Swiss International Air Lines

Swiss Air

(What it promises versus what you get)

I wanted to visit a good friend in Thailand this February (2020). Getting there by air means a non-stop flight of around 12/13 hours from the UK, or, as often advertised, by one of the major Middle Eastern airlines, with an average 3 hour transit. Both have advantages and disadvantages...the non-stop carriers are far more expensive but somewhat less tiring, while the one-stoppers pattern is about 6 hours to first stop and the disembarkation, followed by the transit time, the re-boarding of aircraft number two and another 6 plus hours to Bangkok.

In my mid eighties and disabled, doing either in an economy seat would not be possible, so my only alternative was to save-up my pennies, live more frugally for 9 months, search for an airline which could both lessen the overall flight times, with a minimal transit and offer a business class ticket at a competitive price.

My searches and recommendations from travel agencies, was to consider Swiss Air, because it had flights from London to Zurich in 1hr 45 minutes, then less than 2 hour transit onto aircraft number two, then non-stop from Zurich to Bangkok. The price was competitive...not the cheapest...but just within my planned budget.

So, booked the flights for all four legs in Business Class, selected aisle seats because of my walking problem, arranged for Special Assistance (wheelchair) throughout and paid in full.

Fast forward now to departure day...11th February 2020.

After a 3 hour car journey to Heathrow Terminal 2, check-in went smoothly. I asked if the flight was on time...the answer was “As far as we know.” On reflection, I did think that was rather an odd response.

Anyway, wheelchair to the Lufthansa Lounge. Nice, spacious and relaxing with enough variety of food and drink to satisfy most appetites. Flight was due to take off at 13.45 hrs, so I had plenty of time to sit and read. Boarding was due to take place at 13.10hrs. When that time came – and went – I enquired at the desk. “Oh, the plane hasn't even landed yet, the information board will keep you updated.” It did...to a point!

Many a disgruntled passenger was overheard as to what was going on. Eventually, boarding was announced at around 14.25hrs and the rush to the gate began (me being in a wheelchair). Boarding passes checked and passengers sent down the ramp to the aircraft's door. What then? OOPS!!! door barred because cleaning staff were still trying to make the plane ready for its new passengers. They failed. The plane's cleanliness was far from satisfactory.

After boarding and door closed, the Captain made an announcement to the effect of 'we should not worry, because there was a 250kph tail wind, which would get us to Zurich in good time for our varying flight connections.' What a forecast that turned out to be. More about that soon.

Surprise, surprise, there was NO Business Class cabin in this A320, only row upon row of triple economy seats without entertainment screens, virtually no seat adjustment...and...to make matters really bad for me...all aisle seats were taken, so I had to squeeze across to take a window seat. This so-called Business Class area was separated from the rear of the aircraft by a fabric curtain. Is this what I had paid for and been suckered into by false advertising as to the WONDERFULL Swiss Air Business Class offering?

The cabin crew acted in what I would say 'in a robotic fashion'...certainly their body language demonstrated that fact. For us, it was a case of grin and bear it.

On nearing Zurich it was certainly obvious to me (an ex Private Pilot), that our aircraft was merely circling in a holding pattern. So, folk, guess what? Round and round – and round – and round for over 30 minutes.

A screen attached to the ceiling sprang into life warning passengers that the new estimated landing time would mean many connecting flights would be missed. THEY WERE. Of course by the very fact that I am writing this, proves that we did land.

As to my onward flight to Bangkok...it was from another terminal. My wheelchair pusher was great (thank you man) and rushed me off the plane, along the corridors, onto the electric train and to the boarding gate. I was the LAST passenger to reach there and boarded only because that aircraft's departure time had been delayed by 10 minutes.

Talk about stress! Had my luggage been off loaded and reloaded? Another worrying factor but one over which I had no control.

To sum up Swiss Air's product from Heathrow to Zurich, was more like a script from a Fred Carno silent movie.

