Trip Report – World’s First C Series 100 Commercial Flight on LX
Flying the first flight of a new aircraft is definitely an “once in a lifetime” experience, and while I miss out on the A380, Boeing 787, and Airbus A350, I just cannot miss out on another unique “first flight” experience. There is no question that Bombardier’s C Series CS100 has experienced many ups and downs throughout its planning and production phase, and of course finding a buyer. However, the final product is simply a beauty, and in my opinion, CS100 is definitely the best regional jet available, and its comfort level matches the Airbus A320 family, and surpasses the Boeing 737 family even the Next Generation. While individual airlines determine many factors in terms of seat pitch, width, and manufacturer. At least, the five abreast seating is more comfortable than most narrow-body planes, and the width is noticeable. On my first segment, I flew economy and despite three regular sized men, including me, who is a big guy, I don’t feel my shoulder bumping into the off duty pilot next to me. Swiss uses a great ZIM seat, but of course 30 inches of legroom is unimpressive. However given it is 30 inches legroom, you don’t feel too crowded. At the same time, I think Swiss makes a mistake in not giving the first section extra legroom. Business class seats should get at least one or two extra inches of legroom. When I flew Helvetic Airlines (Swiss’ partner) Fokker 100 the next day from Zurich to Warsaw, the extra legroom (or the missing business class legroom on CS100) is noticeable. I have originally expected little from Swiss on the celebration side because the flights were not particularly expensive and Swiss had done lots of press flights beforehand. In the end, I found out that Swiss actually had planned a big party and water canon salutes in both ends. Unfortunately due to the attack on Nice on Bastille Day, Swiss has to cancel the water canon salute and make the inaugural much more low profile. I personally feel that some party elements should be reduced and it would look really bad if they played loud party music, but water canon salutes would still be nice. I also want to note that Swiss claims that thirty-five minutes turnaround is possible on the CS100, but have issues with how they schedule these early flights, when various airport ground team learns about the plane. It is really unrealistic and please be prepared for some delays if you are flying CS100 during these early days.
I flew all four segments of the CS100 first day of commercial operation and was perhaps the only enthusiast, who did this act. However I appreciate the cabin crews not finding this passion for airplanes strange, unlike their American counterparts. The three cabin crews worked all three flights, and the purser could not be any better, kinder, or understanding. I could not understand his German name, but just wanted to give him credits and a high score. For those readers, who don’t want to read my poor written English, you can go directly to my photo album. There are over 400 pictures, but I hope you will enjoy it. I will also provide the link to a more professional article written by Chris Sloan at Airways.com. It gives you more professional rundown of the event.
Full album link:
http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Ca...duled%20Flight
Link to Airways’ article:
https://airwaysmag.com/traveler/onbo...evenue-flight/
Booking:
Swiss’ website is pretty straightforward and easy to use. I have originally planned to fly only a roundtrip between Zurich and Paris, but since I want to try out both business and economy, I play around with various combinations. From Zurich to Paris, I decide to fly coach, and from Paris to Zurich, coach fares are pretty high, so I just randomly try Paris to Budapest route, it is actually more affordable than I have thought. For the last three segments, I just stay with business. For the first segment, I want to try out the exit row and the cost is 30 Swiss Franc, which is reasonable. Of course, on the day of departure, I was moved to Row 12, as Row 10 was being sold as business class. Swiss, as of now, still refused to refund me that 30CHF because they claim that there is no extra legroom in exit row and Row 12 is identical, which is of course not. I made a point of snapping pictures of Row 10, so I could send them to Swiss. That is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the day.
July 15, 2016
LX 638 ZRH-CDG Lv1230 Arr1350 Bombardier C Series CS100 HB-JBA “Kanton Zürich”
Check-in:
There was no special check-in area for the CS100’s inaugural flight, and Swiss’ check-in hall 1 was purely chaotic. For Swiss, I wad baffled a bit by how the queues were poorly organized. The main problem was not the baggage drop off lines, but the lines to use the kiosks to print out boarding passes. There is no single queue system and there are lines in front of each kiosk, and the hall was so crowded. Swiss definitely needs to reorganize the queuing system. For business class, they also separate out the baggage drop off and business class normal check-in queues. Swiss offers automatic check-in, which means that they will email you the boarding passes for your flight 24 hours prior to departure. So I just used the machine for the first segment, and for the last three segments, I printed them out the day before. Now I regretted not going to the regular business class lines to get four real boarding passes.
Good-looking Swiss check-in agent
There was a priority security queues for premium class and elite passengers, and they are all automatic. No need to argue, and TSA should consider this system. I went through security within ten minutes and first stopped by gate B34. Since they were still setting up, I decided to stop by the Senator lounge, which was not too crazily crowded, and I found a seat and got myself a snack before the flight.
When I went back to the gate second time, things were already set up with a buffet featuring strawberry tarts, sweets, sandwiches, as well as champagne, orange juice, and water.
