SWISS Air Lines “Throne” seat in Business Class cabin is one of the preferred Business Class seats among solo travelers.
The Business Class cabin is configured with 1-2–2 and 2-2-1 seats in each row. So, each row has one throne seat that provides greater privacy because you are not sitting next to anyone, and you have your own exclusive private space with two huge side tables.
However, Business Class passengers who do not have elite status with SWISS are still required to purchase those “Throne” seats for advance seat assignment up to 48 hours before departure. Therefore, if your SWISS flight is pretty occupied, chances are those throne seats can already be taken by those elite SWISS members or by those willing to pay for those seats in advance.
How To Select SWISS Business Class “Throne” Seats For Free
A few blogs and FlyerTalk suggested getting a “Throne” seat free of charge if it’s still available at the 48-hour mark before departure time. This may have been true, but SWISS no longer allows that.
In my experience, when my flight was exactly 48 hours before departure time, I pulled up the seat map on the SWISS website under manage my booking. Only one throne seat was available, and it became free for selection.
However, no matter how I did it, I could not change the seat from my non-throne seat to that throne seat. The system allowed me to select and change, but the seat would not stick once I refreshed my booking. I have contacted a SWISS agent for help, but all they said was that the advance seat selection had been closed and locked, so they could not open and look at the seat map. They advised me to change seats during online check-in, which is open 23 hours before departure. I also attempted to look at the seat map by making a dummy revenue ticket booking, and at the seat selection screen, the booking interface stated that:
All the seats for advanced reservation have already been allocated. But you may still choose your seat within 23 hours before departure when you check-in. Further information can be found in our conditions of seat selection.
Free SWISS Seat Selection 24 hours, NOT 23 hours
Exactly 24 hours before local departure time, I tried my luck again by doing the online check-in using the SWISS website. To my surprise, I could perform check-in at the 24-hour mark instead of the 23-hour mark, as SWISS says. I went through the online check-in and successfully changed my non-throne seat to the throne seat, free of charge.
What’s odd is that my seat still had the non-throne seat number under my reservation, whereas my boarding pass had the throne seat number. I wanted to make sure, so I called SWISS to confirm my seat. The agent on the phone confirmed that my seat was the throne seat.
How To Do SWISS Online Check-In To Get The “Throne” Seat For Free
- Sign in to your SWISS account and go to My Bookings under your profile if you have already added your booking there. If not, you will need the confirmation code to add your booking.
- Click on your flight’s booking.
- On the left-hand side, it should say online check-in. Once clicked, it will take you to that section and give you a continue button to proceed.
- Follow that to change seat and complete your online check-in. Ultimately, you can print the boarding pass by having it sent to your email or add it to your mobile boarding pass app.
Bottom Line
SWISS no longer allows Business Class passengers who don’t have elite status or don’t want to pay to select a Business Class “Throne” seat free of charge at the 48-hour mark before departure. The best scenario is to keep checking for the seat map between 48 to 24 hours before departure time and set a reminder at exactly 24 hours (not 23 hours) before local departure time to do online check-in. SWISS set the 23 hours, but it’s 24 hours. So you gain an hour more before those who do not know about this and simply follow what SWISS says.
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