Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: TPA-ORD on United
Part 3: ORD-ZRH on Swiss
Part 4: ZRH-LHR on Swiss and LHR-IST on Turkish
Part 5: InterContinental Istanbul
Part 6: Istanbul
Part 7: IST-HKG on Turkish
Part 8: InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong
Part 9: InterContinental Hong Kong
Part 10: Hong Kong
Part 11: HKG-BKK-MUC on Thai
Part 12: MUC-ZRH-JFK on Swiss
Part 13: JFK-TPA on Delta

———————————————————————-

ZRH isn’t half bad compared to FRA, but it’s not the most fun airport to transit either. Upon deplaning I headed down the escalator and had to take a train to the main terminal. Unfortunately the train runs rather infrequently, so half of the passengers from my flight were at the platform by the time the train arrived. On the other end I headed towards the connections sign, and after walking a while found the right concourse. I headed through security, and was told to leave my belt on, despite wanting to take it off (since I know it sets off the metal detectors in ZRH). As expected I got the full pat down, which really pisses me off. It’s not like the TSA, where they hardly touch you, but instead they fully grab you just about every place known to man. It pisses me off every time.

On the other side of security I realized there was no lounge in that gate area, so I had to leave security again. I headed to the closest Senator lounge, since I really just wanted to check my email. At this point I was sweating, since the terminal was hot as hell and I was wearing a coat and long pants.

The agent at the front desk of the Senator lounge could best be compared to Carol Beer based on her attitude. If you’re not familiar:

It was funny when an older American couple walked into the lounge and the husband loudly proclaimed “see, the air conditioning is broken.” Nah, it’s not broken, that’s just how hot they like to keep the airport.

Senator lounge

Within about 20 minutes I headed back to security, and this time insisted on taking off my belt to avoid the “royal” treatment yet again. On the other side of the terminal I was genuinely delighted to find out that my flight was leaving from a remote gate. Great, from a private international first class cabin to a Greyhound station!

Of course remote gates (scratch that, any flight out of Germany/Switzerland) means boarding is a complete free-for-all, so I just waited until basically everyone was aboard, although I was sweating like crazy in the meantime. Eventually they wrapped up boarding and I got on the last bus.

Hot gate area

A321 to LHR

The queue to board the plane could best be compared to a line for a ride at Disney World.

Swiss 0332, ZRH-LHR, 321
Monday, August 17
Depart: 12:05PM
Arrive: 1:00PM
Duration: 1hr55min
Seat: 3C (Business Class)

Once aboard the maitre de cabin pointed me to my seat. The window seat was already taken, and I was quite peeved when I saw that the person in the window not only had carry-ons bigger than mine, but also took up the space under his seat and the entire space under the middle seat. I stored my bag in the overhead bin.

As boarding finished up he suggested I move to the empty row in front of us, which I did. As the door closed bottles of water and towelettes were distributed to business class passengers, followed quickly by Swiss chocolate.

Water and towelette

Boarding finished up right on time, although we didn’t move for nearly 20 minutes without so much as a peep from the flight deck. Eventually we pushed back and started taxiing, but we came to an abrupt stop just near the runway. After a few more minutes the captain came on the PA, welcomed us aboard, and explained that we were originally delayed because they had to remove a bag from the plane, but they were just informed that they forgot to detach a headset from the nose gear, so they were sending out a car to remove it now. Oops!

It did in fact only take a few minutes, at which time we were cleared for takeoff immediately.

As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, service began. First there was a round of drinks, followed by the lunch service. Since this flight was only about 1hr15min in the air, service was nonstop. The flight attendant was extremely professional as well, as he memorized everyone’s name in business class.

Crappy intra-Europe business class!

AIR NOZZLES!

Lunch

While the services offered in intra-Europe business class are impressive, I would take a United domestic first class seat with zero service over this any day of the week. The business class seats are just normal coach seats with the middle seat blocked. It’s just far too uncomfortable, especially after getting off an international first class flight.

As we approached London the captain informed us that we were put in a holding pattern, although that didn’t last for more than ten minutes. Soon enough we were cleared to land, and after a quick taxi made it to London right on-time (see, US airlines aren’t the only ones that pad their schedules like crazy).

Would someone please remind me why the hell I chose to connect at LHR? It’s simply the worst airport in the universe. After walking what seemed like a 5K race I made it to the connection bus. No, this wasn’t your average quick transfer bus. The ride was long enough for me to actually expect a meal service and after a while I was fully expecting to be driven all the way to Istanbul.

