In February 2026, I flew to Zurich and Vienna in Swiss and Austrian’s intra-European business class. While I was curious to check out what both of these airlines were offering in their premium cabins, the main purpose of the trip was to review the various Star Alliance lounges in London and Zurich.
This trip report will cover individual reviews of each of these airport lounges, as well as both of the flights, as well as an airport hotel I stayed in in Zurich. In this introduction, I’ll detail how I booked the flights and hotels involved, as well as overviewing the installments I’ll be writing.
Booking my Star Alliance run to Zurich and Vienna
I had some Aeroplan miles that I wanted to spend on this trip. Aeroplan charges 15,000 miles for a one-way business class itinerary under 1,000 miles, regardless of the number of segments involved in the itinerary. I figured that I’d try and max out the number of segments I could take, so explored options for a one-stop itinerary.
I’ve flown Star Alliance business class out of Zurich before, though it had been a while since I had done so. Given the extensive lounge profile at the airport (as well as the fact that I had a friend in Zurich), I tried to book an itinerary that would involve flying through Zurich. The most ideal itinerary ended up being an itinerary from London to Zurich to Vienna, as this meant that I could try out Austrian Airlines for the first time.
My flight from London to Zurich ended up being operated by an A321neo, whereas the Zurich to Vienna flight was operated by an Austrian A320. I’ll be reviewing both of these flights in business class.
Swiss A321neo business class
This trip ended up costing 15,000 Aeroplan miles, and sadly involved a sizeable cash portion on top. With the UK shorthaul air passenger duty tax, the Switzerland passenger charge, and an Aeroplan partner booking fee, the tax portion of the itinerary came up to 161.90 CAD (£89.18/HK$925). On top of that, since my itinerary wasn’t bookable on the Air Canada website, I had to pay an extra 30 CAD to book it via their call centre, which ended up being an adventure in itself.
While the Austrian flight was the next day, I had less than 24 hours in Zurich, so it didn’t count as a stopover (i.e. I didn’t need to pay an extra 5,000 miles).
The itinerary I booked was as follows:
26/02/26 Swiss 317 London Heathrow (LHR) – Zurich (ZRH) dep. 09:00 arr. 11:55 (Business Class)
27/02/26 Austrian 134 Zurich (ZRH) – Vienna (VIE) dep. 10:40 arr. 12:00 (Business Class)
Austrian A320 Business Class
From Vienna Airport, I just redeemed Avios for a British Airways economy ticket (for various reasons I booked this on the day of departure, and cash prices were over the roof). This was operated by an A320, and I’ve reviewed British Airways’ shorthaul economy before, so won’t do so again. The itinerary for this flight was:
27/02/26 British Airways 699 Vienna (VIE) – London Heathrow (LHR) dep. 19:20 arr. 20:50 (Economy Class)
British Airways A320 Economy Class
Booking my airport hotel in Zurich
This entire trip was a two-day itinerary that only involved one night at a hotel. I spent this night at the Zleep Hotel at Zürich-Kloten, a hotel approximately 20 minutes from the airport by foot with decent transport links. While not connected to the airport, this was a very nicely designed hotel, and cost £80.53 (HK$835) per night, which I’d consider to be very good for a hotel room in Switzerland.
Zleep Hotel Zürich-Kloten
The lounges I’ll be reviewing on this trip
As you can probably tell from the post title, the focus of this review will be on Star Alliance lounges, as I’ll be reviewing 11 lounges throughout London Heathrow Airport, Zurich Airport, and Vienna Airport.
At London Heathrow Airport, I’ll be reviewing the Lufthansa business class lounge, Lufthansa Senator lounge, United Club, Singapore Airlines SilverKris lounge, and the Air Canada lounge. The four business class lounges are accessible with a Star Alliance business class ticket, whereas the Senator lounge is accessible if you’ve got an AmEx Platinum card on top of a business class ticket (it’s also accessible with Star Alliance Gold status).
Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, London Heathrow
At Zurich Airport, I’ll be reviewing Swiss’ lounge profile – including their business class lounges at Concourse A and E, their Alpine lounge, and their business class lounge from Concourse D. I’ll also be reviewing Swiss’ arrivals lounge at Zurich Airport, which is accessible by all Lufthansa Group business class passengers (including Swiss, Lufthansa, Austrian, etc.).
Swiss Concourse E Lounge Zurich
Meanwhile, at Vienna Airport I visited the Vienna Lounge, on behalf of my Priority Pass membership. The Vienna Lounge ended up being one of my favourite Priority Pass lounges I’d ever been to, so I’ll be reviewing it as well.
Vienna Lounge
All of the reviews I’ll be writing in this trip report
The full list of reviews I’ll be writing in this trip report are as follows:
- Lufthansa Business Lounge, London Heathrow (LHR)
- Lufthansa Senator Lounge, London Heathrow (LHR)
- United Club, London Heathrow (LHR)
- Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge, London Heathrow (LHR)
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, London Heathrow (LHR)
- Swiss A321neo Business Class (LHR-ZRH)
- Swiss Arrivals Lounge, Zurich (ZRH)
- Zleep Hotel, Zurich Airport (Zurich, Switzerland)
- Swiss Concourse A Business Lounge, Zurich (ZRH)
- Swiss Alpine Lounge, Zurich (ZRH)
- Swiss Concourse E Business Lounge, Zurich (ZRH)
- Swiss Concourse D Lounge, Zurich (ZRH)
- Austrian A320 Business Class (ZRH-VIE)
- Vienna Lounge, Vienna Airport (VIE)
This trip report will have a heavy focus on lounges, unlike some of my other trip reports
Conclusion
In this trip report, I’ll be reviewing a variety of Star Alliance lounges across London Heathrow’s Terminal 2, as well as Zurich Airport. Alliance reciprocal lounge access policies are awesome, and I’m looking forward to showcasing some of these lounges you have access to, particularly if you have alliance status or are flying in shorthaul business class.
Which review are you most looking forward to reading?
