Just had my charge-back rejected today with the money initially refunded reapplied to my account again.
I would just refuse to pay that balance. If you inform the card issuer beforehand (noting down the reasons: paying for a cancelled flight) about your refusal, your card issuer is not allowed to downgrade your credit rating. I doubt that Amex will test its position in a court of law.
What game is Swiss playing here: I assume this comes from the very top: Carsten Spohr.
Lufthansa is still using the bargaining chip of applying for bankcruptcy protection (Schutzschirmverfahren). Lufthansa is still negotiating with the German government and Lufthansa want to keep the threat of a Schutzschirmverfahren alive.
However, in order to get a Schutzschirmverfahren going, Lufthansa must have cash in the banks, otherwise such a Schutzschirmverfahren is not going to be approved. That's why all Lufthansa Group airlines have been instructed to fight chargebacks very hard.
Again, Lufthansa is using our ticket money for their political games.
-> What is my conclusion: For business travel in the future -> I will only choose to book a Lufthansa Group airline ticket if there is no way to avoid it. And I would try to convince my business partner or colleagues to hold the meeting via webex instead. "Do you guys want to to loose even more money to Lufthansa?"
For leisure travel -> If there is no alternative to a Lufthansa Group airline, I will just reschedule the leisure travel or spend the money on something else. Esp. for leisure travel, I would only book last-minute deals and if there are no last-minute deals, then there won't be any travel.