Then I finally make it to terminal 3. Almost there, right? Wrong! I get in the flight transfer line, although it’s ridiculously long (and there’s no premium line either). It’s hot, I’m tired, and I simply don’t want to stand still. So instead of waiting I decide to go through immigration, go to the check-in counter to get my boarding pass, and then go through security faster thanks to Fast Track.

This did indeed work out faster. I went to the immigration line, and there was a UK/EU line and a non-UK/EU line. I went up to the lady working there at the end of the line and asked her which line was faster (I have both a German and US passport, so I could go with either, and I really couldn’t tell which was shorter due to the weird snaking of the lines). She tells me I need to use the line for my passport, and I said “yes, so which line is faster” (yeah, I was trying to have fun with her). She then says “sir, you don’t understand, you can only use the line based on your citizenship.” Eventually she gives in and tells me the non-UK/EU line is faster, so I take that one.

Within five minutes I’m at Turkish Airlines check-in, where I was immediately helped. The agent gave me my boarding passes and I explained to her that my brother should be arriving shortly (since his flight was due into LHR 30 minutes after mine). She was confused at first, but eventually understood. She also asked whether we needed a limo service in Istanbul. One of the nice things about Turkish Airlines is that they offer their first class passengers a limo service both to and from the airport in Istanbul. I had arranged this in advance, but it seems like they didn’t do it properly. This wasn’t a problem, but she confirmed they would meet us at the plane upon arrival.

I zipped through security, and five minutes later found myself in the Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge. There I was invited into the first class section, which was totally empty (the Singapore Airlines Suites effect, as I’ll call it). I asked the agent to let my brother know I’m here whenever he arrives, which she agreed to.

The lounge was fine, nothing special really, especially for a Singapore Airlines first class lounge. Ultimately I wasn’t interested in food or anything else. All I wanted was internet and a shower, and they met both of those needs.

First Class Silver Kris Lounge LHR

First Class Silver Kris Lounge LHR Snack Selection

My brother arrived 30 minutes after I did, and it was nice to see him, even if about 12 hours late. We talked about our flights, and it seemed like we both had good experiences (although mine was better, and I’m sticking to it).

Since we were the only ones in the lounge there was no bartender, so my brother asked the lady at the front desk for a glass of champagne. Throughout our stay she had a great sense of humor, so she later not only brought him a glass of champagne, but….

That’s what I call attentive service!

At around 3:30PM we decided to head towards our departure gate, and were happy to have left early. Initially our flight was supposed to leave from gate nine, which is right near the lounge, but we quickly learned that it was leaving from a gate on the other side of the terminal. So after a 15 minute walk we did make it to our gate, right at boarding time.

777-300ER taking us to IST

As boarding time came around there was all of a sudden a mad rush to the rather narrow boarding area. I hadn’t heard an announcement for boarding, so I wasn’t sure if there was something they knew that we didn’t. There were literally 200 people scrunched up in a small space. At that point one of the gate agents made an announcement telling everyone to be seated immediately.

Shortly thereafter boarding was announced, starting with first and business class. As we were trying to board a passenger came up behind my brother and said “excuse me, I’m in business class.” Oh no he didn’t….

Turkish 1992, LHR-IST, 77W
Monday, August 17
Depart: 4:30PM
Arrive: 10:20PM
Duration: 3hr50min
Seat: 2G (First Class)

Upon boarding we were immediately escorted to our seats in the first class cabin. I was shocked when I entered the cabin, as it was easily the most private one I’ve ever seen. It’s worth pointing out once again that the Turkish 777-300ERs are being leased from Jet Airways, so all the seats are their designs.

The cabin has eight seats in total, and my brother and I had the two center seats in row two. We were informed that we would once again be the only two passengers in first class. Two for two!

View from my suite

My seat

Talk about privacy!

AIR NOZZLE!

The coolest thing had to be that each seat had doors which could be closed. Talk about ultimate privacy!

Suite 2K

As soon as we settled in we were offered a choice of hot and cold towels, and we both went with hot towels.

Hot towels

We were then offered a selection of juices. My brother was saddened by the lack of pre-departure champagne. The drinks were accompanied by a bowl of warm nuts.

Pre-departure orange juice and nuts

We were then offered noise canceling headphones, an amenity kit, shaving cream, and a razor.

QC2′s, amenity kit, and shaving stuff

I was happy to see that the items in the amenity kit were from Bulgari.

Amenity kit contents

Shortly thereafter menus were distributed.

Menus

Departure time quickly approached and the doors were shut. We indeed had the cabin to ourselves. The flight attendants prepped for a manual safety demo, and I just started laughing. We each had a flight attendant doing a “private” safety demo for us, and I just couldn’t stop laughing. What made it even funnier for me was that the flight attendants would never make eye contact with us (probably to avoid laughing as well), so they were acting as if they were doing the presentation for 100 people.

