Last Thursday I found myself stranded in JNB due to weather related delays. I had a restricted ticket on KLM to AMS. The airline been informed by phone of my late arrival and had promised to rebook me if I should not make my connection. Having failed to do so I went to their office, where I literally met the staff in the doorway, on their way home. They helpfully suggested that I "try calling reservations tomorrow". When I asked whether space was available on the next KLM flight, the rejoinder was "we don't know".

On an off chance, I went to the Swissair office. They honored my ticket without any additional charge whatsoever, and booked me on their flight to ZRH (which was due to board within 15 minutes), with a connecting flight to AMS.

Commendable service, to say the least!

johan

I am glad for you that you made it home in time. Indeed, a reference for SR.
Just curious, if SR gets reimbursed from KL on a restricted Y ticket or just let you ride for "free"?

I honestly wouldn't know. The ticket clearly stated "valid on KL only" and the Swissair ticket agent did say that she was "going to take a chance on this one". She replaced my flight coupon with two "Flight Irregularity" coupons, one for each segment.

This is why I am so impressed by Swissair's willingness to assist someone who has never flown with them before, let alone holds Qualifyer elite status.

johan

They hope that after this experience, you will fly them again. Are there any chances you will, did you like it?

Although flying via ZRH is not always a practical option for me, I have instructed my travel agent to specifically consider Swissair for future bookings.

I have also written to Swissair to compliment them on their excellent service.

I hesitate to judge an airline on the basis on one longhaul and one shorthaul flight, but in a direct comparison with KLM on similar sectors I would say that Swissair is better in all respects with the exception of seat pitch, which was about the same on the MD11. On the A319 I had an emergency row seat, so I can't compare with KLM's 737s.
On balance I would say the differences were generally marginal, but as they were all in Swissair's favor the aggregate effect was sufficient to make a noticable difference.

johan