Zürich-Frankfurt-Brussels with Swiss and Lufthansa in business class + another three fantastic first class lounges!!!

It is quite amazing how much you can get out of a small piece of paper. Because of the tiny boarding pass stub from my Hong Kong-Zürich flight in first class (a small piece of paper of 8 x 5 cm) I managed to get access to three first class lounges in Hong Kong, the arrivals lounge in Zürich, two first class lounges in Zürich, and the fantastic Lufthansa first class lounge in Frankfurt.
I bet they wish they had never given it to me, they can't have made much profit with all my glasses of champagne and hot food :D But well I did not make up the rules, I just followed them all too well! :D

Anyway, this would be part 3 of my trip back to Europe from Hong Kong to Brussels after Hong Kong-Zürich with Swiss in first class and Images of Zürich.

After my little sightseeing tour of Zürich I went back to the airport, and after passport control where the guy didn't even look at my passport (he saw the EU cover and waived me through) I was eager to visit some more lounges.

Star Alliance First class lounge
This lounge was the very first common Star Alliance lounge, i.e. a lounge used by all Star Alliance airlines at an airport without being owned and run by a particular airline, however this was before Swiss joined Star Alliance. I got the impression Lufthansa staff were mostly in charge of the lounge though.
At the reception I showed my boarding pass to Frankfurt, no problem at all to get in. I then showed the lounge girl my boarding pass from Hong Kong and asked very nicely if I could use the first class side of the lounge as I flew first class into Zürich earlier in the morning. A quick look at that boarding pass and I was immediately directed to the left, to the first class side.
The first class side was quite small, as far as I know the business class lounge on the other side of the reception is a lot larger, but there were only two people in there anyway so almost deserted.
It was around 9.30 am when I got there, so still breakfast on offer, but quite a bit of it. The alcohol was already there though, and after a closer look I noticed they actually had champagne available in an ice bucket.
A young couple arrived minutes later, and they immediately started to indulge in champagne (at 10 am!), well I was quite tempted as well so I thought when half the lounge is drinking champagne at 10 am it wouldn't be too awkward for me to do it as well.
I actually had two glasses as the champange was so nice while I enoyed the great view from the bright lounge and ate lots of unhealthy Swiss chocolates they had in a large bowl. I will probably need to go on one heck of a diet when I get back home... :p
I spent an hour in the lounge, more people started to arrive when I left, I found out Singapore Airlines had a departure at noon, so that would be the lounge their first class passengers use.

Swiss First class lounge
After wandering around the tax-free area (which was quite expensive) I made my way to the second lounge in Zürich I had access to.
I presented my boarding pass at check-in and was immediately allowed to enter as this was the lounge I was supposed to use in the first place. Once again I reached for the first class boarding pass stub in my pocket, showed it to the lounge girl, and asked very nicely if I could use the first class lounge as I arrived in first class with Swiss the same morning. Well no problem at all!!
The first class lounge is actually located inside the business class lounge, so one of the lounge agents escorted me through the business class lounge to a locked door (the reason why she escorted me) which led to the first class lounge.
We went to the reception desk in the first class and the reception girl who escorted me handed over my boarding passes to someone who seemed to be a supervisor to make sure she was doing the right thing and to have me registered in the computer, but the woman (supervisor?) confirmed I was indeed allowed to be there as I arrived with Swiss in first class in the morning.
The first class lounge was quite small but far from crowded, but that's half the point with a first class lounge anyway. Lots of staff as well, all of them super-friendly and ready (and happy) to help you with any requests or problems you have.
Still breakfast on offer at the buffet, but it was changed at 11 am to some hot food and one of the lounge attendants was happy to help me make a nice lunch plate and explain what they had on offer. The food was actually very good, lovely chicken skewers (among other things).
They also had champagne on offer, two different ones, one standard white and one pink. I was actually not planning on drinking more champagne for a while, but when the nice lounge woman offered a glass with the meal I could not resist, so I indulged in my third glass of champagne for the day (even before noon).
When leaving the lounge I once again had to pass through the business lounge, and by a coincidence I saw a sign for "the world's longest attended lounge bar", I just had to have a look. It was one floor above the main lounge, but the bar was really long and had a pretty nice view as well. Well no time for a drink anyway as I had to proceed to the gate for boarding.

Zürich-Frankfurt with Swiss in business class
The security check had a special line for first class and business class passengers which was nice as the other lines were very long and slow, especially now when the new hand luggage restrictions are in place.
At the gate we were bussed to the aircraft, there had been an aircraft change from a large Airbus A320 to a much smaller Avroliner.
Zürich-Frankfurt was only a quick flight, something like 50 minutes in the air in total, but they did serve food to business class passengers (but probably not in economy class).
I was offered a plate with two sandwiches and some grapes and also some Swiss chocolate before landing. They also had a drink cart with beer, wine and champagne (or maybe sparkling wine).
I asked for some red wine and had a choice between a Swiss and a French wine, the attendant seemed almost disappointed when I picked the French one, well I actually tried the Swiss one on the flight from Hong Kong.
The short flight was soon over and as usual in Frankfurt we parked at a remote stand and were bussed to the terminal.

