Being lucky (read lucky as the harder I work the luckier I get), enough to travel and spend time in the airline lounges I find they are typically all very similar but some have a difference that truly stands out.
Take Swiss Air here in Zurich . I don’t know when last someone blogged here from the first class lounge. It may have been never. They are in a time warp. I have not seen another female passenger since I got here a few hours ago. There were some permitted in the business lounge. I felt they must have had a special airport lounge visa to get into the business class lounge. As for climbing the mountain to get into the first class lounge as a female, lucky I had my Australian climbing boots on.
The male at reception had that “get out of here, your not welcome look” right from the moment the glass doors glided open. I had to stand my ground! No friendly Aussie egalitarian reception. Fortunately he managed to check my ticket online and under his breath he said, “Oh you are allowed in here”. No apologies.
So I waited to be welcomed. Nothing! So I pointed to what looked like the place to go and said, “the lounge?” “Yes”‘ was the short reply. I started to go in but was abruptly stopped with “Wait here!”. Fortunate the Carabiners held as I screeched to a stop dangling in mid air on the mountain while another man checked my ticket on the computer again. When I checked the boarding time and gate apparently they have to organise a car to the plane for me. The unhappy service look again. I’m sure they wouldn’t comprehend the climbing metaphors but with the Swiss Alps somewhere nearby and out of the window there is a bit ugly pipe at the level of the horizon so the view is obscured but I’m sure there’s snow outside so why not use the car service?
At least the place is clean and they appear to have a nice but small restaurant and a buffet for the usual snacks, drinks and there are loads of Lindt chocolates in nice cocktail glasses laying on each coffee table with nuts and gummy bears. If they had better Internet access I would do a pic on my mobile but it is too hard to log on with the restricted one-hour-at-a-time wireless access.
About an hour to go so I think I will investigate further.
Safe and happy travels!