verve

Not sure if this is the most brilliant idea they ever had: https://www.swiss.com/ch/en/fly/airp...a#t-page=pane2

The SWISS Lounges in terminal A will remain closed during the refurbishment period. This will allow for faster completion of the work. We look forward to welcoming you at the new lounges after their expected completion in April 2018. Until then, please feel free to visit one of our other lounges. There, the SWISS Choice Lounge access vouchers you have already purchased will continue to be valid during the refurbishment.

Are they really expecting all Status and C class customer to go through immigration to the D or E lounges? Or to have priority pass and go to Aspire? My guess this will result in quite a bit of bad press....

Air Rarotonga

WOW! Thank you for his infomation!

They could have refurbished first the Businesss class lounge and then the SEN lounge...

I see many LX Travel Vouchers been issued the next winter :-)

worldclubber

I do it all the time, not really a big deal.

Could be a problem on tight schedules, but if one has the extra 20 minutes or so to go to E and back, I would recommend the lounges there anyway.

YuropFlyer

You do it because you get a better lounge there, not because you've to.

I also sometimes go to the E lounges if time allows (by the way, it can easily take 30min one-way during rush hour periods when the immigration booths are full. "Out" towards E can be worse than "in") - but if you just have 1 hour to spend, I'd not even think about going to E and back for a few minutes of "better" lounge experience.

The E lounges - especially the C part - are already very crowded during the waves. Adding another 50 pax into them will make things really uncomfortable. Not sure if that is what Swiss really wants..

Also, not everyone flying Ex-ZRH will be able to freely move into/out of Schengen. They'll basically be spared from any lounge access.

I feel this is a very silly move. Providing some kind of temporary lounge - or at least food vouchers for a reasonable amount (say, 25 CHF for SEN and 20 CHF for C/FTL) are imho the way to go. This will lead to quite some bad press.

cfischer

wow, that's terrible news. Can't believe they are shutting both parts down at te same time with no other options nearby.

airoli

This is a remarkably customer-unfriendly move and I to would expect some pretty bad press and customer feedback. The D/E lounges are not really convenient for "normal" people, who just want a quick cup of coffee and a newspaper in the lounge before a Schengen hop (as compared to us nerdy FTers, who hang out in lounges far more than we should ).

I would also imagine many Star partners will not be pleased.

I don't give much credit to AC, but when they completely renovated the Intl. lounge in YUL, they went to the trouble of building an elaborate temporary one, realizing that the long walk to the alternate (domestic) option at the far end of the terminal was not acceptable. And there wasn't even a border check to deal with.

Tulips700

Hi

Could someone please emlghten me, not being familiar with Zurich Airport? As luck would have it, I am flying opinion from Montreal on August 27 connecting to Nairobi in business. Does this lounge closure affect me or just those with European flights?

worldclubber

It mainly affects European flyers on a tight schedule. AFAIR the layover oon your coonnection is long enough to go to any lounge at ZRH airport, which is actually rather small.

worldclubber

I have done it more than a dozen times in 2017 and it has never taken me longer than 2-3 minutes to get through the passport check. Even during rush hour periods, a European passport works wonders and there is usuallyat least one booth without a long line. Admittedly, may be a different story for travelers with non-European passports..

oliver2002

This sounds like a major redo... hopefully they use the time to rebuild that place into something that doesn't get crowded so fast.

YuropFlyer

You apparently never went over / back during rush hour then..

I got a CH passport and it doesnt change much when (out to E) the queue goes straight from the elevator..

San Gottardo

On the face of it sounds like a stupid idea to do both Business and SEN at the same time. But maybe there are some "architectural" reasons why both need to be closed, maybe they do things to the lounge that affects the layout and/or installations of both the Business and SEN lounge.

Why not close one of them, restrict it to SENs, and then do the other one. Leaves the Business-without-status travelers in a a less good place, but they could then still use the lounge in D - which is a good plan anyway when you don't have a lot of time, there almost is never any wait time at immigration there. Not sure why people get so excited about the immigration times to go to the E gates. Sure, the lounge is nicer, but the D lounge isn't any worse than the lounge in A would have been.

For comparison: Air France is redoing one of its lounges at CDG, the one in 2E-L. Closed from April this year to July next year. Passengers can use lounges in other parts of 2E and there even is a little shuttle bus connecting one of them to the L gates.

shipsmail

So during renovation the existing First lounge in A will remain open, but no alternatives in A for SEN and Business guests. Very strange.

cbourl

This is not so bad - the A lounges are inferior compared to the E lounges so why complain they are being renovated? If u really want to use a lounge get there earlier or time your connection to allow full lounge useage bei der E Gates Personally Im looking forward to a superior Sen/C lounge experience at A Gates and definitely a much improved F lounge at A Gates Just hope the smoking bar is maintained, or at least a smoking room like FRA F/Sen lounges/F Terminal MUC F Lounge

vantage03

Totally get that this kind of sucks short term for most people (and let's be real, the D lounges suck), but I think we can all look forward to having E-quality lounges in A.