We are heading to Zurich this Sunday! Thanks to all who have shared helpful update and travel tips. I wonder if someone could give me some advice on filling out the Swiss entry form. This online form requires flight and seating information. We booked our flight (SFO-ZRH) on Swiss, via United's website. As a result, we could not select seat on United's website. I put in the confirmation code under my Swiss account, and the reservation indeed comes up. However, it says that seat selection is not available (even if we are willing to pay for selecting the seat early). Has any of you encountered this problem? In the past, we had taken this route several times, and we could select the seat starting 23 hours before departure. Does anyone know if it is OK to fill out the entry form on Saturday evening, after we are able to select the seat? Are there other options? I emailed Swiss airline but got very generic (and not useful) answers. I searched here but seems all of you were able to fill out the form far in advance :-) Many thanks! --Lauren
Posted by
San Diego, California
5618 posts
Lauren, several OP's have said that's not a major issue. We did ours yesterday, and had seats, but I think folks are just putting in any # and revising the form after they have seats.
I did book this Swiss flight once under United, and I THINK I had a seat assignment and didn't realize it; I hadn't looked closely. However, my memory has been known to fail.
PLEASE keep us posted, and safe travels and good wishes for a wonderful trip!
Posted by
Chicago
8166 posts
You can fill it out online when you check in However no one ever asked to see it during the 4 days I was in Switzerland last month.
Posted by
OP
Palo Alto
51 posts
Thanks @Pat and @Jazz+Travels! A little more search on the FOPH website produced this answer:
"I am unable to save my entry form because I do not have my seat number yet. What should I do?
Answer
Enter a temporary seat number to be able to save your information. Important: change your information as soon as you have your definite seat number. You must make this adjustment before you arrive in Switzerland. To do this, click on the link in the confirmation email you received after saving the entry form. The link leads back to the form where you can make your changes."
So filling in a temporary seat number is not only consistent with others' experience, but is also "officially" allowed :-)
Thanks for all your good wishes! I will send a report once we are there (fingers crossed). To all fellow travelers, have a safe and enjoyable trip!
Posted by
Paris
10209 posts
Happy and safe travels, Lauren !
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8062 posts
For what it is worth, instructions for most countries indicate to fill the form out between the time you check-in and when you board. Apparently there is no issue doing it earlier, but you do need the seat numbers.
Overall (Europe wide, not just Switzerland), most people report that they needed to show it to the airline, and maybe the QR code to immigration, but no one has indicated that anyone scrutinized the document. I am assuming that if your seat changes (upgrade?) or you have a delay and change flights enroute, that you probably wouldn't bother to update the document unless they insisted at immigration.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, US
36 posts
Lauren, we have the same issue more or less--booked in 2 weeks on United from west Coast to Zurich. We fly United to Chicago, then change to Swiss Air for the flight to Zurich, and can't get set reservations for the Swiss air portion. We found the information others posted here to update your seat information once you have it, and make something up until you do. We plan on doing that when we fill out our forms this weekend. Evidently its for contact tracing and I doubt you'd be denied entry into the country if for some reason you couldn't update your form after getting a seat assignment. Safe travels. We hope you don't have any issues. EU is locking down again, so hope Switzerland doesn't go in the same direction.
Posted by
OP
Palo Alto
51 posts
Hi everyone! Greetings from Switzerland :-) Just an update: we did fill out the entry form online in advance, making a random guess on the seat number. After checking in and receiving the real seat numbers, I was able to update the form. It was easy and no fuss. Furthermore, the flight attendants also made an announcement that they had hard copies of the entry form for those who had not done it online. Other than that, no one asked to see the form either at SFO nor ZRH. We have found things pretty calm and normal. People are as kind and professional towards tourists as they have always been.