I recently took the new 777 of Swiss on a business class flight from HKG to ZRH. It's been a long time since I've been on a Swiss business class flight. Last time was one of their Airbus with the lie-flat seats and expectations were quite high, given that they claim to be a premium airline. Well, I was quite negatively surprised and disappointed. It's much less than what I actually expected.



The new cabin is kinda attractive and looks nice when you get into the aircraft. The seats have nice little details with boxes and storage areas, reading and mood lights that are nice. The new IFE with the large HD touch screens are certainly also worth mentioning. The selections of movies though didn't impress me much, while the airshow is good.





Service was ok, though nothing special. The crew was friendly, yet not very attentive and nothing worth mentioning. It's a bit like in economy class where the walk by with a trolley, serve you and then are gone again. Getting the food served on a small little tablet like in economy class is a bit strange though. Having a nice table cloth for the dinner, but then a bit later not for the breakfast is also somewhat strange. Food was good.




Now the most strange thing though was the seat. I expected it to be a fully lie-flat seat, as it seems to be quiet the standard in business class nowadays. But oh my was I mistaken. While the seat surface (where you sit) and the leg rests somewhat can turn into a flat surface, the back of the seat does not fully recline and remains at quite an angle. Now that was a surprise and I almost broke the button as I couldn't believe it at first... Also the part between your knees and ankles is a little bit recessed, keeping your legs suspended in the air. That kept also bothering me during the night.



All in all, not what I expected and I'll think again whether I want to book that aircraft again. Economy class on the 777 in Swiss is anyway out of question, as the 10 abreast is nothing I want to experience on a 12+ hour flight.

Hi MatthKarl,

It is a shame when one has expectations and they aren't met. Airlines like to hype their new products and one can be left feeling a bit flat.

I am not sure about the cabin layout. You would need to be very careful when choosing a seat as some offer a bit more privacy while others are a bit more exposed. Mind you, for those that prefer to sit alone, the option of a single seat without a neighbour would be attractive.

Yes, that's true. I guess my expectations have been a bit too high. I've been previously on Aeroflot's 777 in business and while they have a 2-2-2 layout (one more abreast than Swiss) they feature a truly lie-flat seat and have the better service. I somehow expected that Swiss' service would top that, but well.

And yes, in the Swiss layout with 2-2-1 config the single seats offer much more privacy than others and I would even rate those seats as a business plus product. As I was traveling with my girlfriend, we specifically chose the window/aisle seats. While I didn't mind climbing above my gf, I would kinda feel awkward if I had to do that with a stranger, or if I imagine my retired parents needing to somewhat crawl over each other to get out of the window seat (that is when the aisle seat is reclined).

If it makes you feel any better I booked a block of flights on Swiss (6 round trips in total in J) for work, SFO-ZRH and LAX-ZRH and honestly, I was amazed at how far Swiss has fallen, I agree with everything you posted, though I did have a couple of meals that were amazingly bad as well, your food looks good compared to them.

What a disappointment! Looks like nothing to clamour for!

Seating is definitely quite disappointing, but still better than the 2-3-2 J class seating on the TK 77W. The appetiser does look tasty.

LOL Aeroflot now offer a better C product. Wow. How times have changed.

I was also surprised that Ethiopian do not offer Flat seats.

Not really worth paying in my opinion if they don't offer that.

[quote="HGL"]
one can be left feeling a bit flat.

I believe the opposite was the problem!

Unless Swiss was significantly cheaper for a J ticket, what a shame not to have chosen Cathay Pacific instead. The 777 seating is 1-2-1 and the food and service is about as good as it gets.

There was something wrong with your specific seat.
The Thompson Vantage seat used by Swiss (and lots of other airlines) is definitely lie flat. There are more spacious lie flat seats out there, but the Swiss seat is fully horizontal.

Well maybe it was the case. But heaving read some reports on Seat-Guru, it seems I was not the only one with the same "problem". Or maybe some seats are fully flat (the single ones?) and others are not. I guess, I will not try again...

ExL10Mktg wrote:

Unless Swiss was significantly cheaper for a J ticket, what a shame not to have chosen Cathay Pacific instead. The 777 seating is 1-2-1 and the food and service is about as good as it gets.

Well yes, at the time I booked the Swiss was quite a bit cheaper (around USD 3,000 compared to USD 4,400 on CX). But I recently checked some prices and found a CX flight HKG-ZRH for USD 3,200. I would definitely pay the additional 200 anytime, or even twice that amount.

