Introducing the official SWISS Lurker

Old Apr 30, 2018, 8:07 am
  #1966  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Switzerland mostly
Programs: LX Sen, EK Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Sirius Gold, BA Gold
Posts: 357
More rants about poor service at Swiss.

Travelling back from Hamburg last week with a colleague, we arrived at Hamburg airport early and asked at the gate if we could board the earlier flight to ZRH which the gate agent accepted.
As we were waiting for push back I received an email from Swiss telling us that we had now been rebooked for the next day morning flight at 07:30 from ZRH to GVA for no valid reason.

We called Swiss and they told us:

1) Sorry flight to GVA LX2818 at 22:35 has been cancelled
2) The previous flight from ZRH at 20:50 is full
3) We have rebooked you for the next day
4) Check with Transit in ZRH for your hotel accommodations!

We asked the MC of our HAM ZRH flight to send a message in flight to Swiss Ops which she did with no reply from LX OPS during the flight.
We arrived in ZRH and ran for 10 minutes to the gate of the 20:50 flight to GVA to be told that they could not put us on board without instructions from the Transit Desk.
We ran back to the Transit Desk and after insisting heavily, they managed to get us a Stand By boarding pass.
We ran to gate A73 and managed to board the flight just before they closed the door.

To add to the frustration ... LX2818 did fly after all at 22:35 !!

Is this really necessary; is this how you treat high revenue passengers; no assistance, no logical rebooking, just unnecessary stress and ZERO customer service.

I feel much better after ranting
swiss_global likes this.

Last edited by asimha; Apr 30, 2018 at 9:45 am Reason: Added details
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Old May 10, 2018, 4:56 am
  #1967  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: ZRH
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 450
I am trying to get in contact from somebody from Swiss IT to fix a couple of bugs on the website. They would be really, really easy for a developer (10 minutes) to do.

I tried going via the contact page, but just received (after a couple of weeks of course) a reply saying "phone the service center so they can do it manually"

Has anybody on the forum ever spoken to Swiss IT?
bobhope2 is offline  
Old May 13, 2018, 2:39 am
  #1968  
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Zurich
Programs: BA GGL, TK*G EL, KL P ELPL, ex AB P, ex LH/LX Sen, HHonors D4L, Bonvoy P
Posts: 1,643
Dear LXLurker

Currently at TXL SEN Lounge booked on LX977/13MAY to ZRH. We should depart in a few minutes, but no plane ... TXL airport has no information (flight shows ontime ...), LH has no information since they cannot access your IT ..., Flightaware shows aircraft has not yet departed ZRH, so I guess boarding is not imminent.

I know it's not your job to inform pax about flight delays, but it seems to be nobody's job ... Any info? If no, why not?

Edit/update#1: At departure time, the airport info screens now show a 2h05' delay. Ground staff still clueless, stating they could also only read out the airport info screens ...

Update#2: Now, 20' after scheduled departure time they made the very first PA announcement, saying that the plane has departed ZRH now and our flight should depart "around" 1pm ...

Update#3: Boarding was finally completed at 1:05pm (2h10' late), at which point the Captain informed us about the reason for the delay (a technical fault in the break system) and also announced another 30' delay due to ATC restrictions. Generally, the crew was very nice and tried to make up some of the poor showing by excellent service. However, arriving at ZRH with a 2h15' delay the lack of a Business Class Bus complemented the bad showing on ground.

Obviously worst was the complete lack of information, which made it extremely difficult and initially impossible to reschedule my meetings on arrival.







Last edited by swiss_global; May 13, 2018 at 9:20 am Reason: update
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Old May 13, 2018, 9:06 am
  #1969  
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: SIN (with a bit of ZRH sprinkled in)
Posts: 9,442
Since the flight landed with 2hrs5min delay, don't forget to claim your EU261 250.

I'm sure LX Lurker can help with the process
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YuropFlyer is offline  
Old May 19, 2018, 11:46 am
  #1970  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Switzerland mostly
Programs: LX Sen, EK Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Sirius Gold, BA Gold
Posts: 357
As advertised here: https://www.miles-and-more.com/onlin...l=en&cid=18002

"By the way: Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is now also offering extended upgrade options. Just as with Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines, it is now possible to upgrade from Economy to Business Class from any booking class – on all SWISS flights within Europe and for just 20,000 award miles."

