Following a flight from Vienna to Zurich that kicked off our trip to South Africa, my dad and I took a Swiss flight to Johannesburg. I was excited about this flight not only because it would be my first to Africa (other than a brief transfer at Cairo Airport several years ago) but also because it was scheduled to be operated by the Airbus A340-300, a relatively uncommon type these days.
Continue reading this review to see what the long-haul business class flight was like.
Transfer, Lounge & Boarding at Zurich Airport
After getting off an Austrian Embraer E195 from Vienna, we made our way to Terminal E, which is a satellite building used for flights to countries outside the Schengen Area.
With immigration being quick and still having a few hours to spare before our 10:40 p.m. flight to Johannesburg would board, we headed to the Swiss Senator Lounge, which I could access and guest my dad into as a Star Alliance Gold member.
I spent most of my time in the lounge being outside, on its excellent observation deck. A great plane spotting location and unlimited drinks and food? Yes, please!
We left the lounge just before 10 p.m. and headed to gate E23, which was at the very end of the terminal.
In front of the gate, one of the ground agents checked our documents and stamped our boarding passes. Outside, HB-JMB, a 21 years old A340-300 delivered to Swiss in 2003, was almost ready for the flight.
Boarding started at 10:04 p.m. with first class passengers being invited first, followed by business class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members.
Swiss A340 Business Class Cabin & Seat
At this point, Swiss only has four A340-300s remaining in its fleet.
All of them have been refurbished with the airline’s current long-haul seats also used on its A330-300s and 777-300ERs and can seat 215 passengers in four classes including eight in first, 42 in business, 21 in premium economy, and 144 in economy class.
The aircraft’s business class is split into two cabins – a small cabin with two rows between the single-row first class cabin and the second pair of doors and a larger cabin with eight rows of seats behind the second pair of doors.
Swiss uses staggered seats on the aircraft in an alternating 1-2-1 and 2-2-1 layout.
Because of the layout, not all seats are equal. The single seats on the left side of the aircraft are “throne seats” with a console table on each side and more personal space than the remaining seats. The window seats on the left side of the aircraft do not offer direct aisle access, which is not ideal if you are traveling on your own.
My dad and I chose a pair of seats in the middle of the cabin to both be able to talk to each other and each have access to the aisle. Since the flight was nowhere near full, I moved to an empty “throne seat” to sleep after dinner and to another window seat to enjoy the scenery during landing.
Zooming in on the seat, the seat back in front was home to a decently sized personal entertainment screen with good resolution.
There were also a coat hook and a compartment holding a variety of printed material including a safety card and a duty free catalog next to the screen and a small storage compartment that could hold glasses, a cell phone, or similar items under the screen.
Most seat controls could be found on the console on the side of the seat.
Additional seat controls (lumbar support, cushion firmness, and massage function), as well as an in-flight entertainment controller with a small screen that could be used to watch the map, for example, could be found in a covered compartment right next to the main seat controls.
A hook, which held headphones and a coat hanger upon boarding, a tray table release button, an audio output, a USB port, a universal power outlet, and a bottle holder could be found on the seat’s privacy partition.
Lastly, on the side of the console between the two seats was a storage compartment that could hold shoes or other similarly sized items.
Swiss Long-Haul Business Class Pre-Flight Service and Departure
When we got on board, a rather thin blanket (certainly below average for business class) and an OK pillow were placed on each seat.
Each seat’s bottle holder already had a bottle of water in it as well.
Lastly, Victorinox-branded amenity kits were placed on the console tables. The amenity kit pouches were designed to expand and be reusable as a rather handy packing cube. The content of the amenity kits was rather underwhelming, though. Each kit only included an eye mask, a toothbrush and toothpaste, lip balm, earplugs, and socks.
Just a few minutes after we settled in our seats, we were brought breakfast cards, which were later collected with our breakfast order details on them, and menus. More about the food on board later, though.
The menus were followed by pre-departure drinks. We were offered a choice of champagne or a non-alcoholic elderberry drink. Both my dad and I got the latter and enjoyed it.
Hot towels were offered around the same time as well.
The crew closed the doors just after our 10:40 p.m. scheduled departure time and four minutes behind schedule, at 10:44 p.m., we were pushed back and started making our way to the runway.
At the same time, we were welcomed on board by the chief purser, who mentioned that we would be flying for 10 hours and five minutes before reaching Johannesburg. The captain welcomed us onboard at a later point as well, mentioning that we were expecting an on-time arrival. Between the two welcomes, a safety video was played.
We took off at 10:59 p.m. and started climbing in a typical A340-fashion (i.e., slowly but surely) to our cruising altitude.
Swiss Long-Haul Business Class Dinner
Ten minutes after take-off, the cabin crew was released from their seats and started preparing for dinner service. Another four or five minutes later, the seatbelt signs were switched off.
Being in the middle section, my dad and I were served by different flight attendants. It took 20 minutes or so from the point the seatbelt signs were switched off until the flight attendant working my aisle came to take my drink and starter order. I opted for sparkling water and the latter of the two choices below:
- Steamed fjord trout with white wine sauce and herb infused oil Fennel crust with Rochat pepper
- Roasted cauliflower with mint and saffron labneh
Another 20 minutes or so later, the flight attendant came back with a tablecloth and a glass of sparkling water. The starter itself, which I enjoyed, followed another fifteen minutes later, around 12:15 a.m. It was served together with a small salad, a selection of cheese, and bread from bread basket.
The main followed about half an hour later (I was offered another drink before that so got a glass of Coke Zero).
