwen LHR-ZRH on the A330 a couple of times and thought it was very good.
and with that..cabin crew, seats for landing please.
Quoting BrightCedars (Reply 3): Yes the entertainment is outdated by today's standard but this is a former Sabena aircraft as the upholstery attests and still according to the specs of some years ago.
True, as this A/C and I believe the one that flies YUL route have a smaller C-class conficguration that is different from LX's other 2-class A332's.
Quoting AH332 (Reply 5): How much better is the J concourse compared to the F concourse? Unfortunetaly, the last time I flew out of MIA it was with AA, and this summer I'm flying to Algeria with IB, so still no J concourse for me yet.
Concourse J is completely modern, and wonderful. The only disadvantage is the Lounge. It's before security, has no internet whatsoever, and all they have is pretzles. Not even a cappucino was available!
AFKLMLHLX From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (5 years 2 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 14312 times:
Great trip report! I do love flying LX (but not as much on ex-Sabena 332's0
Quoting BrightCedars (Reply 3): former Sabena aircraft as the upholstery attests
Inguess that answered my first question. I wasn't sure where the SabenanA332's were going. I noticed that as well with the upholstery as Indidn't see the dark blue stripes.
I really don't like when annairline does not match up an aircraft bought from another airline tontheir airline's brand. I hate when an airline does not re-do planes tonfit with their others. I know that LX is either purchasing A333's ornre-doing their A332s so maybe that is why they didn't convert thatninterior into the standard on the SR 332's.nHowever, it is funny to note that the seats and designs are somewhatnsimilar and both airlines were partners and closed up shop at about thensame time.
Quoting LX64A332 (Thread starter): the safety video shown,nsurprisingly only in English, which is unusual for a multi-lingualncarrier like LX
I noticed that too when flying LX! It isnfunny as somebody once commented on a trip report how the safety videonis so long because of Switz.'s three official languages. They only atnthe very end said a brief message in French, German and Italian. A lotnof Swiss are experts at speaking English, but it is a little odd.
By the way, I pressed spell check (and nothing was wrong) but still, it added letters in between my words so sorry.
LX64A332 From Switzerland, joined Aug 2007, 272 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (5 years 2 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 14276 times:
Quoting AFKLMLHLX (Reply 9): I really don't like when annairline does not match up an aircraft bought from another airline tontheir airline's brand. I hate when an airline does not re-do planes tonfit with their others. I know that LX is either purchasing A333's ornre-doing their A332s so maybe that is why they didn't convert thatninterior into the standard on the SR 332's.nHowever, it is funny to note that the seats and designs are somewhatnsimilar and both airlines were partners and closed up shop at about thensame time.
The reasons LX didn't change the interior was because Sabena has identical interiors to SR, apart from the upulstery, and the fact that they had one less row of C-Class. Also, if interested, these are the type of C-class seats LX is introducing on their A333's: http://www.thompsonsolutions.co.uk/ts_business_gallery.html
Quoting AFKLMLHLX (Reply 9): I noticed that too when flying LX! It isnfunny as somebody once commented on a trip report how the safety videonis so long because of Switz.'s three official languages. They only atnthe very end said a brief message in French, German and Italian. A lotnof Swiss are experts at speaking English, but it is a little odd.
I agree. If even AA, on one of their short domestic flights play the safety video in English and Spanish, despite 85% of the passengers don't spea Spanish, It still amazes me that LX wont even play a German version (leaving from ZRH) or a French version (leaving from GVA).
TimePilot From Switzerland, joined Sep 2005, 295 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (5 years 2 months 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 14083 times:
Great report. I haven't flown Swiss since they were SwissAir.
Quoting LX64A332 (Thread starter): I bought sone Lindt and Sprungli pralines for my parents at an outrageous price.
I was just back in Switzerland the last two weeks and I agree about price. I can't believe how criminally-expensive some places are. My mom bought bottled water for -5 CH at the airport
AirlineBrat From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 635 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (5 years 2 months 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 13953 times:
You wrote a nice trip report. The pictures gave us a good overview of your flight. You may want to rotate the pictures where you had your camera vertical. I had to twist my head to look at some of the pictures. Rotating images are easy to do with most digital imaging programs. Cheers
Jim
I'm leavin on a jet plane. Don't know when I'll be back again....
B747forever From United States of America, joined May 2007, 16591 posts, RR: 11 Reply 13, posted (5 years 2 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 12961 times:
Great TR
The pics are really good.
Glad to hear that you enjoyed your flight with LX.
Didnt know that LX will send a A343 to MIA instead of the A330. That is really nice.
LXA340 From Switzerland, joined Nov 2006, 2107 posts, RR: 4 Reply 14, posted (5 years 2 months 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 12822 times:
Quoting LX64A332 (Reply 10): The reasons LX didn't change the interior was because Sabena has identical interiors to SR, apart from the upulstery, and the fact that they had one less row of C-Class. Also, if interested, these are the type of C-class seats LX is introducing on their A333's: http://www.thompsonsolutions.co.uk/t....html
And the 2 ex Sabena birds (HB-IQQ & R) are due to leave the LX fleet as early as this year. However i don't know if LX was aware of this when LX received those planes in november 06. But yeah as you said there wasn't really a point to make adjustments as the seats are identical to the rest of the LX A332 fleet. I think SR and SN ordered their A332's even together at the time.
