Our best lounge experience was the Swiss Air first class lounge at Zurich (ZUR) airport on our return from the Tauck Ultimate Alps & Dolomites trip in 2018. A bit of explanation on how we got into the first class lounge.
We did our own booking for this flight with United Airlines. When I was doing the booking I booked business class from Seattle to Munich on Lufthansa a United codeshare. There were several choices for the return flight and one was Swiss Air, also a United codeshare. One choice was Swiss Air from Zurich to San Francisco (SFO) connecting to SEA. The Swiss Air flight was a 3 class flight, first, business and coach. The United website actually showed that the first class seats were cheaper than the business class. I thought that this had to be one of the airline typos. I selected the first class and paid my money and took my chances thinking I would be contacted that there was a mistake in my booking.
I heard on some airline chat sites that the Swiss first class lounge was notoriously difficult to get into. You have to have first class tickets actually issued by Swiss and codeshare tickets would not work.
On our flight day we went to the first class lounge thinking they would send us to the business lounge or I think they call it Senator Lounge.
We got into the lounge with no problem. Very uncrowded. The lounge had top shelf liquor and wine, tableside food service and an all around excellent experience. Here is a picture of my wife enjoying Swiss Fondu at our table.
The flight itself was also one of the best flight experiences we have had with multicourse meal with table service.
Another top level flight and lounge experience we had was in Tokyo on ANA airlines on our trip to India but that would be another story.
JohnS - How lucky were you, getting first class for less than business. How did the first class seats in the plane compare with business class seats on the same flight?
Smiling Sam
12:40PM
How did the first class seats in the plane compare with business class seats on the same flight?
The seats themselves were bigger than business. The layout was similar to an office cubicle setting with more privacy. 1-2-1 in First and 2-2-2 in business. The table was more of a table than a tray holder. There was a dedicated flight attendant who was there all the time. We were served a multi course meal that was actually served in courses. The lie flat bed was a bit longer than business. I am 6’3” and I have found that most businesses class lie flat seats are about 6’1” with a tiny foot area that can hold one of my feet. As I recall these seats had much more foot room. This was a daytime flight, so I didn’t use the lie flat that much. A link to the Swiss website about first class is here.
I doubt that we will ever luck out like this again. Not many airlines have the 3 class service anymore. Paying the full price for first would be way too expensive.
JohnS - Nice. On our flight to/from Israel/Jordan tour on Turkish Airlines our business class seats were serviced by a chef. You could order off a menu.
Wah, wah on being 6’3” and not fitting. Try being 6’6” tall. In our 10 Tauck tours to date I have been the tallest person on each tour. I’m sure there are lots of Taucktourians taller, but none have been on the same tour as me.
Smiling Sam
2:31PM
Wah, wah on being 6’3” and not fitting. Try being 6’6” tall.
There are some advantages to being tall but not always. Some of the Tauck busses are a tight squeeze. Our 2017 trip to India and Nepal Tauck used Jet Airways for the intra-tour flights. I had a negative 4 inches of leg room. Jet Airways has ceased operations, but I have heard they are being resurrected.
Smiling Sam
Wah, wah on being 6’3” and not fitting. Try being 6’6” tall. In our 10 Tauck tours to date I have been the tallest person on each tour. I’m sure there are lots of Taucktourians taller, but none have been on the same tour as me.
Damn Smiling Sam - 6'6" is tall! I come in at 6'4" and it's painful in most "coach" traveling scenarios. I can't imagine it for you. I've started flying Premium Economy on anything over 2 hours flight time (unless JetBlue - crazy leg room on their planes). I can't afford business and above realistically. For our upcoming trip I toyed with the idea of my wife and I sitting premium economy and leaving the kids in coach. My wife had none of that plan. So yeah, I put out some extra $$$ for them when she and I could have upgraded ourselves to business. Grrr
dogdoctor
Damn Smiling Sam - 6'6" is tall! I come in at 6'4" and it's painful in most "coach" traveling scenarios.
During our Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand tour we had a flight from Angor Wat to Bangkok. The plane for that flight had so little leg room that it was physically impossible for me to sit in my assigned seat, a row of economy seats with two other passengers. The only thing I could do was sit in the aisle seat and sit sideways with my legs in the aisle. The flight attendants wouldn't allow this so they moved me to the back of the plane to where I had an entire row to myself. This allowed me to sit sideways without spilling into the aisle. Fortunately, that was the only flight of the 5 internal tour flights that we took that had seating like that.
