Life Miles Newbie - Swiss Availability
Mar 28, 2017, 7:02 am
#31
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
Find the reverse and you will be glad this "feature" is still around! Can't remember the last time I paid F for F......the cabin is all that matters, and is all that will remain on your ticket if you buy it.
Buyer beware!
Buyer beware!
May 10, 2017, 5:18 am
#33
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: AY Platinum, UA Premier Platinum, OneWorld Emerald, VA Platinum
Posts: 558
Zurich to Boston in J came up on a random date in September..
Last edited by Guvner067; May 10, 2017 at 5:24 am
May 10, 2017, 7:41 am
#34
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,758
May 13, 2017, 11:10 pm
#36
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVPG 75K, BA Silver, AC, AF/KL, AV, VS | Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott
Posts: 465
Well despite availability showing up on UA and NH, Lifemiles is telling me that SFO-ZRH is "sold out" on Swiss for the dates I'm checking in December. If I want to position to ORD, YUL, or JFK there are seats to ZRH (or GVA from JFK), so at least availability is really there...somewhere. I wanted to try the 77W from SFO because I had trouble resting in the "coffin position" on the A330/A340. I could transfer points over to UA and book it but this trip is low on the wish list right now so I'll just keep monitoring.
May 14, 2017, 11:51 am
#37
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: TLV
Posts: 522
Well despite availability showing up on UA and NH, Lifemiles is telling me that SFO-ZRH is "sold out" on Swiss for the dates I'm checking in December. If I want to position to ORD, YUL, or JFK there are seats to ZRH (or GVA from JFK), so at least availability is really there...somewhere.
If you look up the same on LM, only ORD/YUL/JFK are available as origins for LX non-stops.
Look closely at the the flights shown on UA's website, and you'll see a difference:
- The flights out of ORD/YUL/JFK are operated by Swiss International Airlines
- The flights out of LAX/SFO are operated by Swiss Global Airlines
Looks to me like this is simply another situation where LM fails to consider variations of an airline, in this case LX's subsidiary LZ, similar to the problems we had several years ago with OS flights operated by Tyrolean, and LH flights operated by Cityline.
However, a friend of mine got LX TLV-ZRH-LAX-ZRH-TLV with no problem just a couple of months ago using LM, so I'm thinking either:
- LZ operating the flights out of LAX/SFO for LX is a new thing; or
- It's always been like that and something recently got messed up in LM
Last edited by Maayan; May 14, 2017 at 12:39 pm Reason: Add screenshot
May 14, 2017, 1:48 pm
#39
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: TLV
Posts: 522
I wonder if anyone has access to some service that can tell us if on March 5 the Swiss flight LAX-ZRH was operated by LX or by LZ (although ticketed a couple of weeks earlier). That should tell us if something went bad in LM, or if the flight operator was changed around that time, making LM not recognize the availability since then.
BTW, just checked ZRH-MUC and confirmed similarly: operated by LZ, available on UA but not on LM.
Edit: here's another example. VIE-ZRH that someone mentioned above. UA July 19 shows 5 Swiss flights available, one of which is operated by LZ. Sure enough, LM shows only the 4 flights operated by LX.
BTW, just checked ZRH-MUC and confirmed similarly: operated by LZ, available on UA but not on LM.
Edit: here's another example. VIE-ZRH that someone mentioned above. UA July 19 shows 5 Swiss flights available, one of which is operated by LZ. Sure enough, LM shows only the 4 flights operated by LX.
Last edited by Maayan; May 14, 2017 at 3:30 pm Reason: another example
May 14, 2017, 7:56 pm
#40
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVPG 75K, BA Silver, AC, AF/KL, AV, VS | Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott
Posts: 465
I wonder if anyone has access to some service that can tell us if on March 5 the Swiss flight LAX-ZRH was operated by LX or by LZ (although ticketed a couple of weeks earlier). That should tell us if something went bad in LM, or if the flight operator was changed around that time, making LM not recognize the availability since then.
BTW, just checked ZRH-MUC and confirmed similarly: operated by LZ, available on UA but not on LM.
BTW, just checked ZRH-MUC and confirmed similarly: operated by LZ, available on UA but not on LM.
So it looks like all new aircraft types to Swiss, the CS100 and the 77W, are being operated by Swiss Global and thus not available to Lifemiles. That explains the availability discrepancy between Lifemiles and MileagePlus/ANA Mileage Club...but adds another level of frustration.
May 14, 2017, 8:29 pm
#41
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: TLV
Posts: 522
Thank you for your detective work!
So it looks like all new aircraft types to Swiss, the CS100 and the 77W, are being operated by Swiss Global and thus not available to Lifemiles. That explains the availability discrepancy between Lifemiles and MileagePlus/ANA Mileage Club...but adds another level of frustration.
So it looks like all new aircraft types to Swiss, the CS100 and the 77W, are being operated by Swiss Global and thus not available to Lifemiles. That explains the availability discrepancy between Lifemiles and MileagePlus/ANA Mileage Club...but adds another level of frustration.
No wonder LM ignores LZ, their database isn't updated, it even still has the miscoded airports unchanged since 2012.
May 16, 2017, 8:23 pm
#44
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVPG 75K, BA Silver, AC, AF/KL, AV, VS | Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott
Posts: 465
It gets even weirder: I tried to look up the seat map for SFO-ZRH but SeatGuru doesn't have it. It shows the flight as operated by Belle Air. Wikipedia shows that Belle Air was (until 2013) an Albanian low-cost airline. And guess what? It had the IATA code LZ - same as what now appears to belong to Swiss Global.
No wonder LM ignores LZ, their database isn't updated, it even still has the miscoded airports unchanged since 2012.
No wonder LM ignores LZ, their database isn't updated, it even still has the miscoded airports unchanged since 2012.
Cordial greetings TEDisgone.
In accordance to your concern, with Swiss Global Air Lines a subsidiary of Swiss International Air Lines we do not have redemption nor accrual agreements; reason why, you cannot redeem flights with such airline.
We would like to remind you that we have available our Promotion 2X1 miles. From one thousand miles, we will grant you double mileage plus an extra bonus. Please check its Terms and Conditions on our website following this link
If you have any other concern, we are at your service.
Sincerely,
So they do confirm that any flight operated by Swiss Global Air Lines, "LZ", is not eligible for redemption.
I appreciate the response but I have to give side-eye to them promoting the latest 2X1 sale in the reply since I can't use the miles for the flights I asked about!
Last edited by TEDisgone; May 9, 2020 at 5:24 pm