SWISS A340 Business Class - Montreal to Zürich

hi i'm here in yul montreal and behind me is the swiss international airlines airbus a340-300 i believe that will be taking us over to zurich our day started in toronto and after a short flight to montreal and a six-hour layover it's off to zurich on a swiss airbus a340-300 our route has us departing north over quebec and newfoundland across the northern atlantic created by the sunrise over ireland will cross a channel and descend over mainland europe finally coming in for a landing at switzerland's largest city in total will take 7 and a half hours to cross at 3 720 miles when i say we i don't mean the metaphysical you and i i actually have a friend joining me today who i've known for a very very very long what's your name again joking aside this is lauren who made a terrible decision in choosing to travel with me you know given how annoying i am although conversely she did go on about her pants for a very long time um they're vegan leather from japan and they're so comfortable like the most comfortable pants aside from sweatpants that i own so i wear them a lot i have them in three colors brown light brown and black yeah they're great fans our plane today is a 17 year old airbus a340-300 a dying breed these quadjet a340s are a treat for any aviation enthusiast even more so when you get to fly on one with a recently refurbished cabin now i'm significantly dumbing this down but essentially what they did was take the a320 engines and strap four of them to a slightly bloated a330 and our plane has the upgraded engines on this trip we had a six hour layover in montreal so while we're here let me tell you a little bit about the place the airport is named after justin's dad mr pierre elliot trudeau located in the suburb of dorval it's not far from the city's center but weirdly it's also not connected to montreal's otherwise efficient and convenient metro system instead uber's lifts and taxis will get you into town or back in a reasonable 20 to 30 minutes depending on traffic like the other major canadian airports this one is also split into a domestic transporter and international section having finished renovations a few years ago the international concourse is spacious modern and very airy thanks the curtain walls on either side and also because of the glass you get uninterrupted views of all the aprons we had hoped the maple leaf lounge would be open by the time we took this flight but unfortunately it was not like many other things here in dorval airport it was still closed in part because they are french and hence a little laissez-faire shall we say with opening hours but mostly because of the coronavirus and the consequent lack of flights however if you ever get the chance to visit this lounge when it eventually reopens don't pass up the opportunity it is one of the best appointed and amenitized air canada lounges 482 has recently undergone remodeling and now features lots of swanky seating a staffed open bar that makes some great cocktails live cooking stations a buffet and most importantly really nice showers but on this occasion none of the lounges in the airport were open in fact despite a growing number of flights making a return to montreal the international section was still really quiet so with 5 hours a kill we went to one of the only restaurants that was still open to have some lunch [Music] a couple of hours later as the sun had begun to set the boarding process began embarking the plane was done through class and zones though this was pretty much a farce since there were only about four dozen passengers no one in first class and only eight of us combined the two business cabins so we're on the left first door i guess we're together okay question may not take photos on board just out of people just your cabinet stuff is that okay that's okay just love these people all right thank you so much okay let me do that you hold this you're in there okay do you want me to hit it yep [Music] [Music] the main business cabin features 38 seats in a staggered 121 and 221 configuration every address has direct all access except for the odd numbered a seats the forward mini cabin has the same layout but with only two rows totaling nine seats this hard product has recently been renovated bringing them in line with what you can find on swiss triple sevens and here's us for tonight five a and b we'll look at the differences between the seats afterwards but first let's do a comprehensive seat tour and as always we'll start with the touchscreen ife this one's fairly responsive and a decent size [Music] directly below this is a generously sized storage cubby it does go quite deep which comes in handy if you need somewhere to put your helmets the foot space is good between the two seats you'll find the literature pockets although it's not clear which one belongs to whom code hook and moving on to the console between the seats you'll find a row of seat and lighting controls open this flat back here to reveal the panasonic ife remote and in front of that you'll find the mattress and lumbar adjustments as well as a massage function on the divider between the two seats you'll find an adjustable reading lamp headphone port and this hook thing which is actually a really smart way of organizing larger items back here there's a universal power outlet and a dimmable lamp now i'm more impressed with this than i really should be but there's a bottle holder a simple but all too often overlooked convenience because the seat