Review Swiss, Amsterdam to Zurich in Business Class
Paul‘s 224th Flight Report
Member of: Star Alliance
Operated by: airBaltic
Flight LX735
Flight Time: 1 hour
Business Class
General Impression: 
Before the Flight :
Check-in Process:
Security Control :
Lounge:
Information:
Boarding @ Gate: 
Staff @ these points:
Boarding in Cabin:
Welcome Drinks:
Punctuality: , 50min delay
, 50min delay
During the Flight :
Food presentation:
Food quality:
Drinks:
Service Procedure:
Amenity Kit: N/A
Entertainment System: none
none
Seat Quality:
Legroom:
Lavatories:
Cleanliness:
General Atmosphere:
Announcement Pilots:
Announcement Cabin:
Cabin Crew:
After the Flight :
De-Boarding:
Baggage Delivery: 
—-
= bad, a lot of work needs to be done
= poor, you will be busy with corrections
= good & normal, nothing special
= high level, but the icing on the cake is missing
= topnotch, leave me here!
= Half a Point/sheep
—-
On the Ground:
Check-in was good. There was only a short queue at the LHGroup priority check-in.
The Agent at the check-in counter was friendly and helpful. She was chatty and the process was done very fast and professional.
There was only a very short queue at the Security Checkpoint with almost no waiting time.
Amsterdam has the newest scanners where you do not have to remove your liquids and electronics anymore and for the passenger itself you have one of the modern body scanners as well.
But...
It seems that the agents have no idea on how to use these new baggage scanners. Around 90% of the baggage is sent to secondary screening. Dear Schiphol Airport, maybe you should put the
scanners a little less sensitive or train your security staff accordingly. Secondary screening takes forever and we had to wait around 15 minutes until it was our turn with the second check.
The queue behind us got longer and longer and as it looked like, all bags with electronics were sent for second screening to do a whipe test.
The newest machines make no sense if they aren't used correctly. We would have been triple as fast if we would have removed the electronic and liquids from the bags.
Agents at security check were rather grumpy and unfriendly.
Lounge:
On this trip we decided to check out the Aspire Lounge with our priority pass.
The lounge is nice, modern and it has lots of seating options. It is rather a busy lounge.
The F&B selection was good. They had a big salad buffet and offered a soup as hot item during the afternoon. Cold cuts were also available and a small buffet with sweets.
There is a big drinks, alcohol and coffee station in the lounge. Staff at reception as well the lounge staff was friendly.
Gate:
What a disaster at the gate. First, the poor youngster had no idea what he does and his PA announcements were way to quiet and not understandable.
Announcements would have been made but we don't know for what.
Then the boarding bridge was broken and you had to walk down the jetbridge stairs to the tarmac and to the back of the plane to board it via stairs.
Getting on Board:
At the back aircraft door we were greeted by a friendly senior cabin crew and one of the Flight Attendants was in the cabin and assisting passengers whilst boarding.
The crew then distributed water bottles and refreshing towels prior to departure.
Inflight:
The seats are much harder on the Air Baltic A220 then on the Swiss one. And also the seating cushion is much shorter.
Also Air Baltic offers the regular European Business Class with a 2/3 seating configuration on this Airbus A220 where the middle seats remain empty on the side with 3 seats and only one seat
given out on the side with 2 seats.
Announcements of the cockpit crew were clear and understandable.
Announcement from the cabin crew had a range from very good to a criminal assault.
Some announcements were slow and understandable others were simply a yelling with a killing voice.
Unfortunately the cabin crew did not speak any German.
After take off the crew first served some drinks from the trolley and then served the meal trays. A drink refill service was also carried out afterwards. The service was actually great.
The meal tray consisted of a cold snack, fresh swiss cheese, a dessert as well as bread and butter
Yes, the crew has the famous eastern charm and may seem cold and unfriendly, but the cabin crew did a great job. Especially the senior in business class, she interacted with the customers, was friendly and very service minded. A great business class service.
Inflight Entertainment / Wifi
The Air Baltic Airbus 220 family is equipped with an inflight entertainment system which consists of mini screens above every seat row, where they show the safety video as well as the most famous film in Aviation: "the map“.
No WiFi available on this flight.
After the flight:
We arrived on an open stand at 21:55 local time. The stairs were ready but no buses to bring us to the terminal.
After 5 minutes the first bus arrived and luckily Zurich Airport segregates Business and Economy Customers.
Baggage delivery:
Baggage delivery in Zurich was worse than at a provincial Airport in Africa.
Zurich Airport and Swissport International AG should be ashamed for such a service. No delay announcement no reason no
nothing.
At 45 minutes after arrival on the stand, our trackers still showed the bags on the aircraft parking position.
First bags were delivered 52 minutes after arriving at the parking position.
First bags delivered were economy and priority bags came later mixed.
Summary:
All in all a good and solid inflight experience with a disastrous ground experience on both ends, in Amsterdam and Zurich.
Notes:
- Paul the Sheep does not get any benefits from the Hotels/Airlines etc.
- Paul will always pay for the services in order to be able to rate freely and truly about the experiences.
- If you are interested in more details, please send me a private message and I will be happy to share.