Dear Alex,
I purchased a London-Zurich-Barcelona return excursion with Swiss for about £130, but could use only the outbound portion. I submitted the parts of the ticket I didn’t use to Swiss, expecting that at the very least the unused taxes and fees would be refunded. I did not realistically expect Swiss to refund the tariff element.
But Swiss refused any refund because in accordance with its conditions of carriage, “any calculation of the refund value must be based on the normal one-way fare for London-Zurich-Barcelona, which is £540”. Is this correct?
Peter Rejchrt, London
Alex replies:
Yes, unfortunately. The unusual way in which airlines calculate tariffs means that, on this particular route, a one-way trip costs over four times more than a return, so there is no fare refund. Neither will you get anything back from the taxes, fees and so on. Swiss no longer hands back the fuel surcharges on cheap tickets, while its £28 administration fee (for processing the refund) eats up whatever is left.
