SWISS Opening Premium Terminal With Lounges At Zurich Airport Hub

SKG has this from the A3 lounge. Separate boarding out of the lounge for each flight.

I flew Swiss in business between Zurich and Paris about a year ago when Delta canceled my flight from Zurich. They re-booked me on Swiss and then Air France from Paris. While I was thoroughly impressed with Swiss's standard for a very short flight, the business-class lounge in Zurich was pretty disappointing.

This will be excellent. Way better than what any skyteam carrier would ever be able to do

I fly often between the US and ZRH, mostly on LX, and mostly on the Airbus A330-300. The cabins are dated, the quality of the food and its presentation, particularly on the US originating part of the itinerary is not good. The service on board is hit and miss though most often pleasant and efficient, if at times a bit cold. Swiss is supposed to be the premium airline of the LH Group and it doesn't really live up to that. The Swiss Lounges at ZRH are actually quite good, though some of the staff can be rude, notably in the Arrivals Lounge.

The Allegris product is a complicated mess. I recently flew on one of the very few LH aircraft that feature it. It is going to look dated very quickly and is over-engineered and not very stylish.

Swiss is not a bad airline, but it isn't a great one either. I hope the needed enhancements and expansion of the A concourse isn't too disruptive. While it is needed, ZRH is such a fantastic airport all around, I can't imagine it being complicated by endless construction.

I fly almost exclusively business class (Senator here) and Swiss lounges in A/B Schengen area are quite a disappointment, even after the renovation. Long-haul I avoid flying Swiss or Lufthansa because the service is not worth the money I am paying (Soft product is rarely on the proper level, hard product we all know how it is...).

The proportion of arrogant Flight Attendants at Swiss and LH is far greater than at any other airline I have flown with. Austrian is fortunately an exception to this.

It is nice to read about the new terminal and planned services, but I am not sure what to expect. Or better, I keep my expectations low.

I had 20 hours lay over at zurich AP in nov 2024. And it was night time. And it was disaster for me. Staff around were very little helpful with limited english speaking. But it is beautiful place but not far everyone to enjoy.

A big reason to fly LX is Zurich airport. Super efficient to get through. I honnestly only go to the E lounges or the arrival lounge, the A lounges are pretty crappy and over capacity regularly (like all business lounges). The F lounge in A is nothing special, so they could easily improve it by adding the views. Had 4 long haul segments with LX in January (J/F) and everything was perfect. The 330 is dated for sure, but as a package I still preffer to go through Zurich.

I was surprised the other day to discover that the smallish lounge in D had better food options than the main Senator one in A (the latter didn't offer any cheese at all!).

The alpine lounge is less crowded and more welcoming than the main facilities in A. I have yet to visit the lounge in E- is that the one with the large whisky bar?

Zurich has a pleasant design but it's not reliable and security lines are super long... Staff is also not very friendly there.
- 43 percent of SWISS flights arrived more than 15 minutes late — the third-worst result of the 20 airlines examined.
- Zurich is in the fourth place in terms of cancellations and delays, affecting 2.37 percent of the air traffic.

I always forget about the Alpine lounge. But again, I mostly go to the E lounges since 95% of the time I am long haul. Its really two worlds if you ask me, short haul is not the best at Zurich. Idk what securty line John123 is talking about, but I've never seen any lines to speak of. I go through zurich about 10-12 times a year. The passport control lines for temrinal E have been getting longer latetly. Would be faster with an EU passport.

Just a comment from Europe ! I've always found food on Swiss ( biz class long haul ) disappointing and most of the FAs detached and service robotic. Austrian are superior in every respect apart from their lounges in Vienna ( great staff but dated and limited facilities )

Bus to the plane. Sounds like Doha.

Another day at the LH Group… announcements are made for things which will - or will not - happen in 7 years…. Bringing all connecting passengers to an outside new terminal by bus is not an improvement (winters are cold in ZRH when you land at 6 am and need to walk on the tarmac).
If this means closing the First class lounges at both terminals A and E and replacing them with only one lounge, let’s hope it will be an improvement. My fear is that these new lounges will be huge and less cosy and personal that the current one.
Obviously, who can tell what will happen 7 years later ?

I flew out of ZRH in August, and I agree, the entire airport is quite good. It's really pleasant, it's literally right on the train line, and is generally laid out quite well. Terminal E was pretty nice I thought. I also agree that the airline itself is quite mediocre.

My only issue with my trip was it took over an hour to clear the exit immigration before going to the terminal with flights that left the Schengen Area. Which in an of itself isn't great, but people of course were cutting it too close, causing huge numbers of people to start freaking out that they were going to miss their flight. Security was half trying to control the situation, and was screaming at everyone, but wasn't really doing a good job of it so people were cutting in line everywhere, yelling at each other, etc.

Anyway, it was more of an issue of Swiss Border Control not having enough employees, and not controlling the situation that was there. I wasn't really stressed because I had plenty of time, but I was stressed because I thought there was going to be a riot, and the security seemed to be making the situation worse and not better.

If this somehow allows Business Class passengers to process their immigration somewhere else, that's a huge win in my book.

Swiss Business Class on the 330 is looking like its past its due time to be replaced. Last 2 times I’ve flown then the wear and tear is noticeable, flight attendants are scarce and food pretty much inedible. However their lounges are clean and somewhat spacious.
I disagree that Terminal A might contain the only 1st Class lounge as that terminal only handles Schengen flights.

So having heard more from SWISS as a HON based in ZRH, at this point the “expected” set up/policy will be First/HON for all flights (minibus to E lounges or limo to plane if anywhere else), Business/Senator for Schengen flights (all non-schengen flights are not affected by the construction, bus to A gates concourse/B gates concourse if a gate position, bus to aircraft if outside position). No access to connecting passengers or Star Gold in Eco (SEN only), temporary lounge / cafe set up in the terminal similar to when renovations happened in 2017-2018.

@ TravelinWilly -- Nothing changes with the Dock E FCL. The Dock A FCL will close in 2028 and will then move to Dock B, though details beyond that aren't yet known.

@ BBT -- That is... very odd.

Perhaps they were meant for another dish or another patron's omelet and the chef interpreted your request as trying to steal them for your own lol

How very Swiss! How dare you try and disrupt their strict regiment. We’ve got a troublemaker!!

@ yoloswag420 -- It is in the sense that it's a separate building, but that's where the similarities stop. This will be connected directly to the terminal, so guests can still walk to their gates. That's different than the FCT, where being driven is the only option.

I always forget about this lounge when in ZRH as it's so out of the way and a bit hidden. Was just there last week and the A Senator Lounge was packed. Fortunately I was able to escape to the E Gates Senator lounge. Will try to remember for next time.

Agree 100%, its nice to have a brand new lounge, but the Alpine is just so cozy.

I’m fine with no more award redemption but cash prices are going up like crazy. I’m just afraid airlines will do the same as hotels… Les pax, higher prices, same revenue with less effort. No way I'm paying 10-16k for a J ticket. I though 6k was crazy.

@ andywaw -- The Dock E lounge is staying, so nothing is changing there. Unfortunately this new lounge doesn't have a terrace.