Trip Report: Swiss Business Class From New York To Geneva (JFK-GVA)
Photo by John Cushma
Flight Details
Airline: Swiss
Flight Number: LX23
Aircraft: Airbus A-330
Seat: 14D
Departure Date: July 18th, 2025
Gate Departure: 7:32pm EST
Takeoff Time: 7:59pm EST
Landing Time: 9:05am EST
Arrival Time: 9:07am EST
Total Time: 7 Hours 35 Minutes
Planning The Flight
We were planning our annual trip to Europe and needed to find a way to get from Pittsburgh to Santorini, Greece to begin our whirlwind three week vacation. We have a lot of miles thanks to our United Explorer Card, and I set out trying to figure out the best way to get to Santorini. A few itineraries on the United website showed one way coach fares to Santorini priced around 60k miles or so per person. However, when sorting the business class fares from lowest to highest, I found a one way flight from PIT-EWR-JFK-GVA-JTR for about 50k miles per person. That seemed like an amazing deal! The trade off on this though was switching airports from Newark to JFK and a painful 8 hour layover, but the end result was well worth it.
Before Departure
I’ll skip the details on the first flight and our adventure around New York City for now, and hop right to the moment we got off the Air Train and into JFK Airport.
Upon arrival at JFK, we checked in at the Swiss Business Class counter with absolutely no wait. The line for economy was rather long and seemed like it hardly moved. After checking us in, the agent tagged our bags with the “priority” tags and pointed us to the Swiss Lounge past security.
Security was not bad, and we soon found ourselves in the lounge for Swiss. There was ample seating and a nice setup of various foods. Salads, sandwiches, hot items, and snacks. Oh, I forgot to mention the desserts as well. There was self serve wine, a few types of beer on tap, and various types of coffee. All in all it was a great experience. When boarding began, an announcement was made and we proceeded to the gate.
Photo From Swiss: https://www.swiss.com/at/en/discover/fleet/airbus-longhaul
On Board Flight LX23
Once we were on board, we took our seats 14A/14B/14D. The aircraft is setup in a 2-2-1 configuration in Business Class, so my wife and daughter had the window and aisle, and I gladly took the aisle in the middle. We were greeted by the flight attendants and provided a breakfast menu to complete prior to takeoff, and offered a pre departure champagne.
Photo by John Cushma
Each seat had a water bottle, pillow, blanket, and a silver container with various items (socks, tooth brush, toothpaste, etc). Little did we know how valuable these would become during our trip.
Photo by John Cushma
Takeoff
I have flown countless times across the Atlantic, and this was without a doubt the smoothest and best takeoff that I have ever experienced. No sooner did we start accelerating down the runway when we were gently airborne and on our way to start our European adventure.
Menus were distributed and the decision for me was pretty simple. The Beef filet tips with Mushroom cream sauce.
After a short wait, the table was set and drinks were refilled.
The meal itself was very good. In fact, after eating in the lounge prior to the flight, I was absolutely stuffed. The beef was tender and juicy, the salad was crisp, the bread was perfect, and the cheese was absolutely delicious.
After the dinner portion was complete, it was time for dessert. Mango and coconut shortbread. It was very good, but I really didn’t eat much of it. Coffee and tea were offered as well as refills on drinks. Once the dessert was finished, they collected the table clothes and dimmed the cabin lights.
In Flight Entertainment
The in flight entertainment was very good. My daughter enjoyed the handful or programs she watched, and I enjoyed a few episodes of The Office before trying to get some sleep.
During The Flight
The amazing part of this flight was that once the lights were dimmed, our daughter fell right asleep. She loves flying when “the seat turns into a bed”. Both her and my wife were able to get a few hours of comfortable sleep, which was crucial since we had another flight onward to Santorini, and then a full afternoon/evening in Santorini with things to do.
Breakfast was served about an hour or so before arrival.
Arrival into Geneva
Upon arrival into Geneva, it was a quick taxi to the gate, and within moments we were off the aircraft and heading towards Passport Control.
The line for passport control was rather long, but we had about 90 minutes between flights, so it wasn’t a big deal. The upsetting part was that since our daughter didn’t eat breakfast, we took her yogurts with us. However, security wouldn’t let us take it through, so we had to throw them away.
Final Notes
Our overall experience in Swiss Business Class was great. The crew were extremely friendly and helpful. The food was excellent, the seats were comfortable, and I had absolutely no complaints about this leg of the journey.
Our next leg from Geneva to Santorini was also in Swiss Business, but we were met with an unwelcome surprise upon arrival in Santorini. My suitcase was no where to be found. I had absolutely nothing to wear, no toiletries, and worst of all, the sunscreens and my swim clothes were all in my suitcase. Anyways, that’s a story for my next post, and trying to claim my compensation from Swiss.
