Is there an SQL function to convert the time zone to local time (LDT)? - sql

Question

I am quite new to SQL, and trying to pull a data table from the database (flight) using the following command:
select
flight.FLT_NBR,
flight.LEG_NBR,
flight.LEG_TAIL_NBR,
flight.LEG_IATA_ORIG_CD as FLT_SCHD_ORIG_ARPT_CD,
flight.LEG_IATA_DEST_CD as FLT_SCHD_DEST_ARPT_CD,
flight.SCHD_ARR_TMSTP as Scheduled_Arrival,
flight.ACTL_ARR_TMSTP AS Actual_Arrival,
flight.SCHD_DPRT_TMSTP as Scheduled_Departure,
flight.ACTL_DPRT_TMSTP AS Actual_Departure,
from home/tulips/FT_FLIGHT_LEG flight
Now the problem is there are multiple country origin and destination with different times. How do I incorporate same time zone for all the countries? I tried using the command as time zone 'UTC' such as below but it didn't work... May be I am adding it in a wrong place?
select
flight.FLT_NBR,
flight.LEG_NBR,
flight.LEG_TAIL_NBR,
flight.LEG_IATA_ORIG_CD as FLT_SCHD_ORIG_ARPT_CD,
flight.LEG_IATA_DEST_CD as FLT_SCHD_DEST_ARPT_CD,
flight.SCHD_ARR_TMSTP as Scheduled_Arrival as time zone 'UTC',
flight.ACTL_ARR_TMSTP AS Actual_Arrival as time zone 'UTC',
flight.SCHD_DPRT_TMSTP as Scheduled_Departure as time zone 'UTC',
flight.ACTL_DPRT_TMSTP AS Actual_Departure as time zone 'UTC',
from home/tulips/FT_FLIGHT_LEG flight
Please help me a way to have one time zone for all the Scheduled_Arrival,Actual_Arrival,Scheduled_Departure and Actual_Departure

Answer 1

The expression you want is at time zone, not as time zone.
In order to use it, you need to know what time zone the original datetime value represents. For example, I have a SQL server in Sydney Australia, so getdate() will return my local date and time. However, to convert it to UTC I must first inform SQL of the fact that the value starts off in AUS Eastern Standard Time, and then ask it to convert it to UTC, by chaining at time zone expressions together. Like this:
select getdate() at time zone 'AUS Eastern Standard Time' at time zone 'UTC'
If you don't know the time zone of the original datetime value, there is no way for SQL to know how to change it to a different time zone's value.