SWISS INTERNATIONAL AIR LINES First Class and Business Class Seat reviews

The seat looks a bit utilitarian and stiff with wasted space thinking the seat should be wider. However, it is much more comfortable that it appears. The number of positions are endless, and while it has a slight incline I didn't find myself sliding down. With the inflatable option, I was able to change my comfort level along with the other options. The massage feature was nice. The extra elbow room built into the seat was nice for sitting things on and just having room. The seat itself could be wider and should be, but I found it to be very comfortable.

Seats were a bit hard and the foot alcove is small even for normal sized feet so when in sleeping position there was a tendency for my feet to bang around in there. I think the window seats are better since you have your own personal space but somehow the space seems inefficiently designed. The pull-out meal tray/table was just ridiculously designed and even the cabin crew had trouble putting it back. One other thing, there is a duplicate set of seat controls low down near the headrest. In certain situations these buttons could be accidentally activated without knowing it so on numerous times during the flight I found myself adjusting the massage setting and lumbar support by accident which was very annoying since the whole thing was so obviously over-designed and, as with the table-tray, overly clever for the sake of it and not really designed for real-world situations. A bit disappointing but better than the old business class they're still using on ZRH-TLV.

Bangkok to Zurich the seat was hopeless. Okay as a seat, but absurd as a bed. It did not get near level but on a great slope. I had to use the seat belt to stop myself sliding down, the only saving was that I actually found the situation amusing.

Contrary to what Swiss publish they still have very old seats - recliners. They seem to have decided to operate the Zurich - Tel Aviv line with old recliners. The seats are very old and cabin looked like it was taken out of the 80s. The recliner seats have a very limited range of movement and would not allow sleep. The seats still have ash trays and there is no "plenty free space on all sides". When I asked the purser if they plan on using the new business class as advertised, he said "it will take two years".

Seat 12A great choice - solo window seat with alot of space either side of the seat. Toward back of business class cabin but same area for the single seat as for 13A and B behind me. The seat itself is very hard, despite a little button which indicates you can make it softer - it doesn't. It has a little massage button which activates a massaging action in the back of the seat, which is ok - nothing special. Footrest good. I am not sure there'd be enough leg room for a taller person - I'm only just over 5' - I couldn't imagine being able to stretch out if I were a 6' tall person. AV system good. Little micro light shining over my shoulder didn't work, but had an overhead light. Food and service fabulous, but the very hard seat made it a pretty uncomfortable 10 hour flight - I noticed many people sitting on their pillows.

Zurich to Johannesbuerg in the old seats on an A340, and Nairobi to ZRH on the new A330. What a difference. I don't mind the narrow seats as I sleep on my side, and seats are not as hard as I feared. I sat on 6D and space for the feet is large, since it fits in the bulkhead and not under the seat in front of you. Swiss service a bit spartan but acceptable. Overall, new seat is great!

New lie-flat Business Class seat - although an improvement on the old seat in some ways, there are some significant negatives. If you can get the single seats, you have lot more arm space in the sitting position, and a lot of privacy. Also the seat reclines to a fully flat position, so no more sliding down the seat when trying to sleep. These 2 features make for a vast improvement on the prior seats. However, the seat is rock hard, with the adjustable setting for seat hardness allowing you to change your level of discomfort from extreme discomfort to very bad. Also, the paired seats appear a lot more cramped than the prior double seats, with almost no storage space (anything more than a book and you are storing stuff on your lap). In the seating position the seats feel like you are being forced to sit leaning forward. Finally, my biggest complaint, the lie flat beds when extended full insert your feet into an ever decreasing space at the base of the bed. I have size 12 feet and could not get both feet into this space. Nor could I lie on my back as the height of my feet was greater then the vertical space. In effect my 2 metre lie flat bed was not more than 170cm, as the final 30cm couldn't fit my feet in the space provided. Nonetheless, being in a contorted horizontal position is still an improvement on being at the angle of the previous beds. After a long wait to see these seats, there was a great sense of disappointment that Swiss could have done a much better job.

Seats 4D/G on the way to ZRH, major improvement compared to older Swiss C class seats. Comfortable in almost all positions - flat-bed is great though one has to get used to the firmness of the cushion. If anything, these seats feel a bit cramped. Seat 4A on the return leg. Gives you almost a F class feeling as you have lots of personal space. If you're flying on your own, go for the single seats in row A.

New Swiss business, much, much better than the old ones. Plenty of personal space (especially in single- seat rows), table is wide and easy to work on. Swiss service not particularly warm but efficient and fast. Only drawback, the seat is a touch too narrow to sleep in! Others have complained about this, I was fine but I'm very slim. Shoulders almost touch the sides and it feels a bit cramped. Sleeping comfort excellent, though. IFE very good, great music selection. Meals okay, amenity kit very poor.

Very good lay out of cabin, seats convert into flat bed, very comfortable, I slept well and no sliding down. Wide choice of music and films. To me the food on Swiss was decent but not exceptional. My main worry is the sleeping configuration, which was excellent on Swiss.

