SwissBritMiss

You forget the runway view also

That's peak A380 time in E

lhioseddy

Hi folks, I've read the last few pages of this thread and the whole clean unclean schengen non schengen has me totally confused on what to expect.

I'm flying Delhi-Zurich-Bucharest in C. No status so I suppose I'm limited to the "business" lounges. I figure the one in the E section is the best one. This is a non-Schengen->non-Schengen route so I figure passport control shouldn't come into play but now I'm not so sure.

Now:

I suppose my flight will arrive at an E gate. The departing flight will go from a D gate (at least based on what I've checked so far...).

1. Do I need to go through passport control to access the E business class lounge? I prefer to stay in this lounge for ~5 hours before my departing flight to Bucharest. Is it as simple as arriving into E, going through some sort of security and then making my way to the lounge?

2. Is the wifi really limited to just 60 minutes?

3. Am I correct in my assessment that the E business lounge would be the best choice for a morning (6:20AM) arrival and ~5 hour stay?

4. When I go from my E lounge to my D gate, will I need to go through any passport control?

All the trains, maps, clean, unclean has me a little confused. I'd prefer not to go through passport control if possible. Security is ok.

Please advise

televisor

So: both Delhi and Bucharest are outside of the Schengen zone, so there's no need to go through passport control (but you might want to go through, see later).

The E lounge is probably the best choice, and won't be hard to access.

I'm guessing the Delhi arrival will be in the E-gates, and will be non-clean. To get to the E-lounge you can follow signs for "E-gates" after disembarking, you'll go through security (should be quite quick), and you're in the E terminal - then just look for the Swiss business lounge.

I'm not 100% sure where Bucharest departures are from: it looks like they're usually from D. If from E it's easy, you can go directly to the gate. If from D, you have two options: this is where you have the choice of going directly to D - this means you have to go through security again since the corridor to D involves walking through a non-clean area, or going E->A/B->D, which involves entering and exiting the Schengen zone, but avoids going through security since you can remain in the clean zone at all times. If you have an EU/EFTA passport then that option is OK, you might not be able to enter Schengen without a Visa on certain other passports, and it's likely to be slower if they have to stamp you in/out.

Now the simpler alternative is not to bother with the E-lounge, in this case after disembarking the Delhi flight you'd follow signs for D, you'll go through security once, and you end up at the D-gates with the D lounge close by.

The E lounge is definitely much nicer, so with multiple hours to spare I'd recommend the E lounge option. Security at ZRH for transfers tends to be not busy, i.e. I the transfer checkpoints are often completely empty (especially when there's not a recent arrival, which will be the case if you've been at the E lounge).

lhioseddy

Thank you! That is an amazingly detailed answer! I definitely like the look of the E lounge way better than the D lounge where I suspect my departure flight is from.

Do you have any insight into the WiFi situation? I read a lounge review that said Wifi is limited to 60 minutes in the lounge? I'd be happy if a paid option is available but 60 minutes for free might be a tad less in other cases..

PetzLUX

Ask for a WIFI code at the lounge reception. It is valid for 24 h and can be used for several months.

lhioseddy

Thanks! That's a relief. I hope it's not too cold and I can enjoy the terrace view to the planes!

YuropFlyer

As long as the forecast seems to be dry they keep it open now. Was there yesterday when the weather was kinda meh and rather cold but dry, so it was open. Great food choices yesterday. There is a new cook (Spanish?) who works wonder on the breakfast items..

televisor

For the benefit of fellow FTers, I took some timings recently
- Going from main security checkpoint, until entering the E-lounge: 10 minutes
- Going from E-lounge, until arriving at the top of the escalators close to security: also 10 minutes
- Wak from central security to start of A-gates: 1 minute (I'd estimate one minute more to get to the furthest A gate, the B gates usually take a bit longer to get to since you need to go up and down an extra set of stairs, add another 1-2 minutes for exit immigration for going to D. I'll take timings the next time I use B or D, but that is unlikely to be anytime soon.)

The train itself seems to take about 4 minutes, then there's maybe 2 minutes of walking at either end, the remaining 2 are waiting time and passport control. Wait times might be longer for non-EU/EFTA, however in my case the E->A/B Schengen entry was almost deserted, with only one general booth open (I was the first of maybe 5-6 people to get off that train). The other direction (Schengen exit / main->E) was busier, but I still ended up using a general ("all countries") exit immigration with only 2 seemingly Swiss people in the queue.

