Alone in Swiss First Class - Zürich to Montreal

what the [ __ ] good morning from zurich today we're flying swiss and first class after a short stay in switzerland it's time to go home and i was lucky enough to be able to do it on a swiss a340 as the only passenger in first class here's that story my flight left in the early afternoon and took us north out of switzerland flying over france and in the uk to cross the northern atlantic passing south of greenland will approach canada over newfoundland then descend along the st lords river into montreal this daytime flight of some 3 720 miles will take a little over 8 hours [Music] my day started back in zurich which despite being switzerland's most populous city still retains a small town charm [Music] on the water and sandwiched between picturesque rolling hills it's almost impossible to take a bad photo here you know some people say that switzerland is like the texas of germany and i don't really agree with that i think it's more like wisconsin and that no one should ever compare wisconsin to germany i mean i get it some parts of this country might look german and a lot of people especially here in zurich speak german but saying that it's pretty much germany would discount hundreds of years of helvetian history i can't however see what they're going on about there are a lot of banks here and old buildings and rivers and trams and sex stores yeah maybe they have a point to me this is a country of farmers turned alpine herdsmen turned medieval spartans turned mercenaries who became pacifists clockmakers and eventually bankers but what do i know i'm just a stupid tourist passing through here taking in the sights speaking of sights i stayed at a quaint little hotel in the old town by the water which afforded me easy access to the riverfront taking a walk along here in the morning it was fascinating to see people going about their routine with an oil painting as a backdrop all right this is pretty nice let's go back to the airport now the swiss take public transit very seriously and zurich is no exception the city is interlaced with a dizzying web of tram lines that will take you from anywhere you can be to anywhere you can go they even have financials and cable cars the city and surrounding region is also served by a network of local national rail lines like the timepieces the country is known for they're very reliable i guess you can say that they run like clockwork get it because it's like yeah just go ahead and unsubscribe the main international airport in zurich is the zurich international airport and whether it be train or tram it'd only take about 20 minutes to get from the city center to here however if a more physically distant solution is required then you can always get a taxi or an uber although both will run you an arm and a leg but then again this is switzerland where merely existing cost of fortune while not a full eu member state switzerland does participate in the schengen zone so the airport is hence divided to reflect its border with separate passport control areas for schengen and non-jenkins flights opened in 2003 the midfield satellite terminal hosts mostly international departures and is connected to the main building via an underground metro inside the terminal first class passengers and top tier frequent flyers have access to first-class check-in which at 10 am was closed no matter there's a check-in lounge with champagne and snacks which was fortunately also closed the premium ticketing office however was thankfully not open now you know what it's no big deal i went over to the business check-in next door which was happily all closed okay seriously what the hell is going on here in the end i did find someone in the business counter to check my bag he was very polite although i could tell he was wondering how a lowly pleb such as i ended up at the front of the plane so if you follow me you know that i don't usually fly first nor try to get into first class but there was a pretty sweet deal from an upgrade from business to first on this flight and it's my birthday coming up so i took it apparently i'm the only person in the first class cabin as of right now some other people might upgrade but yeah let's check it out so first class passengers and han members get to use this super exclusive security point here in zurich which takes you straight through to the first class lounge don't get me wrong i'm very content and grateful that work flies me around in business all the time but this was an occasion and i couldn't help but feel excited i've never been here before but i've heard all these fantastic tales of the indulgence and hedonism behind these doors out of sight of the oblivious majority with the lucky few privileged enough to see behind the veil and even fewer okay you know what they might be closed god damn it as it turns out there weren't enough passengers to justify opening this lounge and had i done my homework i wouldn't have been as disappointed but oh well okay all right let's go use the proletariat check-in it's not that bad it really wasn't the priority line was in operation and i found a display of what's acceptable to bring through kind of comical there were no lines to speak of so security was a breeze and afterwards i was deposited amid the labyrinth of the archetypal european duty free but having been bankrupted earlier by the taxi ride i didn't spend any time here instead i went to look for the open air terraces in this airport as they provide some of the best unobstructed apron views in any major hub and at this point it came as no surprise that it too was closed regardless the curtain wall still let in some decent views although there wasn't a whole lot to see apart from this united dreamliner which coincidentally i'll be taking in a couple of weeks the main terminal building itself was very clean functional and modern with clear signage and a straightforward layout the duty-free stores here were a lot nicer than what you typically expect in most airports as were the restaurants as they too were very high end with that said i didn't spend much time on the concourse as i was told that there was in fact a lounge that was