Curious as to how to upgrade from ANY Economy class to Business class as this does not appear in the M&M bookings list nor does it work with the Star Mileage website (very user-unfriendly) upgrade page ?

Upgrade to First Class from all Lufthansa Business Class booking classes

Redeem your award miles or eVouchers today

You can now take advantage of great new upgrade options on Lufthansa operated long haul flights. With immediate effect, you can upgrade to First Class from any Business Class booking class – even from classes Z and P. You just need 20,000 award miles for an upgrade from these booking classes, in addition to the regular upgrade award. You can find the corresponding upgrade award for your flight here. Alternatively, you can use two eVouchers per flight segment.By the way: Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is now also offering extended upgrade options. Just as with Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines, it is now possible to upgrade from Economy to Business Class from any booking class – on all SWISS flights within Europe and for just 20,000 award miles.
asimha is offline  
Old May 22, 2018, 12:46 pm
  #1971  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Programs: MM, EK, AB/EY, HH, SPG, etc.
Posts: 380
Originally Posted by asimha
More rants about poor service at Swiss.

Travelling back from Hamburg last week with a colleague, we arrived at Hamburg airport early and asked at the gate if we could board the earlier flight to ZRH which the gate agent accepted.
As we were waiting for push back I received an email from Swiss telling us that we had now been rebooked for the next day morning flight at 07:30 from ZRH to GVA for no valid reason.

We called Swiss and they told us:

1) Sorry flight to GVA LX2818 at 22:35 has been cancelled
2) The previous flight from ZRH at 20:50 is full
3) We have rebooked you for the next day
4) Check with Transit in ZRH for your hotel accommodations!

We asked the MC of our HAM ZRH flight to send a message in flight to Swiss Ops which she did with no reply from LX OPS during the flight.
We arrived in ZRH and ran for 10 minutes to the gate of the 20:50 flight to GVA to be told that they could not put us on board without instructions from the Transit Desk.
We ran back to the Transit Desk and after insisting heavily, they managed to get us a Stand By boarding pass.
We ran to gate A73 and managed to board the flight just before they closed the door.

To add to the frustration ... LX2818 did fly after all at 22:35 !!

Is this really necessary; is this how you treat high revenue passengers; no assistance, no logical rebooking, just unnecessary stress and ZERO customer service.

I feel much better after ranting
Use one of the flight tracker apps, like I assume many FTlers do. That way you usually know what the aircraft is up to way before it even leaves towards your location. Some carriers, including budget, even give you links. Relying on LX communication compared to that is, in my experience, pretty useless, even their targeted sms/mails are usually too little way too late (e.g., what is the point of telling me the check in deadline has been extended due to an incoming flight delay if that message is sent at the time the check in would have ordinarily closed!).

Cant understand why they cannot do a better job on this other than because they dont want to make the required investments in their IT, which when it comes to interfacing with customers is pretty mediocre. This short-sightedness is sure to bite them at some stage...

Wtravel is offline  
Old May 22, 2018, 12:54 pm
  #1972  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Programs: MM, EK, AB/EY, HH, SPG, etc.
Posts: 380
Originally Posted by bobhope2
I am trying to get in contact from somebody from Swiss IT to fix a couple of bugs on the website. They would be really, really easy for a developer (10 minutes) to do.

I tried going via the contact page, but just received (after a couple of weeks of course) a reply saying "phone the service center so they can do it manually"

Has anybody on the forum ever spoken to Swiss IT?
Not directly. But have, over the last 2 years (!) regularly complained to them about bugs and shortcomings with regard to their IT when itncomes to using their website and manage booking tool. E.g., and the most annoying bit to me is that half the time I cant make simple premium cabin seat assignments myself because it either wont save the assignments, not recognize me as a status customer or show facility/blocked seats as vacant, etc. The service center always ends up doing it manually and says they will advise IT, but then practically never hear back. Really annoying, especially when traveling in a group or family, as on occasion by the time the service center reacts the seats are gone. See my earlier post, I think they know exactly what the issues are, but with their continous cost cutting are simply not willing to foot the bill to fix it.



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Old May 22, 2018, 11:53 pm
  #1973  
 
Join Date: May 2009
Programs: oneworld emerald
Posts: 33
Swiss Air transfer desk in Bangkok?

