I hate to start off what I hope will be a series of posts about my generally wonderful two-week trip to Switzerland with a negative tone, but something has to be said about the sad state of affairs that is Zurich Airport.
The airport is clearly a hodgepodge of additions and extensions onto what once must have been an idyllic mid-sized airport serving the "too rich, too quiet" hamlet that was Zurich decades ago. Today, because of this "organic" growth (read: unplanned), the airport is a veritable maze both inside and out.
I consider myself to be a seasoned traveler who usually has no problem finding my way through airports. At well-designed airports, I can get around without even reading the signs because one acquires a "feel" for navigating the typical airport. At the zoo that is ZRH, I found myself unable to leave the airport for a good 10 minutes yesterday, because of the multi-level maze I was trapped in. I swear, if there had been a fire, I probably would have perished in the confusion.
Take, for example, that there are three separate check-in areas which may or may not have anything to do with your eventual concourse. Instead of neatly organized "terminals" that other airports are laid out in, the concept doesn't exist here. You're in a "check-in" area, then you have to find your way through a multi-level maze to find the proper concourse, which may be quite a walk from whatever check-in area you just left. And of course, if you find yourself in the wrong check-in area, or say, have to drop off friends at one but then go to another one, it's a long hike up and down a bunch of levels and just generally very poorly organized.
Oh, and should you somehow find your way outside, the confusion doesn't end there. The roadway appears to have been built in the 1950's for a capacity of say, ten planes a day leaving the airport. Traffic is a total cluster if you happen to need to get to the airport during the morning rush when every US-bound flight departs (and those incoming landings need rides from the airport too, don't forget).
I mean, the signage is terrible too. Like I said, it took me and three friends 10 minutes to find an exit yesterday.
Also, the snob flyer in me finds it appalling that there are no lounges airside for US-bound flights. The only lounge was pre-passport control. Which means you have to leave the lounge a minimum of 1 hour before your flight since there are no priority lines for passport control, and then take a tram to the concourse, and then pass through security (which did have a priority line, fortunately).
But there are a few things that ZRH gets that other airports need to follow: plentiful duty-free (duh, it's Zurich, those rich bankers have to spend their ill-gotten gains somewhere), and very timely baggage delivery. In fact, the baggage carousels have an ETA timer on them - and the Swiss take their timers very seriously.
Now they just need to raze the whole place and start over again, with some organization and more timers in mind...
