Zurich airport layover

Posted by Laurence (Sammamish, WA) on 01/31/17 03:49 PM

We are flying in from Seattle on Swiss Airlines, and making a connection to Florence with a layover of approx 2 hours. It appears we will be arriving at terminal E and then flying out from terminal A.
Do we have to go through immigration/customs/security before reaching our terminal/gate?. What is the approx transfer time between the terminals?
I know that the transfer from E to A involves a train/people mover like Chicago's transfer to terminal 5, which means going through security again.

Thanks much

Posted by Chris F

Basel, Switzerland

01/31/17 07:39 PM

8889 posts

Laurence , The first question in all these cases is, are you doing this on one ticket or two?
I hope you are doing it on one, in which case you will booked through to Florence, your luggage will be transferred and there is no need to check in again for the second flight at Zürich.
If not, you may need to pick up your luggage, and then check in again, which will take more time, and if you miss the second flight because the first was late, hard luck.

Terminal E to A will take about 10-15 minutes on the people mover / automated tram. Assuming this is on one ticket:
- Immigration YES. This is your point of entry to the Schengen Area. The flight from Zürich to Florence is intra-Schengen and has no immigration checks when it lands.
- Customs NO. The first time you will see your luggage is in Florence. There you just walk through the "nothing to declare" door after picking up your bags. Takes all of 60 seconds.
- Security PROBABLY NOT. You will be staying "airside" in Zürich.

Posted by Laurence OP

Sammamish, WA

01/31/17 07:53 PM

21 posts

Thank you for the insightful info.
We are travelling on one ticket which should save us a little time, and now can be possibly spent in one the Swiss airport lounges.

Cheers!

Posted by Arnold

Denver, CO, USA

01/31/17 08:47 PM

1601 posts

In March I have a 55 min connection in ZRH - flying in from Malta and then connecting to a Chicago flight and I'm not concerned. 2 hours for you should be fine.

My only regret is that I won't have time to go to the grocery store in the main terminal (outside of security) and stock up on Swiss Chocolates.