For about 30 minutes after our scheduled departure time we didn’t move, without so much as an announcement from the cockpit. Nearly 45 minutes after our scheduled departure time we pushed back, only to start a long taxi to the runway followed by a long queue. Eventually the captain came on to introduce himself, although he didn’t even mention the delay, let alone apologize for it.

After a quick takeoff roll we were airborne and on our way to Istanbul. The seatbelt sign stayed on for at least 20 minutes, but once it was turned off the flight attendants sprung into action.

Service started with another round of hot towels (hey, after touching so many nuts it only seemed right).

Hot towel

At that point the flight attendants asked us what we wanted to eat and drink. The menu read as follows:

welcome on board
welcome drink
salted mixed nuts

after take off
assorted canapées

hors d’oeuvres
selection of Turkish “meze”
tabbouleh / marinated shrimps
“pastirma” air dried beef / Turkish style fresh artichoke in olive oil

or

buffalo mozzarella & sundried tomatoes
grilled vegetables / pesto

salad
Mediterranean salad with feta cheese and grilled artichokes

special from Turkish cuisine
beef “kulbasti”
Turkish style grilled beef fillet
creamy eggplant puree / rice / grilled tomato and green pepper

chicken selection
grilled chicken breast with fresh herbs
pan-fried vegetables / potato puree

pasta
home made rigatoni
creamy parmesan sauce
sauteed broccoli and zucchini

cheese
assorted cheese

fresh fruit
fresh fruit platter

desserts
chocolate & hazelnut mousse cake

freshly brewed
espresso, Turkish coffee, regular coffee, selection of teas

ovenfresh
ovenfresh bread selection

Turkish desserts
“fistikli kadayif, kalbuda basti” / clotted cream

I’m a HUGE fan of this type of food, so I was excited, despite not being all that hungry.

First came the canapés, which were delicious.

Canapés

Then the table was set. Overall the presentation was great. I loved the rose, but the stem was wrapped in tin foil. It seems to me like they could improve the presentation on that just a bit.

Table set-up

For the first course I went with the tomato and mozzarella. Simply delicious.

Buffalo mozzarella & sundried tomatoes

Bread basket

Then came the salad. Once again, fantastic.

Mediterranean salad with feta cheese and grilled artichokes

My brother went with the steak for his main course, while I went with the pasta. I know pasta isn’t all that creative, but I had a steak on Swiss and wasn’t all that hungry. My brother enjoyed his steak, but I have to say my pasta dish was probably in the top five pasta dishes I’ve had anywhere in the world (including Italy), let alone on a plane.

Beef “kulbasti”

Rigatoni

Then came the cheese cart. I passed, since I was saving some room for dessert.

Cheese

For dessert I went with both the mousse and the Turkish dessert. Both were incredible.

Dessert

My brother ordered a Turkish coffee, and he was a bit surprised by how thick it was.

Tar or coffee (after a single sip)?

The meal was truly delicious. As far as the service goes, all I can say is “meh.” The flight attendants were friendly, although they were unpolished and seemed to lack the confidence to serve a first class cabin. We had two flight attendants taking care of us (that’s a 1:1 ratio), yet our glasses were frequently empty and we always had to ask for refills.

After dinner there was about an hour to go to Istanbul, so we decided to try out the suites (although we’d be doing that more comprehensively a couple of nights later on our Istanbul to Hong Kong flight).

I watched a couple of sitcoms, while my brother started to watch a movie. We closed the doors, which does indeed make for a private experience.

Closed doors

Our progress

Before we knew it we were beginning our initial descent, and the flight attendants brought us one last treat — a small cheesecake square and a chocolate covered strawberry.

Post-dessert

At this point the flight attendants were advised to prepare for landing, and we began a gradual descent, which ended with our not-so-gradual landing. It was by far the roughest landing I’ve experienced in the million or so miles I’ve flown. Not only was the landing rough, but as we were at maybe 30 or 40 miles per hour the pilot all of a sudden slammed on the brakes, bringing us to a complete stop on the runway, as the plane cradled back and forth a bit as a result.

As we got to the gate we thanked our flight attendants for a pleasant flight, and at door 2L were met by two people holding a large sign with our last name on it. They introduced themselves and said they’d be taking us through immigration. They helped us with our bags and pointed us towards the golf cart waiting for us right at the gate. This turned into quite an adventure, since the terminal was packed and immigration wasn’t far away at all.

Golf cart

We were driven to immigration, where they took care of our visas and waved us through in no time. They escorted us to the lower level, where a very nice Mercedes S class was waiting to take us to our hotel.

