Swiss International Airlines - SWISS renames fuel surcharge to "International Surcharge"

According to my sources, since the 12th July. Seems rather odd, anyone know the context for this?

Sounds immensely misleading and I thought the law required them to be clear about this.

Here's some explanation:

The fuel surcharge which SWISS currently levies in response to high oil prices will be known as an “international surcharge” from 12July 2012 onwards.
In making the change, SWISS is following the industry trend to replace the “fuel surcharge” designation.
By adopting the new “international surcharge” name system wide, SWISS is harmonizing its terminology with that of its partner airlines and continuing its endeavours to offer customers a clear and consistent
presentation of the charges and fees levied in connection with their air travel.
The change of name will not be accompanied by any increase in the charge.

Why don't they call it 'Frequent Flyer Programme Devaluation charge'?

YQ ends up in carriers' pockets, why don't they just put it into the ticket prices?

Ancient news, its not just LX, but the LH group in certain markets. FT picked it up mid may, the Swiss press about two weeks ago.

Well I didn't see it, it deserves its place on here anyway.

Surely it is more accurate to describe it as an International Surcharge given the number of cases that exist where the YQ exceeds the fuel cost for a segment.

Well I didn't see it, it deserves its place on here anyway.I agree. Thanks for posting.

I just made a dummy online booking ZRH-GVA and was shocked, no, astounded :eek:, that there was no YQ or 'International Surcharge'.

However, there was a CHF 30 SWISS 'Service' Fee. :confused: What 'service'? Is there a way of buying a SWISS ticket in Switzerland without a so-called 'service' fee?

I agree. Thanks for posting.

I just made a dummy online booking ZRH-GVA and was shocked, no, astounded :eek:, that there was no YQ or 'International Surcharge'.

However, there was a CHF 30 SWISS 'Service' Fee. :confused: What 'service'? Is there a way of buying a SWISS ticket in Switzerland without a so-called 'service' fee?

How can they charge you a 'international surcharge' when you fly domestic? :confused:

I think the only way you can avoid it is to buy it from swiss's US site, but then you need to take into account of currency exchange.

Most airlines put a service fee/ticketing fee on tickets purchases directly from their site. 30 CHF is not the worst I have seen - I was charged 300 DKK for buying a ticket through Turkish Airlines.

Ancient news, its not just LX, but the LH group in certain markets. FT picked it up mid may, the Swiss press about two weeks ago.
Or Eggy (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles-more-lufthansa-austrian-swiss-other-partners/1102949-miles-more-forum-lounge-thread-everybody-welcome-50.html#post18915251) for that matter. ;)

How can they charge you a 'international surcharge' when you fly domestic? :confused:Er, yes, you are of course quite right. ;)

Perhaps I was too polite to point out that SWISS is NOT charging a surcharge, be it YQ or 'International', on some flights. Of course, this is just another contribution to the YQ = scam argument. If there is no YQ charge on LX domestic flights, LX can be accused of unnecessarily applying YQ however described on international flights. And of course 'international surcharge' is meaningless except as a euphemism. Most airlines do not charge 'international surcharges'.

We've been here before with the non-optional OPC. Without wishing to raise old matters, I see SWISS customers can't use Maestro or Visa debit cards without paying a non-optional OPC. Maestro cards are widely available in Switzerland. Why, I have one. OTOH, UK customers can use a Maestro debit card even if they are rarer than hens' teeth, or a Visa debit card. I suspect hugolover knows why UK customers are better off in this respect. ;)

The so-called international surcharge, the exception of the lack of YQ on domestic flights and the saga of the non-optional OPC are examples of LX (and presumably LH) confused management decisions.

And a CHF 30 'service' fee is inexcusable when there is no way of avoiding it. Simply include it in the fare @:-)

Yesterday they announced on their fb page that the new international surcharge will change eff 08MAR13. No specifics whether up or down. Added bonus: no more YQ/YR for infant tickets, a practice that was atrocious to begin with :mad:

Yesterday they announced on their fb page that the new international surcharge will change eff 08MAR13. No specifics whether up or down. Added bonus: no more YQ/YR for infant tickets, a practice that was atrocious to begin with :mad:

I never realise about the YQ/YR on infant tickets :confused: I flew with them quite a bit when our 3 kids were babies (last time we flew with them was in 2010) and I don't recall their tickets being ultra expensive - it was like 90 EUR per head or something like that for a intercontinental flight (10% of what we paid).

I don't think I'll fly with LX since they cut the CPH-BSL route. Their IC flights are not as good as TK for Y class.

Yesterday they announced on their fb page that the new international surcharge will change eff 08MAR13. No specifics whether up or down.

It looks like the surcharge for intercontinental flights will be going up by 20 CHF per sector according to this (http://www.swiss.com/web/EN/about_swiss/media/press_releases/Pages/pr_20130228.aspx) press-release.

Added bonus: no more YQ/YR for infant tickets, a practice that was atrocious to begin with :mad:

Thanks for the heads-up! I'm about to book a trip for the family, but I guess I'll wait another week to add our son to the reservation and save 90 CHF in the process.

I never realise about the YQ/YR on infant tickets :confused: I flew with them quite a bit when our 3 kids were babies (last time we flew with them was in 2010) and I don't recall their tickets being ultra expensive - it was like 90 EUR per head or something like that for a intercontinental flight (10% of what we paid).

We paid over 500CHF for our infant longhaul ticket (in whY) over xmas last year, and most of it was the international surcharge.