San Gottardo

I think about taking the Edelweiss flight ZRH-BEY, which is also marketed as a Swiss flight. Several questions I have:

• The booking engine shows seats in J and C. Does that mean that there is a separate Business Class cabin? I understand that this is an A320 so no longhaul seats. But at least a separate cabin, 2-2 config instead of 3-3, and better catering?
• Can this flight be booked as an award flight?
• I seem to remember that there was some restriction on the use of the lounges at ZRH. Thus, can I use the First Class Lounge for this flight although operated by Edelweiss, even when I have a ticket on LX stock and an LX flight number? (I have a HON card)
• Anything else that I should know when flying on Edelweiss? Basically I want to know whether this is just a "regular" flight operated by a holiday plane but everything else is the same in terms of procedures and offering, or whehter this is an offer that is distinctively different from any LX mediumhaul flight.

Thanks

airoli

I can't answer the first point, but I've successfully booked a M&M reward on a ZRH-RAK flight operated by Edelweiss last year. It was ticketed as an LX codeshare flight and provided lounge access in ZRH (albeit, alas, not to the F lounge for us mere mortals ).

San Gottardo

I just called the LX HON Circle Service. Yes, they have a C cabin with 2-2 seating (the usual Euro stuff), yes it's different caterin, yes it can be booked as an award.

So I went ahead and booked it, with LX flight number, picked my seat 2F, gave my credit card number and all was well.

20 minutes later Swiss calls me back and tells me: "can't do it. Operated by Edelweiss, so it has to be a paper ticket () which we cannot send to you anymore because departure is in 2 days. So we have to cancel the booking".

Of course you can still *BUY* the ticket for money and it will be an electronic ticket, but not as an award ticket. How lame is that...

How lame is that...

EDIT: airoli, I see you are in SCL now? Holiday or a new home?

sic incognito

Strange. I had this paper ticket issue on Edelweiss some 2 years ago. Also, a phonecall explaining the situation.

Thereafter, award etickets on Edelweiss, and online check-in through Swiss.

Perhaps another phonecall to a knowledgeable agent?

SwissInternationalAirLines

Dear FlyerTalkers

As I found this as strange as you do, I allowed myself to make that phonecall to a knowledgeable agent.

I'm afraid it actually is the case that for Edelweiss Air leisure flights, on which SWISS has a codeshare flight number (LX8000-LX8499), paper tickets are indeed needed for award flights. Cerber, sorry that the agent you first spoke to was unaware of this procedure.

I'm sorry for this inconvenience.

Kind regards,
Gianrico

San Gottardo

Thanks for taking the trouble to follow up on this Gianrico. ^^

Actually that "inconvenience" costs me quite a bit of money as I now have to buy the ticket for CHF instead of an award. I bought it through the LX website, it took less than 90 seconds, and I got the etix number straight away.

Is it unreasonable to expect this situation to be aligned with the rest of the LX world anytime soon? I mean, paper tickets, I thought they were officially non-existent anymore except in some remote places of the aviation industry wilderness or for super-complex RTW trips on several airlines. But for flights on an airline fully owned by LX, on LX ticket stock, as a oneway? I am surprised and I hope this will get fixed.

San Gottardo

One more question to those that have experience with this: what about check-in? My ticket is an LX ticket (LX flight number, 724 ticket number). BEY is not listed as a destination on the LX web CKI site, although other Edelweiss destinations are (e.g. Anchorage, Bodrum...). I guess I cannot use the Edelweiss OLCI either because my ticket is on LX.

So if it isn't OLCI, where do I check in when leaving from ZRH? At the EDW counters in Check-in area 3? Or at the LX counters in CI Area 1?

I slowly start getting the feeling that this isn't a mere "LX flight which happens to take place in a plane with a different paint scheme", but something very different in terms of procedures, status recognition (dedicated CKI counters, fast lanes, lounges, priority luggage, etc)

airoli

Temporary home for a few months, related to a work assignment. Just long enough to miss the summer in YUL... :-:

oliver2002

It seems HON can use the usual places in ZRH. See this post: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/16747359-post477.html

San Gottardo

Thanks Oliver. I stopped following that thread because it became crowded with so many topics, so all the more I thank you for having directed me to the one item in there which is of relevance for me. ^

oliver2002

Let me PM you the address where you can send me a box of nice red wine.... @:-)

San Gottardo

Just wanted to share a little update on this in case other people are interested. I thought OLCI was not going to be possible because BEY does not feature on the list of destinations for OLCI. But then I received an email from Swiss inviting me to OLCI, with a direct link. And that worked! So I already have my boarding pass ^

Only remaining "worry": do I really have to CKI my luggage until 90 mins before departure? Or, given that I have my boarding pass already and that I'll bring my luggage to the F island, will they accept it also somewhat later, around 45-60 minutes before departure?

Anyone knows?

I know that technically it is possible to have a piece of luggage "travel" from CKI counters to a plane parked at E gates even when I check in 30 minutes before (=I do that often for LX longhaul flights), but who knows, there could be some Edelweiss special thing here making that impossible.

SwissInternationalAirLines

Dear FlyerTalkers

Just to clarify on cerbers last comment: In fact it is definitely not an "LX flight which happens to take place in a plane with a different paint scheme".

It is an Edelweiss Air flight on which SWISS sells tickets under a codeshare agreement. Edelweiss Air - while being a sister company of SWISS - is a separate airline, much like Lufthansa and SWISS are separate airlines. So it is Edelweiss who actually decides on all product aspects, procedures and benefits.

While of course we at SWISS are striving to align the benefits and services - especially for our status customers - as far as possible, the ultimate decision on what actually is offered lies with Edelweiss Air.

Thank you for your understanding, and of course for choosing to fly with our sister company Edelweiss Air.

Kind regards,
Gianrico