SWISS International Air Lines

Summary: I purchased a ticket from Swiss Air on Feb. 12 to get to my grandmother's funeral. They sent me an eTicket, receipt and an email confirmation. But upon arrival to the airport, they claimed there was an issue of payment and refused to let me board. They allowed me to be escorted into the airport and give them cash again for the ticket. Upon consulting the credit card company, the payment was processed and now Swiss Air is refusing to return the money for the ticket they did not honor.

On February 12th, I purchased a ticket from Swiss Air. My grandmother had just passed away and I was desperate to attend her funeral and provide support to my family. I was traveling from Hong Kong to Warsaw via Zurich. I live in Shenzhen, China. We are able to take a ferry to the Hong Kong airport. There is an airline counter in Shenzhen that checks your ticket, then you depart China via the Shekou Port immigration. I did this on February 14th, on the last ferry of the evening. When I arrived, I was informed that because my husband had purchased the ticket, it was not valid and the payment was not accepted. It should be noted here that I received an eTicket, a receipt for payment and email confirming the flight, and had passed through the airline counter in Shenzhen port. The eTicket clearly listed my name as the passenger. At no point did Swiss Air contacted me to let me know there was a problem with the flight.

The counter staff said that I had to buy another ticket at over $1000 USD cost. I began to cry and beg the counter staff to help me attend my grandmother's funeral. One man replied to my begging by waving his hand at me dismissively and yelling at me in Cantonese before walking away. I informed the staff that all I had was a bank card. The woman at the counter tried to get permission to allow me to enter HKIA to withdraw cash to repay for the ticket. During this time, the man who yelled at me came back with the ferry staff and customs officials and they yelled at me some more. They had absolutely no compassion and no interest in the fact that I had a receipt of purchase. The woman at the counter finally gained permission to escort me into the airport to withdraw cash. I gave her $8250 HKD and she gave me a boarding pass. The boarding crew provided me with a receipt and I was allowed to board.

To add insult to injury, Swiss Air had accepted and processed the original ticket and refused to return the money. To restate: Swiss Air issued me a ticket and receipt, then refused to honor the ticket but kept the money. If this sounds like theft, you are correct. This is absolutely illegal under the Hong Kong Supply of Services Ordinance. Additionally, I suffered great stress and mental anguish due to this event. Upon my return trip, I suffered a panic attack in the Warsaw airport due to my concern that Swiss Air may have again denied me transport back to Hong Kong. I now have a fear, not of flying, but of airports! I will always worry now that I will arrive at an airport and be denied the right to fly.

Furthermore, I have spoken to many people at Swiss Air in person. All professed to understand that Swiss Air acted poorly in this situation and under no circumstances should keep the money for the original ticket. However, they made no attempt to correct the situation and insisted that I have to apply for a refund. A refund for a ticket which was not honored when I have a receipt for payment for a new ticket. I would like Swiss Air to give me a written apology and compensation for my suffering. I would also like them to change their policies so that they will honor all tickets with receipts. In this case, they should have allowed me to fly and contacted me to resolve any payment issues afterwards (which, to be clear, there was no payment issued because Swiss Air processed the payment and refused to return the money). They also need to improve their customer service. I contacted them via phone and email, even emailing the CEO, but have heard no response.

I am currently disputing the charge via the credit card company and I am also investigating the possibility of taking Swiss Air to court in Hong Kong as I believe the act of accepting payment for a service and then denying service and keeping the money is illegal.

My sister-in-law and I were vacationing in Italy for 16 days (6/30 to 7/16/11). During our vacation, my sister-in-law, who is an RN for over 30 years, had a series of gall bladder attacks. She has never in the past had any trouble with her gall bladder. The last one was so serious that we needed to cut short the vacation by 2 days (7/14).

She had surgery the day following our arrival back to the States, getting her gall bladder removed. I called Orbitz, where I booked and purchased the tickets, to change the flights back home. Orbitz informed me that I needed to call Swiss Air in order to change the tickets.

When I call Swiss Air, I explained the reason for the change to the Swiss Air agent. She assured me that the 'change fees' ($250 for each ticket) would be refunded upon submitting a letter from the doctor/surgeon.

