Try Out SWISS’ 777-300ER Business Class For 25,000 Miles

a seat in a plane
SWISS 777 Business Class

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SWISS’ 777-300ER aircraft are, more often than not, scheduled to operate on some of the airline’s more premium long-haul routes out of Switzerland. Los Angeles and Hong are just two of the far-flung destinations that SWISS’ ten 777 aircraft serve but, for a brief period this summer, SWISS will be flying a 777 a lot closer to home.

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Between 13 July and 18 August 2019 SWISS will operate a 777-300ER on its short-haul route between Zurich and Athens and, for anyone looking to try out the beautifully appointed Business Class cabin without breaking the bank, this could be a good opportunity.

Here’s the 777’s schedule per Routes Online:

LX1830 ZRH 0850 – 1230 ATH (Daily)

LX1831 ATH 1400 – 1545 ZRH (Mon, Fri & Sat)
LX1831 ATH 1400 – 1550 ZRH (Sun)
LX1831 ATH 1410 – 1555 ZRH (Tue, Wed & Thu)

The SWISS 777-300ER Business Class Cabin

The SWISS 777-300ER offers 62 Business Class seats set out in a 1-2-1 AND a 2-2-2 layout so you need to be careful which seats you select…

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…..but the seats all look fantastic:

SWISS 777-300ER

The seats most travelers covet are the “throne” seats that offer acres of space either side of the traveler…

SWISS 777-300ER

….but some complain about the amount of room that the seats leave for a passenger’s feet when they’re in full lie-flat mode.

If you happen to have Miles & More HON Circle or Senator status SWISS will allow you to select the throne seats for free at the time of booking (everyone else is asked to pay a fee) but, if you’re prepared to be patient, these seats can be booked free of charge (by everyone) from 48 hours before departure.

There are 12 ‘throne seats’ on each SWISS 777-300ER and with the Zurich – Athens route unlikely to be full of elite travelers in the middle of August you shouldn’t have too much trouble snagging one of these seats for free.

The Cost

The cheapest fares on this route originate in Athens with roundtrip Business Class (ATH – ZRH) costing from $798 for the flights operated by the 777:

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If you’re originating in Zurich there are a few roundtrip fares for ~$816 but the majority are priced at ~$916.

The cheapest one way fares are also to be found for flights originating in Athens…

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…with one-way fares from Zurich costing approximately $100 more.

Personally I couldn’t ever imagine ever paying that amount of money for a 2.5-hour Business Class flight…but that’s what miles & points are for.

Premium Cabin award availability between Zurich and Athens looks pretty good in late July and throughout the whole of August…

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….and, although the 777 flights aren’t necessarily available for award bookings on each of the dates shown above, it’s not very difficult to find award availability on the widebody aircraft:

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Click to enlarge

25,000 Miles & More miles/United miles & $35.10 will get you a 2.5-hour flight between Zurich and Athens in Business Class on a SWISS 777-300ER.

Thoughts

If you happen to need to fly in Business Class between Zurich and Athens it may be an idea to check to see if you can book on to the 777 on the days you’re scheduled to travel.

If you have no real-world need to fly between Zurich and Athens this may not be a trip for you but I suspect the AvGeeks out there would still be sorely tempted.

I’m not about to say that this is a great/fantastic/wonderful use of miles or that there’s amazing value to be had here, but I am going to say that this may be one of the cheaper ways to try out the SWISS 777 cabin….especially if you have a significant Miles & More/United MileagePlus balance that never seems to go down.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Note that it is risky to plan taking this trip specifically because you want to fly in a B777 long-haul Business Class seat.

    LX may well replace the equipment on those flights with a normal A32x again for operational reasons (currently one of their B777 is grounded), in which case you have zero right to a refund or rebooking and end up in bog-standard Intra-Europe Business Class.

    • I agree that airline schedules can change at any time and for any reason (so nothing is ever guaranteed) but the 777 was just added to this route overnight (as far as I can tell) so SWISS has (probably) accounted for its grounded 777.

      Also, one of the benefits of booking with miles is that a good number of flyers (depending on status) will be able to change/refund their bookings with little or no penalty.

Comments are closed.