LAX-ZRH-LAX. Found the seat very uncomfortable - almost torture. Hard, narrow, and did not reach fully horizontal so I tended to slide downwards. Comfortable as a chair, not as a bed.

New J class seats ORD-ZRH. After all the noise made about the superior seating on LX premium classes, I have to admit I was disappointed with this seat - I had expected it better. Was seated in the smaller J cabin, just behind F - nice private atmosphere. We were in the middle section (1-2-1 config) and pleasant enough. IFE was a little limited but ok. Quite okay seat in seating position but a little more design than comfort for my liking. Sleeping position is fully flat, although I found it slightly hard and not all that great. Not a bad ride - but certainly not that great either.

Yes the seats are old and a bit tired and the IFE is archaic by current standards but Swiss makes up for it with food, service and comfort. I need to give the A330-300 a go!

Although Swiss has introduced new Business Class seats, they are too narrow to sleep in! Too much space has been wasted in the adjoining table-cum-whatever it is. I found the seat very uncomfortable to sleep (and I am 5ft 10 inches, average built).

Old blue Business seat on this flight ZRH-YUL. Not very comfortable to the average standard flat bed of the Business Cabin today of the majority airlines. The good Swiss service compensate the uncomfortable seat.

New A330-300, one of the 2 centre seats. Much better seat than Swiss A340. I like to sleep on the side so it is good to have a horizontal seat when fully reclined. I was in the last row of C-class and maybe because of the location overwing, some humming when my ear was on the seat? For my next flight on this aircraft I would take a single seat in either A or K, but for 2 travelling together I would take the centre seats as the 2 seats in A-side has only one table between them. My return flight on JFK-GVA on the old 330-200 - the day they are retired from service will be a good day!

New Swiss Business Class seat is a great improvement over the old business class. But the new is far from perfect. Some rows have a single seat at the window. (But it's hard to know which it is - it's not, for instance, all the odd rows or all the A seats or the K seats). All seats have a permanent table area next to them. This is nice, although it's not always on the same side and it's a bit high to work on and if you're right handed and get a right side table, it's not so useful. (There is still a tray which can be deployed.) Once you get used to the mechanism, the seat is reasonably easy to adjust and does go flat for sleeping. After you've used the controls to soften it and get used to it, it no longer feels like a bench (which is what it felt like when I first sat down). In the double seated rows, there is no way to get privacy from the adjacent seat. The seat and therefore the bed, are pretty narrow - not unbearable, but not great for sleeping. Big improvement over the old Swiss business class, but they could have and should have done better. No airline has yet come close to, much less improved on, British Airways flat beds.

New A330-300 First Class. Tasteful design with many well thought out touches. Service was excellent, IFE very good, meals good by low current standards for most F class..

New biz class flatbeds. Great for sleeping, but a bit narrow, quite hard (though it can be adjusted) - but that makes it better for sleeping.

New First Class on Swiss A330-300. Very spacious mini cabins per person, excellent seating which turns into a private 2m fully flat bed. 23" screen with the usual excellent entertainment selections. Service without fault and meals very tasty with a great selection of drinks. The new Swiss product in First is really the cutting edge and makes for a great and very comfortable flight from ZRH to JFK

ZRH-CAI. I am 6'3 and found legroom and seat comfort more than adequate as was IFE which worked throughout flight providing a wide choice of entertainment.

Swiss Business Class product is particularly poor on the old A-330 still in service on many routes. The amenity kit is a joke!

Very comfortable seats. Everything worked and the duvet and pillow are super soft. Attentive service and outstanding food.

NRT-ZRH . I'd like to know who approved these seats - impossible to sleep. The entertainment system crashes 4 times during the flight.

BKK from ZRH and disappointed. The seat is terrible, especially rows 5 and 6 as the noise from the galley is constant. I could not get comfortable the whole flight.

Seats are fine in upright position. When you try to sleep these seats are really very bad. Impossible to sleep. I will not use Swiss again for overnight flights.

After Lufthansa Swiss is the second worst European Airline to fly from Europe to Asia. They should learn a little from Asian Airlines, when it comes to customer service, equipment and general standards of quality.

Old style cradle seats showing their age. Ok in seated position. Very uncomfortable when "fully reclined", impossible to sleep in. No storage space anywhere. Onboard service was a disappointment too, very slow and disorganised.

JFK-ZRH-BOM. SWISS should be ashamed of these seats. Onboard service is warm and wonderful. But all that goes out the window when a 6'2" side sleeper can't get any sound sleep because the footrest forces him into the foetal position. I left the trip with a backache - truly unprecedented. To me, being able to sleep on these flights is essential, so I won't be flying long-haul on LX again.

Seats on the 330 are extremely old and uncomfortable when trying to sleep. Leg rest is short and makes it very difficult to sleep. The seats on the 340's are better but still not the very comfortable lie flats as in some other carriers.

Good food, great cabin crew but horrible and uncomfortable seat. Sleeping in it is almost impossible.

Earlier reviews have been archived (prior to the date of last review above).