How will airport lounges operate in the future? A real life example from the Aspire lounge in Zurich

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• Danny says:

  17 May17 May 05:21

  Surely this must be the end of Priority Pass? Was already hard enough to get into many lounges with Priority Pass even when those lounges were running at full capacity. Given airlines always prioritise their own customers in lounges, its easy to predict what the impact of these new capacity restrictions will be on your chances of getting into most lounges with a Priority Pass card as soon as travel numbers pick up a bit.

  • davvero says:

    17 May17 May 06:16

    It depends how busy airlines are to begin with. If they recover quicker than it takes to remove these restrictions then lounges will be packed and there’ll be no room for PP customers, but if airlines are not busy the contract lounges may appreciate the extra income from PP and pay per entry passengers.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    17 May17 May 09:29

    That was my exact thought too. Another reason to bin Amex Plat and use my Dragon Passes when needed

• davvero says:

  17 May17 May 05:32

  Last airport lounge I had access to was 20 March. Looks like the ‘new normal’ will be painful.
  Perhaps this helps answer my question in the chat thread. Of course if I time my TP running for two years of gold then hopefully things will be better.

• Tim says:

  17 May17 May 07:18

  The BA Galleries lounges in T5 are pretty rammed most of the time. However if they limit numbers then this is likely to push the problem into the main concourse of the airport. Obviously depending on numbers.

  What about Group 1 building with social distancing? I can’t wait for the DYKWIA thread on Flyertalk to kick off?

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    17 May17 May 07:51

    Im glad i found BA’s secret lounge then! 😉

    • Aliks says:

      17 May17 May 08:24

      Not so secret, but £3,300 a trip should keep the hordes of charabanc tourists at bay.

• Steve says:

  17 May17 May 08:34

  What is the point of distancing in the lounge before you get on an aircraft and sit right next to someone?

  There is a risk with flying, those that need to fly just need to accept that. All of this is just theatre.

  • memesweeper says:

    17 May17 May 08:38

    If the main departures area is packed there’s not much point keeping the lounges half empty.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    17 May17 May 08:44

    Right now social distancing in the lounge and Concourse probably works with so few travellers and makes people seem safer for the time before they are on board. Less time being exposed to people that might have it = lower risk of catching it.

    But you are absolutely right there will be zero chance for social distancing when airport footfall starts to rise. Imagine the queue to board with 2m distance between families. Mayhem.

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      17 May17 May 08:53

      There will be no social distancing at airports. There is not the space to do this when boarding a plane, clearing security/customs, check in or retrieving baggage. The idea that all of these could simultaneously accommodate 2m queues is farcical.

      People will need to start evaluating risk/reward and making decisions for themselves.

      • J says:

        17 May17 May 11:51

        There are lots of things they could do. Virtual queing, increased boarding times, strictly by plane section so you only stand with those you are also exposed to on the plane. Open all security lanes, check hand luggage on enteriing airport to reduce issues at security, or ban hand luggage all together. Only allow checked luggage by home/hotel delivery service. I’m hoping they won’t do much, but there’s plenty they could do…

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:

          17 May17 May 17:18

          A virtual queue requires the same space as a queue. People aren’t virtual. They have to be somewhere.

        • J says:

          17 May17 May 17:32

          Same total space, but spread out over a larger area… If you say used four gates to queue passengers for one flight and managed when those people should move to the actual gate, it spaces everything out a lot more. Again, the point would be to keep around the same people they would be exposed to on the plane – not to maintain 2m between everyone. The same if you instruct people to wait elsewhere in airports until boarding slot has opened (You could also ‘queue’ passengers on buses, in empty restaurants etc.). The rest of a departure area isn’t normally as densely populated at the queue right before boarding… Except for Luton.

          I personally think anything like this would be overkill. But then given what has been done elsewhere in the country, it wouldn’t surprise me if some quite revolutionary airport measures are brought in temporarily.

  • Nori says:

    17 May17 May 10:30

    To minimise the expose in the world where it’s impossible to prevent.

  • J says:

    17 May17 May 11:40

    The point is to reduce the number of people you have contact with, not eliminate it. The target has never been zero (i.e. you never self isolated from memebrs of own household). As time move forward, life will necesitate increasing the number, but there will still be plans in place to limit to what is considered a priority. You may be exposed to the 30 odd people around you on the plane, but if you can cut out exposure to a differrent 50 people from the airport travel/queueing/waiting experience, you are still significantly reducing the number that could infect you or vice versa.

  • Fiona says:

    17 May17 May 15:32

    What about the safety of those working there?

• Yawn says:

  17 May17 May 08:40

  The non-Schengen Crown Lounge at Schiphol is open but the only things available are the coffee maker and the still/sparkling water tap.

• Tommi says:

  17 May17 May 08:53

  “will wear personal protective equipment including gloves”
  I’m baffled that some people think gloves are a good idea – are they really replacing them with new ones as often as you should be washing your hands?

  • Rhys says:

    17 May17 May 09:02

    Gloves are good where someone is required to clean their hands so regularly that it would become painful to do so. As you say it requires frequent replacement

    • BrightonReader says:

      17 May17 May 10:44

      Depends what they are doign when wearing them as well

      If it just doing one job constantly such as pouring and handing over drinks then gloves are effective.

      But if a glove wearer is doing that then wiping a table down and picking up napkins etc then the risk of cross contamination is increased.

      Separation of clean and dirty tasks will become more common in the future. So in a restautent you might have one person only serving plates but another only collects the dirty ones

      • John says:

        17 May17 May 13:33

        They should have been doing that all the time….

        • TGLoyalty says:

          17 May17 May 14:13

          Exactly. It’s bizarre how everyone is going OTT when really what they should be reinforcing is good hygiene processes that should have been in place since day 1.

          I would welcome more Hand sanitiser wall units (and them being refilled) in high footfall areas/spaces and hand soap dispensers actually full of soap with running hot water.

    • J says:

      17 May17 May 12:17

      I’d imagine you’re also less likely to touch your mouth with a glove on.

• Fenny says:

  17 May17 May 09:12

  A limit of 2 per table sounds like a family of 4 will need to use 2 tables. Why do families need to sit apart? They are all likely to have the same level of infection already.

  • Rob says:

    17 May17 May 09:43

    Doubt Zurich gets many families vs business people.

  • J says:

    17 May17 May 12:19

    Because the parents need a break after two months of lockdown!

  • John says:

    17 May17 May 13:34

    I don’t think many families, who would have lounge access for the whole family, are travelling at this time.

• Lady London says:

  17 May17 May 10:36

  slightly relevant for Zurich after an overnight flight on LX from DXB a few years back I used the Swiss Arrivals lounge there and it was very nice. Decent coffee, small contiental breakfast and a shower. Perfect for getting you on the road again after an annoyingly short night flight.

  • BrightonReader says:

    17 May17 May 10:46

    Not beenthere in ages but when I was there it was just a waste that they had a massive bar in the LX lounge complex with taxiway views serving cocktails etc that was also the smokers area meaning non smokers were basicaly denied having any sort of made or poured drinl.

    Has that changed?

    • Czechoslovakia says:

      17 May17 May 15:58

      Sadly, as a smoker, yes. The A gates lounge has undergone a 12 month refurb. Opened in the autumn if I remember correctly. The old smokers bar is now a quiet zone. The main lounge has gained an on demand kitchen with chef who’ll cook 1 of 2 meals fresh to order for you. Us smokers have been relegated through a side door to a outdoor cage, overlooking the toilet entrances….

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