Another time, getting to Lisbon for the start of our Spain and Portugal tour we flew from Dallas to Madrid to Lisbon. The flight from Madrid to Lisbon was only about one hour in length, but the seating was such that I couldn't get entirely into the seat. I had to prop myself up with the footrest which kept my bottom about halfway up the backrest of the seat. This caused my head to stick up about a foot above the top of the seat. I had to sit like that for the entire flight. If you've ever seen one of the James Bond movies that has the character Jaws in it (it might be Thunderball) where he drives a car with his head sticking out the top of the sunroof. Well that's how I felt during that flight.
My favorite lounge for USA carriers on international flights are the United Polaris Business Class Lounges - specifically the one at EWR (New Jersey). You must be flying on a Polaris designated flight to enter - not just any business class ticket gets you access. I overheard an agent denying someone access once. The agent directed them to the "regular" business class lounge. The seating, service, food and multiple other amenities are very nice. I also like the American Express Centurion lounges. Although, all of the ones I've visited are very nice, my favorites are located at San Francisco and Las Vegas. You are offered massages and manicures while you wait- dependent on how much time you have prior to your departure.
Last year when I traveled Business Class with Qatar, I wanted to use the American Flagship lounge at Dallas; however, it wasn't open. Instead of using the regular American lounge, I opted to use the American Express Centurion lounge. The Qatar lounge in Doha is FABULOUS!
I prefer to wait in a lounge rather than with the masses in the airline seating area. Another perk of the American Express platinum card...with Priority Pass, there is almost always a lounge you can access & you can use the Delta lounge, regardless of fare type (as long as you are flying Delta)
I've used the Atlanta Delta lounges (different locations) and always found the food fine in all of them. Priority Pass lounges leave a lot to be desired (at least the 2 I've visited) Air France this year was very good.
Turkish is now flying direct from Seattle to Istanbul... a week escape sounds divine.. now a days that due to lack of staff- I'm working 11 hours x 5 days .- I feel like the ladies @ Tauck! overwork-understaff .
mil
AlanS.. Yes!! but. I'm getting home at 7:00 pm every day... too much.
I got home at 11:15 pm after hitting the road at 7am on Monday. Today I joked with my wife "hope to see you tonight!" She was not amused. I rolled in at 9:00 pm. Long days make for much needed time away from the job. You just need a mental break. I hope it gets better for you @mil. I can't wait for the end of tomorrow... on to Munich on Monday!
Comments
There's booze in them houses? Who knew?
Our best lounge experience was the Swiss Air first class lounge at Zurich (ZUR) airport on our return from the Tauck Ultimate Alps & Dolomites trip in 2018. A bit of explanation on how we got into the first class lounge.
We did our own booking for this flight with United Airlines. When I was doing the booking I booked business class from Seattle to Munich on Lufthansa a United codeshare. There were several choices for the return flight and one was Swiss Air, also a United codeshare. One choice was Swiss Air from Zurich to San Francisco (SFO) connecting to SEA. The Swiss Air flight was a 3 class flight, first, business and coach. The United website actually showed that the first class seats were cheaper than the business class. I thought that this had to be one of the airline typos. I selected the first class and paid my money and took my chances thinking I would be contacted that there was a mistake in my booking.
I heard on some airline chat sites that the Swiss first class lounge was notoriously difficult to get into. You have to have first class tickets actually issued by Swiss and codeshare tickets would not work.
On our flight day we went to the first class lounge thinking they would send us to the business lounge or I think they call it Senator Lounge.
We got into the lounge with no problem. Very uncrowded. The lounge had top shelf liquor and wine, tableside food service and an all around excellent experience. Here is a picture of my wife enjoying Swiss Fondu at our table.
The flight itself was also one of the best flight experiences we have had with multicourse meal with table service.
Another top level flight and lounge experience we had was in Tokyo on ANA airlines on our trip to India but that would be another story.
JohnS - How lucky were you, getting first class for less than business. How did the first class seats in the plane compare with business class seats on the same flight?
The seats themselves were bigger than business. The layout was similar to an office cubicle setting with more privacy. 1-2-1 in First and 2-2-2 in business. The table was more of a table than a tray holder. There was a dedicated flight attendant who was there all the time. We were served a multi course meal that was actually served in courses. The lie flat bed was a bit longer than business. I am 6’3” and I have found that most businesses class lie flat seats are about 6’1” with a tiny foot area that can hold one of my feet. As I recall these seats had much more foot room. This was a daytime flight, so I didn’t use the lie flat that much. A link to the Swiss website about first class is here.
