Business & First Class Flights to Zurich

SWISS flies Zurich nonstop from New York, Newark, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with its new SWISS Senses business cabin — suites with doors — rolling out on the A330 and 777 fleets, and SWISS First on the 777-300ER from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. United flies Polaris from Newark, Chicago and Washington, and Delta serves Zurich from New York and Atlanta. Edelweiss, SWISS's leisure sister, adds seasonal flights from a few US cities with a lie-flat business cabin. Lufthansa Group ownership means SWISS fares are often coordinated with Lufthansa, so the useful comparison is SWISS against United and Delta — and against the one-stop on Lufthansa via Frankfurt or Munich.

SWISS First is worth understanding. Departing Zurich, First passengers have a dedicated check-in, a lounge with an outdoor terrace, an à la carte restaurant and a limousine transfer to the aircraft; on board, the 777 First cabin has eight seats that convert to wide beds behind privacy screens. It is the most accessible First Class product to Europe from a pricing standpoint, and a negotiated fare regularly lands within a few hundred dollars of a full-fare business seat on the same flight.

The airport is the trip's best asset. The rail station under the terminal has direct trains to Zurich main station in 10 minutes and to Bern, Lucerne, Basel and Chur without changing; from Chur, the Glacier Express and the line to St. Moritz begin. Zermatt is about three and a half hours door to door, Verbier and Gstaad similar. Ski season (December–March) and the summer lakes-and-hiking season (June–September) are both peaks; April–May and October–November are the quiet, cheaper windows, with business fares closest to our $2,500 New York starting price.