SWISS' intercontinental business class seat doesn't quite reach the same levels of comfort as Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand or even parent company Lufthansa. On the other hand however, it isn't that bad and is due for an overhaul in Spring 09.

There was a slight panic at check-in when the agent couldn't locate my booking and had to get reservations to rebook it. Something to do with a different system used by Miles and More agents when booking award tickets, which this was. Panic over, I proceeded to the adequate-but-nothing-special ANA lounge which Star Alliance partners have use of.

I boarded an A340-300 and was amazed to find biz class just about half-full so close to Christmas. It meant that crew were able to give passengers more time and care, although none were especially chatty. The came to my seat and had hardly uttered 'hello, welcome on board' than he dashed off to do the same with the next person. Likewise the 'goodbye' from cabin attendant who looked after me most. Oh well.

Crew did seem to want to serve lunch in a hurry too. I just wanted to sleep and eat later which posed a problem for crew and who had to scratch their heads and think hard. When I was finally ready to eat the grilled beef fillet in herb butter and roast potatoes I began to realise how wide the gap between European carriers and SQ/CX is. Food presentation is way better on the latter.

Inflight entertainment was a damp squib too, and needs more up-to-date movie releases instead of so many classics. The audio selecton had a strange habit of continually stopping after four tracks and each successive track needing to be manually selected.

I quite enjoy transitting in Zurich - it's such an unrushed and peaceful experience. On this itinerary an overnight stay is required so be warned if you are contemplating using SWISS for this route. The nice surprise this time the SWISS Business Class Lounge has been freshened up and now looks very sleek with new armchairs, more computer terminals as well as brighter and more spacious rest area.

Continuation the next morning to Dublin was on an A320. Again there were few takers for Business Class. Breakfast was a really unappetising egg mixture that resembled an undercooked omlette. Crew this time couldn't do enough for me though as before, not in the mood to make conversation.

Overall, no big complaints but fine-tuning here and there would help to win a few more fans.