N353SK From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 743 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (5 years 2 months 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 12708 times:
Just wondering, are there any flights that go nonstop from Europe to the Bahamas? It seems like a pain in the rear to go through US customs and then Bahamian customs 45 minutes later, especially compared to the beauty and ease of the schengen (spelling?) system.
LX64A332 From Switzerland, joined Aug 2007, 272 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (5 years 2 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 12594 times:
Quoting N353SK (Reply 15): Just wondering, are there any flights that go nonstop from Europe to the Bahamas? It seems like a pain in the rear to go through US customs and then Bahamian customs 45 minutes later, especially compared to the beauty and ease of the schengen (spelling?) system.
Yes there are. We have non-stop flights to LHR with BA and seasonally, MAN with First Choice. US customs and immigration is something that one gets used to after 10 years of flying this route 3-4 times a year. Bahamian customs on the other hand is virtually non-existent. The other advantage of flying out of NAS, is that we do the US border pre-clearence consisting of customs and immigration here, so technically we are treated as a domestic flight when we land in the US, which is very convenient. I have once flown on BA via LHR, but you have to overnight on the way back, and now with this T5 chaos I'm glad I never fly with them.
Quoting LXA340 (Reply 14): And the 2 ex Sabena birds (HB-IQQ & R) are due to leave the LX fleet as early as this year. However i don't know if LX was aware of this when LX received those planes in november 06. But yeah as you said there wasn't really a point to make adjustments as the seats are identical to the rest of the LX A332 fleet. I think SR and SN ordered their A332's even together at the time.
Correct, SR owned 50% of Sabena at the time, thus their A332 orders were placed together, much like what LX and LH are doing now. What really annoys me, is that LX has NEVER had a consistent product throughout their longhaul fleet, and now, once the A333's get in, there will be three product out there, which can get quite confusing to the average consumer. I might also add that LX is not very clear in what product they offer, becasue on their website, they only have info and pictures on the A343 layouts, so if I was an average customer, and bought an expensive C class ticket, but was then presented with those old worn out A332 seats, I would be very upset.
LH459 From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 886 posts, RR: 1 Reply 17, posted (5 years 2 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 12578 times:
Quoting LX64A332 (Thread starter): the safety video shown, surprisingly only in English, which is unusual for a multi-lingual carrier like LX
IIRC, SR's safety video was also in English, with brief announcements in German and French at the very end. I guess this is another one of the little details that made the transition from SR to LX.
"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is temporary; the evil it does is permanent" - Ghandi
LX64A332 From Switzerland, joined Aug 2007, 272 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (5 years 2 months 18 hours ago) and read 12300 times:
Quoting Elite (Reply 18): Very nice trip report. I love how they have a inflight trivia!! Is it all aviation related?
No, theres many different sections, and the sad part is that they are randomly chosen, so its not that often that an aviation question comes up. It quite outdated actually, as one of the questions was, What is the world's largerst passenger airliner? I answered the A380, but NO the answer is the "jumbo jet"! Quite funny if you ask me....
LXA340 From Switzerland, joined Nov 2006, 2107 posts, RR: 4 Reply 20, posted (5 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 11928 times:
Quoting LX64A332 (Reply 16): What really annoys me, is that LX has NEVER had a consistent product throughout their longhaul fleet, and now, once the A333's get in, there will be three product out there, which can get quite confusing to the average consumer. I might also add that LX is not very clear in what product they offer, becasue on their website, they only have info and pictures on the A343 layouts, so if I was an average customer, and bought an expensive C class ticket, but was then presented with those old worn out A332 seats, I would be very upset.
This is very true, the inconsistency is very annoying. I hope we will see by 2011 only one product throughout the entire long haul fleet by upgrading all the A340's to the same standards as the A333's. It wouldn't really make sense to have the better product fly on shorter routes and for the longest routes you don't use the best product. An upgrade to the whine selection wouldn't hurt LX either. Their C Class selection for this month is quite cheap some red swiss whine and a Italian Chianti. On the White whine front not sure.
LX64A332 From Switzerland, joined Aug 2007, 272 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (5 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 11910 times:
Quoting LXA340 (Reply 20): An upgrade to the whine selection wouldn't hurt LX either. Their C Class selection for this month is quite cheap some red swiss whine and a Italian Chianti. On the White whine front not sure.
I absolutely agree! I had better wines in LTU C-class!
LXA340 From Switzerland, joined Nov 2006, 2107 posts, RR: 4 Reply 22, posted (5 years 1 month 4 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 11604 times:
Quoting LX64A332 (Reply 21): I absolutely agree! I had better wines in LTU C-class!
Lol....no wonder their selection is not hard to beat . LX "Proudly" shows off that Coop is their whine partner. Well anyway even Coop has top whines but LX really only seemes to get the cheapest stuff. They really need to work on getting their premium product really premium.
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. LX "Proudly" shows off that Coop is their whine partner. Well anyway even Coop has top whines but LX really only seemes to get the cheapest stuff. They really need to work on getting their premium product really premium.
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