I doubt that we will ever luck out like this again. Not many airlines have the 3 class service anymore. Paying the full price for first would be way too expensive.
From Seat Guru
JohnS - Nice. On our flight to/from Israel/Jordan tour on Turkish Airlines our business class seats were serviced by a chef. You could order off a menu.
Wah, wah on being 6’3” and not fitting.
Try being 6’6” tall. In our 10 Tauck tours to date I have been the tallest person on each tour. I’m sure there are lots of Taucktourians taller, but none have been on the same tour as me.
There are some advantages to being tall but not always. Some of the Tauck busses are a tight squeeze. Our 2017 trip to India and Nepal Tauck used Jet Airways for the intra-tour flights. I had a negative 4 inches of leg room. Jet Airways has ceased operations, but I have heard they are being resurrected.
Damn Smiling Sam - 6'6" is tall! I come in at 6'4" and it's painful in most "coach" traveling scenarios. I can't imagine it for you. I've started flying Premium Economy on anything over 2 hours flight time (unless JetBlue - crazy leg room on their planes). I can't afford business and above realistically. For our upcoming trip I toyed with the idea of my wife and I sitting premium economy and leaving the kids in coach. My wife had none of that plan. So yeah, I put out some extra $$$ for them when she and I could have upgraded ourselves to business. Grrr
During our Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand tour we had a flight from Angor Wat to Bangkok. The plane for that flight had so little leg room that it was physically impossible for me to sit in my assigned seat, a row of economy seats with two other passengers. The only thing I could do was sit in the aisle seat and sit sideways with my legs in the aisle. The flight attendants wouldn't allow this so they moved me to the back of the plane to where I had an entire row to myself. This allowed me to sit sideways without spilling into the aisle. Fortunately, that was the only flight of the 5 internal tour flights that we took that had seating like that.
Another time, getting to Lisbon for the start of our Spain and Portugal tour we flew from Dallas to Madrid to Lisbon. The flight from Madrid to Lisbon was only about one hour in length, but the seating was such that I couldn't get entirely into the seat. I had to prop myself up with the footrest which kept my bottom about halfway up the backrest of the seat. This caused my head to stick up about a foot above the top of the seat. I had to sit like that for the entire flight. If you've ever seen one of the James Bond movies that has the character Jaws in it (it might be Thunderball) where he drives a car with his head sticking out the top of the sunroof. Well that's how I felt during that flight.
Economy seats are not my friend.
My favorite lounge for USA carriers on international flights are the United Polaris Business Class Lounges - specifically the one at EWR (New Jersey). You must be flying on a Polaris designated flight to enter - not just any business class ticket gets you access. I overheard an agent denying someone access once. The agent directed them to the "regular" business class lounge. The seating, service, food and multiple other amenities are very nice. I also like the American Express Centurion lounges. Although, all of the ones I've visited are very nice, my favorites are located at San Francisco and Las Vegas. You are offered massages and manicures while you wait- dependent on how much time you have prior to your departure.
Last year when I traveled Business Class with Qatar, I wanted to use the American Flagship lounge at Dallas; however, it wasn't open. Instead of using the regular American lounge, I opted to use the American Express Centurion lounge. The Qatar lounge in Doha is FABULOUS!
I prefer to wait in a lounge rather than with the masses in the airline seating area. Another perk of the American Express platinum card...with Priority Pass, there is almost always a lounge you can access & you can use the Delta lounge, regardless of fare type (as long as you are flying Delta)
I've used the Atlanta Delta lounges (different locations) and always found the food fine in all of them. Priority Pass lounges leave a lot to be desired (at least the 2 I've visited) Air France this year was very good.
Turkish is now flying direct from Seattle to Istanbul... a week escape sounds divine.. now a days that due to lack of staff- I'm working 11 hours x 5 days .- I feel like the ladies @ Tauck! overwork-understaff .
I hope you are getting suitably compensated- more hours, more pay, more trips?
AlanS.. Yes!! but. I'm getting home at 7:00 pm every day... too much.
I got home at 11:15 pm after hitting the road at 7am on Monday. Today I joked with my wife "hope to see you tonight!" She was not amused. I rolled in at 9:00 pm. Long days make for much needed time away from the job. You just need a mental break. I hope it gets better for you @mil. I can't wait for the end of tomorrow... on to Munich on Monday!
dogdoctor Hi,
)
I hear you........it's too much. Well, have a lovely trip and enjoy your time.
dogdoctor have a wonderful trip.