is relatively new there's a shoulder strap out onto the seat belt and the seat itself is upholstered in this comfortable fabric which is always preferable to leather over on the aisle side the armrest does go down to let you out during meal times and for some extra space when sleeping although it is a little difficult [Music] here's the space between the two seats and on the topic of space there's a comfortable amount of leg and knee room [Music] finally with the push of this button the tray table comes out of the divider it can then be adjusted laterally and folds open for a large yet still pretty sturdy work surface there are unfortunately no individual air vents and as is the case with many european carriers this flight did run pretty hot all right later on in the week i was on this plane again in a single seat on the right side of the main cabin so let's go have a quick look at that [Music] these are staggered with the odd ones closer to the window and the even ones closer to the aisle the former which is the one i'm in are also much more private [Music] the suite itself is very similar although you do get a little bit more legroom and space in general over on the console everything is pretty much the exact same except for this cabinet that comes out like this to provide a lot more storage if you're in the middle seats you also get a shoe cubby but i didn't film that i did however manage to film one of the coveted throne seats on my flight back this one's a little lived in but that's because it belongs to a viewer i bumped into who was nice enough to show me this is him his name is eugene and be careful he's an accountant all right going back to our initial flight with a sub 20 load factor boarding was done most expeditiously although that's hardly a surprise and apart from one other passenger in the seat in front of us we had the mini cabin impact on to ourselves water position yourself as shown on the screen if you're wondering why there is a mini cabin at all it's because this aircraft also has a first class cabin i actually flew this product on the way home and you can check out that video when it comes out the whole experience was essentially just an exercise in weight gain which was very exciting back in montreal we pummeled down the runway and after using only about a third of it reached our rotate speed [Music] now if you're like me and derive the bulk of your self-worth from your social media presence then naturally the first thing to do once airborne is to connect to the wi-fi swiss offers quite a few packages all of which are incredibly expensive like 65 us dollars for one-fifth of a gig like what the [ __ ] that's a bigger rip-off than bella thorne's only fans account i bought it anyways although i did feel really dirty so i went to wash my hands immediately afterwards and while we're back here let me show you the bathroom this is the standard airbus affair which means a lot of usable counter space unlike its boeing counterpart uh you get a toilet that works and over here is a full-length mirror to look yourself in and despair overall the bathroom was kept pretty clean throughout the flight which is all you can really ask for when i got back to my seat the dinner service was just beginning [Music] the festivities commenced with an amuse bush nothing too special just a couple of savory bites before the rest the meal gets here let me quickly show you the menu which is impressively still provided in its physical form like many other airlines swiss offers a local culinary experience showcasing dishes and ingredients from a rotating roster of cantons this is however only available on flights departing from switzerland and since montreal is in fact not in switzerland which has got a regular menu as well as a breakfast card to be filled out and handed to the crew part in the change of scenery i had to refilm this because the lighting was atrocious on the plane at this point but there is a reasonably sized wine list along with a cocktail menu and impressively espresso drinks as well i went for the swiss white wine and a very hoppy and delicious swiss specialty beer and the meal itself came all together on one tray no fuffing around with the individual courses nonsense this is an overnight flight after all so the expedited service format was a welcome chicken can sometimes be an ambitious choice when it comes to airplane food but this dish that came as a recommendation over the fish did not disappoint it was beautifully cooked to perfection juicy light and full of flavor meanwhile my neighbor went for the beef but honestly neither of us really remember how it tasted so let's just say that it was forgettable both dishes were accompanied by a light salad and a small cheese platter [Music] dessert was a vanilla and raspberry cake it was pretty good i mean it's hard for dessert not to be good yeah it was pretty good moreover they had port which comes from porto in portugal hence the name uh but i'm pretty sure you knew that already anyways port in the air is the ultimate indulgence at least for me and a pretty good nightcap at that by the time the meal service was over we were well on our way across the atlantic tracks the cabin lights were dimmed and it was time for some shut eye having done our homework we found out that the left side seats actually offered the most room so i stole lauren's seat and exiled her across the aisle in the fully flat position the a seats are actually really roomy the mattress is thick and comfortable privacy is no