The SWISS First Class ground experience ranks among one of the top in the world.
Prior to my flight from Zurich to Hong Kong on the SWISS B777, I had the opportunity to visit both First Class lounges at Terminal A and E.
I popped by Terminal A’s First Class lounge first, which had all the hallmarks of modern, beautiful Swiss interiors.
The lounge has a dining area, shower suites, plenty of seating and even a cigar room, but its main feature is its centrepiece Grappa bar. It houses more than 100 bottles of Grappa, which diners can taste at their leisure. The dining menu features specialities dishes from Switzerland.
The lounge also has day rooms to relax in but, as you’ll see later in this post, they can’t compare to the ones in Terminal E.
After some time, I left for the lounge at Terminal E. Passengers flying in First Class will get to enjoy SWISS’ ground experience. A Mercedes-Benz S-class luxury limousine will be waiting to personally bring you over to Terminal E.
SWISS also recently added this service for passengers arriving into Zurich.
Large and spacious with modern wood finishes, the lounge is accessible to First Class passengers flying on SWISS and Lufthansa, as well as their HON Circle members.
The lounge has a five-star restaurant with a la carte dining. There is also a huge wine humidor at the entrance that holds more than 1,000 bottles of wine from all over the world.
There is an outdoor terrace, which is perfect for aviation geeks like myself to do some plane-spotting. You can also order food and drink to enjoy it outside.
Amenities like shower suites and a business conference room are available, but the one special feature of SWISS’ lounge is its two incredible day rooms.
It is unlike any airline lounge’s day room in the world – designed like a five-star hotel room. It comes with spectacular views of the apron!
Conclusion
SWISS operates two very high quality lounges, but the outdoor terrace in Terminal E is what wins it for me. As an avid aviation enthusiast, the opportunity to plane-spot in the comfort of a luxurious lounge makes for an unforgettable experience.
Overall, SWISS provides one of the best ground experiences in the world that you can enjoy today. Unfortunately, the airline doesn’t release first class award space to its Star Alliance partners. The next best alternative is to fly first class in Lufthansa routing through Zurich as Lufthansa First Class ticket holder can also access to the SWISS first class lounge. This may sound rather inconvenient, but the experience here will be one that will surely make it all worth it.
What do you think of the SWISS First Class Lounge? We’d love to hear your thoughts below.
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Hi Sam,
thanks so much for all the information you post. I know this is late but I am due to fly from Dublin to Singapore with Swiss in two days time. We fly business DUB-ZRH and then first on. Any tips on how to get around when we land? We have about 4.5 connection time.
Thanks so much,
Anne
You will need to go to E gate to the Swiss Business lounge which has a great outdoor terrace with good apron view!
Hi Sam! Love the reviews…
Three questions. First, other than grappa and the day rooms, are there any other key differences between the two lounges? Second, in the cigar room, are cigars provided or do I need to bring my own? Third, if I am departing ZRH, not connecting, can I access either/both lounges or only the one in Terminal E?
I am flying soon to NYC ex-ZRH and will have plenty of time to enjoy the ground experience…just not sure how to maximize the time. Thanks!
Aaron, best lounge is the one at E, with much bigger in size. Of course you can use it by departing from ZRH.
I am experiencing today first with SWISS and as mentioned by Keyran: no car, no help, need to find you way and when you’re in the lounge if you ask to be informed when you are boarding, no you have to check yourself.
This even lower than simple business on Air France.
I will never took it again.
I did the same ticket, and my experience wasn’t as identical as yours:
* No caviar service at all on either ZRH-HGK or HKG-ZRH legs;
* Definately no ‘Mercedes-Benz S-class luxury limousine… waiting to personally bring you over’ on either leg either – rather on the arrival from ATH (at Terminal A), ready to head to HKG departure terminal (Terminal E) it was find your own way to the hard to locate First A Terminal lounge, then transferred in a mini-van with one other passenger (having to wait for a scheduled transfer), and on the boarding of the HKG flight it was again a trip in the mini-van with another passenger. Similarly, on arrival from HKG, it was two packed mini-vans that took all the First passengers to the Schegen terminal (and no transfer to the aircraft at all).
* The condition of the First cabin on both flights was a little worse for wear – the manual privacy screens were very difficult to get to close (track sticky), one of the seats had a fault, etc
* The Terminal A lounge was packed with HON Circle frequent flyers and their guests, and as a quite small lounge, it wasn’t somewhere you’d want to linger for very long as a First passenger
I think only thing that was really positively memorable about the whole SWISS First experience was the two private day rooms at the SWISS Terminal E First Lounge, mainly for the premium Hastens beds within them, as these are one of the best beds I have slept in (otherwise the SWISS First experience really didn’t feel very competitive at all).
Thanks to share your experience. I also walked to lounge A from arrival gate. The car should be on request. I wanted to go to Lounge E from A so they accommodated me in Mercedes (alone). If there are more than one passenger, it is usually the van.
Very well written, thank you Sam you sis a tremendous job describing the lounges.
As always it’s a question of culture and taste. Personally I don’t like the Swiss first lounges in Zurich. The atmosphere is rather cold and not friendly anymore. There is no saoul. Of course it’s funny to be able to eat a cheese fondue. Ok the grappa collection is interesting. But what else ? If you just want to relax between to flights it is always complicated to get a non alcoholic drink. I prefer the senator lounges (unfortunately full) where you simply grab what you need and rest. The Zürich airport first class lounges are are to formal not cosy at all and a few steps behind the old lounges, .
Sam,
thanks for the excellent write-up. i have enjoyed many of the videos you’ve posted.
just a small correction though as it’s about something that is very dear to my heart. the bottles in the photo that you say are grappa are actually eau de vie (brandy). grappa is an eau de vie but not all eau de vie are grappa. those ones pictured are pear williams (my fav), kirsch (cherry) and vielle prune (old plum). they are dry like vodka, not sweet like liqueurs.
Thanks for the comment and correction!
It looks awesome. How do I fly Swiss First Class on miles without LH elite status? I’d love to hear how you did this.
You have to look out for a cheap deal such as these I have posted in the past:
https://samchui.com/2018/08/12/cheap-lufthansa-first-class-airfare-from-france-to-brazil/#.W3ruX5MzbOQ
https://samchui.com/2018/04/20/amazing-cheap-lufthansa-swiss-first-class-fare/#.W3ruZZMzbOQ