I think I already know the answer to this but to be safe....
We have a one night stay in Zurich before our flight home leaves at 9:00 a.m. the next day. The flight stops in Frankfurt and we change planes. Does that mean we need to check in at the Zurich airport 2 hours ahead of time? Because our final stop is Frankfurt before heading home I wasn't 100% sure. If so, I don't want to pay for a hotel that serves a great breakfast (included with no option to exclude it) if they start serving when we have to leave for the train station and have to miss it. If we were to arrive more like 1.5 hours ahead of time in order to eat breakfast, are we taking a risk? It's not so much the breakfast (we can eat at the airport) but the hotel seemed like a good choice for us and breakfast is included.
Any thoughts on this?
BTW, we do not have seat assignments for that first leg of the trip home-United Airlines said we had to wait until we were over there to get seats. I don't know how long the flight is but I suppose we could at least be risking a bad seat or even getting bumped?
Posted by
Anaheim, CA, USA
1455 posts
Teri, regardless of the destination, always give yourself ample time. I think 2 hours is adequate.
As you said you can always eat at the airport.
I'd rather make sure you're at the airport with a seat, rather than sweating and cutting it close, and possibly getting bumped.
Are you bringing a lap top? You can check online 24 hours before to select or verify your seating. Or find an internet cafe to double check.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Teri, I am a bit taken back that United has not given you seat assignments before you left for Europe. Is this a Lufthansa flight (United partner) on this first leg? If yes, I would contact them right away and get seat assignments. If it's United all the way, they should be able to give you seat assignments.
I'm a long time United Mileage Plus customer. Even when I've flown to Europe on points with United and Lufthansa, I've had full seat assignments all the way. On my las trip last year, United changed the schedule and I personally went down to San Francisco airport and visited both the United and Lufthansa ticket desks to make sure the changes were in place, I had seat assignments and I walked out with full revised tickets.
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1601 posts
I'm guessing from your post that you have a flight ZRH-FRA which will almost definitely be on LH or LX (Swiss). If this is the case, United will not be able to assign seats for this flight. You will need to call the carrier directly for this.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Arnold is correct. I believe that it was my visit to the Lufthansa counter that got my seat assignments for the LAX-FRA flight. And, Lufthansa had them all along. It's just that United couldn't see them. So just check with your ZRH-FRA carrier and see what's up. If they don't have the seats already assigned when you call, and you can't resolve it over the phone, I would take the time and make the trip to Tom Bradley International Terminal in LAX and park yourself with the ticket people until you get seat assignments. You don't want to wait until you show up in Zurich on the morning of the flight and find out that you have been bumped. Get those seat assignments right away.
Posted by
OP
Newport Beach, CA, USA
54 posts
Thanks everyone. When booking so far ahead of time (FF mileage), I forget that these things need to be dealt with now so I don't have to worry about big potential problems that could have been avoided. I have run into this non seat assignment before, and I guess have been lucky up until now, but I better not test my luck. I will start trying to track down seat assignments pronto.
Again, thanks.