concern legroom is not an issue and i could very comfortably sleep on my side with that said apart from the pillow and blanket no other bedding was provided but the blanket was thick it was late and always grateful for a life flat seat we had no troubles falling asleep [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] as you can tell i went for a little walk after waking up and by the time i crawled back into my seat we were approaching ireland since the sun was up and thus the lighting much improved let me show you the amenity kit and prop to swiss who continued to provide these throughout the last couple of months despite many other airlines discontinuing theirs this year's kit is made by victorinox and comes in a sleek black metal case the contents were a little spartan but the essentials are all here earplugs toothbrush eye shade a full-size lip balm which is always a welcome on airplanes toothpaste and of course a pair of bombastically red socks the shell itself also makes a pretty good pencil case moving on let's check out the entertainment system and the provided noise canceling headphones these came sealed in a clear plastic bag and they looked like the fairly standard over the year variety of headphones now this might just be me with my abnormally macrocephalic head but these headphones were fabulously uncomfortable the ear cups were an awkward size meaning i couldn't really get them to stay on my years and the headband was way too tight anyways moving on to the software the user interface presents itself in a series of boxes that you poke with your finger and while the ui was intuitive enough the content was where swiss fell behind apart from a sprinkling of new releases there wasn't much else in terms of films the selection wasn't austere but i can imagine beyond one or two flights most people will exhaust the roster of films that interest them tv shows were sadly the same an average amount of programs but not very many episodes in each overall the breadth of content available pales in comparison to those on north american carriers and fall short of the likes of lothanza or ba happily the system still features airshow 3d for its moving map with its full suite of functionality i was silently hoping for an outboard camera but i can't say i was disappointed when there wasn't one though a tail view of an a340 would have been a real treat the remote control has all the standard browse functionality allowing you to control the media from the handset however it can't play videos on itself although i'm not sure what kind of person would want to it does however allow you to run the route map so you can always have that handy at this point the cabin crew noticed that we were awake and promptly brought us breakfast the meal was quite simple but i think that is the idea a fast but adequate breakfast to get you going allowing for more time to sleep the croissants were worn by the way and there's cheese if you wanted it but if you are someone who wants a more substantial start to your morning don't fret because business passengers do have access to the arrivals lounge in zurich where they feature a hot buffet mind you it was closed during our time there but honestly as long as i get decent coffee in the morning i'm a happy camper now before you call me out for being unchivalrous i did offer lauren her seat back for landing but she said she was fine where she was that's good news for you because the approach was categorically stunning [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so to sum things up we chose to fly swiss over to europe for a few reasons one their flights were hardly full so there's tons of room for social distancing now i know that sounds really pretentious when you're flying business class but hey it's true secondly swiss is offering pretty much their regular onboard service minus the hot towels whereas most other airlines have drastically reduced their offerings and lastly because we've heard good things about swiss and they absolutely did not disappoint for example the crew of which there were a lot of because of how many door positions this plane has were superb friendly and proactive they really shined when lauren was feeling a little unwell and they did everything they could to make her feel better and no she didn't have the coronavirus to conclude i'll chance a comparison if you've ever flown lothanza in business well swiss is just like them but just a little bit better in each in every way [Music] we're looking forward to welcoming you again soon on behalf of space and your crew thank you very much for flying with us thank you so much so lauren swiss thoughts um it was a beautiful plane and like everything was really aesthetically pleasing which was nice um there were a lot of staff which we agreed on and well i was like super hungover on this flight yes and the staff were very persistent about bringing us wine which was really nice but are the bathrooms nice okay yeah what is what is austria famous for um starting world wars i'm trying to think of like a food they're famous for so i can say on a more positive note they also gave the world hitler who made the gas chambers

Channel: Vicarious Voyager

Views: 572,867

Keywords: SWISS, Airbus, A340, A340-300, Swiss Air, Swiss International Airlines, Business Class, First Class, Montreal, Zurich, Swiss Business, Flight Review, Trip Report, Star Alliance, YUL, ZRH

Id: PXFvULsxFgg

Length: 20min 21sec (1221 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 02 2020