Swiss International Air Lines Reviews 2,883

Another terrible experience with Swiss Air, delayed take off after boardinf and sitting on the tarmac waiting for parking slot. Double the travel time from Geneva to Heathrow.

Swiss Air cancelled my flight two years ago — and I’ve been living in the fallout ever since.
That cancellation triggered a domino effect of misery: I had to drive across an entire island, catch a ferry, book replacement flights out of my own pocket, overnight in Paris, and bus it to London — all while Swiss ghosted me like some fly-by-night scammer. I racked up hundreds in expenses just trying to salvage my journey. No help. No offer. No contact. Just silence.
I filed the refund and compensation claim immediately, complete with every damn receipt and document they required. Their response?
A single auto-reply confirming receipt… and then two years of radio silence.
I’ve chased them. Repeatedly. Professionally. Firmly. Politely at first — not anymore. They have ignored every follow-up. No human response. No apology. No refund. No accountability. Nothing.
I’m done being patient. This is no longer an oversight — it’s a deliberate strategy to exhaust and silence people they’ve wronged.
Swiss, your customer service is an insult, your silence is cowardice, and your conduct is beneath contempt. You parade around with a reputation for quality and reliability while treating your customers like they’re disposable.
I wouldn’t trust you with a paper plane.
Booking with Swiss means gambling with your time, money, and sanity — and if things go wrong, they’ll cut you loose, leave you to bleed, and vanish into the fog of bureaucracy.
If there’s a more indifferent, arrogant airline in operation today, I haven’t found it. But you’ve earned your place at the bottom of the barrel.
Avoid Swiss Air at all costs. You are on your own the second they take your money.

I was initially very concerned by the reviews, especially being a nervous flyer, but it was a really attentive service, great check in experience, I did fly business class, the food was very good, the flight attendants really looked after me. I didn’t see any issues whatsoever with the airline and will definitely fly with them again.

We booked a trip with Swiss airlines Zurich - San Juan Puerto Rico (via New York). On the return travel day the flight from San Juan to New York was so delayed that we had to book an alternative flight to make the flight to Zurich out of New York. Spoke to United and Swiss who both said our ticket of 1700 USD (economy) would be refunded later. Swiss however on the return to Switzerland refused to refund our flight or even compensate for unused flight leg, despite United Airlines supporting our claim and our repeated requests to Swiss for a second opinion (case 2412-LX-02178). As a frequent flyer living in Switzerland I am now flying alternatives to Swiss. I would recommend others to do the same - Swiss is in effect a low-cost airline, with many delays, no leg room and high costs for seat selections even as frequent flyer.

Not much to comment on SWISS, they just suck! Worst Airline

They have 7 kg carry on, but I was on a connecting long haul flight, from Zurich to London to Calgary, and they wanted me to check my bag... Even though lots of room... I took out my laptop it was 7 kg then. Anyways they insisted. Awful. Thank God for kind lady at the entrance to the plane, that had a heart, and we could take our hand luggage on the plane.
So

My Swiss Air flight LX0645 from Paris (CDG) to Johannesburg with Case no. 2506-LX-12282 - refers:
My flight on 22nd June @ 19:35 was delayed for an hour. While waiting on CDG, the stewardess on duty, told me to check in my hand luggage (which was NOT locked). I told her my bag is NOT locked, as I intend to keep it with me with valuables (expensive jewelry and Ray Ban sun glasses inside, at all times!
I was NOT feeling comfortable to check this in.
She insisted that it will be fine and said I have to check in due to limited space. I had no choice!?
Getting inside the plane, most other people had their cases with them where they have put in the top storage.
On my arrival in Johannesburg @ 9:00 (23/06/25), both my bags came out early and I had to rush home to teach at 13:00. When I opened my hand luggage at home, I only found the empty boxes of jewelry and no sun glasses!!
I wrote to Swiss Air and I the below email is the 2nd email received from the Airways:

"I regret my message of 27 June 2025 did not meet your expectations.
Your file has been reviewed and I regret to advise that our stance remains unchanged in regards to your claim for compensation. Hence, SWISS cannot offer a more favorable response in this case.
Although I realize the inconvenience you had, I count on your understanding that I am unable to give you a different answer".

Florence Ofati
Consultant
Customer Feedback Services / R1S

I do not appreciated their response, seeing that I was forced to check in hand luggage which was not locked and in my possession as intended to be.

If I did not check in my hand luggage, this would not have happened.
NOT my mistake at all!!

