All,

Sitting in the BMI lounge, waiting on LX327 to ZRH to connect to LX138 to HKG. It is a miles plus cash redemption booking in C and then F.

Problem is the ZRH flight is delayed from 1840 until 2000 (and they have cancelled the 2000 flight as well). I only had a 1hr 20 min layover in ZRH for the HKG flight (which leaves at 2240) so it looks like I am stuffed!

Phoned Swiss and they said the airport staff would deal with me but am not hopeful. Any advice from this forum before I try to run around sorting it out?

This has never happened to me...

Thanks!

Let the staff take care of you, redemption ticket or not, they will rebook you if needed. It might involve a hotel in ZRH which they will pay for, relax and enjoy the lounge

We had a delay on a flight @ ZRH on TG a couple of years back which involved a missed connection at BKK on a different PNR. The LX staff bent over backwards to help us and even got us rebooked on a later BKK-HKT flight when they didn't really have to lift a finger to help.

Let them take care of you. If you go to the transfer desks @ ZRH and plonk yourself in the F/*G queue, you'll be fine.

Knowing LX, if there's enough HKG connectors on the LHR-ZRH sector, and I'd imagine there's a few, they'll hold the flight.

Thanks all. Am enjoying the hospitality of the BMI lounge and going with the flow. As said above hopefully they will hold the HKG flight, especially as the ZRH leg is due to land as the HKG one is due to leave (in other words, the delay to the HKG flight would be short).

Anyway, they have Carlsberg Export here...

Looking at ZRH departure info this evening a whole bunch of flights seem to be delayed.

Ditto for arrivals though not as much as departures so far. I expect the OP won't be the only one arriving late for a longhaul connection.

I've just looked at one site that suggests that it's currently snowing in ZRH. Now I don't expect that will grind ZRH to a halt like it does here, but it may have something to do with the delay.

Which in turn may mean that some l/h flights are held for connecting passengers if a number of connecting flights are delayed. Will depend on the route and connecting passengers though.

I took an interesting tour of ZRH airport back in May during a long connection and they took us to the garage where all the winter snow clearing equipment was. It was extremely impressive how many ploughs, de-icing vehicles etc they have (although they were taking their summer rest at the time). Obviously they need it there more than here but it shows what you need to keep an airport like ZRH running during the winter. I've flown from ZRH before when there was rather heavy snow fall and I was amazed that I was only 15 minutes delayed, and that was the time it took for the de-icing. I guess this is the first snow fall of the season at ZRH so they may be a bit rusty!

Back to the OP, as previously stated you are fine in terms of getting to HKG without further expense to yourself and hopefully you will get out tonight. I doubt if lots of connecting flights are delayed they would leave for HKG on time. That would just leave them a half empty A340 and a big problem rebooking all the pax. Better to leave 1 hour later which won't have any knock-on effect for scheduling as the aircraft sits in HKG for a long time before returning to ZRH anyway. If anyone can make it happen it wil be LX! Enjoy Number 1 lounge and your quick limo transfer from the aircraft to the E gates in ZRH

Good luck Irish lad - do keep us informed of your situation won't you?

I have no experience of LX but if I was in your position they would be amongst my first choice of airline I would rather be ticketed on. ^

Well...Swiss.com reckons that LX138 has gone and that LX327 is still in the air.

Good luck Irish Lad, hope that they resolve it satisfactorily for you

According to ZRH arrival and departure info:

21:20 LX 327 from LONDON Heathrow is expected at 23:22
22:40 LX 138 to HONG KONG Intl. has departed

What's the most likely solution they are going to find him, do you reckon something before the LH flight from FRA at 17:40?

Well, here I am in the Radisson Blu hotel room at ZRH airport during my unscheduled layover. As was posted above, they did not hold the LX138 flight which surprised me given that I was on the ground only 40 mins after it was due to depart.

What surprised me even more is that there were no signs or anything for pax leaving the LHR-ZRH flight. There was a woman standing around but she looked disinterested and I thought it best to plough on and see whether the LX138 had left yet.

Ended up wandering round a deserted airport with nobody in sight and had to ask the passport control people how to get to a transfer area. Ended up at a busy Transfer Area A and queued at the first class desk. I did express (mild) displeasure at the lack of signs/info etc during a) the boarding process in LHR ("we are keeping connections open but we do not know if they will hold aircraft for you" ) and b) when we disembarked at ZRH.

Anyway, they had rebooked me via the 1740 from Frankfurt tomorrow, but I asked them to reroute me via MUC. While I love the 744 over the A346, I prefer the first class setup of the Airbus in Lufthansa as the window seats are more private. It gets me in later (but still ahead of tomorrow's LX138) and I have lost a day anyway...The rebooking process took AGES, not helped by the man behind me losing his patience and tutting.

Major downside is the loss of the day and having to change all my forward flights/hotels etc. As a sidenote, the Radisson Blu service is fairly grumpy (no Goldpoints as I am not paying, no benefits of the "business class" room - normally free minibar, movies etc - as I am not paying etc, lunch/dinner vouchers not valid for room service). Makes you feel like they are doing you a favour. Still I can hardly blame Swiss for that.

Finally, do I get miles for the flights tomorrow or does it still count as an award booking?!


PS Did not think this would be the tone of my 500th post!

You might....might not....depends...wait and see.