Transfer car

Not only was the car nice, but so was the driver, and he knew how to drive. I don’t even want to guess how fast we were driving, but after a long couple of days we were at the InterContinental Ceylan Istanbul in no time.

To be continued….

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: TPA-ORD on United
Part 3: ORD-ZRH on Swiss
Part 4: ZRH-LHR on Swiss and LHR-IST on Turkish
Part 5: InterContinental Istanbul
Part 6: Istanbul
Part 7: IST-HKG on Turkish
Part 8: InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong
Part 9: InterContinental Hong Kong
Part 10: Hong Kong
Part 11: HKG-BKK-MUC on Thai
Part 12: MUC-ZRH-JFK on Swiss
Part 13: JFK-TPA on Delta

———————————————————————-

Upon arrival at ORD I headed straight to the Swiss check-in counter, which was rather empty. There was no one in the first class line, so I was immediately helped. Within less than a minute I was handed boarding passes for my flight to Zurich and my connection to London. I was also handed a lounge invitation to the Swiss lounge, as well as a letter from the station manager in a “Swiss” envelope.

Swiss check-in at ORD

I informed them that my brother wouldn’t be making the flight, as he was rerouted, and they confirmed that he was offloaded. As I was about to leave the counter the agent said to me “Well, that makes two misconnects, you’ll be the only first class passenger today, Mr. Lucky.” I was cautiously excited since I wasn’t really sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand it sounds like a hell of an experience, but won’t it be awkward to have one (or two) personal flight attendants? Hell, won’t it be downright freaky?

I headed towards security, where the line was rather long. I asked one of the TSA agents whether there was a premium security line, and she pointed me over to the crew and handicapped line. I headed over there, and the agent said she was making a “one time exception” by letting me use it. Eh, ok.

Nonetheless the line was rather long, filled with foreigners that didn’t realize they had to take off their shoes, coats, and jewelry, and take liquids and laptops out of their bags for that matter. Eventually I made it through the security line, where the Swiss lounge was immediately located.

Entrance to the Swiss lounge

I headed into the lounge, and the agent immediately smirked. I’m guessing it’s because of my age. Without looking down to verify information she says “oh, so you’re our first class passenger for today.” Again without looking at any info sheet, she tells me what year my brother and I were born in, and asks whether I am the older or younger one. I say I’m the younger one, and she laughs, almost uncontrollably so. She tells me to enjoy the first class lounge and tells me I’ll be escorted to the gate when they’re ready to board. As I walk towards the first class side of the lounge I hear her on the phone talking in German about my brother and me, but I was gone before I could hear too many details.

The first class lounge was truly underwhelming. Hell, I would take a Red Carpet Club over this lounge (you heard me right). It was literally a tiny room with about a dozen chairs all bunched together. There was one bag standing there when I arrived, but no one else. I snapped a few quick pictures:

TINY lounge

Snack and drink selection

The snack selection was pathetic, consisting of nothing more than cookies. Seriously? Anyway, I was fine with that since I was saving my appetite for the flight. They did add some sandwiches and fruit to the mix closer to departure. What annoyed me, however, was the proximity of the lounge to the TSA checkpoint. I constantly heard that annoying metal detector noise and the sound of bins being placed on the belt.

Snacks added closer to departure

I checked my email, and was surprised to see two more people enter the first class lounge by around 5:30PM. Did two people somehow upgrade at check-in, or were these more HONs? I believe they were Scandinavian, and they really liked the sandwiches being served based on their consumption. Another 15 minutes later another person entered the first class lounge. With five people in the lounge it really felt a bit claustrophobic, and more like a gate area than anything else. I was also getting worried that at least one of the passengers was going to be seated in my first class cabin.

I finally opened up the letter I received at check-in, and it read as follows:

Dear Mr. Lucky
Willkommen, Bienvenue, Benvenuto, Welcome!

On behalf of the ground staff here in Chicago I would like to welcome you on board our Swiss Airbus A330 flight today to Zurich.

The approximate flying time for your flight is 8 hours and 10 minutes.

Your pilot-in-command on this flight is ______ and your maitre de cabine is ________. Please note that the boarding for First Class is at 18:45. One of my colleagues will announce boarding from the SWISS lounge and guide you to the gate.

On behalf of the ORD Team, we thank you for flying with SWISS.

Gute Reise, bon voyage, buon volo, have a good flight!

_________
Swiss Station Manager
O’Hare International Airport

Classy!

