Swiss International Airlines - ZRH-PEK

Anyone flying on inaugural flight ZRH-PEK on Feb11 or PEK-ZRH Feb12??

I am booked in First on LX197/Feb12 and I am the only one booked so far. The flight is way open in Y, J and F for award redemption.

:)

Anyone flying on inaugural flight ZRH-PEK on Feb11 or PEK-ZRH Feb12??

I am booked in First on LX197/Feb12 and I am the only one booked so far. The flight is way open in Y, J and F for award redemption.

:)
I'll be on LX196 on 11 Feb. :)

There is an FT/VFT inaugural ZRH-PEK flight DO (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/communitybuzz/1253681-flyertalk-vielfliegertreff-zrh-pek-swiss-inaugural-flight-do-11feb-15feb-2012-a.html) flying out on 11 Feb and returning on 15 Feb. Since most participants are from VFT recent information is only posted there (http://www.vielfliegertreff.de/mitgliedertreff/28350-vielfliegertreff-flyertalk-zrh-pek-swiss-inaugural-flight-do-11-02-2012-15-02-2012-a.html).

You will have noticed Chinese authorities are exerting power again (remember the fiasco when LH started A380 flights to PEK?) and changed the slot to some unearthly hour. LX197 now departs PEK at 06:45. :eek:

I'll be on LX196 on 11 Feb. :)

There is an FT/VFT inaugural ZRH-PEK flight DO (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/communitybuzz/1253681-flyertalk-vielfliegertreff-zrh-pek-swiss-inaugural-flight-do-11feb-15feb-2012-a.html) flying out on 11 Feb and returning on 15 Feb. Since most participants are from VFT recent information is only posted there (http://www.vielfliegertreff.de/mitgliedertreff/28350-vielfliegertreff-flyertalk-zrh-pek-swiss-inaugural-flight-do-11-02-2012-15-02-2012-a.html).

You will have noticed Chinese authorities are exerting power again (remember the fiasco when LH started A380 flights to PEK?) and changed the slot to some unearthly hour. LX197 now departs PEK at 06:45. :eek:

I didn't know it was due to Chinese authorities... But I'm glad about the change, it allows me to connect for YUL on same day. I will be in Shanghai but I will spend a night in Beijing so that I can be on the first PEK-ZRH flight. :D

also note that the aircraft is not A330 anymore. They changed it to A340... > old F cabin

Duck you, chinese authorities! :td: I want my A330-flight back!

Welcome to FT, kimmam!

I didn't realise it was going to be A333. I thought it was A343 right from the beginning.

Welcome to FT, kimmam!

I didn't realise it was going to be A333. I thought it was A343 right from the beginning.

Nope. The very first announcement was an A333 for PEK and an A343 for EWR which I thought was strange....

Welcome to FT, kimmam!

I didn't realise it was going to be A333. I thought it was A343 right from the beginning.

Thank you, NewbieRunner! It was changed from A333 to A343 a couple of days ago. I was really looking forward to sampling LX's new F (which btw looks incredible) so you can imagine the disapointment when I found out about the equipment change. The new departure times doesn't exactly make things any better... Anyhow LX's not to blame for it and I guess I'll survive the old F anyway :)

Duck you, chinese authorities! :td: I want my A330-flight back!

But Chinese authorities have nothing to do with aircraft choice, no?

But Chinese authorities have nothing to do with aircraft choice, no?

They do, indirectly in this case.

I have to reconstruct that from memory... but as far as I can remember...
When Swiss anounced that they are going to fly ZRK-PEK, originally they planned with A340 until sometime in summer 2012. They were expecting a couple of A330 to be added to the fleet during the first half of 2012 and then change to A330 in summer.
Somtime after the anouncement, they changed from A340 to A330... and well, now they had to change back, as there was no A330 for the earlier departure.

I'll be on LX196 on 11 Feb. :)

There is an FT/VFT inaugural ZRH-PEK flight DO (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/communitybuzz/1253681-flyertalk-vielfliegertreff-zrh-pek-swiss-inaugural-flight-do-11feb-15feb-2012-a.html) flying out on 11 Feb and returning on 15 Feb. Since most participants are from VFT recent information is only posted there (http://www.vielfliegertreff.de/mitgliedertreff/28350-vielfliegertreff-flyertalk-zrh-pek-swiss-inaugural-flight-do-11-02-2012-15-02-2012-a.html).