Now to the flight from Zurich to Bangkok.

The aircraft was a Boeing 777. It DID have a separate Business Class Cabin, with the accoutrements expected. A very good entertainment system, good quality and nicely served food and plenty of storage space around the seat. That itself, however, was a disappointment. Although a press button control system allow it to be positioned in many formats, the padding was well worn and uncomfortable to the point one's posterior was constantly aware of the metal structure beneath it.

The overall cabin design, I would say was hard edged, boxy with lighting not conducive to total relaxation or attempted sleep. When compared to the likes of the product such airlines as Emirates, Etihad, Thai and Qatar offer, Swiss Air pales into insignificance. The cabin staff worked as efficiently as they could but were certainly hampered by the lack of numbers. An example of this was. that there was some 30 minutes wait between the serving of appetisers to the main course and a similar wait to the sipping of a coffee or a liqueur.

The above is the account of my first two flights. True to say, I was relieved to reach my hotel in Bangkok.

MY RETURN TURNED OUT TO BE VERY DIFFERENT STORY.

*

Four days later, after arriving at my friend's retreat, I, suddenly and in his presence, suffered a severe pain in my upper left chest. Unfortunately my location was over a 100 miles from the nearest Bangkok hospital. He, and other persons present, strongly advised me to cut my planned 21 day visit short and get my flight changed to the next day. It was a no brainer. My own common sense and logic shouted that such a decision was right.

My friend immediately phoned Swiss Air in Bangkok, who confirmed my credentials and booking references, also stating that space was available for the two flights back to the UK the next day. However, they stated, even such a simple administration alteration would have to be made through the travel agent with whom I had made the booking. Such was agreed.

My friend then contacted that agency, Business Class International and explained the emergency and requested the change of return date to the next day.

That agency's response almost caused the owner of the retreat to throw-up in anger. It was...Yes we can do that but the client will have to pay us UP FRONT, the fee to do so. It will be... £1145.00.

Yes folk, that was the figure demanded. There was NO words of sympathy, no understanding. It was a case of pay NOW or don't fly.

Having no alternative, I paid. That means that Swiss Air have now charged me the full price EXTRA for a single leg when I had already paid for BOTH legs.

Is this a perfect example of Corporate Greed at it's very worst?

I won't say too much about the return flights, except that the final leg from Zurich to Heathrow saw me once again cramped into an economy seat when I had paid for Business Class.

Finally, I want to say that this true account is meant to advise any UK passenger thinking of using Swiss Air to be very, very careful not to be misled by incorrect and glowing advertisements of its products.

Postscript.

Just maybe, when Swiss Air digests this and realises that I have paid the cost of SIX flights when only taken the booked FOUR, it will do the right and honourable thing and reimburse me for the EXTRA £1145.00 it has taken from me. That would go a long way to restoring reputation, would it not?

A further postscript

Received an email from Swiss Air headquarters telling me that I should have read the 'small print' at the time of booking, because that made it clear that if a date change was made (medical emergency or not) a fee would be charged. Wow! £1145.00 to alter the date on a piece of paper.

Also told me that it was Company Policy NOT to refund such charges to a passenger, whatever the

as a traveller that travels many times per year , i have now had the unfortunate experience of making a booking with Swiss Air ( through Opodo ) and will never be using either of these companies again .

We made a booking for 4 of us , flights only , but now find that due to an emergency we can to fulfil these flights . Have contacted both companies , and each time were told by one to phone the other and vice versa , only to be told terms and conditions blah blah blah ,, what happened to customer service ?? can not understand how in this day and age companies are not looking after their customers for future bookings ?? .

