SWISS operates five different lounges at Zurich Airport. The three main lounges are located at what the airline calls the ‘SWISS Lounge Center Zurich’. There you find the SWISS Business Lounge – with 1,100m2 and 233 seats the biggest one. This one is also the lounge you’re most likely to get access to. This lounge offers the usual things like free Wifi, internet stations, showers and a basic buffet with changing snacks. What is different to most other lounges I’ve seen is the attention to detail in regards to the interior design: The floors are made of beautiful dark wooden parquet and the walls of limestone and the furniture is custom made from Vitra. Altogether this gives the space a warm and homely, yet contemporary feel.

Next is the Senator lounge (Star Alliance Gold lounge; pictured above) which has a similar look and feel to the business lounge but is located on two levels. It also offers a more varied buffet than the business lounge.

Finally the crown of the SWISS lounges, the SWISS First Lounge: With about 170 guests per day, this is (logically) the smallest yet most exclusive of the three. Again it has a similar overall look and feel than the others but because of its smaller size, the lounge almost feels like one of those stylish Zurich apartments every Swiss aspires to own one day. Speaking of apartment, this lounge even features living room style corners with TV and sofas. You can even occupy one of the two day rooms and get away from it all. For business minded travellers the lounge offers meeting rooms with projectors. Breakfast, lunch, snacks or dinner is offered in a separate, Restaurant-style dining room with great views towards the airfield and the midfield terminal.

The hidden gem of the SWISS Lounge Center, however, is the Smokers Bar. According to the airline, the bar with a length of 27.6m is the longest, served airport bar in the world. It can be accessed directly from the Business and Senator lounge – of course First Class passengers have access as well. The drawback? Well, it’s a smokers bar!

As the SWISS Lounge Center is located in the airport’s “Schengen zone”, the airline is currently building another lounge in the “Non-Schengen zone” – the B Gates. According to the airline, this lounge will open in early December.

Finally there is the arrival lounge, which offers showers, a washroom and two ‘Relax Areas’ as well as a cafeteria where you can book your hotel or find out about train connections.

Overall the SWISS lounges at Zurich airport met my expectations. They tick all the boxes of what frequent travellers are looking for and they surely are well aligned with the airlines national values. Maybe a hint of excitement is missing, but then as we established earlier this is one of those Swiss values too. The SWISS Lounge Center Zurich is generally open between 6am and 11pm. You can find more information on the airline’s website.

Relaxing in the SWISS Business Lounge at Zurich Airport

Stylish dining in the SWISS First Lounge

[All photos from Swiss International Air Lines - all rights reserved]

Other category winners were Vancouver International Airport (IATA: YVR) for best North American airport, Peru’s Jorge Chávez International Airport (IATA: LIM) for best South American airport and Auckland International Airport (IATA: AKL) for best in the Australia/Pacific region. Unfortunately Europe was split up into 5 subcategories making almost every airport a winner (Munich, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Barcelona and Moscow won). Overall, awards were given in 50 different categories including everything from the headline winner to categories like most improved airport (Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, SHA), best worldwide airport hotel (Regal Airport Hotel, Hong Kong) or best airport for baggage delivery (Zurich Airport, ZRH).

The awards are based on the World Airport Survey which was established in 1999, and is held in high esteem for the clarity of process and rigorously applied rules of total independence. After the phenomenal success of the first ever live World Airport Awards ceremony held at the Passenger Terminal Expo 2010 in Brussels, Skytrax again hosted its awards live at the Passenger Terminal Expo 2011, which this year is taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark. The full list of winners can be seen at the organizer’s website.

[Photo edited from Wikipedia photo and Skytrax Award logo, some rights reserved)

The exhibition continues until the 5th April and you can find it in the transfer & shopping area A at Zurich airport. The Sprüngli truffes can be enjoyed even beyond that date at their airport store in A and E.

With the Swiss joining the club now, this means you will no longer see systematic passport controls between it and the other member countries. This is straight forward with Switzerland’s neighbouring countries as they are all members themselves, but it’s a bit more complex for an airport as flights, obviously, will leave to both, member and non-member countries. Zurich airport will therefore undergo a change to accommodate for the new system. On their website they write

The most noticeable changes for passengers is that they will no longer have to pass through passport control within the Schengen area, and some transit passengers at Zurich Airport will even be able to transfer to their onward flight without having to undergo another security check.

These changes are becoming effective on 29th March 2009. More information can be found on the airport’s website. I’m scheduled to go back there in May and will report on the changes. Let’s hope Zurich remains as reliable as it was and that my favourite “Luxemburgerli” are available in both zones.

[Picture from Flickr - some rights reserved]

Second best airport went to last year’s winner, Singapore Changi airport followed by Seoul Incheon. Best European airport was Munich in 5th place and San Francisco took the place for the best ranked US airport but didn’t make it in the top ten. Here’s the that top ten:

1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore Changi
3. Seoul Incheon
4. Kuala Lumpur KLIA
5. Munich
6. Kansai
7. Copenhagen
8. Zurich
9. Helsinki
10. Cape Town

Note that we already wrote about Zurich and Copenhagen on some delay stories, but both airports rated fairly highly in our own surveys as well.

Also, make sure you check out the full list of the category winners – Brisbane for example received the award for the airport with the friendliest staff. Well, I guess that’s no surprise when you work in a city with one of the best climates and the most leisure attitude…

[Picture from Flickr]

After the major rehaul of the entire airport in 2003, Switzerland’s main hub is now back on the radar of decent airports. Particulary nice is the so called “Airside Centre”, the main area for shopping, restaurants and the starting point to all gates. It offers an attractive high roof and a nice wooden floor. However, the main problem with the airport overall is that other than at most airports, the security checks in Zurich are located close to the actual gates, so after the main shopping area, and not after the passport checks, which means you need to plan ahead and be very contious of your remaining time. Also, if you depart from the E gates you need to take the shuttle train to the midfield terminal which adds another 10 to 15 minutes to your journey. This terminal contains some shops as well but the selection is far smaller than in tha Airside Centre.

But without further adu, here are my top 5 things you can do while waiting at Zurich airport (if that ever happens…):

1. Choose your favourite “Luxemburgerli” flavour from the Lindt & Sprüngli shop
2. Hop on the “Gates E”-train and experience the Heidi and alpine scene animations from Swiss Tourism (there’s a different one each way)
3. Count how many times the friendly Swiss greet you with a “Grüezi“
4. Press your nose against the Rolex glass cabinets in the Swiss watch store and dream of your lottery win on Saturday
5. Try to find someone who actually can speak the 4th official Swiss language Romansh

Facts
Airport name: Zurich Airport / Zurich Kloten
Short code: ZRH
Website: http://www.zurich-airport.com
Design factor: 4/5
Shopping factor: 3/5
Toilets factor: 2/5
Overall factor: 3/5