[SwissExPat]

i just had a complete shocker with SWISS in the last few days. I am about to make a major complaint and will revert back when they have sufficient time to investigate and reply.

[FormerlyDoS]

Is it as bad as the time they denied me check in for an hour, because I was a ‘revenue risk?’

That was because LH had issued the ticket incorrectly (it was F.)

I gave them the long handle over that FUBAR.

[LuganoPirate]

Strangely DoS, I had a similar problem with a ticket incorrectly issued by LH, though it was resolved in a few minutes in my case and I’d forgotten about it till now.

[LuganoPirate]

Can you give us a hint of what happened SwissExPat?

[SwissExPat]

We checked in for the 2h 20 min LX flight online and choose seats…seats were exit row with better leg room … Arrived early at zrh and got our boarding cards…at gate was reissues with new boarding cards with different sets which were not exit row seats…I complained.. Told to accept these seats or be denied travel…. Found out from purser on board that a higher ranking couple had transferred into our flight 45 mins before departure and requested exit row seats…. So we were bumped….. Also was lied to by ground staff who put it down to a “change of aircraft” but when I checked in I noted that the aircraft was an a321 with 2 rows with exit rows (11 and 25) and secured the seats which is something I always do… There had been no aircraft change… The hoped that I would be ignorant of the technical details of seat layout etc but I wasn’t! … We were lied to, threatened and bumped…. And I am a sliver FTL with swiss

[FormerlyDoS]

“And I am a sliver FTL with swiss”

Unfortunately, * Silver has as much clout as the Tufty Club 🙁

[Senator]

SwissExPat,

I agree that change of seats, specially preferred once are a nuisance. I had the same happen to me on BA from LHR to HKG in CW where I had a perfect seat on the upper deck, and at check in was assigned a seat on the lower deck.

After some firm, but friendly discussion with the front-line staff at T5 including a call to the operations team, I received the “truthful message” that a higher ranking BAEC member (I was Gold) had been assigned the seat despite my confirmation from MMB.

I was annoyed, but could live with it. Whilst I understand that “not all status members are equal” I for one would never insist if I had the higher status that someone else would be moved from a pre-assigned seat. It does smell quite a bit of the old DYKWIA here, and your seat was assigned to a HON for example.

[SwissExPat]

Thanks Senator….. at least I am not alone

Reflecting on this, once a seat is assigned to me and I have abided by all the general requirements…… The seat can only be taken off me for ‘Operational Reasons’ or something to so with Safety. [or some other reasonable reason such as an elderly person needing more room etc]

Anything beyond that …..is Theft. [strong word I concede but essentially taking what you have without your permission]

That a staff member would actually oust a PAX from an allocated seat [bearing in mind that on certain carriers, you may have actually paid the extra to specifically book it] is beyond belief.

Added to this the lies of an ‘Aircraft Change’ …

[CXDiamond]

All airlines will move people to accomodate their top level flyers, I think you should get used to the idea. I agree that staff lying to you is not good but I don’t think that overall you have a case. Staff may not have known the real reason for the change.

I really think you should move on.

[SwissExPat]

@ CXDiamond…. afraid I completely disagree.

It is simply a case of basic common decency.

Seats on planes are items that people queue for. Check in opens and the queue is processed on a first come first serve basis. Some may have had advance access to the Queue based on either paying extra or FF status which is fine.

If the above were acceptable, where would it end? Just as you were about to eat a meal on a plane, the crew comes and lifts the food off your tray and give it to another higher ranking PAX because they wanted what you had?

Another example is where a flight is full and a High Rank FF wants to exercise the guaranteed seat option. The airline looks for volunteers at a degree of compensation…. if insufficient volunteers then someone is bumped but they receive significant compensation. This is the proper way to do it. Not lie to PAX

[Henkel.Trocken]

SwissExPat, you’re a silver card holder, in *A terms, that amounts to nothing at all, there are more *Gs than they know what to do with. I’m surprised that *S gets you a seat of choice, I don’t think it’s a published benefit.

Get over it and move on, or you can let a non-event eat away at you for days. The choice is yours.

[millionsofmiles]

This comparison is like directly comparing a business class in a turboprop with a business class on a new 777-ER.
If such a comparison is made, it should be using similar planes and airports. LCY is just the excuse of an airport. It is a barack with a landing strip.

[PhileasFogg]

Having been a fan of BA for years is with much regret that I admit that Swiss´s long haul business class is far superior.

I guess the fact that you have 4 seats across instead of 8 allows the crew to provide better service.
Although IFE are comparable, Swiss planes are always clean and have some sense of exclusivity. Food&wine selection are also superior.
BA has in favour its LHR lounges but I would gladly trade those for a better inflight product.

And, for the record and upcoming comments, I couldn´t care less about Virgin- BA war or any anti CEO agendas.

I am just talking as a Avios Gold member that still has a remote hope of being surprised by BA with decent product upgrades.

Maybe BA strategy is working for company shareholders, If that´s the case I am happy for them and I just need to assume that I am not the type of customer they are targeting.

[Wasborntotravel]

Having flown both Swiss and BA recently on long haul (and short haul) I’d have to say that both were mixed experiences.

Last week was BA club world to Boston. The flight out was on one of the older 777 with no AVOD and a crew who really couldn’t be bothered. The only plus point was a better meal versus previous flights and a short flight time.

The return flight however was a totally different experience with a crew who couldn’t have done more to help, a more modern 777 and the option, which I partook of dining in the lounge before departure

Pre Christmas i was on a Swiss business class flight to Hong Kong. The outbound service was very good, great crew, reasonable food choices with the only downside being a poor IFE selection.

On the return flight it was the horrendous shared lounge at HK and a crew who really couldn’t be bothered. Due to delays (with no reason given) on leaving HK I was re booked from my planned LHR connection at Zurich even though there was still 50 mins transfer time when we arrived with only hand luggage and I could see the plane at the next gate! Thereby either a 3 hour delay or switch to LCY which I did

The moral of this story is that I’ve never yet flown on a consistent airline. They are crewed by individuals who all have on or off days and sometimes you just get an off day crew. That’s not just limited to European crews. I’ve some bad crews on Cathay and won’t now fly with Singapore Airlines following a couple of really bad flights

oh and don’t get me started on Lufthansa……

[LuganoPirate]

You make a good point Wasborn, but if I boycotted every airline that had not met my expectations or given bad service, I’d have to walk or swim to get anywhere 😉

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