Trip Report: VLC-ZRH-SFO
In planning my flight back to SF, I was surprised to find very reasonable business class tickets on Star Alliance from VLC (only about 25% more than the lowest economy fares), and even more surprised that the lowest cost routing was on SWISS. The lesson is that when traveling in the summer to/from Europe, economy fares usually skyrocket since everyone's on vacation, and business fares can plummet... since everyone's on vacation. So check your options carefully when planning travel at this time!
I booked my outbound on SWISS, because though I've flown it in economy a lot to/from VLC, I had never experienced their business class, and had never flown any longhaul flight with them.
First up was the flight from VLC to ZRH. The only option was cold cereal and some breakfast breads. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with this, since I'm not a lover of cold cereal, and the portion was quite paltry (it was basically a mono-layer of cereal in that bowl).
No matter, let's see how longhaul business class is like. Their seats on the A340 are staggered, with one side of the business cabin having alternating single seats (in the middle it's a staggered set of two seats across, and on the opposite side it alternates between two seats and one single seat). These single seats are reserved for Miles & More Senator and HONS status members (so, excluding Star Gold customers) up until check in the day before.
Cold nuts to start.
Then an appetizer of salad with a choice of creamy dressing or vinaigrette in a little pot, smoked duck breast and sliced chicken breast, couscous, pistachio cream, and apple balsamic jelly. There was a choice of warm bread and either butter or olive oil to go with the bread. I was very excited about the olive oil, even if it might be the most logical choice to go with the pretzel roll.
The main course was braised beef shoulder with barbecue sauce, ONE baton of braised carrot, roasted corn, smoked almonds, and rosemary polenta. It was very tender, as braised meat should be, but there wasn't anything special about the barbecue sauce.
Dessert was a pistachio-lime "financier" - really, a cake more like. Yogurt dots, raspberry, peaches. And espresso! This was my favorite part of the meal experience probably.
A praline from a box of Lindt pralines passed around closed off the meal.
I woke up in the middle of the flight to get some Movenpick ice cream - served in a waffle cone! This was vanilla; I think they had some fruit flavor too. I also got some very delicious mustard-flavored chips, and Lindt pralines from meal service and from the self-service area.
Then they came around with sandwiches. I had a nice corned beef and pickle one. I wonder if these are leftover from Economy? They are reminiscent of the ones served on short haul economy flights, but the bread was a little better and on those flights there would just be a thin slice of meat and maybe butter.
Then there was the pre-arrival meal of artichoke ravioli with lemon sauce, fruit. The pasta was rather pedestrian, and I couldn't taste any lemon in the sauce.
Of course I ordered another espresso. What a little luxury. The flight attendant would say, "I can organize that for you," every time I ordered it. From the language, it seems like it was a complicated procedure! Next time I would try to see if I could make my own affogato with the vanilla ice cream.
Overall, the service was quite friendly, although the food didn't blow me away. The starter and the espresso were probably the most special parts of the experience for me. Often when flying an airline that is not United, I expect it to be much better (the food I had on Turkish Airlines a few years ago is still the best in my experience). But I've learned that actually my standby airline United is not uncompetitive!