Letter from station manager, my passports, and boarding passes

The lounge was so crappy that I decided to walk around the terminal instead, and terminal 5 at ORD isn’t exactly nice. As I was walking around I saw the Swiss plane I’d be flying to Zurich being pulled into the gate.

Terminal 5

A330-300 arriving at the gate

Eventually I stumbled upon the SAS lounge, so I decided to take a look just for fun. I had left my stuff in the Swiss lounge, so I wasn’t planning on staying very long. At the entrance the agent reminded me that Swiss has their own lounge, but I mentioned that I just wanted to check out the lounge, which she was fine with.

The lounge was quite nice, decorated similar to basically every SAS lounge I’ve been to. Most importantly, though, it wasn’t crowded at all. It was much nicer than the Swiss first class lounge in virtually every way.

SAS lounge

SAS lounge

SAS lounge

I was back in the Swiss lounge by around 6:30PM, and within 15 minutes boarding was announced. When the escort came to bring us to the plane, I was ready to go, while the others weren’t. The escort suggested she take me, while the others would be taken by another agent. Fine by me!

As we walked to the gate the agent explained to me that the flight was a bit late because the crew’s bus had a flat tire on the way to the airport and they had to get a new bus. Ouch! As we approached the gate, she ripped my boarding pass for me and left me at the front of the jetway. That wasn’t very useful, since the jetway was backed up all the way, so I still had to wait for about five minutes. Of course that wasn’t an issue, since I was happy to stretch my legs before the flight.

Swiss 0009, ORD-ZRH, 333
Sunday, August 16
Depart: 7:15PM
Arrive: 11:00AM (+1)
Duration: 8hr45min
Seat: 1K (First Class)

Boarding was about half done by the time I got aboard. I reached my seat, 1K (how appropriate), and indeed found myself in an empty first class cabin, although I wasn’t convinced it would stay that way. Within seconds of getting to my seat a flight attendant came by to introduce himself and offered me a drink. I was thirsty so just asked for some water, which he immediately served me.

Water

Service was almost nonstop. He then brought me canapés. I had no clue what they consisted of, but they were tasteful. That was quickly followed by pajamas, slippers, headphones, an amenity kit, and the menu. I made a couple of last minute phone calls, at which point I heard the magic announcement: “cabin crew, boarding complete.” Holy cow, I actually had first class to myself!

Canapés

Bally amenity kit

Excellent noise canceling headphones

Great PJ’s, proudly displaying “SWISS FIRST”

At this point the captain came out and introduced himself to me, followed by the maitre de cabine. I have to say, at first it was beyond awkward to have the cabin to myself. There was no way for the flight attendants to be discreet and check on a refill without blatantly walking up to me.

“My” flight attendant, who was a mix between Ryan Seacrest and Bruno (if they aren’t in fact the same person), couldn’t have been any better, though. As the door closed we both laughed about the empty cabin, and he mentioned he had never seen this before. I told him I’d try not to be too demanding, and he mentioned he’d do his best to take care of me, and that the other first class flight attendant would work in business class instead. I was actually happy about that, since it made the whole situation a little bit less weird.

I then brought up the fact that they had a flat tire on the way to the airport, and couldn’t help but say “the last time I had a flat tire on the way to the airport they didn’t wait for me.”

Before I knew it we pushed back and the safety video began. We had a pretty quick taxi, and right as we were about to line up on the runway the captain introduced himself over the PA, told us the flight time would be 8hr20min, and said we would be taking off within three minutes.

After a long and weak takeoff we were airborne and on our way to Zurich. While the first few minutes were pretty rough, the seatbelt sign was off fast enough. The flight attendants immediately closed the curtains between the galley and first class and between first class and business class. Moments later the first officer added his welcome aboard, and I was surprised to hear that he was Australian. I later talked to the flight attendant about this, and apparently he’s an ex-Qantas pilot. Wonder what happened there….

I then headed to the lavatory to change into pajamas. The door was closed, oddly enough, so I was expecting “my” flight attendant to just flip the switch. He told me there was actually a key he needed for it, but said I could change behind the curtain in the galley if I wanted to. While it was a nice offer, I passed, and said I’d wait.

After takeoff

Moments later the lav was open and I was able to change. As soon as I was out I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that I had the cabin all to myself. The new Swiss first class product really is top notch. It’s sleek, elegant, and the seats are well designed. With only eight seats it seemed private regardless of how many passengers there were (although in this case it was truly private).

View from my seat

Suite 2K

Entertainment control

View from my seat

Massive tray table

Table

As I got back to my seat “my” flight attendant asked me how I wanted the cabin lighting and whether I wanted all the windows open or closed. Hah, that was a first! I said I’d prefer them to stay open for the time being due to the beautiful sunset, but afterwards they could be closed.

