Review of SWISS flight from Zurich to Dubai in Economy

INTRODUCTION

Hello FlightReporters,
As I may have written in past reports last July I've been graduated in Architecture. When my parents told me that they wanted to make me a big present I start thinking about what to ask for, but no ideas came to my mind. Finally, in Autumn, I realized what I wanted: travelling.

My last extra-Europe travel happened in August 2019, when I visited Vietnam and Cambodia. After the long Covid period I needed a taste of normality: getting on a plane, having my passport stamped, changing moneys, hearing other languages and tasting unusual dishes.

Around October I took a look to prices for planes and hotels and I finally found a destination: Dubai.
I chose to travel there the first week of March, in order to be free from exams and at the same time experience the Universal Exposition Expo 2020. For a young (future) architect like me an event like Expo is like a Disneyland for a child. Moreover in 2015 I worked as a volunteer at Expo Milano 2015 and I really appreciated the international appeal of this event.

I ask a dear friend of mine to come with me and she immediately agrees. We set these date: 27th Febraury to 5th March.

BOOKING OPTIONS

Swiss International Air Lines - 505 €
27th Feb
MXP-ZRH 9:50 - 11:05
ZRH-DXB 12:55 - 21:55

5th Mar
DXB-ZRH 2:05 - 6:10
ZRH-MXP 7:25 - 8:20

Turkish Airlines - 523 €
27th Feb
MXP-IST 11:15 - 16:15
IST-DXB 21:30 - 2:50 (+1d)

5th Mar
DXB-IST 2:40 - 6:35
IST-MXP 8:55 - 9:45

Even if I was really curious to try Turkish Airlines and visit the marvellous Istanbul Airport this solution presented a drawback: arriving at Dubai at 3 am in the morning would have been loosing the first half of the day 28th Febraury, seriously affecting our program.
Moreover the 5-hour stopover in IST would have been a bit boring

For all these reasons we decided to try Swiss International Air Lines via Zurich. For me it would be the first time with this airline and transfering in ZRH.

The 1st November my friend and I booked the tickets. For unknown reasons the price was 5 euros lower on Lufthansa website, so we bought it from there. My friend decided to buy a cheaper fare (420€) since she didnt' need the hold luggage.

In order to be closer to the Expo 2020 site we book the Avani Ibn Battuta Hotel in Jebel Ali, for 560€ (4 nights)
The hotel is very cozy, the service very good and it's just 30 minutes by metro to the Exposition.

ROUTING

Some stats:
I've already been in DXB in 2009, when I made a family trip to Mauritius. The routing was FCO-DXB-MRU-DXB-MXP-FCO and was made with Emirates Boeing 777s except for MXP-FCO (done with AirOne 737)

TRANSFER IN ZRH

After arriving from Milan-Malpensa we were left inside the terminal around 11.30
The boarding was scheduled for 11.55, one hour before departure time
As the boarding pass printed in MXP showed, the gate would be in Dock E
Having to clear passport control we immediately headed to gate E46

The Airside Center, located between Dock A and Dock B piers
It contains many shops…

…and a massive glass wall facing the apron
It contributes to flood the space with natural light, making the lounge less "cold" than many airports

Swiss tails parked at Dock A

The passport control hall is located in the basement

The hall was quite busy, but fortunately it's equipped with a good amount of e-Gates for EU passports

Unfortunately my friend has some issues with the e-Gate and she was forced to go to a manned booth
We cleared passport control in about 6 minutes

Time to take the SkyMetro people mover to Dock E

The 1.1 km ride took around 3 minutes to bring us to Dock E
During the journey mountain-inspired cartoons were projected along the tunnel walls, accompanied by typical mountain sounds

I really appreciate the architecture of this terminal, dominated by naked concrete and wood
Moreover all the terminal areas (also the underground ones) are filled by natural light

Dock E contains 29 gates (labelled E18-67) and hosts extra-Schenghen operations

We arrived at our gate (E46) in 20 minutes, perfectly on time
The gate was ready to board, but still closed

I'd like to take a few lines to talk about ZRH Airport Wi-Fi. There are 3 ways to get online: receiving a phone call, receiving an SMS or inserting a code given by many BPs scanners spread along the terminal. Since Switzerland isn't part of European Union roaming I wasn't able to receive the phone call or the SMS and so I was forced to find a scanner and get my code. It's a bit boring since many airport are access-free or require an email address to log in. Maybe the latter would be easily for passengers.

