Review: Swiss Arrival Lounge, Zurich (ZRH)

After my flight from London to Zurich onboard a Swiss A321neo, I visited the Swiss Arrival Lounge at Zurich Airport. Swiss has a unique facility at Zurich Airport with their Arrival Lounge – while the concept of an arrival lounge is not unique to Swiss, they’re the only European airline to offer an arrivals facility for all passengers, even arriving on Schengen or other shorthaul flights. Airlines such as Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Lufthansa, etc. offer arrivals lounges at their hub airports, but they all restrict their guests to longhaul premium passengers.

While the actual lounge area and catering is nothing special, you’re in for a treat if you can score one of the lounge’s facilities, such as their bedrooms. I also liked that the lounge had barista coffee and a respectable drinks selection, even though the food selection here is a bit underwhelming.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Access and Opening Hours

The Swiss Arrival Lounge is open from 6 AM until 1 PM, and accepts the following passengers:

• Arriving Swiss first and business class passengers
• Arriving Lufthansa business class passengers (interestingly, Austrian and other Lufthansa Group members are excluded)
• HON Circle, Senator, and Frequent Traveller members with an arriving Lufthansa or Swiss ticket
• United Premier passengers arriving on a United flight, and sometimes arriving Polaris passengers, at the lounge agent’s discretion (I’m not clear if other Star Alliance Gold members flying United into Zurich can use the lounge)

Note that this lounge is exempt from other Star Alliance lounge access benefits. For example, if you’re flying Singapore Airlines into Zurich or have Star Alliance Gold with Ethiopian, you don’t get access to this lounge.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Location

The Swiss Arrival Lounge is located right after you exit baggage reclaim, in Arrivals 2 (the main arrival complex at the airport). If your baggage claim belt is anywhere between 21-32, you’ll let out into Arrivals 2, so you’ll be able to head straight out into the lounge. If your baggage claim belt is 11-16 you’ll let out into Arrivals 1, so will have to walk a bit further.

Signage to Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich

From there, you’ll find the lounge directly to your left. Don’t make the same mistake I almost made – the doors don’t have an automatic sensor, so you’ll have to push a button in order to open the doors.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Entrance

From there, you can go up a floor to access the lounge.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Lift Lobby

If you let out from Arrivals 1, follow the signage up a level, and you’ll find an entrance that leads you straight into the lounge – you won’t have to take a lift.

I was let in by a friendly lounge agent, and informed about the lounge’s closing time of 1 PM (it was around 12 PM when I entered the lounge).

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Seating and Atmosphere

The Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich features two main seating areas. Neither of them are particularly spacious or impressive, and the area also lacks natural light due to the curtains. The lounge does, however, feature Swiss’ signature decor of minimalist, muted colours, with wood/burgundy tones and some pops of red and blue.

The area closest to the entrance was a “relax” area, featuring a sofa, some armchairs, a seat with an ottoman, and a few tables and chairs.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Seating Area

Further in was a bar. I’ll speak more about the bar later, though most of the beverages here are self-serve – it’s not that you’ll get bartender-mixed cocktails here, for example.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Bar

Then further in was a more restaurant-style area. A majority of chairs were wooden without padding, and the area was better set up for food and beverage, as well as for working.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Seating

While the two main seating areas weren’t particularly cosy or comfortable, there were quite a few loungers with ottomans once you walked further into the lounge. I didn’t spend much time here, though these chairs looked much more comfortable, with good privacy as well.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Loungers and Sofas

There were also a couple of call booths, for people who needed to take meetings or get more work done.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Phone Booth

The actual lounge itself isn’t particularly inviting, though it’s a perfectly pleasant place to get some work done, a coffee, or a bite to eat. The more appealing thing about this lounge is the facilities it has on offer, though.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Food and Beverage

In terms of food and beverage, the lounge only offers breakfast throughout the day, since it closes at 1 PM. Specifically, there was chicken sausage, baked beans, scrambled eggs for hot savoury options.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Menu

Then there was a soup, and a pasta of sorts. There was also strudel.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Food Spread

While I’ve heard reports of made-to-order food being available here in the past, sadly this wasn’t the case during my stay.