Cabin lighting

I also explained to him upfront that I’d be taking pictures of every course, which he was totally fine with, and made the whole experience a bit more pleasant. It seems like the most awkward part of having the cabin to oneself would be picture taking, but I could mark that off the list.

I reviewed the menu choices and had a hard time choosing between the options.

Dinner menu and Diet Coke

The dinner menu read as follows:

DINNER
CHICAGO-ZURICH

GOURMET MENU

First Course
Smoked salmon fillet
Seafood, meat and vegetarian platter

Main Courses
Sautéed filled of beef with Café de Paris butter, mashed potatoes, green asparagus tips and carrot
–
Seared pheasant breast with tarragon jus, sautéed Savoy cabbage and corn and risotto cake
–
Wild mushroom ravioli with Chablis buerre blank and wilted spinach
–
Special of the day
–
Choice of vegetables

Cheese
Cheese selection

Dessert
White and dark chocolate mousse timbale with marinated strawberries
–
Sprüngli chocolates and pralines
Espresso and a selection of coffees and teas

SUPPLEMENTARY CHOICES
Selection of soups, seasonal salads, cheese and fresh fruits

I’ve always thought that Swiss food is among the best in the sky, and this flight was no exception. The whole meal service was somewhat comical given that every course was served from a cart, yet I was the only one being served. “My” flight attendant really did a hell of a job, though, rolling out every course as if he were serving a full cabin. He kept my Diet Coke topped off throughout the whole dinner service as well.

His attention to detail was fantastic as well, which I really appreciated, from making sure the logos on the glassware were facing me, to precisely plating everything. The pace was also great. The tendency in a situation like this would be to rush, but he left a few minutes between every course and promptly cleared all plates without seeming over-attentive.

The appetizer, salad, and main course were delicious. When I started my main course he brought out a huge pan with vegetables, and I felt awful saying no, but it was just too much food.

Plating

Plenty of silverware

Appetizer cart

Delicious appetizer

Salad cart

Salad

Fillet of beef

Mashed potatoes

After dinner came the cheese cart. I really didn’t want any, but I would have felt too bad taking nothing since he went through all the work of setting up the cart for me.

Cheese cart

I just took a bit of everything.

Cheese plate…. a bit more gourmet than what United serves

Finally came dessert, which was painfully good.

Chocolate mousse

I then asked for a bottle of water, which was delivered with a couple of chocolates. They were just too good to turn down.

Water and chocolate

Overall it was one of the best meals I’ve had on a plane. The service couldn’t have been better, the food quality was fantastic, and the variety was great. A+ all around. “My” flight attendant then asked if I wanted him to make my bed, and I said yes. While I wasn’t quite ready to sleep, I always like “lounging” in a bed onboard a plane, instead of sitting up.

My bed

Comfy!

The seat also has a small wall which comes out to add more privacy.

Nice and private

Now, just a couple of negatives. First, I found the padding of the seat in general to be just a bit too hard. Second, I thought the pillows were a bit too soft, although I realize that’s personal preference. I asked for an extra pillow, and that was quickly solved.

My biggest complaint, however, was the lack of air nozzles. I’ve complained about this in the past. I simply don’t understand why non-US airlines don’t have personal air nozzles onboard. It was a bit too warm for me aboard. In retrospect I have no clue why I didn’t ask them to change the temperature. I realize it’s my fault, but it’s more of a general complaint.

After dinner I decided to watch Lost in Translation, which I realize is an old movie, but I hadn’t seen it before. Very cool movie, especially when traveling. It was pretty bumpy throughout the movie, and the seatbelt sign went on a few times.

After that there were about four hours left in the flight, so I decided to take a nap. I slept rather well, despite being warm, and woke up two hours later. Within moments of waking up I was approached by “my” flight attendant, and he asked me whether I wanted breakfast. I said I’d prefer to wait a bit, and he obliged. I did order a glass of orange juice, though. I decided to watch I Love You, Man, which was hilarious.

About 1.5 hours before landing I was served breakfast. The menu read as follows:

BEFORE LANDING

SWISS BREAKFAST

Assortment of breakfast breads, preserves and honey, fresh fruits, yoghurts, muesli and cereals
–
Egg dish
–
Coffee, tea and juices

I wasn’t particularly hungry, so I just went with some fruit and a croissant.

Breakfast

As I finished up the movie we began our descent, and about 20 minutes out the seatbelt sign was turned on. I always find it interesting that the US airlines generally take forever to turn off the seatbelt sign on the climb out, but don’t turn on the seatbelt sign until well into the descent, while it seems to be the opposite for non-US airlines.