I received the letter from the surgeon explaining the hospitalization and surgery requesting to adjust the airline reservation change fees accommodating the medication needs. I called Swiss Air to ask where I could send the doctor's letter. I spoke to another agent and then supervisor, asking where I may send the letter to have them adjust the change fees from my credit card and was told that Swiss Air would not refund any change fee charges.

I mentioned to the agent and supervisor of their Article 03 in Terms & Conditions and their answer was that it was not up to date. I reminded them that if that was the case, then they are posting out of date legal information and is unacceptable, and I'm sure illegal.

I will never ever fly Swiss Air in the future. Do I have any hope of seeing our refund of $250 for each ticket?

My trip was from LAX to FCO. Before departure the Swiss ground agent at LAX was asked about the fee for a bicycle for an international flight. The Swiss agent said that there is no fee because international flights have a two bag allowance.

Before the return leg of the trip at FCO the Swiss ground agent charged me $200 to bring the bicycle home. Swiss air deceptively waited to charge the fee when I had no choice. After a complaint was filed Swiss Air responded by saying that they were 'sorry' but no refund of the fee would be given. Swiss Air has a deceptive policy.

"We have carefully reviewed your reservation data history and have learned that although our ground agent failed to apply the charge for traveling with a bicycle on the eastbound portion of your trip, a bicycle is considered a "Medium Sport Item" and therefore a charge to travel with it is required, according to the baggage allowance associated with the passenger's ticket. Therefore we must respectfully deny your request to refund the fee which was correctly charged to you. "

On 12/3/2011, my flight was Cair ; Zurich; Sao Paulo flight number LX 237 & LX 92 . While I am doing the boarding on Swiss Air counter in Cairo International Airport, the cabin crew cancelled my flight. First, they asked me why I don't have the European Visa? I said there is no need for it , my final destination is Sao Paulo and I do have the Brazilian Visa , and I will stay only in Zurich in the transit area . They said, "No. You have to have the European Visa even if you go on transit."

I said I have traveled to Brazil for more than 6 times during the last two years, and never face such problem with Lufthansa. They said that it is because you fly with Lufthansa in the two ways (But because you go to Brazil with Swiss air and come back with Lufthansa), we cannot allow you to travel unless if you make it Only Swiss Air. I told them now, I will not find a ticket and asked them that I will do the changes when I arrive to Brazil. But they said, "No. We don't believe you. If we allow you to travel now you will not change your flight back and will come with Lufthansa. No. We will not allow you to travel today." Sorry was said in a very bad impolite way. They said, "Sorry this is our rules." I told them I traveled to Brazil more than 6 times without this procedures. They said, "we don't know what you are talking about."

And then they left me in the counter alone and went away. I lost my trip to Sao Paulo , I lost my hotel reservation , I lost my business.

My Swiss International Airlines flights were cancelled due to the volcanic ash problem. We were stranded in Russia and unfortunately there were no Swiss Airlines staff available to help us. A Lufthansa representative, acting on behalf of Swiss, told us that if we organized our own accommodation, food, transport, etc., then we would be reimbursed on our return to the UK.

He claimed he could not offer refunds as this was a "force majeure", in breach of Regulation 261/2004.

This is an absolute disgrace. I was eventually told by Reto **, the MD, that any correspondence from myself would be ignored by his staff. Is this any way to treat paying customers? If you have any dealings with Swiss International Airlines, then make sure you get everything in writing. They will not just take your word for it.

I am here to bear my testimony to the terrible service received recently with SWISS. I state that I am a decisive person and I hope that starting from this simple online media, I can get a satisfactory explanation and apology. Otherwise, it will be 'my intention to embark on a crusade to bring my complaint to your CEO and Mr. Harry Hohmeister, in parallel, to bring this discomfort at all forums and online media to my knowledge. I am the director of an Italian company based in Shenzhen (China) and 5-year run flights from China to Italy. Previously I used the Cathay and after opinions in favor of some acquaintances, I switched to Swiss until 8 October 2010 date, when I decided I will probably change company. If I will not receive an adequate response to my case, I repeat, I'll 'leave a lot of noise in the Swiss.

We come to the point. I have a child of eight months. From August I booked a flight as usual for round-trip to China. The round went well, the correct position for a child, and there were also served 2 meals for babies (baby). The return have been disastrous! The flight LX138 gave trauma to the child that even now bears the results at 4 days after our arrival. Well, in the check-in, I asked politely to be assigned since I paid for the area suitable for a newborn, and as we all know, the lines 23 or 29 of the Airbus 340-300 in question, they were not very polite and I was told it was booked full, and they gave us the last row. I've told them to hope for the best because the seats in the back row do not drop a lot.