HB-JBA at the gate
Flying the first flight of a new aircraft is definitely an “once in a lifetime” experience, and while I miss out on the A380, Boeing 787, and Airbus A350, I just cannot miss out on another unique “first flight” experience. There is no question that Bombardier’s C Series CS100 has experienced many ups and downs throughout its planning and production phase, and of course finding a buyer. However, the final product is simply a beauty, and in my opinion, CS100 is definitely the best regional jet available, and its comfort level matches the Airbus A320 family, and surpasses the Boeing 737 family even the Next Generation. While individual airlines determine many factors in terms of seat pitch, width, and manufacturer. At least, the five abreast seating is more comfortable than most narrow-body planes, and the width is noticeable. On my first segment, I flew economy and despite three regular sized men, including me, who is a big guy, I don’t feel my shoulder bumping into the off duty pilot next to me. Swiss uses a great ZIM seat, but of course 30 inches of legroom is unimpressive. However given it is 30 inches legroom, you don’t feel too crowded. At the same time, I think Swiss makes a mistake in not giving the first section extra legroom. Business class seats should get at least one or two extra inches of legroom. When I flew Helvetic Airlines (Swiss’ partner) Fokker 100 the next day from Zurich to Warsaw, the extra legroom (or the missing business class legroom on CS100) is noticeable. I have originally expected little from Swiss on the celebration side because the flights were not particularly expensive and Swiss had done lots of press flights beforehand. In the end, I found out that Swiss actually had planned a big party and water canon salutes in both ends. Unfortunately due to the attack on Nice on Bastille Day, Swiss has to cancel the water canon salute and make the inaugural much more low profile. I personally feel that some party elements should be reduced and it would look really bad if they played loud party music, but water canon salutes would still be nice. I also want to note that Swiss claims that thirty-five minutes turnaround is possible on the CS100, but have issues with how they schedule these early flights, when various airport ground team learns about the plane. It is really unrealistic and please be prepared for some delays if you are flying CS100 during these early days.
I flew all four segments of the CS100 first day of commercial operation and was perhaps the only enthusiast, who did this act. However I appreciate the cabin crews not finding this passion for airplanes strange, unlike their American counterparts. The three cabin crews worked all three flights, and the purser could not be any better, kinder, or understanding. I could not understand his German name, but just wanted to give him credits and a high score. For those readers, who don’t want to read my poor written English, you can go directly to my photo album. There are over 400 pictures, but I hope you will enjoy it. I will also provide the link to a more professional article written by Chris Sloan at Airways.com. It gives you more professional rundown of the event.
Full album link:
http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Ca...duled%20Flight
Link to Airways’ article:
https://airwaysmag.com/traveler/onbo...evenue-flight/
Booking:
Swiss’ website is pretty straightforward and easy to use. I have originally planned to fly only a roundtrip between Zurich and Paris, but since I want to try out both business and economy, I play around with various combinations. From Zurich to Paris, I decide to fly coach, and from Paris to Zurich, coach fares are pretty high, so I just randomly try Paris to Budapest route, it is actually more affordable than I have thought. For the last three segments, I just stay with business. For the first segment, I want to try out the exit row and the cost is 30 Swiss Franc, which is reasonable. Of course, on the day of departure, I was moved to Row 12, as Row 10 was being sold as business class. Swiss, as of now, still refused to refund me that 30CHF because they claim that there is no extra legroom in exit row and Row 12 is identical, which is of course not. I made a point of snapping pictures of Row 10, so I could send them to Swiss. That is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the day.
July 15, 2016
LX 638 ZRH-CDG Lv1230 Arr1350 Bombardier C Series CS100 HB-JBA “Kanton Zürich”
Check-in:
There was no special check-in area for the CS100’s inaugural flight, and Swiss’ check-in hall 1 was purely chaotic. For Swiss, I wad baffled a bit by how the queues were poorly organized. The main problem was not the baggage drop off lines, but the lines to use the kiosks to print out boarding passes. There is no single queue system and there are lines in front of each kiosk, and the hall was so crowded. Swiss definitely needs to reorganize the queuing system. For business class, they also separate out the baggage drop off and business class normal check-in queues. Swiss offers automatic check-in, which means that they will email you the boarding passes for your flight 24 hours prior to departure. So I just used the machine for the first segment, and for the last three segments, I printed them out the day before. Now I regretted not going to the regular business class lines to get four real boarding passes.
Good-looking Swiss check-in agent
There was a priority security queues for premium class and elite passengers, and they are all automatic. No need to argue, and TSA should consider this system. I went through security within ten minutes and first stopped by gate B34. Since they were still setting up, I decided to stop by the Senator lounge, which was not too crazily crowded, and I found a seat and got myself a snack before the flight.
When I went back to the gate second time, things were already set up with a buffet featuring strawberry tarts, sweets, sandwiches, as well as champagne, orange juice, and water.
HB-JBA at the gate
Comment