As part of my European Whirlwind tour earlier this year, I flew Air France business class from New York to Paris and to Lyon, then from Paris to Zurich for a very belated honey moon. After having had about a week between Luzern, Grindelwald and Zermatt, enjoying the beautiful vistas and going up various peaks, we ended our Swiss time in Geneva. From here we flew to Amsterdam with KLM, to see the flowering flower fields of my home province in the Netherlands. While I won’t review this flight, since it was a normal, decent economy flight, I will review the lounge we were able to visit at Geneva Cointrin Airport: The Horizon Lounge, by Swissport.
Briefly, this a smallish Priority Pass lounge that we were able to access because of Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card’s complimentary Priority Pass membership (which we still had when taking this trip – I have since downgraded to a Sapphire Preferred following a 100k bonus offer). It that was quite busy the time that we were there. The food and drink selection was on the small side, but the croissants were really quite delicious. Overall, this is not a lounge I’d be excited to visit again, but I do think it’s probably better than sitting in the terminal.
Entry requirements
Strangely, it’s a little difficult to find out from the website who actually has access to this specific lounge, but from what I can see, you have two broad options: You can pre-book or pay at the desk the 45 Swiss franc access fee per person, or if you have a membership with Priority Pass, Lounge Key, Linge Club or Dragon Pass, you get complimentary access.
Note that the lounge does appear to have a business casual dress code, though I wouldn’t say my husband and I adhered to this and we had no issue getting in.
Location and hours
Finding the lounge is fairly easy by following the signs. When you get through secruity, make a right and walk to where the duty free area starts. There, look for an escalator, which you’ll ride up.
Once on the mezzanine level, make a U-turn and you’ll see two lounges essentially side-by-side a little ways off from the escalator. Walk over there and you’ll see the facade of the Horizon Lounge.
The lounge is open daily from 6:00AM to 8:30PM.
Seating and design
The lounge is fairly small. After passing the front desk we were motioned to come forward and step in, and from that point you could essentially see pretty much the entire lounge, as it is a long, rectangular room. Along the far end were windows, though there wasn’t much of an actual view. Along that edge was a long bench with some pillows, as well as several sort of tables of various sizes. Towards th left was definitely something more of a dining arrangement, with larger, round tables and chairs. This is where we sat down, given that the lounge was quite crowded and there wasn’t much chocie in terms of where to sit.
The rest of the lounge mostly had lounge chairs, which looked comfy, though a little worn, and low, rectangular coffee tables. These tables are in fact Ikea coffee tables: I used to have the exact same one in my apartment several years ago. It’s a little sad that the lounge uses Ikea furniture…
As I made my way to the other end of the large, rectangular room, another area revealed itself. This area was more of a seating area, perhaps for some light work or a cup of coffee. There was a long couch with comfy chairs arranged in pairs. Along the wall to the left of this area, not pictured here, was something of a ‘literature wall’, with various magazines and newspapers that were available to read.
At the far end of the lounge was this mysterious sliding, glass door, with a sign saying ‘PRIVATE LOUNGE’. I imagine that if you pay extra, you may be able to reserve this space.
All in all, the space is not bad. The design is quite nice and thanks to the windows it’s fairly light and airy, with different kinds of comfortable seating. The real problem is that the lounge is fairly small and it was quite busy, so there wasn’t much choice in where to sit.
Food and drinks
Food and drinks were available to the left of where we entered. The food selection was small, but I thought the quality was reasonable. I think we arrived when the staff was (slowly) shifting from a breakfast to a lunch setup, as the hot buffet was msotly empty. The left chafing dish only had scrambled eggs in it, with there being space for something else in there, while the right one was entirely empty. Though, you may notice that there a sign in front of the right chafing dish – it only says that until 11:00AM scrambled eggs are served. Beyond that, it doesn’t say anything, so perhaps thjere is no hot buffet after 11:00AM?
Otherwise, there were various cereals and jams that you could take, and some breads and pastries and cold cuts. Overall, not too shabby but not something to get particularly excited about either. I will sayL those croissants were surprisingly delicious! I had several…
For drinks, there were two hot dirnk stations serving anything from hot water to various kinds of coffee. There was also something of a fridge with various large bottles of juice and soda. To my surprise, the idea was that you’d take a bottle, pour yourself a glass, and then put it back. I don’t think I’d ever seen drinks displayed quite like this. Usually sodas would be provided in individual cans or bottles, while juice would be pourable from decanters.
Suffice it to say, I certainly partook in the food and drinks, and went back for several servings of croissants, pain au chocolate and orange juice.
Overall, the food in this lounge is nothing to get excited about, but it’s enough of a selection and of sufficient quality to keep you satiated. If you had to skip breakfast at your hotel, or are just looking for a cup of coffee, this lounge should hit the spot.
Restrooms and showers
The Horizon Lounge actually has none of these facilities at all. There was no shower, nor a restroom. For the latter, I asked the front desk attendant for the nearest restroom and was directed to go out the lounge, to the left, keep going until I saw something of an alcove on the left-hand side. As such, the restrooms are of course nothing special…
Summary
Overall, this lounge is just fine. It’s nothing revolutionary or particularly exciting even, but th food is complimentary and of sufficient quality, the seating was comfortable enough and the space was quite nice, owing to the large windows along the far side of the lounge. However, I did find that the lounge was on the small side and it got quite crowded while we were there. If I were to travel through Geneva’s Cointrin Airport again, I’d likely head back to this lounge, since I think it beats sitting in the terminal.
Points to Seats 
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