Spotting time

Swiss Air Lines A330

Edelweiss A340

United Airlines Boeing 767 pushing back and taxiing

Etihad Airways Boeing 787

Air Canada Boeing 787

Edelweiss A330

Emirates A380

And finally our ride for Dubai
Swiss International Air Lines Boeing 777-300ER, HB-JNB, delivered in March '16
It's equipped with 340 seats: 8 in F, 62 in C and 270 in Y

Boarding (Mess)

Despite boarding was scheduled to begin at 11.55, nothing happened
Around 12.15 three temporary desks were set in front of gate E46 to check health documents

United Arab Emirates requires a PCR test no more than 72 hours before departure and a vaccination certificate. We had uploaded our documents on LX website a couple of days before, but the gate agent told everyone that the control needed to be done in any case

It took us 30 minutes to get to the booth for the documents control
The lady check my PCR test result, focusing especially on the time the test was done
She put a stamp on my BP

Time to leave this cold weather for a week

Descending to the jetway at 12.50, five minutes before scheduled departure time and with many passengers still checking their medical documents

I cannot stop to admire this beauty
I think the Triple-7 is one of my favourite plane, I've flown with it in 2009, but I was too young to appreciate

Just one jetway was connected

Twin 777 parked next to ours

The wing and the engine looks enormous even from the jetway

Door shot as usual

the flight

This welcome sign is really a touch of class

I gave the flight report form to the purser. He was really kind accepting it and told me it would have been a pleasure to bring it to the flight deck

The main Business Class cabin, equipped with 52 lie-flat seats in stagerred 2-2-1 configuration
Between doors 1 and 2 there's another small C cabin with just 10 seats, plus the First Class cabin (8 seats in 1-2-1 config.)

First Economy Class cabin

And the second one, were our seats 50K and 50H are located

Our home for the next 6 hours

Choosing the penultimate row immediately revealed to be a good advantage. There are just two seats on the window side, meaning that my friend and I didn't have to "jump" over a stranger to stand up
Moreover taking this row gives the possibility to use the back of seat 49H as additional table or baggage storage

The only drawback is the mis-allignement with the seats in front, but it's not a big issue

The legroom was very good, I had an acceptable space for legs (I'm 182 cm tall)

The view from my seat

Qatar Airways Boeing 777 parked next to us

Meanwhile boarding slowly continued

Another Swiss 777 pushing back with an airBaltic A220 taxiing in the background

35 minutes after scheduled boarding was completed
The plane seems very close to 100% of load factor

Pushback started a little before 13.45

Qatar Airways Boeing 777, Air Canada Boeing 787 and Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 parked at Dock E

Meanwhile the safety video was played

Thank you, Danke, Merci, Grazie, Engraziel

SunExpress Boeing 737, Edelweiss and Bulgaria Air A320s and Emirates A380

Three narrows and a whale-jet, seems like a movie title XD

Emirates A380
Their flight to Dubai departs at 14.35

Swiss Boeing 777

Crossing RWY16/34

This area between the two runways seems to be dedicated to plane-spotters
I know from many blogs that ZRH is a "spotter-friendly" airport

In my opinion airports should care more about this activity. For example in FCO, where I've been many times, there are no places for plane spotting, and this obliges people to stop along the road. And it can be dangerous for spotters and car drivers…

Waiting for our turn to take off

We'd depart from RWY10, the shortest of the three runways at ZRH

One hour later than scheduled we start our take off to DXB

V1…rotate

Kloten town, which the airport is named after

Switzerland countryside scrolling below us while we climb…

…gradually leaving space to snowy mountains

in-flight entertainment

Every economy class is equipped with a 13-inch screen for In-Flight Entertainment
The main interface shows seat number, flight time and distance and language settings

The main menu is quite easy to navigate

The main pages are: Movies, TV Shows, Music, Audiobooks, Podcasts and Airshow
There are also games, contents for kids and infos

The choice of movies is really wide and there're many langues available. Movies are divided into categories and can be searched also by a language filter. The movie selection spans from cults to newest productions

The airshow has many different views, this one is called "Control Room" and shows flight parameters.
The IFE would be perfect if equipped with flight cameras

lunch time

One hour into the flight meal service started

The lunch was anticipated by a snack: a bag of crackers with a choice of beverages. I chose orange juice

Crackers were a bit overbaked in my opinion, while the juice had a good taste

Everything tastes good with this view

Meanwhile the menu for the lunch was displayed

Quinoa with vinaigrette and fresh vegetables
Followed by a choice between
Zurich-style chicken with hashbrowns potatoes
or
Pasta with lemon sauce
To finish
Sponge cake with lemon cream

I decided to try chicken
The lunch is accompanied by bread and a packed cheese bar

Quinoa with vegetables was quite fresh, but the vinaigrette resulted too acid
Chicken was well cooked and the sauce was very tasty, but not covering meat. Potatoes were very good (maybe the best part) while carrots were uneatable
The dessert was too sweet and the lemon cream was almost taste-less