I changed out of my pajamas and restored my bags. At that point the maitre de cabine came by to bid farewell, and I thanked her for an incredible flight, and mentioned that I hoped the flights weren’t usually this empty for Swiss’ sake.

Nothing beats the approach into Zurich in terms of the incredible landscape.

On final approach

After a smooth touchdown hardly any thrust was applied as we gradually slowed down and exited near the end of the runway. From there it was just a very short taxi and we arrived at the gate. I once again thanked “my” flight attendant for one hell of a job, and he mentioned he was heading to JFK next week, although on the Geneva flight (while I would be flying Zurich to JFK).

The captain was at the door to bid everyone farewell, and I was the first one off.

To be continued….

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: TPA-ORD on United
Part 3: ORD-ZRH on Swiss
Part 4: ZRH-LHR on Swiss and LHR-IST on Turkish
Part 5: InterContinental Istanbul
Part 6: Istanbul
Part 7: IST-HKG on Turkish
Part 8: InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong
Part 9: InterContinental Hong Kong
Part 10: Hong Kong
Part 11: HKG-BKK-MUC on Thai
Part 12: MUC-ZRH-JFK on Swiss
Part 13: JFK-TPA on Delta

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It was the end of May and I had no real international premium travel booked for the summer. I was going to be busy, so time was limited. My brother and I try to take one big trip together every year (some of you might remember our trip to Malta last year), so this seemed like a good time to plan something together. Unfortunately my brother is in an accelerated MBA program which leaves him with virtually no time off, since he has summer classes as well.

I needed to be back home by August 24, which is when my classes started, while my brother couldn’t leave before August 14, which was when his summer term ended. Well, that kind of narrowed down our options. Nonetheless I was determined to find a good award which would maximize both our in-air experience and our destination cities. As most of you probably know, getting there is at least half the fun for me.

While we had no clue where we specifically wanted to go, I had a general idea. I was sitting on 240,00 Aeroplan miles (Air Canada’s spun-off frequent flyer program), and Aeroplan had recently liberalized their routing rules to allow awards from the US to Asia to go via Europe. For 120,000 miles per person in first class, this seemed like the perfect award.

There were two products I definitely wanted to fit into this award. First, we both wanted to try Swiss’ new first class product, which is on their new A330-300′s. Swiss is also one of my brother’s favorite airlines, since they have his favorite champagne in first class (stay tuned for that). I also wanted to fly Turkish Airways on one of their leased 777-300ERs from Jet Airways, which are flown from London to Istanbul and Istanbul to Asia. They also seemed to have amazing ground services in Istanbul.

This worked out well since Istanbul was always a city I wanted to visit, and I figured we could also visit Hong Kong, a city I have visited many times but my brother hasn’t. It would be a good opportunity for me to put my “tour guide” skills to the test.

Anyway, piecing together this itinerary was quite an adventure which took a couple of days, but I couldn’t have been happier with the end result. After a surprisingly quick one hour call to Aeroplan, and 120,000 miles and $200 in taxes per person later, we were sitting on this award.

Day 1, TPA-ORD, UA0859, 0909-1055, United Economy, 2hr46min, 320
Day 1, ORD-ZRH, LX0009, 1915-1100 +1, Swiss First Class, 8hr45min, 333
Day 2, ZRH-LHR, LX0332, 1205-1300, Swiss Business Class, 1hr55min, 321
Day 2, LHR-IST, TK1992, 1630-2220, Turkish First Class, 3hr50min, 77W
(Stopover, two days)
Day 4, IST-HKG, TK0070, 2350-1440 +1, Turkish First Class, 9hr50min, 77W
(Destination, three days)
Day 8, HKG-BKK, TG0639, 1845-2025, Thai Business Class, 2hr40min, 333
Day 9, BKK-MUC, TG0924, 0050-0715,  Thai First Class, 11hr25min, 346
Day 9, MUC-ZRH, LX1101, 0930-1030, Swiss Business Class, 1hr, AR1
Day 9, ZRH-JFK, LX0014, 1300-1545, Swiss First Class, 8hr45min, 333

For more details about why I chose this particular routing, see my original post on the award from back when I booked it.

You’ll probably notice that my award starts in Tampa but ends in New York. This is because of Aeroplan’s ten segment award rule. Flying back to TPA would have taken two more segments, which would have put me at 11 segments. Also, given that my classes started the same day I returned home, I decided to just book a $99 ticket on DL from JFK-TPA. Thanks to my Northwest Platinum status I was expecting an upgrade as well, so that was no big deal.

