To get from Prague to Milan there weren't many options, it basically came down to Lufthansa Group or KLM, but KLM either got into Milan a bit too late on the 29th or left too early on the 28th. So it was a choie between SWISS International Airlines (with airBaltic on the ZRH-MXP leg) and Lufthansa and I decided to go with SWISS. The price was exactly the same but SWISS left 20 minutes later (so time for a bit more sleep) and it would also let me fly an A220 for the first time. Plus I was expecting SWISS to maybe be a tiny bit nicer than Lufthansa anyway.
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7LX1483 - Economy - Prague → Zurich - A220-300
- 8ZRH-MXP airBaltic A220-300
- 9MXP-LTN easyJet A319
- 10LHR-MCT Oman Air 787-9
- 11MCT-BOM Oman Air 737-800
- 12BOM-CCU Air India A320neo
Welcome to Prague airport.

Check-in area.

There was a Lufthansa/SWISS/Austrian/Brussels Airlines first and business check-in right next to the entrance but I didn't see an economy one. One of the staff there said that if online check-in had been done baggage could just be dropped at the self-service bag drop, which was luckily just on the other side of the counters and there was no line.

It was a little slow but worked well other than that and soon I was ready to go onwards. The email for the Zürich-Milan flight said it was a full flight and carry-ons could be checked in - of course with a connecting flight I wouldn't go out in Zürich. After asking at the premium check-in here they agreed to check in the carry-on from Prague all the way through to Milan.
There was a long line in security but it didn't take too long. Signage when enterting the security area said large electronics and liquids had to come out of the bags, signs later on said everything stayed in and that's what everyone seemed to be doing. Also it spelled liquid as "liguid" on one of the signs.
Keeping everything in worked fine and soon I could see my plane, Val Surses (HB-JCT), a 6.8 year old A220-300.

I got to the gate while the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, leaving twenty minuts before Zürich, was boarding. I got a paper boarding pass there for my collection since the baggage drop place didn't print any. There was no activity at the gate for a while.

When boarding started, it was extremely fast. There was a groups system although it probably didn't even matter much since there weren't many people, unlike on the Lufthansa flight which looked full from the line that was at the gate when I came. This flight was probably less than 50% full.
And there's our plane again.

Lufthansa next door was just pushing back.

Here we go, my first time on an A220!

Here are the seats, technically these pictures were from business class but the seats are all the same.



And my seat. I really like the design of the seats, they feel a bit premium. Headrests were strapped down, though, so not adjustable.


I'm not sure how I would feel about these seatbacks on a longer flight but for this one it was fine.


Though one pocket was a bit dirty.

Personal lights and air vents for each seat.

And the classic A220 mini screens. They showed the map and standard flight info throughout the flight.

I like this metal strip. It makes the seats look and feel nicer.

There were hooks on both sides of the seat.

Ther was no in-seat power as far as I could see.
Really quite a different seat design.

The seatback pocket contained a safety card, buy on board menu, a card for downloading the magazine (which had to be done on the ground), sickness bag, and shopping catalogue.

There were empty or partially empty rows around me aand the last few rows were all fully empty.
Announcements were in English, French, and German. The safety announcement was only in English though. It was played from the little screens.

Pushback was just 10 minutes after boarding, and 10 minutes early, passing a Lufthansa Group ally, Brussels Airlines and a competitor, KLM. I had wanted to fly KLM but they were absurdly expensive or were at terrible times.

Eurowings special livery.

This flight was at the perfect time to see the sunrise.



There goes the airport!

And there goes all of Prague.

There was a strange, extremely flat layer of clouds as we pulled away.

Soon after take-off there was a very fast and not very friendly water service.

There was none of the famous SWISS chocolate and I started getting worried that there wouldn't be any. At least the water bottle was nice.
A cart with buy-on-board options came by a few minutes later. The prices weren't all terrible but I didn't really need anything.
The lavatory was quite clean - of course I was probably the first one to use it.
Just in case the chocolate was only on request since it was a short flight, I asked a flight attendent if there would be any on this flight. She was more friendly then and said that would come later.
Cabin view as I was heading back to my seat.

She came through the cabin holding something which I think was the shopping magazine. It was a lot of going up and down the cabin with less than an hour in the air.
Another plane flew past us.

And finally there was the chocolate service. It was just a basket of chocolate held out to everyone so I could take a few and I could probably have taken even more.

It tasted pretty good. I had one and kept the other two in my bag.
10 minutes later, they announced that we were landing.

The screens showed information for connecting flights and about our arrival.

In the distance, some mountains poking above the clouds.

Soon we were under the main layer of clouds…

…and after some great views of Switzerland…

…we landed in Zürich.

Etihad and something that looks super familiar but I'm not sure what it is.

Some of the widebodies on the ground in Zürich.

People seemed to be in a rush to leave even though we landed 20 minutes early, most of them didn't wait for the seatbelt sign to turn off before getting up.
But it didn't take too long until disembarkation actually started.
On the way out…



The crew were quite friendly again with their goodbyes, so really other than with the water they were pretty nice the whole flight (and even with the water it's not like they were that unfriendly).
See you later, Val Surses.

I'll end this one here and have the transfer and flight to Milan in the next flight report. Thanks for reading.
Never had a bad experience with Swiss myself in the past and it tends to be an airline that is generally ok in overall. Would choose LX or OS anytime over LH though, so maybe ZRH-BOM was just a rotten apple. Also connecting through ZRH is much more pleasant than connecting through FRA or MUC.
I would say that those seats are a bit uncomfy for longer flights like you said, however I don't think LX is using their A220 on flights that are actually longer than ninety minutes with 2 hours tops and these seat pockets on the A220 are useless, though the benefit with LX is that they decided to equip their A220 with those overhead panels unlike AF.
Thanks for the report.
I would go OS, then LX, then LH, the LX A330s are in terrible condition (unless they've been refurbished in the last couple of years, not sure) and on that flight at least the crew and meals weren't very good.
Yeah I don't think LX uses them on long flights either, BT does of course.
Thanks for reading!