Filing consumer protection complaint about Swiss Air
My flight with Swiss was cancelled and I've been trying to request a refund for several months now. Every time the customer service tells me that they are solving the issue and it was sent to the refund department. They never want to send me any confirmation email. I did not receive my money back.
I am a European Union citizen. What are my best options to file a complaint about the company? Can I file a complaint about Lufthansa, which I understand is the parent company?
Best Answer
UPDATE (2021/05/19): For all of my cancelled flights (over 100) I have - based on my choice - either received full reimbursement or was able to re-book into the future. The refunds office is pretty much back on track again to quickly refund your cancelled flights. Top notch service by Swiss!
ORIGINAL REPLY:
Being a HON Circle member, I can tell you first-hand that out of my already 80+ cancelled flights since March 19, 2020 at the time of this writing, not a single leg of the ones I did not post-pone has been refunded.
The reason you are waiting: for the first couple of months the refund office was closed down due to Covid-19. They have only recently begun to process the huge backlog of refunds and are ramping up as quickly as possible.
Plea for more information: you didn't specify your fare class, origin, destination, date of purchase, origin of purchase (LX site, third-party vendor), method of purchase, etc. Therefore, it's difficult to gauge which process your refund will take.
Answering your question: complaints can be initiated through here: https://www.swiss.com/ch/EN/customer-support/complaints-and-compliments. It will go to even a larger queue of pending requests than your refund inquiry. Once you share more information, maybe there is another way.
Two options for you going forward:
- Patience on your side given what you have just learned.
- Complain (does not speed up the other queue given these challenging times)
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Which airline has the most customer complaints?
#1. JetBlue Airways- Number of complaints: 266 (7.91 per 100k passengers)
- Total passengers boarded: 3,361,302.
How long does Swiss Air take to refund?
The refund amount will be provided you through the same mode of transaction of flight bookings. Once you request a Swiss Air flight refund, it will be processed within 7 working days. Just in case, if any delay happens, you would be required to contact the bank or payment interface through which the bookings were made.Who regulates Swiss?
The Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) is the supervision authority responsible for safety (aircraft, flight operations, and infrastructure) and for aviation policy and strategy issues. Civil aviation is regulated by two sources: domestic law; and international treaties.Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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