Although the two positions on lines 23 or 29 were not available, I would have settled for two seats at any available position, but I never waited for the Swiss to raise a child of eight months for an intercontinental flight in line 45! Well, yes! I was placed with the baby and my wife in the middle of 2 bathrooms where every shot you can imagine the door opening and flush toilets, and to have brought my child who desperately tried to sleep, having strokes and jerks of each use! It was really heartbreaking to see such a young child to jump and get scared at least 120 times during the trip! Light sudden deafening noise did not make the face easier. The surprise was also the hostess, who could not understand why we were there, but no one has moved to fate and I do not care if senator card or the card frequent flyers Miles and More have priority in the decision of places.

I believe that such a young child has priority and never should be read in places like that, not to mention that the seat in that position cannot be completely reversed, and that the indifference (which I understand) of people in line 44 have led to a harrowing journey that came with the seat a few inches from the baby's head. What would have happened in case of severe turbulence or a decrease of lift of the wings? To be added, the fact that fortunately for the sake we had also brought food for the baby because during the flight, it's never taken anything for the child to have done the first time.

So we were treated as a hold baggage. I guess my complaint is understandable and I am attaching the tickets used as evidence to what I say and also the booking agency with proof of how and had been paid for the ticket, HK $33000 for a round trip and back in those conditions. Theft and insult, in many ways, we noticed within a week. Otherwise, your consumer federation, local (Chinese), Italian, Swiss as well as many blogs will be aware of this case that surely will come as a bolt from the blue to Mr. Harry **. Thank you for your attention to the operator light. This message could you please help shed some light in this story.

Dear Consumer Affairs, thank you for posting my bad experiences with Swiss Airlines to warn any potential passengers what they can expect. There is however a typo in the text that I would like to ask you to correct. On the page http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/swiss_international.html, the following sentence contains a typo (18000 INR): However, when I take a look at my bank statement, it seems like your Indian employees have charged me 18000 INR instead of 52500 HUF, which is 7983 HUF more than what I supposed to pay (my Visa Card that was used to pay is in British Pounds).

The sentence should read correctly as: However, when I take a look at my bank statement, it seems like your Indian employees have charged me 12000 INR instead of 52500 HUF, which is 7983 HUF more than what I supposed to pay (my Visa Card that was used to pay is in British Pounds). The 12000 INR was mentioned several times in the text. And if one adds the 7983 HUF to the 52500 HUF, it will be clear that the 12000 INR was meant. Sorry for the mistake and inconvenience.

After posting the story, there have been some more strange developments when I have approached the Vista Travel agent from where the ticket was purchased. They in turn communicated with the local office of Swiss Airlines, which sent me an outrageous reply. From this a really ugly mess unfolded which has perhaps worse significance to all passengers than the case described on your site. I am not sure though if we should add this part or not. What is your opinion? If you want to hear about the details, please let me know and I will send the new developments of the case.

Here is the story of a nightmare traveling with Swiss Airlines from Delhi to Budapest. I have already sent you a complaint about the first part of my struggles trying to change the date of departure. However, as you can see the troubles did not end there, so here is the extension of my complaint with the full story.

I came to India with a Lufthansa flight Airline ref: ** Flight LH 3453 From Budapest to Bombay. However, my ticket backwards is a Swiss flight from Delhi to Budapest LX 0147 and LX 2250. The date of departure was February 24, 2011. I wanted to change the flight date and written an email. In the response, they have told me that I should call the 1-800 number in India to change the departure date and I can pay the fee at the Swiss office at the airport on the date of departure. I have called the given number on June 28 around 1PM local time and requested to change the date of departure. However, the lady on the phone told me that I must call Lufthansa and they have to change the date because I came with Lufthansa and have a Lufthansa ticket.

