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Tuesday, July 17, 2007
A Swiss miss
Swiss get the award for honesty. Their new angled lie flat seat may be an instrument of torture, but at least they recognize that it is not as good as a flat bed.

After all, what else can justify the instructions on page 166 of their in-flight magazine about how to adjust the seat to actually sleep.

For instance it advises tall people (me) to extend the seat to “minimise pressure on your thighs…” You can say that again. I could barely move after a half hour snooze on this machine.

For those who sleep on their back it suggests extending the seat and using the “foot rest position to fine tune the setting.” Sleep on your side and you should jog the seat back with the take-off setting to flatten the seat. If you sleep on your stomach, then extend all the way.

What a palaver! I don’t remember BA, Virgin or any other carrier that has a proper flat bed having to give passengers such advice about how to get a good night’s sleep. With flat beds the instructions are simple. Push the button. Pull the duvet. Go to sleep on your back, front, side or all three.

Every airline which has invested in these miserable seats is going to regret it once the Open Skies agreement comes along and other carriers offering a flat product come onto the market. Swiss is only able to offer such a shoddy product because it doesn’t have a system-wide competitor at its hubs (it competes against various different carriers on individual routes). And its main competitor Lufthansa also owns it (incidentally the Lufthansa first class seat is wonderful for red eye sleep!)

Nope, Swiss goes to the top of my list for the most uncomfortable, miserable new business class seat that is guaranteed to give a pretty pathetic night’s sleep. Well done Swiss.

Posted by Richard Quest: 1:31 PM
5 Comments Add a comment
Well, so long as the onboard entertainment system does not catch on fire, as happened on one ill-fated flight of a certain Swiss airline not too many years ago, I think only having a sore back to worry about is something of an improvement.
Posted By Anonymous : 2:04 PM ET  
I get on better with the angled seats than the "flat beds" which are, indeed, flat - but not necessarily horizontal. During the course of the flight, I end up shuffling down the bed. At least with the angled seats, you stay put. Not necessarily deep-sleep, but certainly a good uninterrupted snooze. (I recently experienced Swiss C on an unexpected upgrade).
Posted By nickpiggott : 8:02 PM ET  
Ha! You have a blog! That's wonderful. Sorry, I'm a little behind the times, first time here.

It could always be worse... it could always be Economy international. The only Economy flight I've ever enjoyed involved a mostly-empty plane where I got the whole middle row to myself....
Posted By Wench : 1:48 AM ET  
Dear Richard

you should fly economy once in a while... this would actually make you appreciate any business class seat.

Also, comparing Swiss' business class with Lufthansa's first class is somewhat ridiculous. You might compare it to their business class product, though - which is very, very similar to Swiss' one.

I certainly agree that Swiss' doesn't have a state-of-the-art product. But to be fair, it is pretty good. Next time, try the business class of an American carrier - that would make a good rant.
Posted By Christoph Steiner : 6:52 PM ET  
Fully agree! Didn't get a minute of sleep. Service was great though - despite of the fact that Richard was on board the same flight the attendants duly and smilingly attended to all the normal mortals too :) But seriously: You want to sleep, you don't fly Swiss biz! SL, Geneva
Posted By Anonymous : 9:57 AM ET  
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