For cold options, there was a fridge featuring charcuterie and cheese, yoghurt, fruit salad, and various dips. There were also various baked goods on offer.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Food Spread

There were also some self-serve options in the back, including beer and non-alcoholic beer, orange, apple and tomato juice, some fruit, and various soft drinks.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Drinks

There was a coffee machine as well, though get barista coffee if you can, since it’s better.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Coffee Machine

It seems like the lounge has scaled back its food offering a bit, or it just isn’t offered later in the morning. However, I didn’t find the food spread at this lounge to be particularly exciting.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Bar Area

As aforementioned, the Swiss Arrival Lounge features a bar area, though it is mostly for show and self-serve. There’s a barista coffee machine here, though when I asked for a coffee, I was first pointed to the self-serve coffee machine by the food spread. I then asked specifically if there was barista coffee, to which the lounge agent was happy to make me a cup.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Bar

While I’d woken up too early to be drinking at 12 PM, you’ll find a selection of self-serve wines here. I actually really enjoyed the non-alcoholic sparkling wine they had on offer, and generally appreciate the presence of zero-alcohol wine.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Self-Pour Drinks

There was a “make your own cocktail” sign for a Golden Juniper cocktail. Of course I’d have preferred if there was a proper tended bar, though this setup was alright as well, particularly for an arrivals lounge that closes at 1 PM.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Mix-your-own-cocktail Station

I ended up settling with a latte and an alcohol-free beer, both of which kept me going during the hour I was in the lounge.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Barista Coffee and Non-Alcoholic Beer

So I wouldn’t be too excited about the presence of a bar, though it is nice to get a decent barista-made coffee before heading out into the city.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Showers and Relaxation Rooms

The Swiss Arrival Lounge has 20 shower rooms and 3 relaxation rooms. The shower rooms are named after Swiss destinations (outstations), whereas the relaxation rooms feature real beds, and are named after the airline’s historic hubs (Swiss used to have a tertiary hub out of Basel, though pulled operations to focus on Zurich and Geneva).

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Shower and Relaxation Rooms

I didn’t take a shower during my time in the lounge, though peeked at one that was unlocked. The shower room looked well-appointed, though I can’t report back on the ventilation or water pressure here. There’s also an ironing service you can take advantage of if you’d like your clothes ironed while you shower.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Shower Room

The three relaxation rooms are a unique feature of the lounge, and are located by the very back. These are available first-come-first-serve, and you can’t book in advance – so you’re much more likely to be able to reserve a room on a flight landing at 6 AM, compared to a flight landing at 10 AM. You can stay for as long as you want, as long as you leave at or before 1 PM (when the lounge closes).

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Relaxation Rooms

All of the rooms were occupied until closing time when I was there, so I couldn’t check one out. Below is a photo I’ve pinched from Points, Miles, and Bling – “Basel” and “Geneva” feature single beds and no ensuite bathroom, whereas “Zurich” features a double bed with an ensuite bathroom.

Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich Relaxation Room (credit: Points, Miles, and Bling)

20 is a respectable number of showers to have at an arrivals lounge, and I can’t imagine the wait would be too long during peak time. I imagine the three relaxation rooms would be much harder to snag, however.

Conclusion: Swiss Arrival Lounge Zurich

The Swiss Arrival Lounge at Zurich Airport is a nice facility. The seating areas are comfortable but not particularly inviting, and it’s not like there are awesome plane views or anything. However, the USP definitely is the facilities on offer, including the shower rooms and the three “real” bedrooms, assuming you can snag one.

The catering here isn’t amazing, and seems to have been scaled down lately. The food and drinks are both perfectly fine, though not something worth going out of your way for. While I appreciated my barista-made coffee, I’m not too appreciative of the fact that the lounge staff try to push you towards the self-serve machines, unless you specifically ask for a barista coffee.

Regardless, the entry requirements here are generous and the range of facilities here is impressive, so I’m still giving this lounge a high rating. It’s certainly one of the best arrivals facilities I’ve seen aside from the Virgin Atlantic Revivals lounge.