Richard Bell

Watch out if you're trying to carry duty-free alcohol bought at LHR, getting into E via the train for a Swiss International long-haul flight, the transfer-security ripped open my sealed plastic-bag to check the contents, but then blank-refused to put my litre of Irish-whiskey into a NEW sealed-bag. This was despite my (always polite) protestation, that it HAS to be in a SEALED-bag, for transit-security at BKK ! And sure enough, BKK-security refused to accept my ripped-open sealed-bag, and I LOST MY DUTY-FREE !

I won't be flying Swiss-International via-Zurich ever again !

JSarj

Hey All,

I've got a LCY-ZRH-HKG return in J with some tight connections.

55m connection on the way to HKG (Helvetic Airways operating LCY-ZRH) and 40m connection on the way back (Swiss International ZRH-LCY).

Last time I did this route I had to swap terminals between E and D which was relatively smooth through transfer security.

Having read some of this thread there is some discussion of people going through A to avoid security but go through passport control. Is that a route that is still viable/works? Or is only for F with European passports? I have the European passport but am only in J.

Thanks,

Fabo.sk

In F, you can use passport control in the FCL which simplifies things, but only in some directions. I don't think between E and D is one of them, this would be a good question for chris63 as he is well acquainted with transfer from UK to longhaul.

In J however that would not apply to you anyway. What you can do though with your EU biometric passport is to skip transfer security at cost of two passport control passes. That should be quick using the machines.
On the way back, I believe you have to go through the security anyway as China is not a secure country of origin. So you might as well take the unsecure car of the Heidi train and take security in D. It's gonna be tight at 40 minutes, but LX is good with either waiting for connecting pax or rebooking.

chris63

In F it could make sense but in J not, you will arrive D & possibly a business bus to the terminal, either way just heard for E & transfer security outbound & inbound & good luck those are very tight connections.

lcheval

Just to follow up this question, as it could be useful to others FTers. After having contacted swiss by phone : the change to the earlier flight has been agreed without further questions as there had been a change from their side since the original booking (even if minor change). The agent has nonetheless asked me if I firstly agreed the changes, that wasn't the case as I didn't ever receive a notification of changes.

Does some hotline-agents work from home ? The one that I spoke with seemed to be in her kitchen, with the sound of tv (spicegirls clips!) and presumely childrens in backgrounds! The agent seemed at idle and not very implied, but anyhow succeeded to proceed to my request so no complain!

worldclubber

She had to ask you whether you had already agreed, as your options would have been reduced to a “no” then.

Noticed, too, recently that some seem to work from home and that there is some background noise.

gold23

Had an interesting transfer last week.... Flew EWR-FRA-VIE, then back home FLR-ZRH-EWR. 1:20 on the connection in ZRH. Landed a few minutes late, bussed efficiently to terminal, and then went straight to the E train. At customs, agent says "ok, I see what happened but this is going to be an issue." In FRA we were on a long line at customs. You know how you can see two agents working and secrectly hope you get one of them because they seem more engaged and efficient? Well, we got the wrong one, a guy who was constantly looking over the heads of the people at his desk and into the line. Anyway....he stamped my passport twice and my wife's none. Lesson learned- always look. But they're stamping away quickly and you can't see, so I give this one a pass. But we'll always look from now on, lol.

Anyway, the guy in ZRH calls his supervisor or whomever he needed to speak with over and they're chatting. Meanwhile, I had the SSSS on my ticket so not only was I worried about getting through to the terminal but knew that I had another hurdle once there. The second guy tells both my wife and I that we are super lucky we didn't split up on the way home- that neither of us would have gotten through without a rather long inquiry and that at best we'd have been on a flight a day or two later. They pull us into a room and make a call to the gate (which was super amazing of them). They also had me go through my SSSS screening there, so that if they did clear me I wouldn't need to do it again at the gate. Again....super great. Anyway, they ask where we went through customs at FRA, have us show them our UA, LH, and LX itins, etc. They agreed it was pretty obvious what happened but they need to check their boxes- understandably. Finally the more senior member has his cell phone ring, he is speaking German for a few minutes, and then comes back and says we're waved through. My wife asks what happened while we're being walked back to the train area, and the border agent said that apparently this wasn't all that uncommon with a particular agent in FRA. What???

Anyway, arrived at the gate about midway through boarding and had an easy flight. My question is this....am I going to have a hard time the next trip through EU since I have two identical stamps on my passport? Might my wife have an issue since she only has an exiting one?

megaloman

You were talking to the Immigration officer at both Frankfurt and Zurich, not customs.

You clear customs when you land at your final destination - so that was at Vienna for you . The process is different to what you experience in the US, where you have to clear customs at your first point of entry.

KayVeeBee

There is indeed an issue that the outside Schengen path from D to E is not "clean", so you had to go through security again. You can avoid that by following the signs for A/B first and going through passport control, and then going through passport control again on the way to E.

But nowadays I do not bother with getting tax free booze anyway. Certainly not in the UK. There are no real savings to be had anymore. You know how the joke goes: What is the best place to buy Whiskey: A French supermarket...

chris63

That is amazing, i have never had a problem, was the bag properly sealed at LHR with the purchase receipt clearly visible ?

The security staff work for the airport & are nothing to do with SWISS, you should make a complaint to ZRH airport & they do have spare sealed bags & equipment to check contents & reseal items, they have even done this for me when SWISS have given me Champagne & it was not bagged.

chris63

There should be no issue with items correctly sealed in duty free bags at ZRH transfer security, it is inconvenient then transferring from clean arrivals.

Duty free prices ex UK can be much cheaper than the price at the final destination

ced_lx

Looking to fly AMS-ZRH-YUL in May. Would arrive a 21:25 from AMS and leave for YUL the next day, LX086. Can I ask for my luggage to be checked through to YUL? Check-in desks close at 9:45 from what I read so it would be really tight to check in again. I did that a few years ago coming back from Sweden and my luggage came out in ZRH and the counters where closed...

YuropFlyer

Yes, luggage can be checked through overnight, in fact that’s the default option.

sbams

Yes you can. I presume it is all on one ticket? Make sure you see the luggage tag which the agent puts on your suitcase ... it should show YUL as your destination and you will not collect it in ZRH.

chris63

On LX you can through check up to 24 hrs