Swiss presents its new paid catering service on medium-haul routes

Starting at the end of March, Swiss will be offering a paid catering service on its medium-haul flights out of Zurich, replacing the previous free service.

Swiss downgrades its services too

In the early months of COVID, we pointed the finger at airlines that were taking advantage of the health situation to disguisedly downgrade their product. Yes, health precautions justify adapting services, but no, they don’t justify everything, and sometimes it was so big that it showed.

Fortunately, Swiss, like the other Lufthansa Group airlines, was far from being one of the worst. They were among the few in Europe to maintain, almost from the outset, an “adapted” offer that was very close to the standard one.

But all good things must come to an end, and Swiss, like the other airlines in the Lufthansa Group, has decided to do away with the free economy class offer on medium-haul routes, replacing it with a pay-on-demand “Buy On Board” offer.

This decision, which we have already announced, is justified by the desire to better meet customer needs, and not by cost-cutting logic.

Raison invoquée?
➡️ « Notre offre actuelle ne répond pas toujours pleinement aux attentes de nos clients. Cette nouvelle offre a été développée sur la base des retours de nos clients. […] Nos passagers pourront désormais choisir ce qu’ils souhaitent consommer » @lufthansaNews
— Flight-Report (@flight_report) November 17, 2020

A genuine desire to improve customer satisfaction or marketing smoke and mirrors? We’ll talk more about this later.

Swiss paid offer from Zurich

First thing to know: passengers will continue to receive a bottle of water and a chocolate on all medium-haul flights departing from Zurich.

On flights longer than 50 minutes, this service will be supplemented by “Buy On Board”: a paid service to be ordered on board.

Sprüngli was responsible for creating the menu offered to passengers.

“We’re proud of our partnership with Sprüngli confectionery, world-renowned for its irresistible Luxemburgerli and exquisite chocolate creations that literally melt on the tongue. The Zurich confectionery is also known for its selection of fresh salads, sandwiches and tasty specialities.“

And here’s the “Swiss Saveurs” menu, from which passengers can choose their own menu.

And for drinks…

This is nothing new, as flights from Geneva have already been affected for some time, and with a much less attractive and varied offer.

Our opinion on the “Swiss Saveurs” paid offer

First comment: from a purely visual point of view, this menu looks more premium than many “BoB” menus found on European medium-haul. Having said that, since passengers don’t eat paper, let’s take a look at the dishes on the menu.

It’s pretty comprehensive, with something for everyone, even if we regret the absence of a real salad, which the pasta salad doesn’t make up for. Some passengers like fresh vegetables.

We haven’t had a chance to try it out, so we can’t tell you whether it’s hearty or not, but compared with a standard “eco” service, it’s far better.

A hot offer is also available, but only on long flights.

Then there’s the price. A variable not necessarily easy to assess.

In fact, compared to the previous free service, it’s logically more copious and sophisticated. But is it worth the price?

There are several possible approaches

1°) The Swiss Saveurs offer is rather expensive.

18.50 CHF (16€) for a reheated burger in flight is acceptable, but not as good as a “real” burger on the ground. At CHF 10.50 for a cold sandwich, it had better be good.

But, as in railway stations and airports, it’s all about captive customers. Without the option of going “somewhere else”, the customer is forced to take what’s offered…or be satisfied with a chocolate. Besides, if he buys a sandwich in the airport before boarding, he won’t pay less.

But more importantly, will the price of the ticket be cheaper as a result? You don’t get back on one side what you “lose” on the other. We already had proof with Joon that such practices serve to increase margins, not lower prices.

2°) It’s expensive, but it’s better than the old free offer, and you’ve got choice.

This is the argument generally used by airlines choosing to switch to “Buy On Board”. On medium-haul routes (and at least in Europe, as things are radically different in Asia), the free service offered in economy class is generally symbolic. Its quality varies greatly from one airline to another, and its quantity will never be equal to that of an ordinary sandwich bought in the departure hall.

So they’re usually right, because better than almost nothing is actually easy to achieve. But that’s not necessarily the argument that appeals to passengers.

If we recall the Joon episode at Air France, it wasn’t the paying offer that made the headlines, because I don’t think anyone would regret the sort of insipid snacks offered by our national airline on this type of flight. What really got people talking was the fact that the passenger didn’t feel that the fare was going down, while at the same time he had to reach into his pocket to get something to eat.

Which brings us back to the previous point.

The end of the free service: symbolic for some, not for others

In fact, the switch from free to Buy On Board creates a misunderstanding between the airline and the passenger, irrespective of quality and price.

The airline says that the old free offer didn’t meet customer expectations, so it’s switching to a higher-quality paid offer with more choice. But when the airline says “we’re replacing the not-so-great free stuff with good paying stuff”, the customer says “what if you tried to make good free stuff”?

What’s more, customers have the impression that they’re paying twice for the same thing, because the price of the ticket isn’t going down, and so there’s cost-cutting on the pretext of better satisfying them. In fact, the price of the service represents a maximum of 5 euros on the ticket price, so the passenger doesn’t see the reduction, whereas for the airline it represents hundreds of thousands or even millions of euros a year. So it lowers its prices, improves its offer and increases its margins, while the passenger sees only an additional cost.

In the end, it won’t matter whether the Swiss Saveurs offer is good or not (and on paper it looks like it’s pretty good). What will remain is the disappearance of a symbolic benefit, which people like to criticize but take for granted.