worldtraveller73

I concur.

I do believe that the Swiss Arrivals Lounge is the best Arrivals Lounge in the whole of Star Alliance.

Have a shower / breakfast then move on upstairs for drinks afterwards.

magyir

Clever, will keep this in mind for my next non-Schengen arrival/transfer. Thanks!

tal1412

My wife and I are flying Swiss C from ORD to ZRH on award tickets. We then continue on to JNB from ZRH. We have almost 12 hours in ZRH. What are the best lounge options for us in ZRH?

We plan to take the train downtown for several hours to sight see and grab something to eat. We leave at 22:45 for JNB on LX 288. Any info on the food sevice on that flight/
Thanks

YuropFlyer

My personal opinion:

On Arrival, use the arrivals lounge. (open till 1pm)

Then head into city / do your personal Zurich experience

Have a light early dinner in the city (whatever you like) - I guess after eating a late breakfast in the Arrivals lounge (not too bad, but nothing outstanding either) you might get hungry later in the afternoon..

Head for the airport no earlier than 9pm. The "dinner" in the lounges in ZRH you'll have access too (without status it's only Swiss Business and Panorama) isn't really good, only place I would really choose to eat would be the LX First Class lounge which you won't be able to get into unless you're HON. I'd go for the Swiss Business lounge first, enjoy a drink at the longest airport bar in the world (be prepared to explain how to mix your drink of choice ) and then head over to Terminal E just prior to 10pm or so, using the Panorama lounge just for couple minutes before your flight. In June-August, on a warm evening, it's great for plane spotting, but otherwise very full.

Your flight to JNB will see a full dinner service, and full breakfast service prior to landing if I'm not mistaken. It's one of the few longhauls without much time difference, so the meals will "feel right"

tal1412

Thanks for the info. Sounds like a good plan.

josmon10

We'll be landing at ZRH at 6:15 and have a 9-hour stopover. I was thinking or leaving our carry-ons in a lounge locker, go to Zurich for a few hours, and come back to get them, but...

Is there any lounge that I, as a FTL, can access twice? We'll be arriving from YUL and heading for BCN later in the day.

The other option is, of course, the left luggage office in the terminal...

Thanks.

YuropFlyer

Use the left luggage facility (blue bins) in ZRH train station - you can't store them in any lounge while you're away in the city.

Alternatively, you can use the YuropFlyer facilities for free located at Zürich Mainstation (weekdays 8am-5pm)

Schwann

I will be flying with SWISS on ZRH-YUL next month. Which is the best lounge to use for food and beverage options? Travelling in Y but *A Gold.

NewbieRunner

The Senator Lounge in A (Schengen area) will be best but don't expect to have a meal in the lounge. Food in LX lounges is not terribly impressive. After visiting the lounge you will have to clear passport control before boarding the Skymetro shuttle to Dock E.

Where are you starting your travel? In ZRH or are you connecting from somewhere else?

Schwann

I am connecting from Heathrow, but the day before. So essentially starting in ZRH.

bruce80

Do the A and D lounges really differ in terms of food? I've only once been to the D lounge (in the early afternoon) and food/beverage selection was absolutely the same as in the A lounge (right now, it occurs to me that they even had a selection of two kinds of cake in D while there only was one in A).

The D lounge would have the benefits of some kind of apron view, a slightly more modern decor and, most important, no need to clear passport control after leaving the lounge. However, there are downsides - the walk to the Heidi Train might be a bit longer than from the A lounge, and there are no showers in the D lounge (there aren't even bathrooms, they are located outside the lounge).

NewbieRunner

My connection in ZRH is often not long enough for a lounge visit and the few times I've been in the D lounge there was hardly any food (only sandwiches IIRC).

I'd only go to the D lounge if my flight is departing from D. BTW, I believe there is actually a shower you can use down the corridor.

If I'm arriving in D from the UK and connecting from E and have enough time, I'd go through passport contol to A, visit the A lounge, go through passport control again and get on the Heidi train. At least there's no need to queue for security. You cannot go from the D lounge to E without clearing security.

YuropFlyer

A few additions:

Food offerings in D are exactly the same as in A. If there is a difference, it's probably because food isn't laid out yet/haven't been collected yet after service. Besides that, D is MUCH more quiet than A.

Advantage of the A lounge is their smokers bar. Which, really, is good for smokers, the cocktails/bar drinks you get there are rather basic (and you often have to explain how to make them.. )

There is a single shower outside the D lounges as NewbieRunner correctly said, you need to ask for the key in the lounge. I would take the showers in A over it any day, though. (and the showers in the arrival lounge over any other shower in ZRH)

Once you passed to D (no matter if arriving there, or coming from A) you're considered "unclean" if you want to exit to D terminal, so yes, one more security control (if you just want to maximize your lounge usage, this is fine though, as there won't be any queues there unless a plane just landed with transit passengers)

So, in total:

Food wise: All lounges in ZRH are rather bad, A/D a tad better than E (Panorama)
Drinks wise: Longest bar in A wins, but nothing really fancy anyway.
Quietness: Usually D is by far the most quiet place.
Smoker: A lounge with their Smokers bar. All other lounges are fully non-smoking.

NewbieRunner

Not sure what you are getting at but D departure area is clean. If arriving from the UK (or the US once in a while) you enter D departure area initially. As soon as you leave this area through the sliding doors towards D bus arrivals or Heidi's train you are no longer clearn. The only way to remain clean if connecting from gates other than D is to go through passport control into A. If connecting from an E gate, you have to go through passport control again before getting on Heidi's train. I guess you can go to the D lounge first and follow the same route but the D lounge is out of the way and I don't see any advantage in going there on the way to E. With an EU passport going through passport control twice is preferable to queuing for security control once you arrive in E.

YuropFlyer

Advantage of going to D instead of A (when flying Ex-ZRH) would be for a more quiet place, or actually a place to sit down at all.

If one departs around 1pm from the E gates, and you reach ZRH by around 11.30am, I guess the D lounge is the only place which isn't filled 120%. (unless you're considering the Smokers bar)

You're right about avoiding security, going back to A (passport check as you enter Schengen again), then going down towards E gates (and exiting Schengen) will cut the security check, but add 2x passport control as well as quite a bit of a longer treck, so one has to decide what he/she prefers. Didn't thought about it myself as the few times I actually went to the D lounge (when flying off E) for above mentioned reasons, I simply followed the signs which will obviously keep you in the Non-Schengen area, ie the direct way through the security check.

Which makes me to think that it's kind of weird. When D is considered clean, why do you have to go through that security check when going towards E directly, but not when first heading to Schengen?

Is this intentional, and if so, why? Anyone knows?