Hi,
I am flying Swiss Air for the first time with a transit through Bangkok from a different Star Alliance airline. Anyone knows if Swiss has a transfer desk at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport? I am flying on Singapore Air to Bangkok with a 2 hours layover to Swiss Air. I hope there is a transfer desk otherwise it could be very tight to make it through immigration in and out, and check in at the departure hall to get the boarding pass even though I won't have any check-in luggage.

Or could I print the Swiss Air boarding pass online so I don't need to bother with the transfer desk and proceed to the departure gate after security check?
jontam is offline  
Old May 23, 2018, 2:17 am
  #1974  
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: SIN (with a bit of ZRH sprinkled in)
Posts: 9,442
Originally Posted by jontam
Hi,
I am flying Swiss Air for the first time with a transit through Bangkok from a different Star Alliance airline. Anyone knows if Swiss has a transfer desk at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport? I am flying on Singapore Air to Bangkok with a 2 hours layover to Swiss Air. I hope there is a transfer desk otherwise it could be very tight to make it through immigration in and out, and check in at the departure hall to get the boarding pass even though I won't have any check-in luggage.

Or could I print the Swiss Air boarding pass online so I don't need to bother with the transfer desk and proceed to the departure gate after security check?
If you're travelling on one ticket, you'll receive your boarding passes for the BKK-ZRH segment at the checkin counter in SIN, too.

If you're travelling on two tickets, having done online checkin beforehand, and having a valid boarding pass in hand will help to make the transfer easier indeed. While there will be some transfer facilities available, it most certainly won't be fun when you arrive on a relatively tight schedule to have to queue up at a generic counter.

Personally, I'd not do a 2hrs transit on two tickets in BKK. Especially with a long haul flight afterwards (which might mean that alternative transport would be difficult and expensive to organize)
YuropFlyer is offline  
Old May 30, 2018, 1:24 pm
  #1975  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Switzerland mostly
Programs: LX Sen, EK Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Sirius Gold, BA Gold
Posts: 357
Seems the Swiss lurkers are no longer lurking ?

Did I miss some bad news from Swiss ? CHF 5’000 business class ticket to Dubai, Senator status and I have to pay CHF 49 to reserve seat 6A ? Is this another website bug or some new regulation ?
Thank you
Andre
asimha is offline  
Old Jun 5, 2018, 7:38 am
  #1976  
Company Representative - Swiss Airlines
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Zurich / Switzerland
Programs: Miles & More (LX)
Posts: 888
Dear Asimha,

Senators do not have to pay for seats in Business Class. This must have been a definite bug.

Very best,
The SWISS Lurker
SwissInternationalAirLines is offline  
Old Jun 6, 2018, 8:08 am
  #1977  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Switzerland mostly
Programs: LX Sen, EK Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Sirius Gold, BA Gold
Posts: 357
Originally Posted by SwissInternationalAirLines
Dear Asimha,

Senators do not have to pay for seats in Business Class. This must have been a definite bug.

Very best,
The SWISS Lurker
I managed to assign the seat via your Customer Service Desk however it is actually still a bug (see screenshot!)
asimha is offline  
Old Jun 12, 2018, 6:56 am
  #1978  
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 2
Dear SwissLurker:

I have a question about upgrade bargain / upgrades with miles or vouchers.

If there is a single seat left for upgrading, and there are people with miles/vouchers, but also upgrade bargain folks. How is this resolved? Is it based on Status/Time on Waitlist?

Or will cash (Upgrade bargain) always win? Or is the fare that one upgrades from relevant, too?

Please provide some insights. Thanks. :-)
SwissFlier is offline  
Old Jun 13, 2018, 1:56 pm
  #1979  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Programs: Miles and More
Posts: 154
Lounge SFO

Dear Swiss Lurker

I assume that with the opening of the Polaris lounge at SFO LX uses this lounge for its F, C and Star Gold Passengers. It would be appreciated if the lounge guide on the LX homepage could be updated regularly.

Regards

Olivier
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 2:18 pm
  #1980  
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: ZRH
Programs: M&M SEN (*G), HH Diamond
Posts: 2,416
Originally Posted by olivier
I assume that with the opening of the Polaris lounge at SFO LX uses this lounge for its F, C and Star Gold Passengers.
Your assumption is not entirely correct. LX C and F guests are allowed into the Polaris lounge, but not *G (travelling in Y). The UA Club between gates G98 and G100 is the *G lounge.
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