by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 29, 2016 | Business Class, Fare Sale, Featured, First Class, Swiss |
For those of you who have yet to decide how or where you’ll spend Christmas this year, SWISS gives you compelling options.
SWISS is currently holding fare specials for Business and First Class from the USA to most of their destinations throughout Europe.
Pricing is attractive!
For example you can fly SWISS Business for only $2050 between NYC and Venice or Barcelona. From Chicago the fare moves up to only $2300-$2700 for most European destinations.
For those of you compelled to spoil yourself and fly in First Class (read about my experiences), you can fly from New York to most of Europe for under $5000, and between $5000 and $6000 from most of SWISS’ other USA gateways. To push you over the edge, here’s look at their fantastic First Class Lounge that opened earlier this year in Zurich.
Economy fares are also attractive, but not as compelling as the premium cabin options!
The travel period for these specials is restricted to the last 2 weeks of December, but what a perfect time to get to Europe to enjoy the fantastic Christmas markets……
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 10, 2016 | Fare Sale, Featured, First Class, Swiss |
SWISS has launched a First and Business Class fare sale for travel from the USA to a variety of European destinations for travel between December 1 and March 31.
For the First Class part of the fare sale, most fares from East Coast and Midwest Gateways range between $4800 & $5200 while West Coast gateways run in the $5700 to $5900 range.
To take advantage of the First Class deal, you need to depart between December 18 and January 1. Return flights can take plus until March 31. Keep in mind there are a few blackout dates right around Christmas. The best fares are usually available for travel between Monday and Thursday.
The Business Class sale runs for the identical periods and features fares as low as $2800 from the East Coast, and ranges up to the $3700 range for West Coast departures. Like with the First Class sale, the fares are openly available through the end of March, with only a small black out window around Christmas.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 5, 2016 | Airports, Featured, Lounges, Plane Spotting, Swiss |
A few weeks ago while enroute back to the States from our Safari trip to Africa, we flew with SWISS and because of our seats, we were able to visit the First Class Lounge in Zurich between flights. You can see what that fabulous Lounge is like in this trip report. To see what a First Class flight aboard SWISS is like when you have the cabin to yourself, read this trip report.
Aside from all the fantastic amenities that you’ll find in the Lounge, my favorite was outside the Lounge. When SWISS designed and built the new Business, SENator, and First Class Lounges inside ZRH’s Terminal E, they took advantage of the real-estate they had to work with and included outdoor terraces for all 3 lounges. In fact, for the hardcore plane spotter, the Senator and Business Class Lounges are actually better for plane spotting since it puts you closer to the runway used for ‘Heavy’ arrivals in the morning. The First Class Lounge however does have an advantage for ‘Heavy’ departures in the late morning and afternoon.
The photos should give you a pretty good idea as far as just how great the vantage point is from these Lounges. Unfortunately the timing of my visit wasn’t ideal for photography. We were in the Lounge from about 6:30a to 9a which meant that most of my shots were taken with the sun still not above the horizon. The fact that it was extremely overcast didn’t help matters much. Fortunately my camera did a stellar job with high ‘ISO’ settings so I was at least able to see what I was shooting!
If for some reason you don’t travel with a suitcase full of camera equipment, you’ll appreciate the high quality Leica binoculars and telescope that is available to guests so they can get up close looks at the birds. There are a few pair of binoculars installed in kiosks found on the terrace (First Class terrace only for the binoculars).
Next year’s trip is going to include outbound SWISS flights so that I can spend 8-10 hours at this new Plane Spotting Mecca……
A 20-year old Single Malt Scotch just adds to the wonderful experience! 🙂
