Mileage Run - Jan 2026 - Chapter 02

Boarding in DUS started on time and, despite a completely full aircraft, we headed off toward ZRH with only a few minutes delay.

Before departure, the captain pointed out that Zurich was covered by a thick cloud layer and that there was a good chance we might have to do a few extra rounds before landing.

Despite the prior warning, we landed ahead of schedule and I made my way straight to Lounge D. I’m always happy to accept the passport control in exchange for the noticeably quieter atmosphere compared to the lounges in the A/B area.

The aircraft for LX 1838 was meanwhile changed to HB-IJN. The flight arrived in ZRH from GVA about 40 minutes late, but boarding still started on time.

From the lounge, I tried once again via the SEN hotline to get a final confirmation of the new AMM flight times for Monday. Unfortunately, so far there is only the general statement that flights through Monday inclusive are affected by the new times. I’ll try again tonight from Athens and then either cancel the first ticket or rebook both. We’ll see.

The flight to Athens itself was completely uneventful. Very good and attentive service, as is usually the case with Swiss, and we landed a few minutes earlier than planned.

After arriving in Athens, I went straight to the Holiday Inn Airport via the shuttle. I’ve booked three stays there using points. The shuttle always departs from the airport on the hour—arrival in ATH was at 16:35. Since I’m traveling with carry-on only, it worked out perfectly. The drive to the hotel takes about 15 minutes.

The hotel itself is in a quiet location. There’s not much to do around here, but that’s fine—I really just want to sleep anyway. My room is clean and perfectly adequate in size for my one night stays.

Finally - I’ve now canceled the ticket for tomorrow’s AMM day trip. With the new schedule, the routing simply wouldn’t have worked, and I don’t want to force it. It’s still early in the year after all. 😊

I would like to move the second AMM ticket one day earlier to at least have a bit more time on site, but unfortunately the change to the departure times for Monday hasn’t yet been entered into the LH system. As a result, no rebooking is possible yet.

What kind of mess is this, please? I received the confirmation email with the changed times hours ago. How can it be that LH still doesn’t have the information in the system? I’ll try again later.

Tomorrow I’ll definitely be staying in ATH for now. How things continue on Sunday I hope to find out soon, once LH has updated their system. 🙄