Spectacular: SWISS' First Class Lounges Zurich

Fully agree with you! ZRH has in my opinion the best First Class Lounges I've ever been, followed by MUC and FRA. I have no experience with Air France La Premiere Lounge Paris as I rarely travel AF but doubt they can beat ZRH. Personally I hate CDG, that much that I almost tend to love LHR.

If the cigars are free, why does the box have all sorts of credit card logos on it?

Haven't flown LX F since 2019 so its nice to see it's all as good as I remember. E lounge is really awesome. When you spend lots of time there (had 6-7 hours bettween flights) it really feel like a fancy appartment / hotel.

@ AJO -- I wondered that too when I looked at it, but last I heard they're free. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm not a smoker.

Looks great. I love the wood throughout the lounge and the black leather seats and sofas. The lounge, to me, is very calming. I’m looking forward to your full reports Ben. They are always fun to read.

Loved spotting at the terrace, and I thought the runway diagram was a nice touch with the Leica binoculars. I wasn't too impressed with their whisky selection, but one of the staff was nice enough to take me to the whisky bar in the Senators Lounge on the other side. Agreed about the quality of the a la carte menu, that alone made me wish I had more time before my flight to JFK.

Last time I was there they were free and the logos were also on it. Don't ask me why but I don't get that part also.

Not sure I’d consider a smoking section a plus…I’ve found the smell invariably leaks out

Thanks Nelson for confirming,
Will be there 1st of March and do enjoy the occasional cigar 🙂

Just a tip: nobody eats Fondue with french fries…. Either small pieces of bread or boiled potatoes are used to stir the cheese.

With the complete renovation of the A gates during the next years the F lounge in A will diappear and being established again where the SWISS arrivals lounge now is.

WHAT? The terrace in the Swiss lounge was open yesterday? I was in the Aspire lounge at the E gates and the terrace was closed. Same was with the smoking terrace (lounge) next to the Aspire lounge that was also closed.

When I asked the staff, they said that it's closed because it's wet.

I ended up going to the roof top/observation deck (which was open) and did some plane spotting from there. And in my opinion that's much better than the Aspire lounge in ZRH.

@ DT -- C'mon, seriously? Right, what I've posted about SWISS has been "unusually glowing" because it's a totally different product than the product that I "ragged" on the carrier over. SWISS is hardly the only airline that invests unequally in its premium products. Similarly, I rag on Emirates' 777 business class, while praising the carrier's new 777 first class. Isn't that fair?

I may or may not have considered buying that mattress after sleeping there on a layover during my honeymoon.

It is a 30k Hastens mattress, incidentally. Yes, insanely priced. But Ben is right - by far the best I have ever slept on.

Surely the mattress geeks here can rec something with a similar feel that is not so egregiously priced?

I agree. It does seem extraordinary that in 2024 an airline should offer a smoking lounge, let alone free cigars. The smell of smoke will be in peoples clothes when they come back into the main lounge.

Hello, Ben. Thanks for the review of the SWISS first class lounges at ZRH! I presume you were flying onward from ZRH in Lufthansa first class, since you got to experience both SWISS first class lounges after *arriving* in ZRH from MIA in LX F. I mean, normally you wouldn't get to visit these first class lounges for ten hours on arrival in LX F if Zurich was your final destination, correct? You probably covered this in a separate, but related, post. Or you will cover access rulea in more detail in your expanded review later.

@ hanchicago -- Thanks! I was connecting within Europe on SWISS in business. SWISS does actually also let you use the First Lounge as an arrivals facility, but a short haul connection also works for either lounge.

The ZRH Senator E lounge is also excellent, with similar views nd a whiskey bar. Worth visiting even if you have access to the first lounge.

That's my sort of light, healthy snack! I'm also a big fan of Mohnschnitte/poppy seed slice so I'd have been pretty set there.

While certainly not traditional, I’ve enjoyed a fondue in Zürich with frites as well as bread and boiled potatoes. As the waiter said “sir, if you enjoy how it tastes, why would you not do that?”

@Ric, it's called respect. What do you do when inside the plane the guy next to you eat fish and you don't like the smell of fish?
Besides, even if I'm an occasional smoker, I never had any problem others who have smoked when I don't want.
Remember back in time when you could smoke in all the restaurants, didn't you went to restaurants that time?

The best! You didn’t mention the vats of lindt chocolate and Ricola. My fav lounge. But sorry to read the arrivals lounge is going away.

Ben, you are spot on with your review. I fly 4 to five round trips a year on Swiss to the USA and always look forward to time spent in the lounges and the service in the air. I travel with a service dog and he is welcomed both in the lounges and in the air.

@Ben - what would you say is the ideal amount of time to spend on a layover at this lounge (or what time to arrive at ZRH airport before a flight)? Last time I was in ZRH, I had a 1 hour and 30 minute connection time Schengen to non-Schengen. Getting all the way from the end of the A gates to the E gates and clearing passport control took at least 25 minutes, so I had only 30 minutes in the lounge, which felt quite rushed. Interestingly, on a previous flight into ZRH arriving into E terminal, there was an escort who met our flight and escorted the F passengers through passport control (and if needed, onwards to European connections). This would have been helpful for the flight back home - but no escorts appeared on arrival in the A gates. Did you have an escort meet you?

This isn’t up to your usual standards - no pictures of the menus? Drink selection?

It’s daft, I agree - and the fact that there is no arrivals lounge in Geneva is a problem. You get back from an overnight have a 50 min connect in Zurich (no time to shower) and get to Geneva…. NOT ready to roll. It;s one of the single worst aspects of the premium offering from Swiss . People don’t use it because it is not properly set up - not because they don;t want / expect it.

Hi Ben, I would like to ask you on the access to the E lounge transiting from an international first class to intra Europe business class. Is it possible for me to access the first class lounge in terminal e instead of terminal a?

It's possible. I just did this earlier in the week and used Lounge E upon arrival. Then you have to make the trek to the Terminal A lounge (after passport control). Once you are there, you can be driven to the plane.

On the return, start off at Terminal A. and then get driven to Terminal E.

When will the A lounges be shut down for the terminal renovation/overhaul, which I understand may last through 2033 (possibly longer)?

If David does not know, Ben, did they publish an expected timeline?

Ben, I eagerly await your review of LX F on the A359, plus your updated first class rankings. Are you going to fly Starlux and Air Côte d'Ivoire first class before you update your list?

Yes it does!

@ InternationalTraveler -- It sort of has its own immigration booth. When you leave the Terminal A lounge, you're taken down in an elevator, and then there's an immigration booth which is for the first class lounge, the airport's VIP service, etc. I actually had to wait for around five minutes there, as two families took some time to clear. From there I got in a car to Terminal E. So it's not quite as seamless as in the La Premiere Lounge Paris, but still an improvement over not having it.