It was suspicious to me and absurd, but nevertheless, I have called Lufthansa with the request to change the date of departure. They have told me without hesitation that I am going to fly back with Swiss Airlines, thus, I have to call Swiss airlines on the above number and you have to change the ticket. I could not pose any counter argument since it really makes no sense to ask Lufthansa to change my flight on Swiss Airlines. Therefore, I called back your office on the above number and told them that Lufthansa is not going to change the ticket and they have to do it. The lady on the phone was very rude and brutal, refusing to help and asserting I must ask Lufthansa. When I started insisting, she hang up the phone. I called back several times since I have had no other option, but each time the lady on the phone played ** as if she would not hear, though I heard her very well. Then I got angry and started telling her that she is not going to get away like this and should stop playing this ** game.

At the next call, the lady appeared to hear what I say and I immediately asked her name. She said she is Zarin and acted as if it was not she who I was talking to before. I asked then who was the other lady I was talking to and she refused to give any other names. I had to tell my story again and she reluctantly was looking for the nearest day I could fly back to Budapest. She said that there is no free seat until 4th of July. That day is too far for me therefore, I asked if it would be possible to reserve that seat for me in case nothing turns up sooner, but call me or email me in case someone would cancel his flight and free seat would be available sooner. She said it is not possible because I have to pay the changing fee each time I change the date of flight. It makes no sense for me why would it not be the interest of Swiss Airlines to take me home earlier on an empty seat that would be wasted otherwise and sell my later seat to someone else.

Anyway, since I did not have internet access at the time to verify her claims and did not want to lose even the allegedly closest available seat on 4th July, I agreed to change my date of departure to that date. However, later when I went to the internet cafe and searched free seats for the flight from New Delhi to Budapest, I have found several free seats even on 5th and 6th of June! It seems that you have got some arrogant rogue females sitting in your office in India who even use their privileged power to deny me preferred earlier flights back as revenge for my daring to ask them to do their duties. Then I have sent a copy of my complaint to you and also to Kaizad with the request to use an earlier date since obviously, there are free seats there. Then Kaizad phoned me back trying to paint a picture that they have done everything correctly even the bouncing me off to Lufthansa, and also that the seats before 4th July cost more than my ticket and would require the payment of the difference. However, her colleague did not mention any such option to me earlier and did not allow me to choose when I want to return!

After trying to correct his presented biased view and showing that everything is not right, we have made an agreement that he will change the date of departure to 5th of June and I will pay the fare difference of 40000 HUF plus one time 12500 HUF for the change of date. He assured me that these prices are fixed in HUF and will not be changed and also that I will have to pay only one time 12500 HUF for the change as it was not my fault that the lady forced on me an unsuitable date. On 4th of June around 4PM local time, I went to the Swiss Office at the Delhi Airport and wanted to pay the fee there. They said I will have to pay at the check-in at night. But the fee to be paid was already a matter of confusion. First, they claimed 12000 INR which is more than what we agreed with Kaizad. Finally, she agreed that my fee is fixed in HUF and will be 52500 HUF in total.

Nevertheless, the chaos and fight did not end there. At the time of check-in, I wanted to pay the fee to Nidhi, Tyagi who insisted that I have to pay HUF 58100, which is more than what we agreed about with Kaizad. I explained her that the fee must be fixed in HUF since the ticket was purchased in HUF and we agreed with Kaizad on this condition. But she became more and more arrogant and aggressive saying that the computer shows I must pay 12000 INR and that must be right! I told her that I have already have had problems with Swiss staff and sent a complaint to the central office, and seems I will have to send a new complaint. She arrogantly said if I want to travel, I must pay what she demands and then later I can send the complaint. Yes, sure I will send the complaint and will also spread the story of the Swiss nightmare on the internet to warn others to think twice before making a choice of airlines. Taken her name and asked her to call Kaizad and clarify that what I claim is correct, and I went to check in.

Few minutes later, she said that I will be charged the agreed 52500HUF but she already charged 44300HUF + 12500HUF and will refund the 4300HUF. My goodness! First, she wanted 58100 HUF then she charged 56800 HUF. Now, it is pretty obvious that she has got no idea what she is doing! All kind of numbers popped up except the original sum we agreed upon! Anyway, I signed the receipts because I wanted to get home and out of Swiss nightmare. You would think that now I am finally at home and the troubles are over. However, when I take a look at my bank statement, it seems like your Indian employees have charged me 18000 INR instead of 52500 HUF, which is 7983 HUF more than what I was supposed to pay (my Visa Card that was used to pay is in British Pounds). Please check the amount charged and make sure it is the agreed HUF 52500 and not some other arbitrary number!