I really appreciate the use of metal cutlery, I think it had become quite uncommon on economy class

During all service the crew was very kind providing extra food or drinks

While having lunch I chose to see "Tron", a 1982 science-fiction with Jeff Bridges
Audio quality of the provided earplugs was very good

Lunch service ended while we flew over Black Sea

Outside a thick layer of clouds made it impossible to spot any landmark

After lunch I decided to take a nap, taking advantage of the comfortable seat

enjoying the triple-7

My nap lasted about 2 hours
I woke up while approaching Iraqi airspace
The seat is really good to sleep, helped also by the decent legroom

Mood lighting was set on blue, enhancing the sleepy mood of the cabin

The purser came to my seat bringing the filled flight report form and two boxes
They contained a Swiss Air-branded coffee and tea mugs, for my friend and me
She asked me if she can take the tea mug while I take the coffee one

The purser also told me that the Captain waited for me to visit the cockpit after landing in DXB

This design is really nice and I think it will be a very nice memory of this journey
I really appreciated it
Thanks Swiss!

The flight report was complete

I'm always very happy when cabin crews are so available filling reports and making me small gifts
Such an appreciated touch

Having nothing to do I decided to explore the beauties of the Triple-7

Our Economy Class cabin, the second, located between doors 4 and 5

Only few passengers were sleeping, most of them were enjoying the I.F.E.

In theory the middle Economy Class galley should be set with self-service food and beverages but there was just a bottle of water

First Economy Class cabin, located between doors 3 and 4

2nd meal approaching dubai

One hour before landing mood lighting switch to purple for the second meal service

The snack was made of a vanilla ice cream (quite good in quality) and a choice of drinks

According to the airshow we flew above Iraq, passing by cities like Mosul, Baghdad and Basra

Approaching Persian Gulf

Kuwait City, Kuwait

Al Qatif, Saudi Arabia

Manama, Bahrain

landing in dxb

30 minutes before landing cabin was prepared
Mood lighting switched to orange

Finally we approach Dubai coast

Port Rashid with the Creek and the Old City

DXB seen from above
The 4 concourses are clearly visible
It's so impressive to know that the 3 biggest are used only by Emirates (and Qantas twice a day)

Ras Al Khor reservoir with Dubai Downtown in the background

Dubai International City

We'd land from south-east
It's really interesting to see how the city is an alternation of heavy built zones and almost desert ones

Flewing over a giant interchange between E311 and D89 roads
The landing would happen on RWY30L

Ready to land in Emirates' reign

44 minutes after scheduled, at 22.39 (local time), we smootly touch down at Dubai International Airport

Vacating the runway

Taxi was quite short
We're welcomed by Emirates Cargo Boeing 777F

Blocking at gate D18, located in concourse D

Concourse D is the only boarding area linked to Terminal 1, while concourses A-B-C are dedicated to Emirates' operations at Terminal 3

Saudia Boeing 777 was sitting next to us

Welcome to Dubai!

arrival procedures

Since my friend and I were "invited" to visit the flight deck we waited the plane to get almost empty to leave our seats

The main Business Class cabin

The First Class look amazing, I'm impressed by the level of intimacy that every seat can reach
I really like also the use of wood and the general color pattern. Very warm and welcoming
Looking forward to try it one day

The Captain and the First Officer kindly welcomed us inside the flight deck
It was the first time for me inside a 777 cabin and it looked wonderful
Both the pilots were very chatty and we spend a few minutes talking about the plane
They told me it was their first time in DXB since Swiss started to use the Triple-7 on this route since a short time
Before ZRH-DXB was flown with A330s

We were the last to leave the plane
Bye bye HB-JNB, thank you

Kam Air A340
Never heard of this Afghan airline before

Going upstairs for arrivals

Concourse D is linked to the main terminal with an elevated people mover
It takes around 2 minutes

Air Canada Boeing 777, Gulf Air Boeing 787 and Kam Air A340, plus our Swiss bird

Passport control hall was a bit crowded, but the lane was quite fast

It took less than 20 minutes to clear immigration
The PCR Test wasn't checked, just passport control and digital facial recognition
For the first time in my memories a brief hand luggage control was carried before accessing baggage hall

Luggages were already touring on the belt

Meeters and greeters hall

We immediately search for a taxi to reach our hotel in Jebel Ali
It was midnight when we left the airport

Emirates Concourse C seen from the motorway

The 37-km ride took around half and hour and costs us 200AED (approximately 50 euros)
We arrived at the hotel at 00.30, ready to explore Dubai and the Expo in the following days

See you at the return flight