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THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT
While intra-European business class generally still sucks, I felt like Swiss had had a glow-up since I'd last flown them, including USB power ports at seats, WiFi, and good hot catering |
4.0
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In February 2026, I flew Swiss’ A321neo business class from London to Zurich. Intra-Europe business class is generally quite depressing, and this flight didn’t break the trend – it was just economy class with a free middle seat. I mainly booked this itinerary so I could use up an insignificant points balance, and review the Star Alliance lounges at London and Zurich Airport (which is the focus of this trip report series).
I’ve flown the route before, and enjoyed the opportunity to do so again. In 2026, many Swiss planes have USB-A and USB-C ports, as well as WiFi – this brings their competitive value up a fair bit, when there isn’t otherwise much to the intra-European business class experience. I also noticed that Swiss serves hot food quite consistently on this flights, which I consider to be a big plus (much like the airline’s logo, I guess).
Here’s a full review of the flight, where I’ll detail the seat, catering, WiFi and amenities, and more.
Booking Swiss’ A321neo Business Class
I booked an Aeroplan award ticket from London to Vienna via Zurich. This would allow me to try the Star Alliance lounges across both London Heathrow and Zurich Airport, as well as try Swiss and Austrian’s intra-European business class products.
The ticket set me back 15,000 Aeroplan miles, as the full itinerary clocked in at under 1,000 miles. Unfortunately, Aeroplan’s carrier-imposed surcharges on this ticket aren’t light – there’s a carrier-imposed surcharge of 161.90 CAD (£89.18/HK$925). On top of that, since my itinerary wasn’t bookable on the Air Canada website, I had to pay an extra 30 CAD (£16.28/HK$170) to book it via their call centre, which ended up being an adventure in itself. While the Austrian flight was the next day, I had less than 24 hours in Zurich, so it didn’t count as a stopover (i.e. I didn’t need to pay an extra 5,000 miles).
The itinerary I booked was as follows:
26/02/26 Swiss 317 London Heathrow (LHR) – Zurich (ZRH) dep. 09:00 arr. 11:55 (Business Class)
27/02/26 Austrian 134 Zurich (ZRH) – Vienna (VIE) dep. 10:40 arr. 12:00 (Business Class)
Swiss Business Class Ground Experience at Heathrow Airport
As a Swiss business class passenger, you have a wealth of lounges at Heathrow Airport, which I’ve reviewed as part of this trip report series. There’s the Lufthansa lounge, the United lounge, the Singapore Airlines lounge, and the Air Canada lounge, all of which you have access to on your business class ticket. If you’ve got an AmEx Platinum card, you can even stack this atop your business class ticket to access the Lufthansa Senator lounge if you’re flying a Lufthansa Group airline in business class (it’s not any better in quality, but is quieter with nice decor).
This can be one of the major value propositions of flying intra-European business class, so do swing by these lounges or “work from home” across the multiple lounges if you have the time. Swiss flights are likely to depart from the A-gates (except for the 6 AM flight, which usually leaves from the B-gates), where the Lufthansa lounge sits; the other lounges are by the B-gates, where there’s a longer 10-minute walk between concourses (but they feature better amenities, such as a cocktail bar, barista coffee, much tastier food, and showers).
Lounge access is a prime value-add if you’re flying intra-European business class, and this is extra valuable if you have options, for example at Heathrow Airport
After my morning exploring these lounges (as well as planespotting around Heathrow Terminal 2), I headed to gate A24, where my Swiss flight was departing. While my mobile boarding pass stated an 8:35 AM boarding time, in reality boarding started a fair bit before this at 8:25 AM.
I rushed over to the gate to be one of the first onboard, just boarding at the tail end of the priority boarding process (which started with business class passengers).
Swiss Flight LX317
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Origin: London (LHR) Gate: A24 Dep: 09:00 (09:05)
Destination: Zurich (ZRH) Gate: Bus Arr: 11:55 (11:50)
Duration: 1 h 55 min (1 h 45 min)
Aircraft: Airbus A321neo Reg: HB-JPF
Seat: 8F (Business Class)
Swiss A321neo Business Class Cabin and Seat
Swiss’ A321neos feature 216 seats. Seat pitch varies throughout the aircraft, though within business class it’s a fairly consistent 32″, which is higher than the industry average (the last few rows of economy, however, are apparently a mere 28″).