Lufthansa First class lounge, terminal 1, pier A
I had read on the internet that Swiss first class passengers would have access to the Lufthansa first class facilities in Frankfurt, that part was 100% clear, but how do the lounge staff interpret the rules if I fly Hong Kong-Zürich-Frankfurt-Brussels?
I had no idea, but I thought the only way to find out would be to go there and try and see what happens, technically I was still a Swiss first class passenger and I could produce a same-day Swiss first class boarding pass.
Once inside the lounge the Lufthansa agent did not seem too sure about it, she actually seemed quite confused. I told her what it said on the internet though, and after thinking about it a little while she completely changed her mind and said I was indeed 100% right (nice we interpreted the rules in the same positive way... ;).
I think she excused herself three times afterwards, I told her not to worry about it, gosh I had just been given access to the Lufthansa first class lounge, one of the best there are, I was too happy to listen to some unnecessary excuses!!

The lounge was very very empty, only another two people in there. I had a seat and was immediately approached by a waiter from the bar who asked me if I wanted anything to drink. I asked for a glass of champagne asked him what they had on offer, he recommended a glass of Taittiner pink champagne. Excellent! I had never tried pink champagne! The champagne was actually quite good, and he brought some nice delicious snacks as well, I think parma ham was part of it.

After the glass of champagne I decided to have some food from the buffet, late lunch or early dinner or whatever that would be at 2 pm (well I kind of had lunch both in Zürich and on the plane, so I guess this would just be excessive eating :p).
The buffet was enormous, it looked pretty much the same as the one in the first class terminal I visited in the beginning of the trip, but I was told they change the food every three weeks, so all dishes were obviously different.
I tried some of the hot food they had available, had a glass of wine from the large drink trolley by the buffet, and sat down at one of the tables in the restaurant.
A waiter came and asked if everything was OK, in the first class terminal they had a waiter taking care of both food and drink orders, so certainly more attentive service there, but I didn't really mind sorting that out myself.

After the meal I moved back to the main lounge and had a seat in one of the comfortable lounge chairs, I wanted to try one of the rare whiskeys they have in the lounge. They have as many as 75 types of whiskey on offer, some of them being quite expensive and quite rare as well. Amazing!
They have a drink list at every table, and the selection of drinks is absolutely remarkable. Other than the 75 whiskeys they mix cocktails, they have lots of liquors, and they have something like 15 types of mineral water. Impressive, to say the least!
I had a difficult time deciding what whiskey to choose, but finally decided upon a rare vintage Scottish one I had not heard of before called Knockando which was very good. I had a chat with the bar guy who was actually quite knowledgeable about what they had on offer. I also ordered a cup of coffee and went back to the buffet to have a dessert with the coffee.
Way too soon it was time to leave the lounge, but I am so glad I included that extra two hour transfer in Frankfurt (any travel agent would probably have thought I was crazy with my routing), that first class lounge is absolutely terrific, I hope I get a chance to go back there some other time.

Frankfurt-Brussels with Lufthansa in business class
I really tried to stay as long as possible in the lounge and almost had to run to make it to the gate (which was fun after some alcohol), I boarded as one of the last passengers.
As the flight to Brussels was operated by a small regional jet we were taken to the aircraft by bus, the aircraft was actually parked quite a distance from the terminal building.
The flight to Brussels was very short, only about 35 minutes, but they served a meal in business class with bread, some cold cuts, and a chocolate dessert.
As you can probably imagine I was really really not hungry but I still tried some of it, mostly just to try it.
They had the standard wine and beer on offer as well, but I just had some orange juice, enough alcohol for me that day!
We landed 15 mins early in Brussels, although it was quite a walk to get to the baggage reclaim.
My two suitcases tagged with the First class/HON Circle tag were among the first on the belt, I realised 30 hours had passed since I checked them in in Hong Kong. Amazing! That is certainly a personal record...
I was out of the airport in no time and took the train to Brussels city centre.

What a day of flying!!
But after 30 hours of flying and seven lounge visits and then seven hours of time difference between Hong Kong and Europe (did anyone say jetlag?) I was completely exhausted when I finally got to the hotel.
I fell asleep at 8 pm on my bed with both the TV and all the lights in the room on and did not wake up until 2 am when I got to bed properly.
But with all the excessive flying and all those extra transfers, was it really worth it when I ended up being so exhausted?? I'd say ABSOLUTELY! :)

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