Flight with Lufthansa involving multiple airlines. Problems?

Sue, what website are you using?

Lufthansa.

Yes, it is typical for all major airlines to sell tickets on their code-shared partner airlines. They've built these networks specifically so that they can sell additional routes as their own. By booking through Lufthansa, you should be well protected in case of any delay, which you would not be if you booked tickets separately on different airlines. Your luggage will be checked though to the final destination in the direction of Europe (but when you return to the US, US Customs and Immigration takes place at the first place you land, probably Chicago). These three are members of the Star Alliance.

Thank you Laura.

Not unusual at all. I’ve flown United/Lufthansa a number of times. Luggage has always been checked through to my final destination.

As Laura said all 3 airlines that you mentioned are part of the Star Alliance network. Furthermore Swiss International is owned by Lufthansa.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lufthansa[1]

ETA - If you encounter issues prior to departure I would call Lufthansa since they sold you the ticket. On the actual day of travel, contact United while in Minneapolis and Swiss at Chicago or Zurich.

With some code-share flights, I had come across the problem of unable to get all the flights' reference numbers. The airline I booked with would provide reference numbers for their flights, but none for their partners' flights. Contacting both airlines got me nowhere. Without the reference numbers, I could not check in online and reserve seats.

Although not quite the same as your situation, we booked a code share flight earlier this year and ran into problems. It was nominally a two-leg American flight, had an AA flight number, and AA flew the domestic US leg. The second leg (US to Spain) was listed as "American, operated by British Airways." We had to cancel the flight for family reasons, and that's where we ran into problems. AA wouldn't even talk to us but told us to deal with BA. We were told we had to reschedule with British Airways, even though the missed flight was listed under American. So now we are stuck with a BA credit. We ended up having to book a two-leg BA flight routed through Heathrow, which was not what we would have otherwise chosen. And it was more expensive than several other AA flights we might have booked had we been able to use our original choice of airline.

So be careful when you split the ticket between two airlines. Things may not always turn out the way you expect. I can imagine that having one airline operating a split flight with two other airlines might really be asking for trouble.

I booked our flight to Zurich last winter on the United Airlines website. The United flight was a code share operated by Swiss Air. (Got a good price).

The only problem was that neither United nor Swiss Air would pre-assign us seats because we booked through United. I had to do the seat selection 24 hours before departure.

Sue, if you go to United website, do they show the same flights and same fare?

Just checked. Yes they do.

I have booked United/Lufthansa and United/Swiss flights through United and my online reservation included a link to see the other airline's flight number/confirmation.

What happens to our luggage? Do we have to collect it in Chicago and
check it in again with Swiss International or does it go all the way
through to Zurich?

What if there are any problems with either of the flights? Would you
contact United, Swiss International or Lufthansa???? Is it typical for
airlines to do this? Makes me nervous - seems like it has problems
written all over it. Might just be me though.

What would make me nervous is the connection time in Chicago not being long enough for your checked bag to make it on to your Swiss International flight to ZRH.

If your MSP - ORD leg is late, your bag may not make it on the 2nd plane. Even if it were all on the same airline, I would still be nervous. If the bag does not make the connection, who knows how long it would take for that bag to arrive at your hotel assuming you are not moving from place to place and thereby hotel to hotel.

You have a great airfare. My advice is not to check any bags unless the connection time is a minimum 3 hours or take the first flight of the day from MSP to ORD. I've been on too many United flights connecting in Chicago that have been late. It's not worth the risk to check in baggage.