Review: SWISS A330-300 Economy: Zurich to Delhi

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YOUTUBE: United Airlines: Washington DC to Zurich
YOUTUBE: SWISS International Airlines: Zurich to Delhi
YOUTUBE: Air India: Delhi to Pune
YOUTUBE: Akasa Air: Pune to Bangalore
YOUTUBE: Indigo Air: Bangalore to Pune
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Mumbai to Singapore
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Singapore to Frankfurt
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Frankfurt to New York JFK


After spending some time in SWISS’s senator lounge enjoying the views of the snow, it was off to my gate for boarding. In classic Indian fashion, our flight was the only one delayed by an hour so that allowed for ann extra hour in the lounge.

Here’s a quick look at our aircraft:

SWISS A330

Boarding began with group 1 for HON circle members and first class passengers. Then it went to group 2 which was for Senator members and Star Alliance gold members at which point I boarded. General boarding is for groups 3 and beyond.

SWISS A330

After boarding I made my way back to seat 30K which is in the rear economy cabin in the 2nd row.

The legroom wasn’t that great and the seat padding was thin and hard, but the head rest was decent at least.

seat

There was a headphone packet available for each passenger.

headphones

There was also a standard economy blanket and a pillow at each seat.

blanket and pillow

This one was great. Water bottles are usually something you see given to business and first class passengers so it was pretty cool of SWISS to give all economy passengers a water bottle as well.

water bottle

The wing view was pretty nice of a snowy day outside.

snow in Zurich
winglet

Many of the major wing components like the ailerons, speed brakes, slats, etc had ice all over them so we were definitely going to need to de-ice before being on our way.

engine start

Our flight boarded an hour late due to the weather but eventually we were on our way.

Emirates A380

After de-icing, our wing had a nice green hue to it as if the wing came straight out of the aluminum factory.

wing

The views were undeniably beautiful though.

wing views

We turned onto runway 16 and jetted down the runway.

takeoff
takeoff
takeoff

We disappeared into the clouds for a bit before coming back around and the views from above were just really pretty.

views
views

We eventually made our way above the clouds and enjoyed the views.

The IFE screen was small, and somewhat responsive, as you’d expect from an IFE as old as this one.

IFE

The armrest also had basic controls for the seat.

seat controls

About 40 minutes after departure, the crew came by with an initial snack service.

snack

They were rosemary crackers along with your choice of drink for which I went with sparkling water.

rosemary crackers

Economy class doesn’t get menus on this route so our choices were given to us verbally. For main courses, we had a choice between “Indian vegetarian” and “Western Chicken”. As good as Indian food can be, just for the chicken I went with the western chicken option.

meal

The meal was chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans.

lunch

The main course was decent. The mashed potatoes and green beans were pretty standard. The chicken was dry, but it was in some red wine reduction sauce which made it good, so I was happy overall.

chicken

Dessert was a kind of cake that was dense and good. I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of cake it was.

cake

The bread was salted and warm, which is nice, although I didn’t have any of it.

bread

The appetizer was some kind of rice dish. It was sour and pungent and it was delicious.

appetizer

The meal was overall decent for an economy meal.

The views were nice as we flew further east and away from the day light.

sunset
sunset

I fell asleep for a few hours and eventually, it came time for the pre-arrival meal.

pre-arrival meal

The pastry was a chickpea and potato pastry, a very common Indian combo by the way, and it was good.

The ice cream was mango flavored. I’m not sure if this was by design or not, but in any case, a great decision by SWISS to serve mango ice cream on an India route.

ice cream
cabin

Eventually we began our descent into Delhi.

descent

We did make up some ground, but not enough so we were still about 40 minutes late.

taxi

We taxiied past a United 787 prepping for the long 17-hour flight back to Chicago (yes 17 hours and not the usual 15 due to Russia Airspace closure).

taxi
parking

Overall, I had mixed feelings about this flight. The amenities are decent and all you need for this flight, but for someone my height or taller, the seats were borderline uncomfortable. All things said, I always value seats over the food, so If you are shorter than 5′ 10″ or 5′ 9″, then the seats should be manageable but anything taller than that and it might be a little tight.

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