Today's journey is aboard Helvetic Airways from London City to Zürich, operating on behalf of SWISS.
We had spent some time working in the City, so jumped straight on the DLR and across over the London City Airport.
For me, at least, it's still a super convenient airport that's really well linked with the heart of London. I still get a little "buzz" departing from here!
As you walk in, all Star Alliance check-in desks are clumped together towards the right hand side. Here, there's conventional check-in desks and self-service machines too.
As Helvetic are operating the flight on behalf of SWISS, all the boards show the SWISS logo and flight number LX465. Don't be alarmed if you can't see any Helvetic Airways logos or signage on the board.
We opted for the self-service check-in kiosks. Just a simple scan of the boarding pass, a few on screen questions, the case on the scales and that's it. Your luggage tags print straight off and you simply drop them at the belts behind. Now, it did seem straightforward - mine worked perfectly, but my husband had to seek assistance from the desk where he was manually checked-in for the flight. As we were connecting through Zürich onto a long-haul flight (stay tuned for next week's review!), the staff confirmed our bags were checked to our end destination and that we would be able to track them through the SWISS app.
I like London City purely for the views and eclectic collection of airlines that it offers.
But for now, it was time to head to the gate! London City is so small that all gates can be reached in a matter of minutes.
The gate was announced about 25 minutes prior to the boarding time.
And here's our aircraft tonight, this Embraer E195-E2, registration HB-AZK. It was delivered to Helvetic Airways in July 2021.
Boarding was done by groups with Group 1 for high-tiered Star Alliance members, Group 2 for business class, and then Group 3, which we were part of.
I still think walking out on to the apron and boarding via a set of stairs is still the coolest way to kick-start your journey.
Helvetic's Embraer E195-E2 is in a 2/2 configuration throughout. We were seated in 12A and 12C.
Legroom was fairly standard and comfortable.
There's a full sized drop-down tray table, too.
There was also a Helvetic Airways safety card and a variety of SWISS literature.
The windows are very large on the Embraer E195-E2. I love it!
And row 12 gives you a great view of both the wing and the engine. Take the tip from me!
The cabin was minimal in design but felt calm and cozy. We felt very welcome on-board.
And with that, we roared out of London City. Now, departures at LCY are slightly different because of it's short runway and surrounding urban airspace require aircraft to perform a steep climb immediately after take-off to meet noise and obstacle clearance restrictions. This means all take-off rolls begin with the parking brake on and an increase in thrust, giving you that "rocket booster" feel on take-off.
And the views over London on departure are always top-tier!
Into the cruise and the in-flight power became active. There is two USB-A ports available per passenger.
The very friendly crew came around and offered every passenger a complimentary bottle of still Swiss Valser water.
The on-board service followed shortly afterwards. I decided to opt for a Caotina Hot Chocolate, as did my husband. Please make me one promise… Never use miles to pay for anything on-board. When you break down the pricing structure, it really is a sure-fire way to devalue your stash!
The crew said that the cups were smaller on this particular route and as such, the sachet actually makes two hot chocolates. They only charged us for one, which was a lovely gesture, and gave us coffee cream too. It was actually really nice for a packet hot chocolate, and had that signature Swiss chocolate creaminess.
The toilets are located at the back of economy, there's two. They were clean.
Everything worked as it such but there is one small down side to the size of the Embraer E195-E2…
…and that's the size of these toilets! Yes, that's my head touching the ceiling!
Now, a huge shout-out to the wonderful cabin crew on this flight. Julie, one of the crew on board, was genuinely lovely. She noticed me filming as I boarded and came over to speak, and I’ll admit, I assumed this was going to be a gentle reminder about filming rules, which I’m always careful to follow. But instead, she introduced herself, asked what I was working on, and said that if there was anything she could do to help make the video “the best it could be,” I should just let her know. How lovely is that? So - during the flight, I asked her if she would be down to talk about her role and run through a quick "day in the life", she was so happy to do it and it features in the video above. A huge thanks again to you, Julie! It was a great insight and I know all my viewers are always really happy to hear from the crew!
And with that, the flight was coming to an end. We soared over Zürich and started our descent on-time.
And there we have it, we were down on the ground. Do I spy a cheeky Edelweiss A340 there?! This is still on my bucket list…
Thanks so much for reading and watching, as always - I never take your support for granted and I hope you enjoy these reports. This Helvetic Airways flight was a gentle reminder of just how vital cabin crew are, not only for safety, but for shaping the entire onboard experience. It was a real pleasure to fly Helvetic, and I’d happily recommend them to anyone considering booking.