Please take a look into what is going on in your Indian offices because this is outrageous! I have traveled a lot with different airlines into many parts of the world and never had any problems. But these people surpass the worse expectations. First, they are lazy to do their job properly and want to get rid of me by sending me repeatedly to Lufthansa. Then they are reluctant to inform the customer of his options when choosing the date of departure and force an unsuitable date. Then they agree with a fixed charge and at the same time, mess up the numbers in the computer to perpetuate the chaos and cause even more trouble as if it was not enough already. Finally, they are unwilling to listen to the customers' claim and give him the credit that he might be right and not lying!

Before getting arrogant, rude and assertive, they are supposed to check whether their colleagues might have caused the confusion and charge me the agreed amount not what their ignorance, arrogance and fury dictates them at the heat of the moment! These people absolutely have no customer service skills, don't know what it means to be kind, helpful and humble. They think they are some kind of bureaucratic authority and I must do as they say because I have got no other choice and they are the boss and I am the servant! Well I have got a choice, a choice whether to travel with Swiss airlines again or not. Of course, they will not care about that and perhaps not even you because I am only one person. But if I will let others know about what they can expect from your Indian colleagues on the internet, then that will give the right choice to many more potential customers.

I don't think it is worth supporting this mentality and way of behavior in your offices because it will sooner or later hit someone who will spread your bad fame and that will translate into losses much higher than the loss caused by your employees to one customer. Today, I have sent a complaint to contactus.bom@swiss.com but my email bounced. Obviously, they have banned my email address to prevent me from complaining. I have also submitted complaints through the Swiss complaint web form but got no answer at all. Please let me know what can we do. The lost money is not much, however, I still feel one should not let thieves get away with their acts unnoticed otherwise, this attitude will become standard practice against all passengers. I also wish to inform other passengers to watch out for this mean behavior. Please let me know your advice.

I was about to embark for a Paris-Zrich flight on a Swiss International Airlines flight at Charles de Gaulle airport on April 6, 2007, when I was asked if my cat had its EU passport (!). Surprised, I said no, that no airline had ever asked me for such before, and was told it was a recent EU law. The Swiss employee then spent 25 minutes calling the airline's Paris office, its headquarters in Zurich, etc, trying to figure out what to do, all the while ignoring all my arguments the animal passport ruling was recent, no customs agent would probably ask to see the cat's papers (nobody ever has, before or since), I was willing to embark while risking being turned back at the border (again, nobody has ever asked to see the cat's papers), and, above all: couldn't the whole issue be resolved by giving Swiss's Charles de Gaulle airport fax number to my veterinarian in order for her to immediately fax the feline's (newly-minted) papers?

Finally, by the time she came to a solution being to ask my veterinarian to fax a statement about the cat (!), she had made us (me and the cat) miss the flight. She took offense that I would express irritation of their not having taken this practical advice of mine from the very beginning (she obviously thought I should be grateful for her zealotry of calling around for my sake) and to add insult to injury, then, she then picked up a phone and, in front of me, haughtily told her coworkers to pass the word around to do nothing for me and not accept any documents beyond the original papers, in effect forcing me to spend over an hour in aggravating traffic conditions taking a taxi (price: 82 Euros) to my veterinarian's office in Paris to fetch the cat's (newly-minted) passport and back.

I understand that the original failing (the lack of documents) is mine, but I still think that some compensation for the (unnecessary) headache from Swiss would be nice, but even an apology would be sufficient, but not even that is forthcoming. All my complaints to Swiss have been turned down, expressing regret albeit stating that the employee (her name was Elisabeth, I believe) was only doing her job. But as I wrote them (at Customer Relations, Swiss International Airlines Ltd, Service Clientle, Basel in a letter that was never answered), I cannot insist enough on how humiliating, how aggravating, and how insulting I found it, after missing a flight due to punctiliousness, to have to stand helplessly by as a representative picks up the phone in my presence and gratuitously tells her colleagues not to lift a finger for me. It felt mortifying and insulting at the time and it feels mortifying and insulting now to have that behavior endorsed by the representative's superiors.

One flight missed, time wasted, 82 Euros for taxi fare, aggravation, and humiliation, subsequent refusals to fly Swiss, and resort to the SNCF's TGV trains to get to Switzerland on subsequent trips.