open specifically the swiss a gates business and senator lounge at the time admission was granted to anyone who had star alliance lounge access and fortuitously it had automated gates fitted allowing for contactless entry it may not be the first class lounge but this place was nonetheless beautifully lit and adorned with the airline's wood motif it felt warm and inviting there was ample seating distributed throughout the space and even a breakfast buffet physical distancing measures were put in place they weren't overall very intrusive and the lounge felt pretty normal and when more people showed up later in the morning the staff opened another portion of the lounge which doubled the capacity with even more seating and tables [Music] in terms of refreshments well they were provided by a proud array of swiss made espresso machines which could deliver everything from a macchiato to iced strawberry milk there were also iced teas available different types of water fruits a spread of yogurt and most importantly a generous amount of alcohol [Music] the impressive selection of beers and different varieties of wine were available even at 11am as it should be at the breakfast station a man dressed like a chef was making omelets to order although he might have just been a chef amazingly you could have anything in it you want from chicken drumsticks to shrimp there were other breakfast staples to accompany including fresh bakery items [Music] if you're not too hungry they also offered sweet and savory snacks and this spinach swiss lounge after all candy although i'm not sure if ricola can be considered candy the chocolates definitely can and they were of course very popular covering a few more amenities and this lounge had these little offices in case you need to conduct any last-minute banking or whatever business you do and to aid this further there was a printer free to use of course and a fridge full of move-in pick ice cream also free i'm not sure how this plays into productivity but it's definitely much more exciting this being europe after all there's a smoking terrace and understandably but still sadly while there were showers they weren't open when i visited neither were the quiet seating areas of the lounge when i came into the lounge i was told that there was a class divide namely this roped off section reserved for first class passengers and haunted members it wasn't a very large space but then again there was hardly anyone here the seating was arguably a little bit nicer but otherwise not too different from the rest of the spaces was a small self-serve bar with wines typically reserved for first class lounges and i found this particular rose particularly good the area was raised a few steps above the rest of the space for no other apparent purpose than that of being able to look down on the lower rungs as a society but otherwise there wasn't anything too special about it i guess they just wanted the guests here to feel a little bit more exclusive anyways i tucked into my breakfast and had just a little bit of champagne every time i'm in europe i always end up drinking way too much i really need to start cutting down on the alcohol consumption like it can't be good for me okay thank you very much dan kashan thank you thank you have a good day thank you tkt gates d gates where are the d gates one drawback of that lounge was that it was located in the schengen zone so i have to give myself a little bit of extra time to clear passport control god i'm stupid i don't know where ah d-39 where the hell is d-39 it's that way i've had too much to drink have a night yes this is a pretty good cure for a hangover which is just to keep drinking so you don't get a hangover at some point the cumulative hangover will kill me but we're gonna put that off as long as we can i do have to say if you've never come to switzerland before and especially through zurich the passport staff the border control staff border immigration officers the immigration officers are absolute gem here they're so polite so helpful just so nice they want to have a good time in their country and it's complete opposite of like immigration officers anywhere else in the world there's a man with an mp5 and a mask behind me and that's intimidating all right where's our plane our plane as it turns out was parked outside looking pretty good from this ground floor perspective what it is is an a330 with four engines also known as an a340 fight me in the comments i got to the gate pretty late but i still had enough time to get my boarding pass stamped and stickered before boarding began this was done by the travel documents people to make sure that you're allowed into the country so just a quick temperature check before boarding the flight otherwise business as usual or first class in this case while our gate did have two jet ways only one was connected i didn't mind this at all it made for a better view of the plane thanks to these awesome glass jet bridges it also would have been a complete waste of everyone's time and energy to open another door for just one passenger especially when that one passenger is me hi there good afternoon that's me okay welcome is it okay if i take photos on board your flight is that all right that's fine if you picked your person oh no i won't okay perfect thank you very much once on board a pastor the ford business cabin which i've made a video about if you want to check it out but on this point i moved on into the first class cabin and quickly found my seat 1a although the purser did tell me that is the only passenger in the cabin i could move around to wherever i wanted which is something i wish i heard every time i got on a plane being the sole recipient of attention from the crew they wasted no time in introducing themselves to me i had the pleasure of being looked after by a wonderful ursula and christian throughout the flight both of whom were phenomenally persuasive in getting me to stuff myself with more food and wine starting with an insistence of having a glass of champagne as soon as it got to my seat this was accompanied by some exquisitely seasoned cashews but before i get ahead of myself let's first have a look at the