In May 2019 I bought tickets on an amazing Swiss (LX) promotion: 2 First class returns between London (LHR) and Nairobi (NBO) for £3000.  This review covers the long haul sectors in First Class from/to Zurich (ZRH), and a separate review covers the Business class connections between ZRH and LHR.  The two are meant to blend seamlessly during transit at ZRH, but I was left disappointed by what I saw as very poor ground service at ZRH. When we arrived at the short-haul D gates in ZRH I found an LX agent at the gate’s check in desk and asked her how we were to get to the First lounge in the E Gate satellite terminal, because I had been expecting to be driven there in a private car (as described on their website).  We were told just to make our own way there, and when I baulked at the distance she said we could use a wheelchair, but Mr A would have to push me!  We eventually made it to the First lounge, where we were told that if we had gone to the First lounge in the A terminal (near the D gates) they would have driven us to the E gates lounge!  As a result we barley had 5 minutes in the lounge before being invited to board our flight, so I can’t tell you about it and I didn’t take any photos. This was disappointing service for a First pax. 2/10.  On the return leg transfer we were met at the aircraft door by an LX agent, who escorted all 8 First pax down some steps to the apron, and then onto a posh Mercedes van, done up inside in the same styling as onboard the aircraft. Very nice.

We boarded flight LX296 at 09:35 trough door 2L and turned left towards the First cabin. My first impressions of the cabin were pretty good, but it was very cold and I was struck by how small the windows are on this 10 years old Airbus A330-300 aircraft, registered HB-JHE.  I sat in window seat 1A and Mr A was behind me in 2A.

Seating is in a 1-2-1 layout, over two rows, and is described as an “open suite”. There is a small privacy screen to the aisle side which can only be deployed in the cruise part of the flight. The seat was comfortable and had several useful pre-set controls, including one to bring you closer to your dining table at meal time.  Sills below the windows were in a pale wood effect and a long long way opposite me was a large TV and an adjustable ottoman below it, where Mr A could comfortably join me for lunch.  But there wasn’t a private wardrobe connected to the suite.

Sitting on the ottoman was a nice Bally branded amenities bag, containing La Prairie products, slippers, mask, socks, and a coat-hanger labelled ‘1A’ so my clothes would be easy to find in the wardrobe at the front of the cabin.  Also at the front was just one lavatory – a rather cramped affair, but there were more La Prairie products for moisturisation.

Before take-off I had a glass of Bucks Fizz/Mimosa and some warmed cashews and almonds, and the “maitre de cabine”, as LX calls the cabin services director, came to give us a personal welcome.  We pushed back from stand 8 minutes late, at 10:03, and we took off from runway 16 at 10:13.

I visited the lav when the seatbelt signs went off and I was very surprised on my return to see Mr A’s table being set for lunch. When I asked him he told me he hadn’t requested lunch, so the crew were just getting on with it. At 10:30 in the morning Switzerland time, 09:30 in the UK, where we started our journey!  It was only on my return home, when I checked LX’s website, did I learn that LX claims to provide ‘dine on demand’ in First.  So it needs to train or remind its FAs!

We got the FA to clear Mr A’s table and set up for us to dine face to face at my table – one of the real pleasures of first class travel, where there’s a decent ottoman for a partner to sit on.  We began lunch with a selection of each of the appetisers offered on the menu. A nice salmon sashimi, a refreshing tuna poke and a selection of Swiss Charcuterie and pickles. But whilst this lavish appetiser medley was lovely, it came in place of a special caviar course, which is usually the norm in first class these days.

Next I had a soup; I can’t recall which type, and the picture doesn’t give any clues.  Mr A had a salad, which he didn’t really like.

My main course was roasted sturgeon with “caviar sauce” and vine leaves stuffed with something. The sturgeon was really horrible and I counted just three fish eggs in the “caviar sauce”.  This was a pretty disappointing meal!  But what was amazing was that the menu did not mention a second meal, or mid-flight snacks, so this early lunch was all we were getting!  That’s really unusual, in any cabin, not just First.  So I decided to give up on this meal in favour of a little nap, and I asked the FA if she could serve my cheese course two hours away from NBO, thus engineering myself a mid-flight snack.

