SWISS vs United
United scores 8/10 against SWISS at 7.3/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare.
By Jon Miksis · cabin data verified · fares for travel November 8–14, 2026
Best product each one flies
Scored on what can be verified. Service, food and ground recovery are absent deliberately: they need someone in the seat, and they live in the reviews rather than here.
One caveat on the Value line, stated rather than buried: Value is computed from business fares, and a carrier with too few of them does not get a Value score at all. Where you see a dash, we have fewer than three priced business routes for that airline and did not want to invent a figure from one or two — so its product score is the mean of three dimensions rather than four, and it is not directly comparable to a score built on hundreds of fares. The airlines with the most fares behind them are named on the business-class ranking, and where each of these two sits among every carrier we price, on seat and on fare, is on The Best Airlines to Fly to Europe.
SWISS
A330-300 · flown by Jon
- Seat
- 5/10
- IFE
- 8/10
- Lounge & bags
- 10/10
- Value
- 6/10
- Product score
- 7.3/10
United
777 / 787 (Polaris) · flown by Jon
- Seat
- 8/10
- IFE
- 8/10
- Lounge & bags
- 10/10
- Value
- 6/10
- Product score
- 8/10
One thing separates them: seat
Seat: United
5/10 on the A330-300 against 8/10 on the 777 / 787 (Polaris).
Level on IFE and lounge & bags and value
As almost every pair is. Of the 31 business cabins we have verified, 28 score 8 on screens and power and 29 score 10 on lounge and bags — because those two dimensions describe what a business fare includes rather than which airline sold it to you. Lounge access, two checked bags and a carry-on are close to the definition of the cabin.
The one genuine differentiator on screens is free wifi, and only Delta and JetBlue offer it. Seat and Value are where carriers separate, which is why they lead this page.
Where both were priced on the same dates
Every fare is November 8–14, 2026, so a difference between two rows is a difference between two airlines and nothing else. These are economy fares, while the cabin scores above describe the business product — read them as how each airline prices against its competitors, not as what its business seat costs.
| Route | Cabin | SWISS | United | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS → BCN | economy | $644 | $639 | United by $5 |
| IAD → DUB | economy | $732 | $738 | SWISS by $6 |
| MIA → OPO | economy | $737 | $1329 | SWISS by $592 |
| SFO → BCN | economy | $741 | $750 | SWISS by $9 |
| LAX → ZRH | economy | $762 | $857 | SWISS by $95 |
| ORD → FCO | economy | $774 | $783 | SWISS by $9 |
| LAX → OPO | economy | $775 | $912 | SWISS by $137 |
| SFO → OPO | economy | $775 | $912 | SWISS by $137 |
| LAX → LIS | economy | $782 | $796 | SWISS by $14 |
| LAX → MXP | economy | $782 | $796 | SWISS by $14 |
| SFO → LIS | economy | $782 | $796 | SWISS by $14 |
| SFO → MXP | economy | $782 | $796 | SWISS by $14 |
| SFO → MAD | economy | $783 | $795 | SWISS by $12 |
| IAD → LIS | economy | $791 | $802 | SWISS by $11 |
| LAX → FCO | economy | $793 | $808 | SWISS by $15 |
| IAD → AMS | economy | $809 | $821 | SWISS by $12 |
| IAD → ZRH | economy | $812 | $832 | SWISS by $20 |
| IAD → FCO | economy | $815 | $826 | SWISS by $11 |
| SFO → DUB | economy | $818 | $834 | SWISS by $16 |
| IAD → CDG | economy | $836 | $828 | United by $8 |
| SFO → FCO | economy | $840 | $857 | SWISS by $17 |
| SFO → AMS | economy | $847 | $865 | SWISS by $18 |
| ORD → ZRH | economy | $857 | $857 | level |
| SFO → ZRH | economy | $868 | $874 | SWISS by $6 |
| SFO → ATH | economy | $894 | $938 | SWISS by $44 |
| LAX → BER | economy | $896 | $1400 | SWISS by $504 |
| LAX → BCN | economy | $898 | $916 | SWISS by $18 |
| IAD → BCN | economy | $1068 | $1059 | United by $9 |
| ORD → FCO | business | $4277 | $4880 | SWISS by $603 |
| MIA → FCO | business | $4303 | $4289 | United by $14 |
| IAD → FCO | business | $4604 | $4587 | United by $17 |
| LAX → FCO | business | $4805 | $5417 | SWISS by $612 |
| ORD → LIS | business | $5029 | $5302 | SWISS by $273 |
| LAX → OPO | business | $5146 | $15268 | SWISS by $10122 |
| BOS → ATH | business | $5406 | $5964 | SWISS by $558 |
| IAD → BCN | business | $5981 | $5963 | United by $18 |
| BOS → BCN | business | $6019 | $5975 | United by $44 |
| SFO → MAD | business | $6746 | $6733 | United by $13 |
| IAD → ZRH | business | $6771 | $6771 | level |
| ORD → ZRH | business | $6792 | $10309 | SWISS by $3517 |
| SFO → BCN | business | $6914 | $8077 | SWISS by $1163 |
| LAX → MAD | business | $6963 | $6948 | United by $15 |
| SFO → FCO | business | $8647 | $8119 | United by $528 |
| SFO → MXP | business | $9932 | $13987 | SWISS by $4055 |
Common questions
- Is SWISS or United better to Europe?
- United scores 8/10 against SWISS at 7.3/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare. On the four dimensions we can verify, SWISS wins 0 and United wins 1. Service and food are not scored here because they cannot be read off a spec sheet.
- Which is cheaper, SWISS or United?
- On the 44 routes where both were priced for the same week (November 8–14, 2026), SWISS was cheaper on 32 and United on 12. Every pair of fares is the same departure and return date in the same cabin, so the difference is the airline rather than the dates or the cabin.
- Does the aircraft change the answer?
- Not on seat: both carriers fly a consistent product across the aircraft we have verified.
- Has Jon flown either of these?
- Both. SWISS and United are on the flown roster in business on a Europe route, so a full seven-dimension review of either can carry the Flown label.
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