Can I stay in Zurich airport If I get there before my visa starts? [duplicate]

We recently had a question about a transit hotel in Zurich airport. So you should be able to sleep in that hotel before crossing the border and then, in the morning, go cross the border and enter the Schengen area.

However, as @pnuts commented, the issue might be on the airline side. To be honest, I am not familiar with this kind of issue (that may sound ridiculous that an airline would bother you because of a 2-hour delay), but it may happen, since technically you should have a valid visa to enter Schengen or to transit (if you are an Indian citizen, you don't need a transit visa), but in your case you transit to ... the Schengen area.

I would follow the comment of pnuts, i.e. you may ask the airline. The problem as raised in the comments is that this is not an authoritative answer but as far as know, the airline has an arbitrary power to refuse you on a flight if the staff believes you do not have the right travel documents.

So my suggestion would be to contact the airline and when you come to the airport, you bring as many papers as possible to prove to the airline you won't have any issue: any mail/email exchanged with the airline staff, the hotel reservation for the Zurich transit hotel, your visa, and any other document you find useful. Still, don't forget that the airline has an arbitrary power to refuse you.