cabin every first class seat comes in its own enclosed suite there are eight of them in total configured in a one two one layout these cabins have also recently been refurbished making them quite a new product the middle seats might be of preference to those traveling together but at the same time it can also be closed off to one another for more privacy with a massive raceable divider undoubtedly the highlight of each suite is the tv which at 32 inches is just plain crazy i especially loved how subtle all the branding touches in the cabin were they contributed to a sophisticated atmosphere without being ghosts or tacky on a practical level too it was very convenient that the cabin was finished in a bright white theme letting in lots of light which made filming very easy let's do a comprehensive seat tour now starting not with the iv we'll revisit that later but rather this partition where you'll find the provided hangers across from you is another seat where in this case i stash all the goodies i received but this is also where you can have someone joining for a meal there's even a seatbelt but i don't have any friends so i just ate alone and speaking of eating alone underneath this flap is the tray table now i'm not going to attempt to pull it out it's quite impossible with one hand back here there's a small tray area meant to hold a drink or two and further back you'll find a row of basic seat and lighting controls there's a sizeable storage copy down here and a conveniently placed charging outlet along with a usb type-a charge port [Music] underneath this flap you'll find more storage as well as the ifee remote there are also more charging points headphone ports and cleverly hidden away comprehensive seat controls that take seat adjustments to a whole new level the lamp back here is dimmable to five different settings and the seat itself which is comfortably wide and superbly well supported is finished in a soft fabric material once again preferable over leather the armrests don't go down but really the seat is wide enough there is an adjustable reading light up here and controls for the motorized dividers these along with the door were locked before takeoff so i'll show them to you later overall it's a very solid first class product roomy comfortable and offering a lot of privacy you might have noticed that there are no overhead bins in the middle instead the ceiling features a very futuristic console of lights making the entire cabin feel very airy but sadly while we're on the subject of air the psu did not have individual air vents and the flight did run pretty hot thankfully they did have safety cards which doubles perfectly as fans all right gratuitous seat tour over it's time to drink my champagne cheers here's to a great flight how does that sound familiar i swear someone said that before don't recall who it is as we push back i couldn't help but notice the rare sight outside and no i'm not talking about the british airways dreamliner but rather the jet bridge that doesn't say hsbc on it instead it says ubs this is probably the most swiss thing i've seen all day [Music] [Music] my actions will be forgiven [Music] when we first met [Music] [Applause] [Music] um me little body [Music] i am when the seatbelt signs came off the itineraries for today's festivities arrived the menus i'm talking about the menus on flights departing out of switzerland the menu features dishes and cuisine inspired by a roster of different regions in the country on today's flight it was zug which was curious because half the menu was made up of seafood you know what with switzerland being a landlocked country and all there was a separate page reserved for cheese and aptly soap because there were a lot of them moving on to the drinks list it was a modest selection with one champagne and a couple each of reds and whites along with some dessert wine topping it off they also offered teas nespresso spirits and port lunch started with an amuse-bouche now i don't remember the specifics but it featured a mousse of some kind and a dry aged cheese and although i don't remember exactly what was in it i do remember this dish being pretty good it was light and refreshing and it also matched perfectly with the champagne although that's true for a lot of things for obvious reasons hot towels were not provided but they did give me a near endless supply of these wet wipes throughout the meal the cabin crew kept checking in to see if i had everything i need and the service was impeccable [Music] for the appetizers i went with the smoked trout mousse and the smoked salmon while you are allowed to pick as many appetizers as you wanted i didn't see that ending well the salmon was beautifully prepared looking almost too good to eat but it's not like i'm gonna let that stop me the smokiness was barely noticeable with the natural fat and flavor of the fish being the start of the show i don't know what else to say it was just really good next up was the trout moose it was not as rich as i had expected but still it was okay not a whole lot of flavor honestly for this one moving along the flight attendants insisted that i tried this soup which was served at the perfect temperature the beetroot sweetness contrasted the fennel and dill perfectly and wrapped in a blanket of creaminess it was thoroughly enjoyable oh look at my stupid face scene as to how i pretty much only ordered seafood i went for the sauvignon blanc for my choice of wine and oh man was it good i pretty much stuck with this for the entire meal and must have finished at least a bottle the main course was a flawlessly presented pike perch also i came to appreciate the smaller portions as it encourages you to try more dishes before becoming full this perch on its own was super tender and juicy but also matched perfectly with the dill aioli along with the main course there was a bread basket which wasn't anything too special apart from the fact that i featured three different breads baked into one singular loaf the lovely flight attendant also offered me some side dishes i asked for the veggies which came on a really hot plate at this point i've been eating for well over an hour and the meal