Arrive Zurich, then change planes to Rome

Our United flight from Dulles to Rome connects through Zurich. I am assuming that we will have to collect our baggage and go through immigration and customs, recheck bags , get to Luthansia gate for flight to Rome. We have a 4 1/2 hour window so that shouldn't be a problem. Can someone tell us what to expect in Zurich. Are there places to eat near the gates? How long is the process? Is the airport spread out or compact?

We went with this flight since we could use FF miles to book and saved a ton of money! Thank you in advance.

Switzerland is part of the Schengen accord, so you will do your immigration formalities there. Customs will be in Rome. You will NOT see you luggage in Zurich.

Zurich is a mid size airport and fairly compact, but some walking is required.

Recently refurbished it is quite smart and plenty of places to eat.

Last time i was there, couple of years ago now, hand luggage scanning was still done at gates rather than a central location.

Immigration queues could be quite long however swiss efficiency means they go quickly so dont panic if there are 100 people in front of you.

Sent from my iPhone. Please excuse tryping orrers.

We have a 4 1/2 hour window so that shouldn't be a problem.

Last time i was there, couple of years ago now, hand luggage scanning was still done at gates rather than a central location.

That connection time is actually just about long enough to safely abandon the airport and go into the city for a quick walk round if you were so inclined. There are frequent trains, taking about 10 minutes to the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station), so you could be in the city centre within 40 minutes of exiting immigration - you wouldn't have to wait for bags, so you would just walk straight out and into the station which is part of the airport buildings. I reckon that would give you an hour or so in town before you'd want to start travelling back to the airport, which you should reach comfortably in time for your onward flight.

An alternative is the spotters terrace (aka the observation deck), which would get you out into the open air. I believe this is landside, so you'd similarly have to clear immigration and exit as if you were an arrival, but then you wouldn't have to leave the building to get there.

I've been through centralised security for my flights from Zurich in the last couple of years, so if it wasn't like this before, then it sounds like this may be one of the things that's changed in the refurbishment. (I've only recently started going to Zurich, so I don't know what it was like before.)

I think the main problem with a 4½-hour connection at ZRH is the risk of getting very bored.

Yep. Zurich is a smallish airport. I had 2,5 hours there and was bored after 1 hour. You'd better bring a good book.

I've been through centralised security for my flights from Zurich in the last couple of years, so if it wasn't like this before, then it sounds like this may be one of the things that's changed in the refurbishment. (I've only recently started going to Zurich, so I don't know what it was like before.)

It has been a bit random for years. Some concourses have centralised security, other decentralised.