TRAVELSIG

You can however remember you will need to reclear passport control each time in each direction which may damper your enthusiasm to have too much lounge hopping.

LXA350

What for refurbishments are made at the SEN lounge at the Airside Center (A) at ZRH currently? There are actually 3 things missing; 50% more space, more toilets and better food throughout the day. However the lack in space is the main disturbing issue.

bruce80

The SEN lounge will reopen tomorrow, december 13th (although they have forgotten the "th" on the billboards which may lead to the conclusion of "reopening december 2013". Actually, the LD told everyone that it will reopen tomorrow indeed.

michaelpowell44

The sen lounge in a is open. Visited today. Quite nice. Food offerings were under par for lx caliber airline being zrh is it's premier lounges.

Visited the panorama in e to find out the outside deck is only opened in summer time. Nice views nonetheless.

LXA350

As already mentioned; nothing was done except for cramping in more seats. SWISS really needs to rethink the whole oncept of the SEN lounge at the airside Center;
1. a small bathroom with 2 toilets for such a crowded lounge is just too little (Male)
2. A additionally lounge center needs to be opened at the E Gates with a SEN and a separate Business Class lounge. This might help to have a less crowded space.
3. Food offering except for breakfast is just a embarrassment both from quantity and quality. The soups are not freshly made and instead are "Knor" powder products. The hot meals are frozen precooked "Hilcona" etc products. This is an absolute no go; they need to offer freshly cooked products by Gate Gourmet or another provider. The food you get in MUC or FRA by LH is fresh and not some frozen industrial cooked microwave food. Or OS in Vienna with their offerings prepared by Do&Co. Again it's enough if they will offer freshly prepared items by Gate Gourmet.

bruce80

Well, I have two suggestions to make (although nobody will actually react to this, probably..):

The first option is to get rid of the bar on the top floor. Although I really like the atmosphere there, it's actually a waste of space and the offerings aren't too great. Remove the bar, put in normal business lounge seating (including a much smaller smoking section, but please keep Radio Swisscom playing ) and then add the space in the backroom (buffet section) to the SEN lounge. Unsolved problem: How do business lounge guests get to the bathrooms?

The second option would be to move the FCL to Concourse E (or build an FCT ) and add the space to the SEN lounge. Most flights offering F class will depart or arrive at E anyway, and they could drive their customers from check-in or their connecting flights directly to the lounge.
Second option B: use the "former" first class lounge reception as the new SEN lounge reception and use both the FCL and the C-backroom for the new SEN lounge while the C lounge gets the current SEN lounge as an extension.

Note to mod: If someone wants to discuss these ideas, feel free to move this to a separate thread.

coastalguy

Question for those of you more familiar with ZRH than I am...

In March we will be arriving at ZRH from YUL on LX in C. We have a 3 hour layover before transiting onto FCO via DUS on LH in Y. Due to the fact that our intra-Euro travel is on another ticket, I expect we will have to collect and recheck our bags. We'd like to shower and change in the Arrivals lounge, so regardless we would be heading landside anyways. From everything I've read it seems like we'll be able to without any concern as we're arriving on LX in C (we're also *G). However, I wonder if anyone can give an idea as to how bad the security and customs lines might be for a 9:15am flight? (our inbound arrives at ~6am) I would like to get an idea how long we might actually have to grab a bite and shower.

Also, I haven't seen anyone mention whether there is any way to reserve one of the relaxation rooms in advance, preferably the one for a couple. (We'd prefer that since the shower is attached and we don't want to be separated.) If they're first come, first served and the only one available is a single do you think they'll allow a couple to use it at the same time as a base for us to separately take showers down the hall?

Thanks in advance!

YuropFlyer

Actually, most probably you'll be able to check through your bags. I've managed it several times with 2 swiss tickets or also 1 swiss/1 *A ticket. It depends on the agent in YUL, though.

Yes, arriving in C will give you access to the Arrival Lounge (*G will NOT give you this, only FTL/SEN+guest/HON+guest are allowed) - which is much better to shower than the SEN lounge.

Security lines are most probably non-existant, or a few minutes only.

If you arrive at 6am, go the arrival lounge, shower, have a good breakfast, then go for some shopping at Migros and then about 8am head back airside. Drop into the SEN lounge for couple mins then proceed to your gate.

First come, first serve. I've never heard about "couple rooms" being existent.. but then with a shower, breakfast etc. you'll not have more than an hour anyway, probably even less, so I would just take it slow, and not try to worry too much about it.

coastalguy

I just love when someone shares information that helps reassure a traveler like myself who needs a little guidance. Thank you VERY much for the reply - have a wonderful new year!

NewbieRunner

There are 3 'relaxation rooms" one of which is for two people and has a shower room attached. You cannot reserve any of the rooms in advance but if two people are willing to share a single room I don't expect there will be any problem. Shower rooms in the Arrival Lounge are very well equipped and you don't really need a 'base' if all you want is to take showers.

bizorbetter

if i read swiss site and also star alliance site Swiss C does not get you into the senator lounge, only a business lounge? are they the same one? my last trip to Zurich there was a combined first/business lounge has this changed? (long bar up top of business lounge and separate entrance to first with sliding glass doors from the business lounge)

YuropFlyer

Yes, a C boarding pass will only get you into the Business lounge. However the differences are rather small, the *A First Class/SEN lounge is only slightly better (more food choices, but the food is quite bad) and just as packed or even more. Bar access is from both side of the lounge (SEN/C) through separate doors.

The only decent lounge in Zurich is the LH Group First Class lounge (Swiss FCL) - it's not as good as first class lounge in, say, Singapore or Frankfurt, but it's ok. Dinner menu is good, but at other times, food choices are rather limited. It's also pretty small, sometimes crowded (SEN/C lounges are ALWAYS crowded during the rush hours (morning/lunch/early evening)

bruce80

[QUOTE=LXA350;22066595 The soups are not freshly made and instead are "Knor" powder products. The hot meals are frozen precooked "Hilcona" etc products. This is an absolute no go; they need to offer freshly cooked products by Gate Gourmet or another provider.[/QUOTE]

I just observed an attrndant pushing a cart fully loaded with Knorr boxes through the lounge; some of them looked like they contained soup powder, the others were obviously filled with some sort of instant noodle whatever. They could at least cover their deliveries..

coastalguy

I agree - no one wants to see how the sausage is made!

TRAVELSIG

The club sandwich will save you if you are starving.