The only question I got was entry-immigration (E->A/B) asking where I was going (i.e. to my Schengen flight from A/B).

lhioseddy

Some notes from my recent trip. In New Delhi the Swiss Check in staff told me that I should use the Singapore Airlines lounge. I had read that the Lufthansa lounge was nicer and asked them about it. They said that since Lufthansa has an A380 leaving soon they couldn't take Swiss passengers. I was of course having none of that. I went to the Lufthansa lounge after clearing immigration and security and again heard the same story from the lounge staff. I asked them if as a Swiss C passenger I was entitled to access the Lufthansa lounge. They said yes. So I said well then lets get on with it They let me in. They had pretty good hot food in the Lufthansa lounge. The lounge was quite empty because the Swiss flight leaves at 1:15am and the Lufthansa flight only gets out at 2:45am. There weren't really a lot of passengers in there right then (around 12am).

On arrival in Zurich we arrived at some E gate (don't know which one). I followed signs to E gates as advised, had to go through security which wasn't really crowded. Then walked a bit and got into the E lounge. Very nice place, was quiet at 6:20am. The balcony was closed and I was worried that they wouldn't open it up. But it was because of the rain and cold weather during the night. They opened it up around 10am. Also, the food selection is pretty great and they switched the breakfast out to lunch at about 11am. Had some good hot food. Wifi code was valid for 24 hours and was for up to 3 devices. Also took a nice hot shower. Very nice shower area.

Then I exited to go from the E lounge to my D gate. The trip took about 25 minutes. Had to go through security once when I arrived at the D gates area.

No immigration either way.

Thanks again for all the help earlier and clearing up my queries

YuropFlyer

My experience last weekend:

Checkin at Terminal 1 (First Class), no waiting time. On request by myself it was confirmed the flight was overbooked (they wouldn't have told otherwise - kinda understandable for a SEN pax) and that VDB will be needed to be requested at the gate. Apparently with the new system, they can't flag anyone as VDB anymore I was told (I knew in the old one, they could do that)

Well-guarded queue at security, no waiting time again. Just security insisting about removing non-beeping belt (used to be more relaxed) - well if they enjoy seeing plenty of male undies

Quick passport control (no questions about where to do with Swiss ID) and into the Heidi train in less than 5min after entering security/airside.

Quick Heidi train ride, do NOT take the escalator up. Take the elevator which is behind it. It takes you up straight, instead of getting you into the wrong direction for about 100m compared with taking the escalator. Just 50m from it is the LX lounge when you exit it (one level up). Not more than 12min all the way from checkin to lounge, smoothest experience (minus the belt) so far.

Lounge offering was really good on Saturday, best since the opening month. Breakfast is till 10.30am, then they'll stock for lunch, which starts at 11am officially.

From E to D (Non-Schengen to Non-Schengen) I took the "clean" way via A, ie entering Schengen and exiting again.

No queue when entering Schengen, about 5min queue when entering D Non-Schengen (and that was about the longest I've experienced there)

Total time needed, including the queue, was 15min from lounge to (furthest) D Gate. Still very reasonable.

Offered VDB, which they noted at the gate. Unfortunately one pax didn't showed up (they see if you scanned your BP at the security entrance, ie they can predict pretty well for pax originating in ZRH if they make it or not) so I was allowed to board as the last pax. Got a private "limo" ride to the plane as compensation for giving up 4D for 17E (worse things happen on a intra-European flight, and those Fokker100s are giving you ample legroom anyway)

I think the main reason for more "no shows" at the gate compared to earlier years is that the new system basically "force-checks" anyone in 20hrs before departure as long as you booked via the LX website. There is no option do opt-out of it. You can manually check-out, but if you didn't care about cancelling your ticket earlier, why would you then?

So, if you booked your "Light" ticket couple months before, then your schedule changes and you can't fly (and decide it's not worth running after a few $ back for taxes), they'll still automatically check you in AND expect you at the gate.

I think this is actually not really a well designed system, as compared with a "classic" system where you'll need to checkin yourself in the last 24hrs somehow, ie when you checkin, there is a reasonable chance that everyone will actually want to fly.

warakorn

Does the lounge has a baggage storage facility?

iluvdoco

Does using the LX F lounges at ZRH on a LH F same day boarding pass require a J class booking between ZRH and MUC/FRA/DUS or is a Y segment between ZRH and those cities sufficient?

I believe it's the latter but I wanted to double check.

MichielR

It is your same day F flight that counts. Even if you would fly, say AF Y via CDG between ZRH and FRA...

bruce80

Are you sure about that? I mean, it's clear that your F flight counts when you fly outbound on LX F on the same day (no matter whether you have arrived at the airport by car, train or on any air carrier), but how about inbound F flights? I know that LH allow you to use the F lounges as arrival lounges even without a connecting flight (which is theoretically the same as departing on any non-LH-group carrier), but with the more restrictive lounge policies on LX, I'm not so sure. When using the F lounge between an LX F arrival and an LX-op-by-OS onward connection, they also scanned my onward boarding pass.

PetzLUX

Never had a problem entering the F lounge in ZRH on arrival in LX F without connecting flight.