Swiss charges exorbitant excess baggage fees, ignores complaints
Jan 7th, 2011 | 01:08 AM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 2
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Swiss charges exorbitant excess baggage fees, ignores complaints
I recently connected on a Swiss flight from Zurich to Paris, to catch a Malaysian Air flight to Borneo for a scuba diving trip. Malaysian Air has an allowance of 10 extra kilos for scuba equipment, so there should have been no excess baggage fees for those legs of my flights.
Swiss Air insisted in charging me their full international rate of 89 Swiss francs (about $89 US at current exchange rates) per kilo for the entire flight, $899 in excess baggage fees. When I argued with their agent about this, they said the only thing I could do is to collect the bags in Paris and recheck them with Malaysia Air, and then Swiss would only charge me their standard Europe zone tariff of 20 francs per bag ($200 total). Unfortunately I did not have enough connecting time in Paris, they only thing they could offer was to rebook me for a later flight (with their full fees for changing my ticket).
Because time was short and I was joining a tour and could not be delayed, I unfortunately had to pay the full $899. I had zero excess baggage fees on my return flights with Malaysian Air, which tells me there should have been no charge for this portion of the trip.
I sent an e-mail and a letter to Swiss insisting that they refund a minimum 669 francs (the full 889 less the 200 for the Europe zone travel on Swiss). I have not received any response to either in two months now. I just sent them a registered letter, and will post a follow up with the outcome of this.
I have found Swiss to be very unfair in their excess baggage charges, and not responsive to customer concerns. In my experience, Swiss has completely failed at their stated goal of providing personal service, in-depth quality and making me feel at home.
Swiss Air insisted in charging me their full international rate of 89 Swiss francs (about $89 US at current exchange rates) per kilo for the entire flight, $899 in excess baggage fees. When I argued with their agent about this, they said the only thing I could do is to collect the bags in Paris and recheck them with Malaysia Air, and then Swiss would only charge me their standard Europe zone tariff of 20 francs per bag ($200 total). Unfortunately I did not have enough connecting time in Paris, they only thing they could offer was to rebook me for a later flight (with their full fees for changing my ticket).
Because time was short and I was joining a tour and could not be delayed, I unfortunately had to pay the full $899. I had zero excess baggage fees on my return flights with Malaysian Air, which tells me there should have been no charge for this portion of the trip.
I sent an e-mail and a letter to Swiss insisting that they refund a minimum 669 francs (the full 889 less the 200 for the Europe zone travel on Swiss). I have not received any response to either in two months now. I just sent them a registered letter, and will post a follow up with the outcome of this.
I have found Swiss to be very unfair in their excess baggage charges, and not responsive to customer concerns. In my experience, Swiss has completely failed at their stated goal of providing personal service, in-depth quality and making me feel at home.
Jan 7th, 2011 | 04:56 AM
#2
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 12,268
Likes: 0
Sorry for your negative experience.
If you paid with a credit card I might dispute the charge.
www.insuremytrip.com always wise for me also...
If you missed collecting your bags and rechecking
due to tight connection times and chose not to re-book
am not sure it is ALL SwissAir's fault...
But someone else got the gold mine and you got the shaft...
That is for sure... Good Luck!
If you paid with a credit card I might dispute the charge.
www.insuremytrip.com always wise for me also...
If you missed collecting your bags and rechecking
due to tight connection times and chose not to re-book
am not sure it is ALL SwissAir's fault...
But someone else got the gold mine and you got the shaft...
That is for sure... Good Luck!
Jan 7th, 2011 | 05:15 AM
#4
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 12,268
Likes: 0
SwissAir lost ALL my bags last time I used them
from JFK to ZUR to CAI on a Travel Dynamics Red Sea Cruise.
Was forced to live in T Shirts and had to re-buy everything
Despite many calls nothing happened until they mysteriously
showed up at my house sans electronics 4 weeks later.
No apology no money did get reimbursed a bit by my trip ins.
So things could be worse and do not feel
like the lone ranger... all the best,
from JFK to ZUR to CAI on a Travel Dynamics Red Sea Cruise.
Was forced to live in T Shirts and had to re-buy everything
Despite many calls nothing happened until they mysteriously
showed up at my house sans electronics 4 weeks later.
No apology no money did get reimbursed a bit by my trip ins.
So things could be worse and do not feel
like the lone ranger... all the best,
Jan 9th, 2011 | 12:31 AM
#7
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 26,778
Likes: 0
Welcome to Fodors. And welcome to the excess luggage charges of European airlines. When flying European airlines, you must be very careful about weight limits, as the overage charges are obscenely expensive and they tend to be quite strict in their interpretations of the limits. Sorry you got burned, but I don't hold out much hope of a refund for you.
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