was nowhere near done we were already over ireland and no okay i guess this is the kind of footage you get when i'm drunk all right moving on the next course was seriously inebriated shenanigans aside i was presented with a basket of digestive cookies now i had no idea what to do with these i'm not going to eat them to take up way too much space and realizing this the purser quickly took them away [Music] instead she came back with a cheese plate and at this point i was really thankful for the small portions because these cheeses were absolutely breathtaking now i do like cheese and we eat it quite often but most of the time it's the cheap supermarket stuff so i'm probably not an expert at it but this cheese or rather these cheeses are some of the best i've ever had and oh my god i am so happy this is fantastic this is supposed to be a sample platter but i am going to finish it right now they also do serve 20 year old rams port in first class so oh my god i don't deserve this personally i'm a big fan of port and paired with this unforgettable cheese plate i felt truly spoiled the final course was a hilariously well presented ice cream bar covered in a decadent milk chocolate i liked how simple it was but still made for the perfect ending to an amazing experience the flight attendant encouraged me to try this unpronounceable hungarian dessert wine which had a hint of honey but wasn't overall too sweet a perfect compliment for the ice cream [Music] to finish things off i was offered some of the hallmark lint switch chocolate pralines and i also asked for an espresso in an attempt to bring up my rating on the glasgow coma scale and of course i was given a handful of these swiss branded milk chocolates finally i received yet another menu this one contains snacks as well as dine on demand options but we'll revisit this later there is no way i'm eating anymore right now okay that's just about the largest lunch i've ever had in my life and i kind of want to take a nap now but i also do want to check out economy class and i do want to change into pajamas for a nap so i should probably go check out academy class first because wearing first class pajamas and then walking into economy class would be kind of a dick move so let's go do that just to clarify i meant going to economy and not the dick move it was pretty easy to find an empty economy seat so let me quickly give you a tour these seats feature a decent ife screen it articulates and has headphone and usb charging ports beneath it the tray table is of the bi-fold variety and deploys like this it's very sturdy and a pretty good size oh you [ __ ] dumb ass there's also a small but sturdy cup holder that comes out like this pretty cute coat hook and in terms of leg and knee room there's tons of space for reference i'm 181 centimeters tall or five eleven if you're an american the armrests go all the way back giving you a generous amount of space if there's no one sitting next to you and in terms of the recline while it's very generous overall i'm very impressed with this economy product if i were paying for my own ticket i would definitely not hesitate to book this one especially given the 242 configuration that it comes in on the airbus fleet as that is ideal for both families and in the case of my girlfriend and me couples [Music] here's the main business cabin now i won't go into detail since i've made a separate video but on this flight i bumped into a viewer of mine and because i was alone in the first class they let me bring him this guy right here back up with me so i said i was going to take a nap but instead i went back to economy and on my way i found a friend this is eugene nice to meet you right and then now we're hanging out this is great this is why you should start a youtube channel because then you find other weirdos who like planes and travel cheers um so eugene is an accountant i'm gonna i'm gonna play that song it's like i'm an accountant as an accountant nobody asks you questions when you say you're an accountant [Music] okay so after a drink or 25 eugene went back to his seat and i decided to take that nap but before i do that let me show you the amenity kit and other goodies this year's first class amenity kit comes in this low quality plastic bag and inside of it is another much higher quality leather and fabric bag and it's made by bali the contents inside were too numerous to individually go over and oh my god this video is already 30 minutes long so let me just lay it out for you apart from the usual suspects there was a pack of ricola and a cosmetics bag which contained some luxurious products from the pretty which were instantly confiscated by my girlfriend when i got home [Music] there were also provided pajamas and slippers so let's head over to the bathroom to put these on this is one of two first-class bathrooms that's right i had two all to myself there wasn't anything outrageous in here but they did however have these single-use cloth hand towels as if the four engines on this plane weren't already environmentally unfriendly enough on their own there was also a baby change table and another leather padded bench which was useful in changing clothes [Music] as was the full length mirror [Music] this is what the pajamas look like they came in pants and a long sleeve shirt both were black they felt very thick and soft definitely high quality and can stand up to a lot of use while i was gallivanting around the plane like an idiot the crew made the seat adjacent to mine into a bed complete with extra large pillows a thick mattress topper and a luxuriously thick duvet it was very inviting especially after consuming an ungodly amount of alcohol like i mentioned earlier the doors can be closed [Music] and this divider shut albeit very slowly come on there's also a divider between the two middle seats that comes up like this [Music] all of this made each suite feel very private although let's face it that wasn't really much of a concern on this flight to begin with in terms of the bed it was very cozy with soft touch materials and warm woods all around it really felt like a hotel bed with was not an issue and the mattress was nearly indistinguishable