Swiss Intl Air Lines

Not Verified | We arrived on time for our flight. There was a group of people in the waiting area so we joined them. They didn’t do or say anything to indicate that they were closing the gate. Apparently, all of the other passengers had boarded the plane but we didn’t know as there were people in the waiting area. They closed the gate without doing a final call or calling our names. They marked us as no shows even though we had gone through security and had checked in our luggage. They refused to refund us and made us pay significantly more than our the original cost of our tickets to rebook for later in the day.

✅ Trip Verified | Flew with SWISS as I wanted to go to Dubai and their fare was the cheapest available. That along with travelling with a new airline via a stopover in a place I've never been added to my enthusiasm for this journey. Getting to Dubai was relatively stress free, except for the wallet busting food prices in Zurich. Note to transit passengers passing through Zurich, pack your own food or pay exceptional amounts for staple foods you take for granted back for home. Coming back from Dubai where things got interesting. Boarded the plane at Dubai as normal, then we were informed the place had developed a technical fault, resulting in the planes computers needed to be reset. All power to the plane turned off. Then we were told there was an issue with the GPS and the airline not having the relevant clearance to enter specific countries airspace en route to Zurich. Periodic updates occurred during the nearly 3 hrs they kept us on the plane, on the runway and still in Dubai. Finally after 3 hours, they announced the flight was cancelled and we were to contact the transfer desk. The queue was long but somebody prompted me to check my emails where i saw Swiss had rebooked me on another flight with Emirates, flying to Geneva and then on to Zurich. So I had to take 3 flights instead of two. Waiting to obtain a new boarding pass and rechecking my luggage with Emirates was stressful as queues were long and chaotic with no order to anything. As with these sorts of situations, it is those that shout loudest that get things done. No visible or practical support from any swiss air staff only an email. They merely dumped their passengers onto other airlines to sort. Eventually got to Zurich where i tried to reason with the SWISS staff if I could be booked on to an earlier London flight at no cost due as a gesture of goodwill for the additional time i was made to wait in Dubai. They were not having it and ended up waiting in Zurich for my next day London flight. A new situation for me but the support from SWISS could've been so much better. I would only use SWISS again as a last resort for any transcontinental journeys.

✅ Trip Verified | The service itself was decent, but this is the second time that I experience great inconvenience on a Swiss flight. The most recent incident was last March when I flew out of Athens and arrived in Singapore where I received a damaged suitcase. I filed a claim and was advised that the suitcase would be picked up from my hotel and repaired. I pointed out that Singapore was the first stop of a Far East trip with 6 stops, so my suitcase was badly needed in 4 days when I would take off again to continue. The suitcase was picked up from the hotel 2 days later, only to be returned in 20 minutes advising that they did not have the necessary parts to repair it. The local claims handling agency told me that they would not be further involved and I needed to sort this out with Swiss directly. As I needed to continue my trip I was forced to buy a new suitcase and throw out the damaged one. I tried to find as close a match to my original suitcase in size, make and quality. The replacement cost was SGD 329 or roughly 230 Euro. Having kept pictures I took the matter up upon my return with Swiss, filing a follow up claim. They re-directed me to another claims handling agency who, 2 months and numerous reminders later advised they would compensate me with 40 Euro! Alternatively they offered to pay for the repair cost but I advised them that the suitcase had been disposed as I could not carry it along on all my subsequent flights. They then increased their offer to €61.98. Bottom line is that my bag arrived broken and Swiss was unable to either repair it or provide an alternative for me to continue my trip. I was forced to buy another suitcase and realize that a discount would be reasonable but 73% I believe is insulting. I was forced by Swiss' inability to provide alternatives to dispose of the broken bag and buy a new one so I find it unreasonable that I have to bear that cost.

Not Verified | I booked my return ticket on the Swiss website and was able to reserve seats for all flights for free. It was indicated in the booking and e-ticket that seat reservations were included in the fare. Outbound all went well. However when I asked Swiss customer service whether it would be possible to change the seat for my inbound flight, they canceled the seat reservations and told me that I had to pay for them. I have exchanged numerous emails with Swiss customer service whose only response is that all seat reservations are payable, completely ignoring the information I sent them (copy of e-ticket, screenshots). The last email I received stated that free seat reservations are only available for Star Alliance Gold status. I happen to have this status, it is reflected in the booking and may be the reason why I could reserve the seats for free in the first place. However, it was sent to my as an explanation why I still have to pay for the seats rather than an explanation that Swiss kindly made the reservations. It seems that even supposedly human customer service staff has been robotized. "Service" also seems to have dropped. The saga therefore continues.