The FA actually served my cheese one hour before NBO, which was another disappointment in this crew operating.  With a big feature on the cheeses in the menu, the Swiss appear to be very fond of their nation’s dairy produce.  The cheeses were indeed quite nice, but I was surprised how alike they all were; 4 hard white cheeses and one medium hard one. All from cows milk, no goats or sheep, no blues, softs or washed rinds.  The cheese plate came with a few pickles, a mustard jam and something like Christmas pudding en croute.  I wasn’t offered any crackers, so I just assumed the Swiss don’t do crackers.  But on my return flight I was offered crackers with my cheese.

BTW my nap was fairly comfortable, but not amongst the most comfortable aircraft sleeps. In bed mode my seat was long, with good width, but the lower end sagged where it should have seamlessly met the ottoman. Bed linen was very good quality (soft) and soft black PJs were available upon request.

I found the IFE hard to navigate.  I used the remote because the screen wasn’t touch-screen. I did like some of the films available, and there seemed to be less focus on trashy American action films. The ‘airshow’ map display wasn’t interactive and didn’t name the countries being overflown. And the headphones were not noise cancelling. First pax do have access to free wi-fi, but it was uselessly slow.

We landed NBO at 19:23 after a nice and speedy approach and were on stand at 19:30, some ten minutes ahead of schedule.  But although we parked at an air bridge, we had to disembark down some steps and onto a bus, which took us to an international arrivals area.  Before entering, we had to queue to have our temperatures checked by masked people in military uniform, and then we had a long-ish queue for the ‘visa on arrival’ and immigration.  ‘Long-ish’ means I got bored and frustrated after 15 minutes, but hundreds of people behind me would have had a much longer wait.  I hadn’t checked visa rules properly, so it came as a surprise to have to pay US$50, GBP30 or EUR40 in cash (each) for visa on arrival. No cards, no local currency.  And I’ll just mention that the immigration officer doing the visa and stamping our passport didn’t fill out the visa properly and didn’t check our (supposedly mandatory) yellow fever certificates.

Our return flight from NBO to ZRH was just 4 days later on flight LX294, which was scheduled to depart at 20:40.   We took a taxi from Wilson airport, where we’d landed from Kichwa in the Masai Mara. As we approached Jomo Kenyatta International Airport the taxi dropped us off outside a “security check”. We had to leave our luggage in the taxi and walk through a metal detector, then get back into our taxi. Although we didn’t have to wait for this “security check”, it seemed a totally pointless affair – the metal detector didn’t detect the phones in our pockets, and our luggage in the taxi, or the taxi itself, weren’t screened!  The taxi then dropped us as close to the international departures area as he could – but we still had a 300m walk to the terminal because cars are not allowed immediately outside it.  Then we joined a queue for 15 minutes to pass though security, where all bags were x-rayed, though liquids did not need to be separated.  I’d been wondering how to separate liquids, if required, because Kenya has a total ban on plastic bags. (though on arrival at NBO a few days ago scores of people with plastic Dubai duty free bags had no problems entering the country!).

Checking in for our flight at around 17:30 was quite bizarre.  LX had about 4 check in desks, but only one, the one marked “First Class” was manned, and all pax were using it. When it came to our turn the agent checked us in and told us he would escort us through passport control and up to the First class lounge. That was very kind, but we felt terribly self-conscious when he got up to escort us and left the check in desks totally unmanned! All the other pax were staring at us and I felt awful for adding to their queueing time.

Once again, passport control didn’t look at our yellow fever certificates, and on arrival at LHR the automatic passport machines didn’t ask for the certificate either.  What is the point of a mandatory health requirement if nobody checks it?

NBO is an old airport creaking at its seams and I wasn’t even sure if there were any airline lounges, so the Aspire Lounge, used by several carriers was a welcome sight.  But inside it was on the basic side for a business class lounge, and very poor for a first class one.  Most of the airlines using this lounge top out at business class.