I will never use either of these companies again , which will equate to more loss for them than a refund or credit note especially as these flights will not be used and can be re-sold

Please check reviews and bad customer service for Swiss Air and avoid at all costs

I was so excited to be flying with Swiss Air. I mean what is there not to like about Switzerland! They do everything just right don't they? - watches, chocolate, beautiful mountains and clean air. I have stayed at Movenpick Hotels in Dubai and they were fabulous. On this trip we are flying from Los Angeles to London via Zurich on Swiss Air - how exciting! That was until I did the Advanced Seat Reservation for our Swiss Air flight. The web site led me to row 39. That row was the best and highlighted in 'green'. O.K it cost another $167 per seat, but this was a trip of a life time to Europe with my fiancé. No expense spared I locked in those two seats with the extra leg room.

Then I checked Seat Guru and found out that row 39 was the worst row to sit in! The toilets and galley are in front of it, the seats are narrower due to the tray being in the seat arm rest, there is no where for under seat bags and there is no window.

I quickly changed my seating and found better seats in row 23 at a fraction of the price - $44 each. I was hoping to get a refund on the difference and use it on our connecting flight from Zurich to London. But no way... after sending one email to make this small request I got a reply to say no I would have pay again

for the connecting flight. They then blocked any further correspondence from me. I haven't even flown with Swiss Air yet and already I am not looking forward to the flight. At no point was it made clear that the seating reservation was non refundable until I encountered a problem. I feel that their web site is false advertising.

I will be making another review after the flight. After reading previous reviews I am not looking forward to it.

Never thought I had to write a review like this about Swiss Airlines. They use to be top quality and now I'm experiencing one problem after the other, unfortunately.

Booking a ticket on Swiss Airlines web site has been nothing but frustrating since they changed something in their system, so they say. It would not go through....I had to try and try over and over again, until finally days later, I tried again and the reservation went through.

The customer service at Zuerich ariport showed a lot of compassion and they knew exactly what I was frustrated about, they looked at each other and said......that many people come and complain and that they know but can't do anything about it. That's swiss? really??

After my dad died, I had to change my ticket to fly to Switzerland some days earlier and Swiss assured me that they will refund the $300 Dollar changing fee to me, after bringing in the death Certificate of my dad. After confirming this on the phone, I took the trip to Swiss customer Service counter in Zuerich Flughaghafen....and to my frustration, they looked at all my papers and decided to have me email everything to Swiss.com.

This is unbelievable, I just talked to them on the phone and they said, I should come by there....Oh, I am terribly disappointed with Swiss....have traveled other airlines, but wanted to support Swiss, but I just can't deal with them anymore. Too bad that the service has gone down like that and that customers have to go through so much trouble. I am sadly done with them.

I just flew back from India via Zurich to London, on Swiss, firstly, terrible space onboard in economy, staff not very helpful a smile would go a long way! Food was awful.

Our flight Zurich - London was cancelled due to the fog, no fault of the airlines, but I could not believe how rude the staff were. We were travelling with a 6 year old, I was almost in tears when we managed to see someone after a 3 hour wait in the queue, the woman who served me could not care about anything. In fact when I complained I had swollen feet, she told me to sit down and then join the back of the queue and wait again. Her mannerism were awful. My 6 year old was tired and irritated. Anyhow with a lot of begging she finally put us on a flight the following day and standby on a later flight. Anyhow all flights were cancelled we were then back in a queue another 2 hour wait. Given accommodation and chf 20 pp for food, chf20 does not even buy 1 plate of food let alone anything else! My out of pocket expenses are higher than I spent on the tickets!

The staff attitude is terrible, no compassion or care! Eventually we got on board a flight via Rome. 55 hours later we reached home.

NEVER AGAIN

Very pleased! Didn’t have to pay for my one checked suitcase. Flew economy and it was a bit short on leg space, but that’s why they call it economy. I found the cabin crew very friendly and helpful, and I didn’t forget my manners of using Please and Thank You. They kept bringing food which tasted good for an airplane...drinks and alcohol beverages were unlimited.

Flew from Chicago to Zurich and back again on the airbus, long flight and couldn’t sleep so I watched the movies they offered (now I don’t have to rent the DVD’s!)