Options available on board included:
- Beef tenderloin with basil sauce; pesto polenta slice and courgette
- Grilled chicken breast with mustard sauce; Gnocchetti di Zita pasta, peas and leek
- Sauteed sea bream with tomato sauce with olives and capers; pan-fried groncchi and spinach
- Casarecce with pesto cream sauce, broccolini and pistachios
That said, both my dad and I opted to use the meal pre-booking service that Swiss offers and that, in the case of our flight, came with four options on top of the four above:
- Gnocchi puttanesca
- Chicken massaman curry
- Fried seabass
- Sliced veal Zurich style
I opted for the veal, which was very tender and came with flavorful sauce. My dad opted for the fried seabass, i.e., the Japanese meal.
To finish off the meal, we both had the sole dessert option – eclair with raspberries and caramelized pistacchios.
The flight attendant serving my aisle was very excited about it, saying “you have to try the eclair,” and he was most certainly right. I enjoyed it alongside a cup of peppermint tea.
For reference, below is the full drink menu:
Swiss A340 In-Flight Entertainment System
As mentioned earlier, the seat was equipped with a decent screen. A pair of noise-cancelling headphones was available at the seat during boarding as well.
While I did not watch anything on this flight, those that wanted to had the option to choose from over 200 movies and dozens of TV shows.
As usual, there were only a few episodes of a random series for each TV show. That said, at least for some of the shows, there were half a dozen or a dozen episodes rather than the two or three that some airlines provide.
Additionally, there was a selection of audio content including music albums, audiobooks, and podcasts. A good portion of the latter two was, understandably, in German. Eight simple games were available as well.
One thing worth noting is that ads and informational videos were played throughout while taxiing for departure and during take-off and so it was not possible to watch content during that time.
The in-flight entertainment system was also equipped by an in-flight map made by Panasonic. It included everything one would expect including a number of different views, the ability to move around the map freely, zoom in and out, and so on.
I loved that in the children’s menu, the map was accessed through an “Are We There Yet?” button.
Swiss A340 Onboard Wi-Fi
All of the Swiss A340s including the one that we were flying on are equipped with onboard wi-fi.
While I didn’t use it, three plans were available: messaging-only (free), four hours (25 CHF), and full flight (35 CHF). The latter two did not appear to have any bandwidth restrictions (other than the inability to watch content on streaming sites such as Netflix).
At about 30 and 40 dollars for the paid plans, they were on the pricier side. On the other hand, the free plan allowed not only text messaging but also photo sharing through messaging apps, something that many airlines block on their messaging plans.
Sleeping on a Swiss A340 in Business Class
Wanting to be as fresh on our first day in Africa as possible, I moved to a “throne seat” across the aisle from my assigned seat and tried to get some shuteye as soon as I finished dinner just after 1 a.m.
While Swiss does not provide much in terms of bedding (other than the OK pillow and mediocre blanket I mentioned earlier), I was able to partly rectify that by using one blanket instead of a sheet/mattress pad and having an extra pillow. Add to that the fact that I am not picky in terms of surfaces I can sleep on and I slept well for quite a few hours.
That said, I briefly woke up in the middle of the night at around 4 a.m. At that time, we were flying over the middle of Africa, an area I haven’t flown above once in the over 600 flights I took before this one.
I paid a quick visit to the lavatory, which was kept clean and had a number of other amenities in addition to the standard soap including Soeder herbal lotion, face cream, and face spray. I also used the opportunity to check the galley. There, a basket with a fairly decent selection of packaged snacks was available.
Swiss Long-Haul Business Class Breakfast
I truly woke up around 7 a.m. At that time, we were flying somewhere between Angola and Namibia and had about two more hours left to go.
Shortly after that, I was served breakfast. Given that my dad woke up earlier, he was finished with his breakfast by the time my table cloth was set and breakfast served just after 7:30 a.m.
The breakfast card, which I filled out at the beginning of the flight, offered two choices of mains:
- Swiss breakfast (selection of cold cuts and cheese)
- English breakfast (sun-dried tomato quiche with tomato sauce)
I opted for the former with a number of sides including a croissant, fresh fruits, and bircher muesli. For drink, I checked the boxes next to smoothie and water.
The breakfast was quite light but sufficient given the late dinner time. I enjoyed the bircher muesli in particular.
The flight attendant serving my aisle came to pick up the tray just before 8 a.m. and offered me a hot drink. I got peppermint tea, which was brought just a couple of minutes later.
The meal service finished with a Swiss chocolate.
Arrival at Johannesburg Airport
About 40 minutes before landing, the first officer made an announcement mentioning that the weather in Johannesburg was nice, with a temperature of 11 degrees Celsius. Around the same time, a lady that was sitting behind me asked the crew where she could get the cream that was available in the lavatory, which the crew kindly explained.
At 8:30 a.m., hot towels were provided and a couple of minutes after that, the crew was asked to prepare for landing.
While descending, amazing views of Johannesburg, as well as of Rand Airport where a museum with two Boeing 747s is located, could be had.
We landed at 8:56 a.m. and reached our arrival gate 10 minutes ahead of schedule, at 9:00 a.m.
With business class passengers being eligible to use priority immigration and Japanese passport holders not needing visas to enter South Africa, immigration was a breeze and in no time we were meeting with our guide in the arrival lobby to see a bit of Johannesburg before continuing to Sabi Sands the next day.
Swiss A340 Business Class Summary
Overall, I enjoyed the flight – the food was sufficient and, unlike on my Lufthansa flight a few years ago, tasty, the seat was comfortable for both relaxing in and sleeping in, and the crew was professional but friendly.
Especially so since I was able to move to a “throne seat” after dinner.
