Oh for the LOVE of Avios! To Hong Kong with Swiss and BA – Dayrooms, ZRH and the SEN lounge

Hong Kong 3: For the LOVE of Avios! With Swiss and British Airways
Zürich Night Stop – “Zürich Dayrooms”, Senator Lounge

Sections:

As I insinuated earlier, the Swiss for “Hotel” is “Open your Wallet and Scream”. With a short layover (10 hours at most), it’s hardly worth paying for a hotel room… when there are better options...

After arriving and being deposited at the D Gates, I had to stop at Kiosk to pick up some chocolate for a co-worker (Branches. No I don’t know why she wanted them. But hey… anything for 10 minutes P&Q in the office).

After that, I headed to the D gate clearance area and tried to head upstairs… well… multiple times with doors not opening. In the end I asked one of the security guards to help, and he escorted me up to the Zurich Airport Dayrooms

Overnight – Zurich Dayrooms – Couch Area
Cost 40CHF (~£25 or so).

The Pictures: http://www.photoblog.com/kevincm/2012/11/22/zurich-airport-day-rooms-senator-lounge.html

I was welcomed to the dayrooms and after my details were confirmed as well as my onwards flights, I was given a wet-wipe, towel and an alarm clock set for 6:00 when I needed to be going. I was told of the access policy (the doors are locked between midnight and 5:30am), and then I was then shown through to the couch area

Here are few pics.

This first one is lit up with a flash as there was no-one else around. If there were… all through photos would had been in darkness.

A bit more natural light

Yep. Dark.

Very dark.

The couch as you can guess.. is a couch. It had an adjustment to tilt forward or tilt backward. On the couch, there was also a blanket as well. More importantly, there was power sockets (annoying fully recessed so the Euro-pin converter sockets don’t fit) and a lockable cabinet for all the valuables in life. Whilst it was not big enough to fit my rucksack, it meant I could take out my camera and other bits.

About 3 other people arrived at different stages of the evening, keeping the environment very quiet with the odd keyboard tapping.

WiFi isn’t included. Being Swiss and very neutral, there were a variety of ways to get different providers – ones who charge by the hour, ones who charged CHF5 for 24 hours and one who charged CHF4.60. I went with the cheapest because really – I didn’t overly care.

Wandering around outside, it was very quiet as the last flights were going or near enough gone, with some stragglers stuck in the Non-Schengen Zone. I wandered out to have a look around. Nearby there was a smoking lounge and vending machines.

Whilst the vending machines took cards, one item stuck out

Swiss Cannabis Ice Tea- http://www.cswiss.com/en/home.html

No wonder the Swiss are so neutral. Looking into the product, those who want to enjoy it more than they should do – will be disappointed to note the product has very little to none THC in the product. And no, I didn’t sample any – I was tired out.

I bedded down for the night – and slept all the way till about 5:30CDT. Not bad, and to be honest, the couch was darn comfortable especially when I angled it correctly.

I woke myself up with a quick shower. Again, the bathroom facilities were simple, clean and shared – all you really need for a quick wake up before heading out into the big bad world.

Shower

As 6am came, the alarm went, and I repacked my bag, ready for the off. I checked out and that was that.

Overall: Facilities like this serve a purpose for those who can’t justify heading out to an overpriced hotel for the night – or those stuck in a foreign country and can’t move till the next flight. I just wish more airports had these places to rest at. The place was clean, comfortable and quiet. What more did I need?

After leaving the Dayrooms, I cleared Swiss Immigration (with a bit of an inspection as I had overnighted at the airport). I was then clear to enter the B Gate area and the transfer area.

Cloud…

My next stop would be somewhere a bit more comfortable: The Swiss SEN lounge. Walking through there, Zurich Airport was in full Christmas mode.

That’s what you call a Toblerone.

Christmas decorations on the upper deck

SWISS Senator Lounge

I entered the lounge which seemed to be in full morning mode – ie. busy. I was dealt with quickly, and my SEN data was updated in the Swiss system, with a new boarding card spat out.

The lounge itself – well it’s very.. Swiss. Lots of dark sofas, the odd bit of art and even at 6:15 in the morning – a very busy place.

Queuing for the coffee machine

Breakfast selection

Still, there was some cold cuts in the breakfast as well as the usual yoghurt’s and muesli.

I resisted the bubbles for this time of the morning – least of all I was planning to be very active when I got off the plane.

Meanwhile, another thing I like about the SEN lounge is the attention to detail – from the staff cleaning up quickly to three different power outlets at the chairs (UK BS1363, Swiss connector and European CE7/7 style plug )

It’s the details that matter.

As I don’t smoke, I didn’t head to the cigar bar, but just settled for a bit until my flight was called.

And eventually it was – at gate A82 – or the backside end of the A Gates.

Reluctantly I passed the Swiss A340 bit of art, and thanked the lounge staff, and headed on my way.

Overall: Still a darn good lounge. Some hot breakfast offerings would be nice, but nothing to complain about. The staff remain the highlight of the lounge.

Once I was clear of the lounge, it was down the escalators to the A gates, and a mixture of a hike and travellator ride to the far end if the A Gates.

Off to the end of the world…

When I arrived at the gate area, boarding had not begun. To best honest, I’d rather be early to the gate – least of al European travellers seem to have caught a nasty habit from US travellers with people using the biggest bag they can legally get through – therefore if you want overhead bin space – get on board first.

Boarding was split to self-boarders in normal economy, and Star Gold/Business having assisted boarding.

Finally a call was made, and I boarded with the priority boarders

Next: LX1952 Barcelona to Zurich

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