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Edelweiss Air

I am considering booking my return flight from Zurich to Denver in September using my United flight miles. They have a non-stop flight leaving Zurich at 1:10 pm and getting to Denver at 4:20 pm. The total time is 11 hours, 10 minutes and I can book it with UAL miles. Edelweiss Air does not get great reviews, but some people thought it was great. I know people tend to give reviews more if they are unhappy with something, than satisfied. My Swiss friend says she has heard good things about Edelweiss Air. What can you tell me?

Posted by
6788 posts

I have not flown on Edelweiss. They're owned by the same group that owns Lufthansa, SWISS and others. Lufthansa/SWISS seem to make endless attempts to stand-up/spin-off separate leisure/low-cost carrier identities, often using planes handed down from Swiss. Edelweiss is the product of one of those efforts. I would expect the flight experience to be a lot like Lufthansa/Swiss, but with fewer amenities and frills.

You don't have too many options for non-stops to the deep west. If the price and details work for you, I can't think of any reason to pass on them. Do check seat dimensions, but...what alternatives do you have, that'll get you to DEN on a nonstop, and how does Edelweiss compare to those?

My only issue with it is that I'd probably have the song stuck in my head for weeks after flying them. YMMV.

Posted by
20094 posts

And what is your alternative? Are you looking at Economy Plus or Standard?

Your choices are United or Lufthansa, neither of which get all that great reviews.

Posted by
383 posts

Edelweiss is fine - it's a "vacation" airline that basically only serves tourist destinations popular with Swiss people, but not a budget airline. I've flown it twice, though never transatlantic, but enjoyed my experience both times. Baggage is included with the ticket cost no matter what class and sports equipment is free, so at lot of people use it for ski/golf trips. Their Economy Max offers extra legroom etc. I think they fly an A340 to Denver with 2-4-2 seating, which I prefer to the LH/UA 787 which is 3-3-3.
To be honest, my last 2 Lufthansa transatlantic flights have been awful...so I wouldn't rule out Edelweiss if you have a good fare.

Posted by
20094 posts

I prefer the 2-4-2 configuration to the 3-3-3. With the 2-4-2, you never have to crawl over more than one person to get up and go to the rest room. If you have a window seat on the 3-3-3, you have to get over two people.

Both Swiss and Edelweiss are owned by Lufthansa. I've flown transatlantic r/t twice in the last 2 years on Swiss and I like them, Edelweiss isn't Swiss, but should be close is my guess.

Posted by
2126 posts

We flew Edelweiss from Denver to Zurich last spring. We had an almost two hour delay in departure, due to a medical emergency which had required that plane to land in Philadelphia on its way to Denver.

So we were worried about our connection in Zurich, which was now down to 32 minutes. But the pilots made up time in the air and we landed with plenty of time to make our next flight.

Additionally, those passengers who would miss their connections were automatically rebooked during the flight — there was an announcement as we neared Zurich telling passengers what their new flight time & gate was. Maybe that’s a common practice but we had never experienced that before. So we were impressed with this airline.

Posted by
174 posts

Thanks for the input. I went ahead and booked Edelweiss Air. I was able to use my United Flight Miles and a very small bit of $$$. I love that it's non-stop.