Alright FT, I've got a weird one and looking for advice.
In mid July I flew SFO-ZRH on Swiss, and in the days before the flight attempted to upgrade a PE ticket to business - a bit of a splurge...This process failed (twice!), but my CC was charged, and now Swiss is refusing my refund request.
Who should I go to next? Amex with a charge back? The US DOT?
Here's the timeline:
* April: I book I trip to Europe, primarily for work. (SFO-ZRH-CPH / LUX-FRA-JFK-SFO) It's all in economy since I'm on a fairly strict budget. A bit of circuitous routing allows me to explore Europe, so that's a win! (Education, sigh...) The base ticket price was around $1300, booked through Concur...because...rules.
* June: I pay $580 to upgrade to premium economy. Seemed OK at the time, was maybe a little costly. But it's my own money, so it's fine.
Booked an upgrade via the app, got a new ticket, all good.
* July 16: T-Minus 2 Days: Business Class is only $740. Ah, what the hell, why not? I paid for an upgrade, got a
receipt but then there was an error. Charge hit my Amex.
* I tried again...maybe sometime was up... Second $740 charge hits my Amex....get some weird error from the mobile app. OK, stopping for now.
* At this point, I've now paid Swiss an additional $2060 and they owe me $1480.
* July 18: I can't check in online. The ticket counter agent has to call and get them to reissue a premium economy ticket for me.
* She says that Swiss only has a 1 upgrade policy. I guess this makes sense, but the mobile (iOS) app was not enforcing it.
* Flight itself was nice, and I ended up with an empty seat next to me, so it worked out!
* Days later I file a refund request with Swiss.
* After chatting with Twitter support in August... I need to file a complaint not a refund request.
* So, now I've got a complaint number, and in early October I hear back.
* The first reply agrees: "Ah yes, I see duplicate charges, this doesn't make sense' Phew!
*
but! I only get $740 back
* After waiting weeks for a reply then escalating to Twitter, I now have a new person: "You paid for Premium Economy, you flew premium economy. No refund."
* I went through a couple of rounds, and then they eventually said 'Case closed.'
So, it's now been more than 4 months, and I am out $740. Swiss doesn't seem interested in listening...where should I go next?
Admittedly, I probably shouldn't have tried the
second business class upgrade. :/
Appreciate the advice!
Compete Charges for the SFO-ZRH-CPH leg