Connecting Flights

polybear

Hi all,

I'm off to Italy soon with Swiss Air, with a short (couple of Hours) stopover in Zurich (this was the cheapest way to do it, unless you fancy a 6am flight from Heathrow...). Both legs of the flight are with SA and booked on the same ticket.

Will I have to collect my hold baggage in Zurich and check it in again for the second flight, or is it (hopefully) transferred from one plane to the next automatically? And in Zurich will I stay "airside" in the terminal until the next flight or will I have to go through customs, scanning etc. again?

Many thanks.
Brian

Voyager2002

No: you will not have to mess about with luggage at Zurich. When you check in at Heathrow, be sure to ask them to through-check your luggage all the way to your final destination, and then forget about it until you arrive in Italy.

You will certainly have to pass security screening before boarding a flight from Zurich (or anywhere else). I'm not sure about Immigration: I think that you will need to pass Immigration in order to enter the Schengen zone since your second flight will be effectively a domestic flight. However, (i) airports vary and (ii) Switzerland has a special status within Europe. In any case, showing your passport is not a big deal.

wongataa

The baggage should be transferred between the planes for you. You won't see it between checking it in at your start airport and pickig it up in Italy.

You will also most likely stay airside in Zurich and not go through immigration/customs.

Caz3121

polybear wrote: »

Both legs of the flight are with SA

Just to help if you are looking at airport screens etc, the code for Swiss Air is LX (SA is for South African Airways)

Takecareofthepennies

You will actually have to go through both immigration (due to the Schengen area issues described above) and security (due to the airport layout; from the UK, you will be arriving at the (non-Schengen) D gates and departing for Italy from the (Schengen) A or B gates, with each gate area having its own security screening).