In the end our award trip would be 10 segments and cover over 24,000 miles. I hope through the report you’ll see why I’d choose such a crazy routing when there were more direct routings, and most importantly why getting there can be half the fun…

I just got off a 162 mile, 30 minute flight from Munich to Zurich on one of those crappy little four engine Avro jets. First the negative: the plane is configured with two seats on the left side of the aircraft and three on the right side. As a result, there wasn’t even a blocked middle seat in business class. So the space was literally what one gets in coach. I’ll take domestic first in the US any day of the week.

On the plus side, the service was damn impressive. Despite the fact that this was a flight less than half the distance of Los Angeles to San Francisco, they offered water, towels, and newspapers upon boarding, and once airborne offered a continental breakfast, drinks, and Swiss chocolate to finish it all off. The flight attendant was running around like crazy from takeoff till landing, but she did an amazing job.

I just had the flight of a lifetime. I ended up having the new international first class cabin all to myself on the Chicago to Zurich flight, and I got treated like royalty. I’ll save all the details for the trip report, but Swiss took care of every detail. I was escorted to the plane and when I got aboard was greeted by the flight attendant serving first class, the purser, and the captain. I assumed the service would be a bit awkward (which it was at first), but the flight attendant and I started talking to make our interactions a bit more informal, which helped prevent a downright uncomfortable service situation. I also warned him up front I’d be taking lots of pictures, which he was fine with. “My” flight attendant was hilarious too, best described as a mix between Ryan Seacrest and Bruno. The whole meal routine was comical, given that my excellent (personal) flight attendant did the meal service as if there were a full cabin, rolling out the cart for every course and letting me pick what I want.

The new seat is fantastic as well, and the food was literally the best airline food I’ve ever had.

My one major complaint is coming up shortly, and it’s nothing new. But I HIGHLY recommend Swiss’ new first class. It has the best hard product of any European airline (by far), and the service and food continues to be top notch, among the best out there.

And I’ll tease with just one picture:

Before getting on longhaul flights I like to look at the movie selection, especially when I’m flying multiple airlines, in order to avoid overlap. While Thai Airways has posted their August movie selection online, Swiss has not. It’s August 5, and they still have July’s movies posted. Not that it’s a big deal, but I would have expected a bit more timeliness from Swiss.

Swiss finally released their short film today which they’ve been advertising for weeks. It’s directed by Mark Forsters, and I kind of had high hopes. I love when companies make abstract movies that are only somewhat related to their products. Take BMW for example. Their Rampenfest movie was absolutely brilliant, in my book. If you have 35 minutes and haven’t seen it yet, check it out. They’ve also made a series of short films entitled The Hire, which are amazing. They’re all under 10 minutes, and I’d argue each has as complex and developed a storyline as any two hour movie out there nowadays (with the exception of Paul Blart, perhaps). The best is The Hostage, which is definitely worth seeing if you haven’t already.

And then there’s the Swiss movie, LX Forty. They even delayed the release date due to the Air France accident. It’s not even 2.5 minutes, and I’d argue doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Sure the idea behind what their saying is kind of nice, but returning to nature and forgetting about life’s obligations doesn’t typically lead to flying Swiss First Class. Anyway, you can find the film website here or check out the film on YouTube:

It looks like we already have our first review of the new Swiss A330-300, which started flying a few days ago. Check out the FlyerTalk report here and some amazing cabin pictures here. Best of all, Swiss is releasing award seats in all cabins on their A330-300 flights between JFK and ZRH, so book away!

Next month Swiss will start flying their brand new A330-300 aircraft to JFK, which features their new first and business class products. I would argue their new first class product is the best of any US or European airline across the pond, and their new business class probably is as well. The food and service in Swiss First are fantastic, so having a top notch hard product makes this about as solid of a product as they get. Here are the flights the new aircraft will operate:

LX 014 ZRH – JFK 13:00 – 15:45 daily starting April 20
LX 015 JFK – ZRH 20:50 – 10:55 Mon, Tue, Thu starting April 20
LX 017 JFK – ZRH 18:00 – 08:15 Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun starting April 22

Swiss just revealed their new business class product on a dedicated webpage which does a good job of showing all of the features. It’s very nice, and looks like it’s the same design as the new DL BusinessElite, a Thompson Solutions seat. The seat looks basically flat to me (and they do say it’s horizontal), so that’s a big improvement. I really enjoyed Swiss when I’ve flown with them in the past, and the new seat is all the more reason to choose them over Lufthansa. Sadly it’ll be a few years till it’s fleetwide, so don’t expect to see it on a flight near you anytime soon.

Makes me wonder if they’ll be improving F too, since there’s very little difference in terms of the seat now.