Thank you for posting this TR about the new LX 77W on an intercontinental leg!

It's a shame to hear that the flight wasn't up to par for J. I'm still scratching my head as to why LX chose the 77W for the 343 replacement, and this TR highlights some of the reasons.

LX chose an already "tried and true" A/C with the 77W; why not select something more cutting edge ala 787 or 350 families? I'm sure they had their reasons though so I digress here.

I always perceived LX to have a leg up, particularly in Y, with the 332/333/343 8-abreast layout. Going 10 across on a 777 makes them far less attractive than before, IMHO. Also, the J cabin lacks uniformity with the displaced seating arrangement. Us avgeeks will likely understand the concept but the general public might be confused by such a layout. Also, why still have F? This entire layout screams 2010.

LX might have been smart to axe F altogether in favor of what is slowly becoming the new long haul standard: very nice J, premium Y, then regular Y. The hard product J concept that this TR covered is boring, simple as that. Sounds like the soft product isn't much better.

Clearly LX had better days back in '07 when I flew them. This doesn't look like a flagship product for an airline like LX. Hopefully things will improve over time!

KLM11

Well, not having any insight, I assume LX got those 777 for cheap as Boeing needs to fill a production gap. The 787 and especially the 350 would only be available in a few years.

And yes, a 10 abreast layout is nothing thrilling, and this J product kinda reflects that the decline in service is across the full range of products. Swiss quality is not what it once was anymore...

If you look at the following video at 5:40, you will clearly see that the business class seats on the Swiss 777 go fully flat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDG3ySWMasU

Maybe you should have asked to switch seats.

KLM11 wrote:

Thank you for posting this TR about the new LX 77W on an intercontinental leg!

It's a shame to hear that the flight wasn't up to par for J. I'm still scratching my head as to why LX chose the 77W for the 343 replacement, and this TR highlights some of the reasons.

KLM11

The 77W is fine as a 343 replacement, though I will admit it's not as quiet as the 343, it's more than equal to the 343 in every other respect.

However, it's down to the airline on how they fit out the cabin.

KLM11 wrote:

I always perceived LX to have a leg up, particularly in Y, with the 332/333/343 8-abreast layout. Going 10 across on a 777 makes them far less attractive than before, IMHO. Also, the J cabin lacks uniformity with the displaced seating arrangement. Us avgeeks will likely understand the concept but the general public might be confused by such a layout. Also, why still have F? This entire layout screams 2010.

KLM11

I did as well and the report I had read seemed to indicate that LX was still a premium carrier, however, my experience says it's not.

On the flights I have been on, F has sold very well, I actually got moved to F from J a couple of flights ago after my IFE decided to commit suicide in two J seats (though, the cabin manager wasn't particularly happy about that, as a person sitting in J, she expected me to go sit in a Y seat for 11 hours to watch any tv.....) but the F cabin isn't the issue.

Amazingly IMHO, the issue with LX right now is consistency, something I don't expect to have an issue with on a LH group flight and even more so on LX.

oneskyjet wrote:

If you look at the following video at 5:40, you will clearly see that the business class seats on the Swiss 777 go fully flat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDG3ySWMasU

Maybe you should have asked to switch seats.

I nearly had a heart attack (again) when I saw that part, i'm supposed to be taking my first 77W flight in a week or so, I will miss the 343, but honestly, only because it's so quiet, the J seat on LX is nothing amazing and the mailbox slit they have as a cut out for my feet will not be missed.

oneskyjet wrote:

If you look at the following video at 5:40, you will clearly see that the business class seats on the Swiss 777 go fully flat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDG3ySWMasU

Maybe you should have asked to switch seats.

Looking at that, I probably should have. But then again, somehow I have the impression that not all seats are the same. The video shows 10K, which is a single seat and which was also marked in the reservation as reserved for HON-Members.

I'm sorry to hear this flight didn't meet your expectations. I had the complete opposite experience when I flew the inaugural HGK-ZRH flight in April:
- Seat 7A (the so called 'throne' seat) was superb with all the additional storage space, large screen and easy access to the lavatories / off the plane as it's the first row of the main business cabin. And as confirmed by others, the seat does go all the way lie-flat. I would definitely reach out to LX Customer Service to complain on the malfunction of your seat.
- Good food (not stellar like SQ, TK or QR but on par or slightly above CX).
- Amazing crew; very proud of their new airplane and this came through in the service. Particularly the maitre-de-cabin was very attentive and customer focused.