The Aspire Lounge, Zurich Airport (B/D Dock)
“Life, The Universe and Everything”
Contents
- In the beginning I begun to write this trip report. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
- First action of being 42 – Coach 210, British Airways Galleries South
- BA710 London to Zürich in Club Europe
- A brief wander into Zürich featuring the Canon 50mm F1.2
- Mostly Harmless – The Zürich Airport Observation Deck
- The Aspire Lounge, Zürich Airport (B/D Dock)
- BA717 Zürich to London in Club Europe
- The Race, The Coach, The Cold
- Six by Nine? Forty Two?
As I re-entered the terminal, I headed to the secured zone. Part of the joy of pre-printing a boarding pass – it means not going back to the check-in desk and get getting another bit of card.
Just before security.
Also time for a smoke for those who need a smoke.
I cleared boarding pass control, and headed through to security. This is the perfect time to drop off extra liquids I had got on the way, and then go through the joy of security.
At least Zürich Airport security was polite and friendly, with my bag cleared quickly.
With that done and dust, I exited into the shopping area. Of course, for the sake my ongoing quest to find airports that sell Kinder Surprise eggs with Airbus A330s inside them, Zürich Airport duty-free scores… a tick!
As I’m good for Kinder Eggs with A330s inside them, I headed through the terminal – admiring the decorations.
Pretty as the decoration are, I was also on the look-out for the lounge.
British Airways utilise the Aspire lounge in the main B/D Dock (clear security, turn right – and just before the escalators going down). I followed the signs, and was in an elevator going up
Aspire Lounge Zürich Airport
I was welcomed by the guardians, and my boarding pass was blipped – granting me entry. I was also offered a code for the WiFi too (which saves for paying for airport Wi-Fi… or using up the limited-time free Wi-Fi offered).
And here’s the lounge itself. Be prepared to be impressed… not.
Seating
Seating
Seating to the back of the lounge.
Hardly inspiring seating. I found a window – which had a view of the check-in area I was in earlier.
Window on the world.
This being 1) a contract lounge and 2) an Aspire lounge, I kept my hopes low on the catering front. A wise move as always. Even if the lounge has Apple Strudel.
Cheese rolls, Salami rolls and Apple Strudel. Hmm.
Hot items during limited times only…
Snacks
Coffee machine
A selection of reds
Fizzy options (Prosecco and Sket).
White wine.
Whilst the food options were… less than inspiring, the drinks selection seemed reasonable. One thing to remember though that the toilets are outside the lounge – so you’ll need to hop out of the lounge, and hop to the small room if you need to go.
In terms of Wi-Fi, the shared Wi-Fi system is nice and speedy
Not bad at all in terms of Wi-Fi speeds. Not bad at all.
I spent the time catching up with the world and mainly defrosting. Because it was icily cold outside.
With boarding time near, I made a bee-line for the information screens – and found I would be departing from the D Gates. In some ways, I was disappointed that I wasn’t going to fly from the E Gates, but it would mean a much shorter walk to the gate.
I headed out of the lounge, and back into the wonderful architecture of Zürich Airport.
Thankfully, the B/D gates aren’t too far from the lounge.
Going down
Heading down to the D Gates, there was another snowman greeting me…
What next … Internet of Things snowmen? (Nice cans though – SnowBeats by Dr Snow).
Passing the snowman, I cleared passport control and headed out of Europe in the D dock – the Non-Schengen zone.
The waiting BA A321.
Heading to the gate, there was a queue building up already. I walked past the gate and decided to find something to blow the last 10 Swiss Francs I had… and ended up with… a mini Swiss Army knife. It seems you can buy them at the airport, take them aboard, but you can’t take them past any further airport point. Considering my last stop today would be Heathrow T5, I collected one for CHF17 (with about half of it paid by card, the other half in Swiss Francs).
I then headed back to the gate where boarding was about to commence.
With a blip, my boarding pass was accepted – and I headed to the waiting Airbus A321 to take me back to Heathrow
Next: BA717 and the curse of Afternoon Tea.
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