I would fly with them again in a heartbeat.

Just got back on Swiss flight LX052 from Zurich to Boston. The plane was an Airbus 330-300. The inflight service was impeccable. very friendly, decent food free drinks etc.

However, the leg room in Economy is horrible unless you have a bulk head seat. I survived 11 hour flights from/to South America in Economy plus on US carriers easier than the 8 hours from Zurich on Swiss. I will use any carrier that offers economy plus from now on. Never again will I take Swiss for that reason only.

Booked flight with Swissair London to Geneva through Expedia. Told our ticlets did not include hold luggage. No notification of this charge on Expedia. Swissair website promotes its Free bag allowance policy! Only in very small print says certain tickets do not include bags. Cost of putting bags in hold 80Chf! Swissair staff completely unhelpful and rude. Quite.frankly tjey couldn't care less. Avoid. Swissair at all.costs!

I would like to express my profound disappointment for the way I was treated yesterday (29.12.2013) in the Zurich Airport. Ms. Mason in Miami desk, when I checked in for my flight gave me a boarding pass to fly from Zurich to Barcelona on flight LX 1954. After being in airports and planes for more than 30 hours (I flew to Miami from Tegucigalpa, Honduras passing through San Salvador) and waiting for 4 hours in Zurich to catch this flight, as I wanted to board, Ms. Sahler informed me that my flight reservation had been cancelled even though I had a boarding pass. She refused to check if there were empty seats in the plane even though I begged her to help me since I was terribly tired and did not wish to wait for 5 more hours for the next flight to Barcelona, I quote her word and wish I could have recorded her saying: "I couldn´t care less, there is nothing I can do". I begged her again despite her attitude to please help but she refused. When I demanded my rights as a passenger for compensation or help, she sent me to Transfer Desk B which was closed. She tore my boarding pass as if nothing had happened but I demand that she give it back as I knew it was evidence to file this complaint (find the copy attached). I had to ask in the airport information booth what to do. I believe her behavior was incompetent and rude.

When I arrived in Transfer Desk A to file a complaint, the man who I spoke to exclaimed his surprise of her not letting me board the plane because he informed me the flight left with three empty seats and my bags were checked in that flight. I asked to speak to the supervisor to claim my rights as I read in the Passenger rights´ brochure that if you are denied boarding and have to wait 5 hours, you should be refunded ( see attachment with phrase highlighted ) which is exactly what I had to wait. This lady informed me that all she could do is give me 20 CHF which in the expensive prices of the Zurich airport you can barely buy water with that money and she gave me a 5CHF to phone my family which was barely a 3 minute conversation. I believe this compensation is no way fair for the way I was treated in the airport and being denied to fly home when I could instead of waiting deadly tired for the flight 5 hours later.

Additionally, I asked to the man in counter desk A to please verify where my luggage was and he informed me that it would fly with me to Barcelona in the LX 1956 flight 5 hours later but on arrival in Barcelona, to my surprise, my luggage did not arrive, on top of everything I have explained above: mistreatment, incompetency, I was lied and cheated by your airline. I demand that you compensate me for being denied boarding and having to wait with the refund of my ticket as it was your mistake. I wish to be compensated for not sending my luggage when I was told that it would fly with me.

A deeply unsatisfied customer,

I am Swiss myself and have flown with Swiss 4 times this year. And the service was rude and totally arrogant. It was fake friendliness.

They may put on fake smiles but none of them really wanted to serve anyone. They did what they had to do. They did so in an arrogant way without ever showing any real interest in the customer. And this was the case on every single of these 4 flights.

I have flown with many airlines and Swiss has been the worst in terms of onboard friendliness.

In fact, it does not surprise me because you will experience the same

rude and arrogant service in many restaurants around mostly Swiss-German speaking areas.

So I will not fly with them again unless I really have to.