Swiss A gates Business Lounge Zurich

Zurich Airport is Swiss's largest hub. Swiss offer an extensive list of destinations to choose from departing from Zurich. The Swiss national carrier does not have its own terminal in Zurich, which means that it needs to have facilities for business class passengers all around the airport. This is why Swiss has 3 lounges at Zurich; one near the A gates, one near the D gates (also used for B gates) and one for the satellite E gates. Most Swiss and Edelweiss (Swiss subsidiary) long-haul flights depart from the E gates. Therefore, the best business class lounge is located here. Unfortunately, I wasn't travelling on a long-haul business class flight. However, I visited the A gates lounge rather than the D gates lounge, due to the A gates lounge being renovated a few months ago; I only had one hour between flights, so unfortunately not enough time to visit both lounges. Let's now look at how this lounge accommodates for Business Class passengers' needs.

Conference room in the Swiss Business Lounge

Information about the lounge

Access

To be granted access to this business class lounge, you need to meet one of the following criteria: 

-Swiss Business Class guest

-Lufthansa Group Business Class guest

-Miles & More Frequent Traveller with a Star Alliance ticket 

-Star Alliance Business Class guest

The A gates lounge was recently renovated

Location, Opening Times and additional information

The Swiss Business class lounge is located above the airside centre, on the A gates side. Many overhead signs will guide you to the nearest lounge, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem finding the nearest business lounge, if not this one. The lounge is open Monday to Sunday from 05:30 to 22:30.

Entrance to the Swiss Business Class Lounge

There are 2 work stations located around the lounge, and 6 showers are available for passengers to use, one of which is wheelchair accessible. The lounge features buffet dining and also live cooking. The entrance to the lounge is made via E-gates where you scan your boarding pass. A member of staff is present if help is ever needed.

Seating + Amenities

I visited the lounge at around 6pm, which definitely isn't the peak departure time of Star Alliance flights from Zurich. The lounge was quite busy, which means that during peak times, it may be even more difficult to find a space to sit and eat. Remarkably,  the quiet area located above the lounge was completely empty. I found the short time I spent there (for blogging purposes) to be very relaxing. One of the purposes of lounges is to get away from the noisy and often crowded terminal hall. On this occasion, contrary to the hustle and bustle coming from the lounge, the shopping area near the A gates was completely deserted. 

Quiet area located at the top of a staircase. No food allowed.

Looking at the different seating areas scattered around the lounge, the quiet area was definitely the seating zone I would spend the most amount of time in. Indeed, as it was empty, I had the whole place to myself! Unfortunately, I could only stay for a short amount of time in this lounge, due to my previous flight being delayed by 75 minutes; this meant I had under 50 minutes between flights. At the time of booking, I was looking forward to trying out 2 lounges (A gates and D gates), but due to the delay, I had to make a choice between the two and I opted for the A gates lounge thanks to its larger food selection. The work area offers the best views of the lounge and of the apron. Charging points are available throught the work area, as well as an important number of TVs. 

Conference Room

Conference Room

Moving over to another quiet area of the lounge, the conference room features a lot of seating around a large table. Initially, when I entered the lounge, the conference room was full. Later on, people left to catch their flight leaving just me in the room. In the centre of this table, is a scaled topographical map of Switzerland. There is an abundance of charging points available around the table, which makes it easy to charge up your devices. I definitely would return to this space, if I ever visited this lounge again.

Conference room featuring a scaled topographical map of Switzerland

The main seating area

The main seating area takes up quite a big part of the lounge. Indeed, it is situated next to the food buffet, making it the closest place to sit next to the live cooking. Charging points can be found at a handful of seats, which isn't ideal for work, as most people who sit there are eating. The black and white tiles on the floor remind me of an American diner. In addition, the high ceilings and airy design makes the whole place feel a lot bigger than it actually is. During peak times, I would suggest heading elsewhere, in order to not go deaf from all of the noise! This certainly isn't the ideal place to go to rest your head ahead of your next flight...

The main dining area (Image courtesy of swiss.com)

This seating area features high stools

Another seating area exists as you enter the lounge but doesn't really serve much of a purpose as it is far from any food, and the constant sound of scanning boarding passes isn't particularly pleasant.

Seating area situated near the lounge entrance

Food

The hot food served at the lounge was prepared live in front of your eyes. When I visited the lounge, the main dish on offer was satay noodles. Soup was also available, but that is all I noticed. As I said previously, time was limited so I didn't spend much time around the hot food, but I am sure there was more than just 2 items on offer.

Live cooking. At the time of my visit, satay noodles were on offer.

A salad bar lies left of the live cooking. Options were limited.

Left to right: lettuce, beetroot, tomato, salad sauce, olives. 

For people with a sweet tooth, in addition to the marble cake, chocolate mousse was also on offer. For people wishing to eat a little healthier, pineapple, apples, oranges and bananas are available. Next to the wall filled with newspapers lives a big freezer full of Movenpick ice cream! Don't miss the opportunity to try the ice cream, as it typically retails for more than other ice cream brands and is delicious! Moreover, this is my personal favourite ice cream.

Dessert selection including chocolate mousse, pineapple and marble cake.

Fruit is also available

You can help yourself to swiss chocolate, sweets, popcorn or even salty crackers.

Help yourself to some Swiss chocolate or even a few sweets

As for beverages, the extensive list includes: wine, champagne, spirits, beer, juice, fizzy drinks, various waters and hot drinks. Contrary to the Geneva Business Class lounge (click here for that review), the coffee machines here actually worked! The different types of coffees and teas available are endless. 

Coffee machine

Here you will find a wide selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. 

Drinks selection including alcohol

Alcoholic beverages include wines and various spirits

Staff + cleanliness

The only interaction I had with a member of staff was the chef at the live cooking stand asking me if I wanted to eat something. Unfortunately, there weren't many members of staff cleaning up the tables from leftover items... In the picture below, you may notice a coffee, a bottle of water and beer left behind. Furthermore, tables weren't cleaned between sittings, which led to really filthy tables. The quiet area is exempt from this, as no food is allowed in that area.

Across from my side of the glass atrium, lies the Senator Lounge

Final thoughts

Overall, the recent renovation of the lounge really gives it a nice airy feel. Despite this lounge being overcrowded for a lot of the time, you will most definitely find something to suit your tastes in terms of food and beverages. I find this lounge particularly pleasant to work in, if you sit in the quiet area. In comparison to most business class lounges in Europe, it isn't the best, but it is far from the worst. I would put it ahead of the Business Class lounge in Geneva (review here), as there is much more food to choose from in Zurich. 





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