We grabbed a pair of seats at the far end of the lounge, close to the toilets and a TV. The seats were soft and comfortable, but I later discovered this was called the “napping area” and I certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed napping in these chairs!  Closer to the entrance was an F&B area with a selection of sandwiches and snacks which are not at all desirable.  The drinks selection was poor too, but we enjoyed a couple of glasses of Prosecco (no Champagne). Closer still to the entrance were tables and hard chairs.  The lounge did have wi-fi, but it wasn’t fast enough for me to upload a short video to Instagram.  It’s also worth noting that the lounge did not have showers for anyone wanting to freshen up before their long haul flight.  Our check-in agent told us someone would come to collect us from the lounge, to be able to be first to board, but unfortunately this didn’t happen. We were startled to see on the departures screen that our flight was shown as “final call”, but the lady manning the lounge’s check in desk told us to just ignore that.  But after a while we and a charming lady we befriended decided we should get to the gate!  At the gate there was another security screening, but again it was inconsistent and a little chaotic. I refused to remove my shoes because they couldn’t provide me with a chair for help, so they just let me through anyway.

We boarded our 9 year old Airbus A330-300 registered HB-JHG via an airbridge at 20:20 and relished the calmness of the First cabin, especially when we were offered a glass of Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle. Although we were the first to board, some other pax were already in their seats because they were bound for Dar es Salaam (DAR). LX operates a triangular route from ZRH to NBO, then DAR on the way back to ZRH.  Dar pax from ZRH stay on board at NBO (the airport’s chaotic infrastructure isn’t able to cope with transit pax).

We pushed back at 20:37 (three minutes early) and took off from runway 06 at 20:55 for the hour flight to DAR. Half an hour before landing the skipper turned on the seatbelt signs, but I needed to go to the lav, so I went to the galley and asked the maitre de cabine if that would be OK. It normally is.  But this chap denied me permission, which really annoyed me, and we had a little argument. Eventually, after I showed him my abdominal scars and explained that I was unable to control my toiletry urges as well as the average person, he agreed.  I was safely back in my seat with more than 20 minutes to spare before we landed in a dark and quiet DAR at 21:56.

We stayed on board while the DAR pax disembarked, the crews changed and the plane was cleaned.  The new FA looking after us was much better than the previous crews. He was engaging, professional and keen to deliver the best service he could.  Whilst still on the ground he served us Champagne and canapés and took our food orders for the rest of the flight (this time there was to be dinner and then breakfast).  Because of the late hour I opted to only have chilled salmon and the cheese plate for my dinner, then a cooked breakfast before ZRH.

We took off at 23:36 from runway 05, after being held on the ground for a while past our scheduled departure time, so that we didn’t arrive in ZRH before it opened at 6am.

The rest of the flight was smooth and comfortable. After my light meal the FA made my bed and lowered the cabin temperature to my requested 21C, and I had a good sleep.  I read so many complaints online from people about aircraft cabins being kept too warm. I agree that they are so on 90% of my flights, but I always ask them to lower the temperature to 21C and they always oblige.

We landed ZRH at 06:14 on runway 34, and were on stand E47 at 06:18.  This flight had been so much better than the ZRH-NBO one, and the difference was entirely down to the FAs. Outbound the FA didn’t deliver the service LX promised, inbound the FA did everything right.  Crew attitude is, I believe, the most important factor in making you feel you’ve had a good flight or not – in any class/cabin.  Outbound I would score the flight 5/10 and report that it was a poor first class experience. Homeward bound I score 8/10 and view it as a a good first class experience, limited only by the poor infrastructure and service at NBO, which isn’t LX’s fault.

So I would be happy to fly LX again, especially on a great promo fare. ZRH is a good place to transit in terms of it not being crowded or hectic, but on the way back one of our three bags didn’t make the connection.  And LX needs to greatly improve the way it handles and takes care of its transiting pax.

Overall 6/10

PS I left my walking stick in the overhead locker above my seat and only realised when I go to the transit security check. I reported it when I got to the lounge, but they said no-one was left on the plane, so I should log a report online.  Two days later LX emailed to say they’d found my stick and they would send it to LHR. I would have to pick it up and pay CHF30, or they could send it to my home for another CHF100.  I wrote back to LX asking them to give my stick to a charity, and a replacement cost me one tenth of the courier charge.