These are Geven Essenza seats, which are used on Lufthansa Group airlines, Wizz Air, Saudi airline Flynas, and Dominican Republic flag carrier Arajet. I quite like these seats, much more so than some of the Recaro seats featured on airlines such as British Airways or Aer Lingus.
Swiss A321neo Cabin
The business class seats had no differentiation from economy whatsoever – there wasn’t even a curtain separating the cabins. The seats simply featured a sanitising wipe and a water bottle between seats (I believe that there were two if both seats were occupied, though just one set if one of the seats was empty).
Swiss A321neo Business Class Cabin
The seats featured a recline button, though the function was extremely limited. I don’t use the recline function on flights this short (unless the seat behind me is empty), though surely the recline function is just dead weight if this is all the recline the seat affords.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Recline (or lack thereof)
The tray table was standard, and featured a little ridge to prop up an iPad or large tablet, as well as two cup imprints.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Tray Table
While there wasn’t a dedicated storage area, a separate literature pocket was built into the top half of the seat, so that the seat pocket was left empty for bits and bobs.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Literature Pocket
As an upgrade to my last flight on Swiss, I was very pleased to find a USB-A and USB-C port between seats. Don’t get me wrong, some airlines still do better with full 110V universal power ports. However, this is a marked improvement from nothing at all.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Power Port
There weren’t any seatback entertainment screens (as you’d expect), though there were fold-down TV screens from the ceiling, which generally just looped through the airshow throughout the flight.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Screen
Each seat had a coat hook as well.
The bar for intra-European business class really is quite low, though in this case I was happy. The Geven seats are some of the “less bad” shorthaul seats out there, and I’m happy to see some form of in-seat power. Airlines such as British Airways and Air France still are my preference as I like adjustable headrests, though I’m honestly not that fussed on flights of this length.
The Lufthansa Group is introducing new seats with adjustable headrests soon (in addition to power ports), which will be good to see.
Taking off from Heathrow Airport
The crew were friendly, and spoke to fellow travellers around me about their connecting itineraries and further travel plans. There wasn’t much formalised departure service, apart from the water and refreshing tissue (i.e. wipe) at each seat.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Amenities
Boarding on this flight was brisk. Although economy was mostly full, there were quite a few empty seats in business class – not only did I have row 8 to myself, but the row in front of me was empty as well. Despite this, the last couple of passengers did show up closer to departure time, so I’d say it was around 8:50 AM when boarding was complete.
The captain warmly greeted us in the most Swiss way possible – “all passengers are onboard on time, so thank you for that”. He mentioned that we were just finishing up loading the aircraft, and were expecting an on-time arrival into Zurich. He also quoted a flying time of 1h 10m.
Having the row to myself in Swiss business class
While we were waiting for loading to finish, a beautiful SAS A320neo pulled up next door (I hopped over to seat 8A to take this photo). SAS’ A320neos are all registered in Ireland, and I’m still planning to write a post to explain how that works.
SAS A320neo at Heathrow Airport
This part of the airport is also an Aer Lingus hotspot, so I watched the A320neo next to us push back, before another Aer Lingus aircraft taxied in (the A321LR flying to Dublin with lie-flat beds would’ve been a few gates over today).
Aer Lingus A320neo at Heathrow Airport
At around 9:05 AM the safety video was screened, as we prepared for our own departure out of Heathrow Airport.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Safety Video
I won’t rehash how much fun I had at Heathrow’s Terminal 2 that morning (see this post for all of the avgeek fun I had), though one of the highlights was definitely seeing all of the aircraft lining up for departure. You could see aircraft going to Tokyo Haneda, Newark, Dubai, Geneva, Madrid, Nassau, and more.
Planes waiting to take off at Heathrow Airport
There was a bit of a queue for takeoff, so we finally began our takeoff roll on runway 27L at 9:30 AM, half an hour after our scheduled departure. Our climbout over Heathrow afforded great views of Terminals 2, 3, and 5.
Taking off at Heathrow Airport
Terminal 5 really doesn’t give any doubts on who rules the roost at Heathrow Airport!
Taking off at Heathrow Airport
Swiss A321neo Business Class WiFi
Shortly after we lifted off, I had the opportunity to connect to Swiss’ WiFi onboard their A321neo. Having WiFi on Swiss was a new feature for me, as the airline only introduced WiFi recently.
Packages were as follows:
- Inflight messaging was free
- A full-flight pass cost 6 CHF (£5.66/HK$59)
I ended up purchasing a full-flight pass, as I needed to get some work done. I found WiFi speeds to be quite good for a plane, though Swiss is lined up to get Starlink WiFi soon, so it will be much better soon (assuming the rollout goes as planned).