I am incredibly disappointed in the service I received from Swiss. I noticed that my first name was inputted as my last name (for example, Jane Jane as opposed to Jane Doe), 3 weeks ahead of my booking. I called on 4 separate occasions, in which 3 separate customer service representatives said that this was a permitted name change, as it was to change my last name to match my legal name on my passport. I sent the necessary documents, and followed the instructions given by the representatives. I did not receive a rejection email, instead I received email notifications that a call-back was required, which had listed a Spanish number to contact Swiss (whilst I’m an English speaker). I also received email correspondence confirming that my name had been changed, but then this was retracted in the follow-up email. Today, I called to speak to a customer service representative to ask for an update, in which I was informed that my name change application was rejected. This would have been fine, but having been told a multitude of times this is a permitted name change, then told it’s not, was not acceptable. I never received notification of the final rejection, I had to follow this up myself. I’m even more disappointed as my name is listed correctly on the Miles & More program (as Jane Doe), so I am unsure of how this happened. If it is a glitch, this needs to be corrected as soon as possible so this doesn’t happen to other customers. From this experience, I am unlikely to fly with Swiss again after I cancel and repay for this flight. I was also only just informed that if I wait to speak to someone at check in about this issue, it would not be possible due to the auto check-in. The customer service representatives were the only saving grace of my experience, being polite and as helpful as possible.

Despite being patient and going above and beyond to try and accomodate your requests throughout this whole process, I have not received the same courtesy back and it’s a really disappointing experience from such a large airline. I hope for future customers there would be greater support.

We booked 2 tickets on booking.com and everything went fine, we received the confirmation for 2 travellers and a suitcase.
But, when we tried to board, we only had 1 ticket and no suitcase. So, we had to travel separately and buy tickets AGAIN ! And pay for the suitcase !

Of course, they say they can't do anything since we used a travel agency. Even if and intern booking inquiry showed everything was fine on their side...
I'm so angry at the so poor customer service !

I booked return flights with Swiss Air via Expedia to Zurich, Switzerland on a group booking of 3 people. A few days after booking the flights I realised that I had double-booked myself and would not be able to make the morning outbound flight. I contacted Swiss Air who were entirely unhelpful, stating the tickets were non-refundable and was not allowed to make any changes, despite offering to pay whatever the difference would be. I then made the smartest choice of my trip, which was to STAY AWAY FROM SWISS AIR, as I will be recommending to anyone travelling, and booked an outbound flight with a different provider for the evening of the same day. Despite this therefore incurring an additional cost, I acknowledged it was my mistake and moved on, being made to believe by Swiss Air that I would be able to return on the original flight I had booked with no problems. Had I have known this was not the case, I would’ve booked a return flight with the other airline, as we should have done in the first place and avoided Swiss Air altogether.

After a stressful and expensive trip, we attempted to check-in the night before our flight home to find that I was not showing on the online booking. I immediately called Swiss Air and was informed by a female member of staff that she could not identify any problem her end, could see my booking without any issues, and stated that I should simply go to the check-in desk in the morning and check-in as normal. Whilst I was anxious about not being able to check-in as normal, she stated with absolute certainty that there should be no problems. However, when we arrived at check-in the next morning, I was met by an unempathic, rude, and callous female member of staff who said my booking had been cancelled and there was nothing she could do for me. This is not acceptable customer engagement by any stretch, and I cannot understand the hiring or training process that produce an individual as rude and cold as she was throughout the interaction.

By this point I was absolutely exhausted, terrified, and panicking that I would not be able to return home and did not have additional funds available to purchase YET ANOTHER ticket. We then visited the Swiss Air ticket desk and were met with a male member of staff who stated I had to pay another CHF 158 just to get on the flight I had already booked and paid for, just to guarantee that I could sit in the seat that was already booked as mine. When questioned, I was told I would just have to make a complaint and that if I wanted to get on the flight I would have to pay. As such, I paid the CHF 158, despite this being an extortionate amount for something I had already paid for, and indicative of Swiss Air’s money-grabbing ethos. He then said that I would receive CHF 58 as a refund in the next few days for the taxes that weren’t used on my outbound flight. I was then presented with a ticket that didn’t guarantee me a seat at all, stating ‘standby’, causing even more intense anxiety and distress.

I therefore went straight to the gate and waited to speak to a member of staff about whether I had a seat. The ‘blue stamp’ staff finally showed up 30 minutes later than scheduled and when asked about my ticket said, ‘oh are you a staff member’, to which I responded I’m not and was told with worried faces that I would have to wait another 30 mins to an hour for their colleague doing boarding to arrive. I therefore waited at the front of the queue for another 40 minutes at least and when the boarding staff member finally did arrive was repeatedly told I’d have to wait. He then proceeded to say he was boarding passengers, to which I responded he hadn’t provided me with an update and he finally gave me a seat on the plane. To keep an individual waiting hours to find out if they can even get on the plane to go home to their family, causing so much unnecessary stress and genuine mental and physical illness is utterly humane and disgusting. Your company should be ashamed and whilst I hope no other passengers have been through what I have – it is very difficult to believe given how your staff, and company as a whole, operates.

Since returning home, I contacted Swiss Airline's online customer service team to enquire about the refund of CHF 58 the male staff member at the ticket office stated we would get for the unused outbound taxes – to which I was informed no refund will be sent. This company is despicable and I will not be flying with Swiss Air again, as well as dissuading fellow travellers from doing so, for your diabolical customer service and financial entrapment of passengers.