from that of a real bed with more than half the flight still to go i took one of the most glorious snaps i've ever taken above 30 thousand feet [Music] after a solid three hours of sleep i woke up to the soft cabin lighting and not wanting to get out of bed just yet decided to check out the ife whose 32 inch screen momentarily blinded me cataracts aside the interface was very boxy but otherwise easy to understand and navigate in terms of the media like i said in my business review the selection was somewhat wanting there were a few blockbuster new releases some other less prominent new films and a dozen or so older movies when it came to tv shows there were a handful of popular american and british programs but with only a few episodes in each and in some cases not even in the same season there wasn't a lot you can binge but whatever movie or tv show you do decide to watch it'll be gorgeously presented on this massive screen which is a treat all in itself the in-flight map was handled by airshow 3d and once again the gigantic screen made this experience very cool all the functionality were present from free roaming of the camera to the command center there were no tail or other outboard cameras which would have been super cool on this vintage quadjet but no points off there and although the screen is a touch screen the fact that it's out of reach means you'll probably be controlling it with the remote in this case it's the standard panasonic handset with the software capable of playing a movie on the main screen while the remote displays the flight information it didn't take me a whole lot of time to get sick of the movie selection so i decided to get out of bed [Music] we were still over the ocean so there wasn't a whole lot to see outside but since the lighting is pretty good over here let me show you the headphones these are the same as the ones they provide in business class and if you've watched that review you'll know that they weren't particularly comfortable at least not for me but i have an enormous head so results may vary also i noticed that waiting at my seat was a tub of ice cream unsure as to how i got there the logical decision was to eat it seeing that i had woken up the crew asked me if i wanted to have dinner not knowing what else to say i said yes so the table was set and here we go again ordering off of the dining time menu i took the recommendation of the crew and got the quiche these were extra cheesy and made me contemplate as to how on earth i was gonna lose all this weight when i got home not wanting to think too much about that i instead asked to try the char it came as a little bit of a surprise that these portions were larger than the first meals especially when the menu described these as a snack nonetheless the arctic char was cooked perfectly throughout the middle was soft while the skin had just a little bit of crunch definitely very impressive for not just fish on a plane but fish in general [Music] still recovering from the first meal and definitely unable to eat anymore i passed up the fruit plate but not before taking a shot of it to finish i asked for a mug of tea which apparently i had forgotten was something that was served hot as a reward for my gluttony i received a giant bar swiss chocolate i was told that it's exclusive to only the most enthusiastic of first class passengers whatever that means i forgot to mention that there was wi-fi throughout the flight although it was incredibly expensive topping out at 60 us dollars for 20 megs i made the mistake of buying it on the way over an error i was not going to repeat on this flight luckily i received a couple of these first class wifi vouchers which granted 50 megabytes each enough to go post a couple of stories on instagram as we approach montreal descending over the quebec countryside dressed in their autumnal colors i'll share my thoughts on this first class flight swiss is among the dwindling number of airlines who still offer first class so they have taken up the gauntlet of crafting a once in a lifetime experience but i do it very differently than a lot of other airlines as you may have noticed they didn't offer caviar their champagne didn't cost hundreds of dollars and there wasn't anything flamboyant or elaborate about their cabin instead the experience they cater to is one of subtle refinement their cabins are sharp their seats are stylish but no part of their product be it tangible or not is boastful loud or flashy their menu is small but each dish is crafted from careful thought and effort anyone can serve an expensive steak or add truffles to pasta but what swiss do is to take the best their country has to offer and offer it to you each dish had a flavor unique to its own and often one i've never tasted the cheese and wines also paired perfectly in the dry airplane air something that shouldn't go unnoticed since i was the only person in the cabin the service was unsurprisingly phenomenal the two cabin crew taking care of me were always finding ways to make me more comfortable and after discovering that i'm a bit of a plane and travel nerd they were incredibly enthusiastic in telling me about their experiences how the airline works and what goes into a flight so do i think it was worth the thousand plus euros i spent on the upgrade absolutely will i spend that much to upgrade again probably not like i said it's a once in a lifetime experience and having experience at once that's enough [Music] if you made it this far thank you so much for listening to me blabber on for 40 minutes i won't be uploading for a little while as i do some travel for work so if you want to catch up with me you can find me on instagram if you like this video i've got quite a few others you can check out but until the next time i hope you're all doing well and safe travels [Music]

Channel: Vicarious Voyager

Views: 1,614,321

Rating: 4.8367157 out of 5

Keywords: Swiss, First Class, Airbus, A340, Swiss Air, Swiss International Airlines, Zuirch, Montreal, Lounge, Star Alliance, ZRH, YUL, A340-400, Flight Review, Trip Report

Id: RluwGcuC5j4

Length: 39min 28sec (2368 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 21 2020