Systematic Airline Problem that Plans to Remain That Way

It’s 7:54 AM on July 8. I’m still in London.

17:00 — This is how the chaos began.

I was at the check-in counter ready to board my 18:35 flight to Zurich, of which the second leg to Hong Kong would depart at 22:40. The transit time was 1 hour and 40 minutes — not generous, but doable.

With a pair of eyebrows furrowed, I received a boarding pass with no assigned gate nor assigned seat. My checked baggage was tagged “Standby”, and I was not checked in for the second flight. I already knew this would be a headache.

After clearing security, (Fun fact: there is no passport control on your way exiting UK. What a shock!) I got a SMS notification saying the flight will be delayed to 19:25, leaving me transit time reducing to 50 minutes. I did not like this — I talked to the ground staff, who ensured me that 40 minutes is all you need in Zurich, there would not be any passport control exiting EU either.

“There’s no indication it’s a problem unless you get an email from Swiss.”

I got no email but another SMS saying that the first leg would be further delayed to 19:40. With the first leg departing 1-hour late, my connection window in Zurich shrunk to less than 30 minutes. I needed to look out for myself, so I decided to talk to the ground staff again.

“The system has not shown that your second flight would be jeopardized. Maybe the second flight would be delayed too. Please let me board everybody first, and see if there are no-shows.”

At 19:20, I checked my dying phone.

It is just 10 minutes delay on average in its operating history. It is still scheduled to depart on time. I CANNOT go on that plane evenif there is any no-shows.

The last direct flight to Hong Kong would leave from Heathrow at 22:15. (I was still at Gate 46 in Gatwick at this point.) Swiss could have rebooked me at the check-in counter at 17:00 if they were willing to help. Rien and nada.

20:00, we sat at the gate for another hour.

There were 3 standby passengers who got denied boarding. One American girl was tearing up — she kept repeating: I would be missing my sound check tomorrow.

We were waiting for all the rebooking and hotel booking. While being escorted back to “the UK”, I started to chat with one Swiss ground agent. She leaned in and said, quietly: “We do this all the time. We hate it. But we’re not allowed to do anything. We’re not even Swiss staff. We’re contractors. Ticketing isn’t handled by us.”

Everything makes sense now. It is not that the staff are unhelpful. This is a structurally broken system where ticketing and rebooking are with the headquarters, and ground services have no authority. She also handed me this little pamphlet.

So I started asking: Is this solely a European problem? They already refunded 220 pounds at the gate for denied boarding, and they would have to reimburse me another 600 euros for the second flight, in addition to the meals and accommodation. I paid my round trip at about 900 pounds. They would make no money. I eventually got rebooked on a morning flight, through Singapore.

Europe is still beautiful and elegant. The culture is rich. But Europe legacy businesses seem to have no incentives or too many constraints to modernize. Europe isn’t decaying in the dramatic sense — but it’s aging in place (and likely with too many policymakers who deprioritize efficiency.)

It is now 9:43 AM July 8. Hope my journey goes well this time.

At Gatwick Gate 568