✅ Trip Verified | First time flown Swiss and pretty impressed. Short hop from LHR was delayed about 50mins due to ATC restrictions and the Captain explained this over the intercom from the front of the plane which I thought was a good personal touch. Caught up much of the time anyway on quick flight to Zurich with excellent cabin staff and service. Transferred to satellite terminal at Zurich and had about an hour in the impressive Senator lounge before quick priority boarding onto aircraft. Once settled in seat staff offered pre-flight welcome drinks and distributed menus. Flight pushed back on time. Inflight service was efficient and good throughout and food and wines were excellent. Seat was pretty comfortable and flat bed coped with my 6ft frame enabling me to get a decent amount of sleep. IFE had a decent selection of films. My only complaint was the cabin temperature was on the warm side for me. Arrived BKK on time but then had to wait 15 minutes for a gate to clear of a Thai Airways plane which was irritating given availability of other gates but hardly Swissair’s fault. We had a connection on Bangkok Air down to Phuket which we made with ease. Very satisfied with the fare and my experience of Swiss.

Not Verified | I had a flight scheduled for the day before at the same time that I always book and for which I pay more to return at the desired time, however I traveled to the airport and I was not informed by Swiss or by anyone, by email or by telephone that the flight was cancelled. They provided a flight for the next day at dawn, I arrived at the airport there was no open door to eat, I was hungry and sleepy. Swiss having caused this horrible situation was not even able to serve anything free to eat, and even so the second flight was delayed by 1 hour, the flight was now at 4 am and not at 3 am. On the plane as well as at the airport I couldn't sleep at all and after a day of the trip I'm still feeling bad and with severe headaches. Being horribly cold, the company didn't even have a blanket for the passengers. The worst flight I've ever had in my life.

Not Verified | The plane was over booked. We had an 8.5 hour flight which was delayed by 50 minutes. We did not have any sound on our in flight entertainment and the closed captions was not working. We travel with 6 other friends, 4 of the 6 had neither picture nor sound on their in flight entertainment. My husband was verbally reprimanded for organizing our food containers by the stewardess, who said, “ I wish you hadn’t done that, you only made my job harder.” My husband and I are small and we had absolutely no room in the middle rows. Our flight from The USA to Europe with Delta was more comfortable by far.

✅ Trip Verified | I flew from Zurich to Buenos Aires in a flight that was supposed to have a "fuel stop" (that is how the company advertised it) in Sao Paolo. However, when the plane reached SP, we were told we had to get off the plane and go over the security check all over again. The flight had the same number and the same aircraft was used. However, for Swiss, the flight from SP to Buenos Aires was treated as if it were an entirely new flight. People got off and on in SP (so, it was not just a "fuel stop" as advertised). When I was at SP, I heard my name on the PA. I went to the counter and was informed there was a better seat available for me for the rest of the trip. That I could change to a seat with more legroom in the first row of the Economy cabin. Of course, I agreed, as this was an upgrade. Many other passengers were being offered upgrades even to better cabins. To my surprise, when I re-boarded the plane, my seat had been changed to a middle seat in the second row (I had been seated at an aisle seat from Zurich) which had been allegedly changed for a better seat. I told a crew member and he was completely rude and sarcastic, saying he couldn't do anything, that I should ask the woman sitting next to me (who had been flying from Zurich as well). When I contacted customer service asking for compensation, they gave me an "empty" apology and said they couldn't do anything. This route is misleadingly advertised. Don't pay what is costs. The so-called "fuel stop" is an actual stop, where people get on an off the plane. Don't count on having the same seat you had at check-in. And don't accept any upgrades. They just need you to empty your seat because someone else paid for it at SP.

Not Verified | The flight was not the best but very good. I went on board and everything was lovely! The economy seats were comfortable and we even got pillows and blankets the screen was responsive and the seat was very clean and had a lot of legroom for my height! I really liked this flight but there was just one slight thing that concerned me. The service, I’ll be brutally honest about this. The service was terrible so first thing that concerned me was that when the flight attendant was handing out the food I asked for a vegetarian meal since I can’t eat non halal chicken pasta. They said in a kind of impolite voice that they didn’t have any more vegetarian meals I kindly asked if they had any options without chicken or meat, and they were like “we don’t have anything vegetarian deal with it” so I was very disappointed with this first part. I just ordered the chicken pasta and removed the chicken and everything close to it. The food came a bit cold for me but I don’t blame it on them it’s probably because I was at the literal back of the plane. Second thing is that when I wanted to use the restroom in the middle of the flight the same guy was handing out drinks to passengers he was basically at the beginning of the row so I kindly asked if he could move just 2 steps back so I could get into the restrooms and he pointed to my seat and shook his head? I kindly asked for him to move literally 2 steps which would take him less that 10 seconds!

✅ Trip Verified | I had two very different experiences with Swiss this summer, one excellent the other horrendous. Like most comments here state, the flights can be delayed, the staff seems to be hit or miss, or too friendly or too rude. They overbook their flights, so you will see a lot of people being denied boarding. Most carry ons will not fit the bins and will be checked at the door delaying the flight even more. The A220 planes are brand new and well kept, the A320 are old. Only a free bottle of water and a chocolate at economy, for the price they ask, not worth flying Swiss in economy to be honest.