You will have noticed Chinese authorities are exerting power again (remember the fiasco when LH started A380 flights to PEK?) and changed the slot to some unearthly hour. LX197 now departs PEK at 06:45. :eek:

I am glad that I read this thread, and noticed the LX197 changes departure time at PEK to 06:45, as I have booked a First Class ticket on LX197 via Aeroplan on Feb 23, and then ZRH-YUL on Feb 24. I went to Swiss website to check out my booking and found out the flight LX197 is gone. Called Swiss, of course they directed me to Air Canada/Aeroplan.

Called Aeroplan, their website has one First Class seat available on Feb 24 from PEK-ZRH (departure 06:45, arrival 10:40), it sounds perfect to connect my flight ZRH-YUL on Feb 24. The agent agreed, however, when he called Swiss rep and got back to me saying, the departure time of LX197 on Feb 24 is still 12:05, and Swiss cancels LX197 on Feb 23 though. I argued that it showed 06:45 departure on both Swiss and Aeroplan websites, he responded that Swiss rep said the websites were wrong and the booking won't be materialized (he said even one can book the ticket online, they will be cancelled later).

So end up I re-booked LX197 on Feb 22 (the agent said the departure time is still 12:05, though both Swiss and Aeroplan websites showed 06:45), stay ZRH one more day to connect LX86 on Feb 24.

It seems that some chaos (or at least inconsistency) is going on, does anybody know what happened?

Cheers

I am glad that I read this thread, and noticed the LX197 changes departure time at PEK to 06:45, as I have booked a First Class ticket on LX197 via Aeroplan on Feb 23, and then ZRH-YUL on Feb 24. I went to Swiss website to check out my booking and found out the flight LX197 is gone. Called Swiss, of course they directed me to Air Canada/Aeroplan.

Called Aeroplan, their website has one First Class seat available on Feb 24 from PEK-ZRH (departure 06:45, arrival 10:40), it sounds perfect to connect my flight ZRH-YUL on Feb 24. The agent agreed, however, when he called Swiss rep and got back to me saying, the departure time of LX197 on Feb 24 is still 12:05, and Swiss cancels LX197 on Feb 23 though. I argued that it showed 06:45 departure on both Swiss and Aeroplan websites, he responded that Swiss rep said the websites were wrong and the booking won't be materialized (he said even one can book the ticket online, they will be cancelled later).

So end up I re-booked LX197 on Feb 22 (the agent said the departure time is still 12:05, though both Swiss and Aeroplan websites showed 06:45), stay ZRH one more day to connect LX86 on Feb 24.

It seems that some chaos (or at least inconsistency) is going on, does anybody know what happened?

Cheers

Weird...
I had a quick look in reservation system of Air Canada and it shows indeed departure at 12:05. However, SWISS.com shows 06:45.

Latest information is departure at 06:45. ^

and noticed the LX197 changes departure time at PEK to 06:45

The worst departure time out of PEK I have ever seen :td:

The worst departure time out of PEK I have ever seen :td:

It doesn't beat Aeroflot with a departure time of 02:00 from PEK...

This is ideal for a mileage run: :)

a) Friday evening ZRH - MUC- PEK

b) directly to Schindlers Tankstelle;) by cab, no need for a hotel

c) From there at 02:00 am back to the airport:eek:

d) Back in Zurich for Brunch on Sunday:D

Otherwise I do not wish to waste a nights sleep and will continue my connections via FRA or MUC to ZRH

The worst departure time out of PEK I have ever seen :td:

Yes. The worst. Unfortunately with this timing I will be sticking with LH and OS out of PEK.

As of the summer timetable LX196 leaves at 13.25 which makes sense considering LX' bank structure at ZRH. And the return flight arrives in time for the waive of European flights out of ZRH around 12.30. So the timetable might actually be something that LX has wanted to put in place giving the LH family a better offering out of PEK.

The Airbus 330-300 switches to Airbus 340 effective immediately it seems on the Zurich to Beijing route. So here comes old first! Expertflyer already shows, so does Swiss.com

The Airbus 330-300 switches to Airbus 340 effective immediately it seems on the Zurich to Beijing route. So here comes old first! Expertflyer already shows, so does Swiss.com
Have they actually flown the A333 on this route at all? If so, when?

Have they actually flown the A333 on this route at all? If so, when?

I am not sure if they had flown it uptil now, but it was definitely scheduled as such for later this year, I guess I assumed it was A333 all year long!


Also noticed now mentioned in this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/swiss-international-airlines/1349693-winter-2012-13-tt-changes-mostly-reductions.html

It was mentioned at the begining that the route would be operated by an A333 however shortly before launch it was changed to A343 and also the much more friendly flight times; departure out of ZRH after 5PM etc, however this was not the fault of LX, the chinese didn't approve it