Originally Posted by
LewDog
Many thanks for the quick and helpful response.
I'm a oneWorld guy most of the time so this is all very exotic (and a bit different from the oW access rules.)
My use case here is a place to shower and park my family for the 3-4 hours between morning arrival and our hotel downtown being ready. I haven't gotten to experience the new E-lounge yet, but if the Arrivals lounge suits that need just as well, that may very well be easier.
Good point re: luggage reclaim -- we will almost certainly not be checking bags though.
Thanks again,
Lewis
Yes, Star Alliance and One World are quite differently regarding many things - the gras is always greener on the other side, so to speak
The "Arrival pax are allowed into F lounges / Status passengers from M&M are allowed to use their lounge on arrival" rule isn't even in place in the whole Lufthansa Group. While Lufthansa always (as much as I remember) allowed it, Swiss only started to allow it since about 2-3 years ago, and Austrian doesn't allow it at all (I don't know about LOT/Brussels) - so it's not consistent at all. And for Swiss, it's not officially published (albeit it does work consistently in ZRH - while in GVA, they're less aware of their own rules
) but just a "if you know the rule, it will work for you".
That said, the Arrival lounge is nice, but the F lounge - especially the new one in Gate E - is much nicer. You might very well arrive in Gate E, thus it will be just exiting the plane (into the "clean" area, ie no security check to access the lounge) and going to the lounge. Hopefully they'll have a room ready for you, but otherwise their breakfast will keep you awake for sure too. While the Arrival lounge used to be a really good choice, with the introduction of the new lounges in E, those are offering better breakfasts and overall experiences. I'd stay there for a while if you're really tired and need some more rest - otherwise you might want to just leave the airport for downtown earlier. Even if your room isn't ready in downtown area, after a nice shower in the lounge, a short rest and some proper breakfast, Zurich is ready for discovery for you & your family (if you're having a relatively short stay)
One thing I could recommend in your case would be to take Tram line number 10 from the airport downtown - you'll get some nice sighseeing on the way and since it takes 30min or so it will be a nice usage of time anyway.
Let us know here (or on the general Swiss / Europe travel forum) if we can be of any more assistance, always glad to help. I always enjoy "playing the guide" for some fellow Flyertalkers whenever I can make myself available in Zurich.