Racist / Sexism against pregnant asian women flying business. Fly a real airline that isnt only serving their own people.

Scam Airline! When I was traveling to Zurich, I had a connection in San Francisco and before they would allow me to board the connection they demanded me and my travel partner to pay for baggage again when it was already paid for the trip when we got on in the first place. They demanded we go to United and get paper proof of payment. The staff was rude, aggressive, and attempted to intimidate us by having multiple employees circle us while trying to explain without documentation we would not be allowed to board. It made no sense whatsoever because how did our baggage make it on the first plane without paying? This was shake down.. text book.. EXTORTION!!! Do not fly Swiss!!! It seems to be on BRAND with the country because Enterprise Zurich Airport attempted to EXTORT us as well!!!

I had paid for a window seat for a long-haul flight and the seat in front of me was not working properly, reclining at least 30% more than the other seats. After making a complaint with photos and all, the response I got is that they have available seats for personal/ individuals preferences. Firstly they clearly didn’t even bother to read my complaint properly, secondly, putting the responsibility of a broken seat on their customers and expect them to have a crystal ball about what seat to choose to avoid the ones with issues is just outrageous. Last time I’ll flight with them.

HELP - How do I contact you and speak to a Human?

I am of pension age and cant navigate all the IT stuff and gave up with your online form

E ticket 220-9594906896
Booking Ref RSM3N

Lufthansa
I wear the international recognised hidden disability lanyard when travelling. I have emphysema and suffer from panic attacks when placed under too much stress.

Passenger assist was booked over all stops. There was none at Frankfurt - there were staff available who were very unwilling to help when asked and just pointed that way. Airport staff unwilling to assist ,, far too busy with their personal conversations.

Several vehicles driving around no one stopped to assist. To find the next terminal at the opposite end of the airport, involved taking a train.  Passengers tried to help but I could not keep up with them and they had their flights to catch. I ended  up having a full blown panic attack.  Air plane staff were supportive, saying it is not the first time they had heard this.

Swiss Air
Luggage did not arrive and could be given no time frame.

This was booked through Travel Trolley, who arranged the assistance and gluten free meal quickly and efficiently.

I am able to see my daughter and grandson once a year and this has really put a bit of a damper on the holiday.

To add insult to injury my case has arrived broken and I cant find a claim form!
I look forward to a response

Regards

I would never Recommend Swiss Airlines to no one. 4 days on the phone to solve ticket issues. 2 to 3 hours at the time. Poor communication between employees, not trained well. Problem still not solved.

My flight with SWISS was delayed by more than 2.5 hours, causing me to miss my connection. The airline claimed this was due to “on-ground service restrictions” and refused compensation under EC261, even though the delay was caused by waiting for cargo which is a standard operational issue.

I expected better accountability and customer service. I'm still waiting for a fair resolution. Based on my experience, and the experience of other reviewers, it seems SWISS may routinely deny compensation claims that passengers could be entitled to. Likely counting on people not challenging their decisions.

Not organized and a lot of mean spirited lazy people standing around doing nothing. Multiple people missed their flight at a Swiss home airport GVA since they did not have enough kiosks open. No managing line to put people leaving first ahead. Lots of empty agents in business class refusing to help economy, just sitting doing nothing. Managers also refuse to help. If anything, managers there to make sure no one helps passengers. About 5 people standing around doing nothing but telling desperate people it is their fault. They do not even care that their online check in does not workout give info on wait times. Disorganized airline with bad systems, lazy workers that go nothing and zero empathy or human behaviour.

Business class appealing tbh. Outdated seats and generally the worst business class experience. Don't bother. Also staff treat you like sh*t until they find out your business or first class then it's fake smiles.

Reported my damaged suitcase on 13th March. Despite chasing them every few weeks, they still have not compensated me. They keep saying they are dealing with it, but it has been over 3 months!! Are they incompetent, or are they just hoping I will go away?

Swiss scheduled two flights to London at the exact same time from opposite ends of Zurich airport: one to Heathrow, one to Gatwick. I mistakenly went to the wrong gate, which required a 20-minute transit and train ride to correct. By the time I reached the right gate, the flight had left.

I’m 8 months pregnant. I was clearly distressed, crying, out of breath, visibly shaken. Swiss staff offered no support. No rerouting. No real concern. Just told me, flatly, that it was my decision to go to the wrong gate and as a result they could do nothing to help.

They also told me my luggage had been offloaded to carousel 21, so I had to exit the terminal and go retrieve it myself before buying a new flight. I of course then flew British Airways instead, treated with the utmost care and respect.

Swiss didn’t just mishandle a simple error. They actively chose to do nothing for a heavily pregnant, visibly distressed passenger left stranded by their own absurd scheduling decision.

Never flying with them again.