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.
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
See more
Verdict
Edelweiss Air
8.1/10
Cabin6.5
Cabin crew8.5
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Meal/catering8.5
Zurich - ZRH
8.0/10
Efficiency8.0
Access7.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness9.0
Buenos Aires - EZE
6.8/10
Efficiency6.0
Access2.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness9.0
Conclusion
Well, it was an interesting experience. The FAs and their service were really good. The meals were tasty and they had some nice details as the hot bread basket. The seats weren’t pretty comfortable. As I mentioned before it felt very packed.
15 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
Hi, first thanks for the nice report. Except for the seats, this looks like a great flight from what is considered a "leisure carrier". Also I didn't realize an A340-300 can fly so long.
Hola Viajero, thanks for this report on an exotic route and carrier! The A340 is still one of my favourites--it's just so pretty. The cabin looks really fresh and modern for an older bird, too bad the seats felt cramped. Other than that, it seems like it was a very nice flight!
Hi! Thanks for your comment, the cabin felt very nice and new...despite the short space between seats. This is one of the most exotic routes I flew haha Cheers!
Hello, thanks for sharing your experience! I also took this flight back in May and wrote a report in French, but it was the first time I landed at South America (or at the Southern Hemisphere to be more precise), the experience was similar to yours, excellent except the seat quite cramped, but fortunately the seat next to me was empty! PS: Argentina is really a beautiful country, your beef is excellent ;D
Hi! Merci beaucoup Thanks for your comment! I saw your report when i came back from my trip. Well, I mostly looked at the pictures. The experience looked pretty simmilar. I think they shouldn´t be allowed to fly such a long route with tight seat like those! I´m glad you had a nice time in my country! Salut!
Flight-Report is a free website hosting more than 500 000 pictures and 17 000 reviews, without ads, this website can't exist. We understand that ads can be annoying, this is why we only display a maximum of 2 non-invasive ads per page.
To continue using Flight-Report, we invite you to add Flight-Report to your blocker's "white list".
#58 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
70 reviews
15 Comments
It's too bad for the seat because the rest of the flight is pretty good !
From what I know, the A343 is the A340 version with the lowest range
WK has a really good reputation regarding their meals and crew, but the seats indeed look bad for such a long flight!
Edelweiss offers a pretty good product compared to what other south american airlines offer in transatlantic flights.
Cheers!
This is one of the most exotic routes I flew haha
Cheers!
I also took this flight back in May and wrote a report in French, but it was the first time I landed at South America (or at the Southern Hemisphere to be more precise), the experience was similar to yours, excellent except the seat quite cramped, but fortunately the seat next to me was empty!
PS: Argentina is really a beautiful country, your beef is excellent ;D
Thanks for your comment! I saw your report when i came back from my trip. Well, I mostly looked at the pictures.
The experience looked pretty simmilar. I think they shouldn´t be allowed to fly such a long route with tight seat like those!
I´m glad you had a nice time in my country!
Salut!
Login to post a comment.