Review of Edelweiss Air flight from Zurich to Buenos Aires in Economy

Welcome to the sixth and last leg of this series of reports from my trip to Italy on May/June this year. I had arrived in Zurich from Florence, and was about to take the last flight home. ZRH-EZE flight is a relatively new route, Edelweiss started it on November 2018. Previously, Swiss International Airlines had flown it but stopped it in 2002.
The whole trip itinerary:
- AEP – IGR on LATAM Argentina A320
- IGU – GIG on LATAM Brazil A320
- GIG – FRA on Lufthansa Boeing 747
- FRA – LIN on Lufthansa A320
- FLR – ZRH on Swiss A220
- ZRH – EZE on Edelweiss A340 YOU ARE HERE
WK0090
Date: 05/06/19
Origin: Zürich - Kloten ZRH
Destination: Buenos Aires – Ezeiza EZE
Departure: 22.30 (22.30 real)
Arrival: 08.00 (08.25 real)
As I mentioned, I had arrived from FLR on a LX flight, with an hour of delay. At the time of arrival, I was supposed to be boarding this last flight.
So, I kept walking on Concourse A/B, looking for directions for Terminal E. I had read that I hade to take an underground train from one Terminal to another. Apparently, most flights had already departed on this Terminal because it was almost empty.

Finally, I found the stairs leading to the people mover terminal. Previously I had to pass through passports checkpoint. I got my passport stamped and I went down.

This ride is quite interesting and funny. When it speeds up you can hear some typical Swiss Alps sounds like cow´s moo, and men yodeling. The ride is pretty short and then you get to Terminal E.

I went up the stairs and I saw the Edelweiss A340-300 (HB-JMK) waiting on the tarmac. It was 21.30 and boarding hasn´t started yet.

Some minutes later, a lot of people started gathering (most of us, Argentineans) and the boarding call was made. First passengers on business class (on this aircraft it´s in the middle, not in the front as usual), then passengers with small kids and finally the rest.

I was one of the firsts to board. This A340 was very clean and tidy. It felt really packed, like the seats are closer than I remembered in others A340 I flew.

The IFE system is pretty good. I think it was almost the same that in Lufthansa.

When boarding was almost completed, my seat neighbor moved with her friends, so I relaxed and stretched my legs. But some minutes later more people arrived quickly, so she came back to her original seat. From what I heard we were waiting some passengers coming from Rome. This flight had some serious turbulence and most of them ended up soaked in coke and other drinks. The flight arrived late but we still waited for them. Another thing I heard was that as I mentioned before, most of passengers were Argentineans. I got this flight from a terrific offer. But when I booked this flight to Italy, I saw some interesting offers to Southeast Asia. Many people were coming from those destinations, and most of they had paid pennies for those flights too. It was a common comment I heard. My seat neighbor was coming from Singapore, and she was from my hometown too.
Magazines on board

Minutes before 22.30 the crew introduced themselves and we took off heading west. The FAs were mostly young (very), a little bit serious but very kind.
Shortly before departure, the handed headphones, refreshing towels and water bottles.

An hour after departure aprox, they served the dinner. The options were meat and pasta. I was thinking of ordering pasta (as I do most of the times). But when my turn came, there was only the meat meal left. It was a veal sausage, with roti potatoes. The serving FA was mentioning it was a typical Swiss meal. I was surprised of how good it was, as I´m not used of eating this kind of things. There was also a salad, and for dessert some thing with cream and raisins. They also passed a couple of time offering different kinds of bread. It was a nice touch.

After, they passed to collect the trash. They turned off the lights as it was time to sleep. I kept myself entertained with the Freddy Mercury film. I went to the restroom before to sleep and I found on the galley a basket with muffins and sandwiches.

While we were flying over Africa, I turned the tv off and I tried to get some sleep.

I woke up at 4.30 am Argentina time, and we were flying near Rio de Janeiro.

About an hour and a half before landing they served the breakfast. It was a plate with cheese, cold cuts and a yogurt. Also, they passed offering breads from the basket.

At a quarter to 8 the captain announced we were starting the descent; we were still over Uruguay.

Later the captain announced that because of the high traffic in Ezeiza we were on a holding pattern over La Plata. He apologized and assured that some minutes later we will land. I couldn´t wait to land! We were flying over 14 hours, and I was still missing the last part of the trip: the shuttle to Rosario (4 hours ride). My seat neighbor had the same feelings.

After some long minutes the FAs prepared the cabin for landing and at 8.30, we landed.

We headed to Terminal A, near LH Boeing 748.

Later on, the passport checkpoint, an agent asked that Argentinean adults passed through the automated control. There were 5 working stations. It was supposed to be faster than the manual check but it was pretty slow. There was an agent helping people.

Then I collected my luggage. It took a long time to appear on the belt. Then I passed through customs and finally I got to arrivals to wait for my shuttle. I leave a screen shot with my flight´s data. It was over 14 hours! Too much for me ha-ha.

I hope you enjoyed this series of reports as I enjoyed registering and writing it.
I hope to be back soon with new flight reports!
Cheers,
Viajero90