One observation is that the announcement that inflight WiFi was available was only made around 20 minutes before landing. This was simply because that’s approximately when they completed the meal service – the seatbelt sign was turned not long after (our air time ended up being a very short 1h 2m).
Swiss A321neo Business Class Meal
After the seatbelt sign was turned off, the crew prepared for the meal service. An announcement was given around 15 minutes after takeoff, that economy service would start in a few minutes.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Cabin after Takeoff
My meal was served approximately 20 minutes after takeoff. I’m quite happy that Swiss serves a hot meal on a sub-2 hour flight – while this omelet was quite standard, I’ve also had other tasty hot meals in Swiss business class before, and it’s more appealing than British Airways’ somewhat bouncy omelette. I’d say that the egg texture wasn’t very fluffy for me and the mayonnaise on the side was a bit strange, though overall it was an enjoyable meal, with a croissant and Swiss cheese to boot. From what I can see, Swiss serves a cold salad on afternoon flights (much like British Airways), though there is champagne.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Meal
A few minutes later the crew came around with a drinks service. I asked for a black coffee, and it was served in a nice mug, alongside a chocolate.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Coffee with Chocolate
Closer to landing, another chocolate was offered.
While the omelette was standard and just decent, I’m fairly happy with Swiss’ catering in business class. I’d be curious to know what they serve on a flight later in the day, since I believe those are cold meals (much like what you’d expect for a flight of similar length on British Airways, who serves a hot breakfast on Zurich flights but a cold salad after 11 AM).
Swiss A321neo Business Class Lavatory
Sometime after the meal I visited the lavatory. On the A321neo, the lavatory at the front of the cabin is for business class passengers, whereas there are three lavatories for economy passengers – one is located in the middle of the cabin.
The lavatory was bog-standard (no pun intended), but featured face spray and hand lotion from Soeder.
Swiss A321neo Business Class Lavatory
Landing into Zurich Airport
At around 10:25 AM (just a couple of minutes after the WiFi announcement), the captain announced that we’d be landing in 20 minutes. He mentioned that the weather would be really nice, with a temperature of 13°C. He ended his announcement with “thank you for flying Swiss”.
The approach into Zurich was indeed gorgeous, thanks to the weather. You could see the Alps in the background as we flew past Basel and saw the Rhine River.
Approach into Zurich Airport
We passed some settlements north of Zurich during our final approach.
Landing into Zurich Airport
We landed on runway 14 just after 11:40 AM, and from there we taxied past Concourse E, where we saw all kinds of widebody aircraft that were due to fly across the world. This included a Swiss 777 that I’d flown many years back.
Taxiing at Zurich Airport
We then taxied past some Helvetic Airways Embraer E195-E2s, which I’d love to try one day in the future.
Helvetic Airways planes at Zurich Airport
Unfortunately we also ended up parking at a remote stand, and had to take a fairly lengthy bus ride in order to get to the terminal. Fortunately, and to my surprise, there was a bus for business class passengers. Being in the last row of business class, the person deplaning behind me was told to wait, and our fairly empty bus drove off to the terminal (not after I’d caught a quick glimpse of the A321neo that had taken us over from London).
Swiss A321neo at Zurich Airport
From there I cleared immigration. Swiss provides Arrivals lounge services for all business class passengers arriving before the lounge closes (they might be the only airline to do so), so I’ll be reviewing that next.
Conclusion: Swiss A321neo Business Class
The Swiss intra-Europe business class experience is still nothing special, though it has kept with the times. The presence of power ports and WiFi do make the experience competitive against British Airways, as well as other competitor carriers in the region. In addition, I do like the airline’s hot breakfast options on this route. The one thing I’d wish for is for some of their longhaul elements (e.g. their elderberry drink) to be carried over to these flights, much like Finnair’s blueberry juice, just to give the airline a bit more personality in an otherwise boring market.
There’s not much of a reason to fly Swiss business class, either over a competing airline, or over an economy class product. Perhaps this is unless you’re connecting onto a Swiss longhaul flight, or you love lounges and have access to some great ones prior to your Swiss flight/are flying into Zurich and would benefit from the Arrivals lounge. However, if you do fly Swiss in intra-Europe business class, it is a fairly pleasant experience that I’d rate more highly than I would’ve done in past.
