Please help—emergency flight from Zurich to New York or somewhere close

I am so sorry Lola. I used Kayak to search and there is a flight from Zurich to Chicago and then Chicago to Akron, on United/Skywest. This is for tomorrow. You can also look at Skyscanner or Google Flights. Book directly with the airline. I hope you can get to Ohio quickly.

I am so sorry. You can go on goggle flights and put in one way, Zurich to Akron and then the date. I didn't find anything for tomorrow but there are one stop options on United for Thursday through both Chicago and Houston.

Or you can just go to United and do the same thing as they are only ones with one stop options.

In the meantime, the other thing that is going on is our son’s family luggage did not arrive from their Delta flight last Saturday. This is day 5 with no luggage and they have been very frustrated with attempts to communicate with SwissPort who apparently is supposed to deliver the luggage. Last we saw from their AirTag was it was heading to Grindelwald which is in the wrong direction. It is now well past 9 pm here and no updates from the transport service.

“Happy travels” everyone.

So, so sorry about the situation!

Regarding the below, if practical, do try to call your travel insurance provider before you purchase a ticket. It is still business hours in the USA, and the call could save you a lot of money if you need prior declaration to secure insurance coverage.

, and we have travel insurance that may or may not cover the emergency flight

I've just looked at the Swiss (Swissair) website. Not tomorrow, but Friday, they have non-stops to Chicago at 0950 and 1320, change there for Canton/Akron. Fares from 2295 Swiss Francs including 23kg checked bag.

Lufthansa offer the same flights (presumably as a code share) as they are Swiss flights, and the same fare.

Swiss also have direct New York flights tomorrow at 1000, 1315 and 1720 at 2200 Swiss Francs.

Looking at Akron/Canton airport website the nearest airport with direct flights is DC Reagan International on American 3 x daily.

American have an 1145 flight tomorrow morning Zurich- Philadlephia, Philly to DC, DC to Akron for 1942 Sw Fr arriving Akron at 2144.

Hope that helps and sorry for your husband's news.

EDITED- I see that Akron/Canton is a 400 mile drive from New York, so a New York won't be of any use- I wondered. So either via Chicago or Philly and DC seem to be your options.

Having found where Akron is, I also see that Swiss have Zurich to Chicago, Chicago to Cleveland flights tomorrow at 0950, a 1655 and 1320 a 2159 (Chicago to Cleveland being on United) for 2295 Swiss Francs then a 1 hour, 41 mile drive to Akron.

I know price is not your primary concern, but United is considerably cheaper than Swiss Air and goes directly (after one stop) to Akron airport.

Lola - I am so sorry to hear this. Did you book a flight?

I see United flight 12.
9:50 am tomorrow from Zurich to Chicago at 1pm.
1.5 hour layover in Chicago.
Then United 5358 (operated by Skywest) to Akron
Leave Chicago at 2:30 and arrive at Akron at 4:58

Looks like $1612 in coach on the United site.

Another thought would be to call BA (or United or other airline) directly, and explain the situation. They may able to find flights and quickly book for you, without your having to do the homework (there used to be bereavement fares, not sure those are a thing anymore). I would also contact your travel insurance, for the same reason - they may be able to help.

Or find a travel agent in a major city and have them work their thing. Or use a service like American Express travel.

Does your insurance provider have a concierge or similar service to assist you? Have you called the phone number on your insurance ID card? Did the insurance provider help with the luggage issue?

If you can get to New York, Southwest has numerous flights per day from LGA to Cleveland I assume there is shuttle service to Akron, or someone can pick him up. Keep in mind that Southwest doesn't permit their flights to show up on most aggregator sites.

A European flight will land at Kennedy. Then he would need to get to LGA. Not the best situation. There are some Kennedy to Cleveland flights, if he's set on NY.

I would connect through Chicago as others have suggested. It is a short drive from Cleveland Airport to Akron. It may be easier to ent a car at Cleveland and drive than to connect to a Cleveland - Akron puddle jumper.

Lola, may I suggest calling your trip insurance company -- you may be pleasantly surprised that they might actually help your husband find a flight, book it for him, and provide transporation to the airport, etc.

While our situation was different many years ago (cruise abruptly ended mid-way), we called Travel Guard, and they got us on the very next plane out of Halifax (where other passengers faced a long 10+ hour bus journey to what would have been the last port stop on the scheduled cruise). Transportation to the airport and then to our home, along with meals were also reimbursed.

Just being able to call that 800# and talk with someone at the trip insurance company was calming, even more so when they took us under their wing and got us home seamlessly. I am loyal to TravelGuard to this day.

So sorry for the situations that have arisen, and wishing you and yours peace and comfort.

Sorry to hear about your situation.

The first thing you should do or should have done is call British Airways and see if they could change your flights.

If that doesn't work United has the least expensive flight connection Zurich-Chicago-Akron.

Flights to Cleveland also include one stop and are priced about the same as flights to Akron/Canton. He will still have to get to Canton.

So very sorry about your troubles, Lola! Sympathies to your husband and family. :O(
We came up with the same Zurich-Chicago-Akron flight mentioned earlier so didn't repost that option.

Do let us know how it all works out, including the annoying luggage issue?

What a wonderful community we have here. Thank you to all, especially for the advice to fly to Chicago instead of New York as connections are better.

We talked with the brother on Face Time last night after I wrote this, and my husband then did a long message exchange with the doctor. I should note that my husband is himself a doctor (retired oncologist) and has lots of experience with dying people. As of this morning his feeling is (a); if death is indeed imminent he cannot get there in time to have meaningful contact, but (b) his brother actually looks and sounds much better than he expected, and the lab tests are not all that bad. So he feels that for now he should stay here, and “visit” his brother daily with FaceTime or a phone call. If things change he can always use the suggestions here to return to the US within a day or two.

As for the missing luggage, the saga continues. Kind of unbelievable how messed up the courier service is. II will elaborate tomorrow. For now, time to sleep, as I missed a lot of that last night.

sleep well. I hope that all of you can have a better result than initially thought. Concern.

Lola,

That is good news. It will have been a very hard decision to make. I am sure the sympathies of the whole forum are with you and your husband.