SWISS Makes Up Bizarre Lie To Deny Compensation Claim

For anyone with a similar experience I recommend to lodge a case with FOCA (Federal Office of Civil Aviation in Switzerland), link at the bottom of this page: https://www.bazl.admin.ch/bazl/en/home/passagiere/air-passenger-rights.html

It may take some time to get a response but it only involves filling in a form and is free.

I had a similar case a couple of years ago where my return flight with Swiss to Switzerland was cancelled shortly before departure, apparently for technical issues. Swiss brushed off my initial compensation claim, claiming the circumstances were “outside of our control.”

We then lodged a case with FOCA.
A few weeks later we magically received a email from Swiss requesting bank details, followed by payment of the due compensation.

Much later (almost a year) we received a closing email from FOCA notifying us that based on our claim they had opened an administrative penal procedure against the airline, which was then closed in consideration of the fact that the appropriate compensation had ultimately been paid.

I had the same issue on a flight London to Geneva a few years ago the flight was over four hours late. Swiss wouldn't tell me the reason why and when I asked for proof they said it was commercially sensitive so refused. In the end I filed through the arbitration/appeal mechanism, fortunately I'm a lawyer so not afraid to do something like that, but I imagine most people would just let it go which sucks. Anyway, next thing I know I have swiss premium customer care emailing me saying they will settle the claim with the EU compensation. They denied my friend on the flight with me too.

A few years ago, my family of four, including two young kids, traveled from Geneva to Toronto with a connection in Frankfurt. We arrived at the Geneva airport 2.5 hours early but faced a long check-in queue. Despite our concerns, we assumed they would call our flight before closing it. They never did. When we reached the counter, they told us the flight had already been called and was now closed, resulting in the cancellation of all our flights to and from Canada. The staff was extremely rude and unapologetic.
At the ticketing counter, we found about 15 other people in the same situation, none of whom heard the flight being called. We submitted a claim for 5000 Swiss francs for the cost of new tickets. Swiss Airlines initially refused, falsely claiming we were the "only" passengers who missed the flight. However, we had contact info from other stranded passengers. After contacting the ombudsman's office, we received full compensation. So, if they try to lie to you, keep fighting!

Isn’t this the whole point? Switzerland isn’t in the EU but adopted the original EU261 regulation, however none of the case law that followed. Technical difficulties being non-extraordinary wasn’t explicitly stated in the original regulation but has been clarified in case law (Wallentin Hermann -v- Alitalia (C-549/07) - 22 December 2008)- which LX is under no obligation to follow

Ok it’s weird that they’ve written some guff about an airplane they don’t have but one it’s technical difficulties the rest is gravy anyway

I've had quite a few cases with EU261 over the years and the only airline I had troubles dealing was SWISS.

The best have always been Air France KLM and Delta - one message and payment is on the way (the same with damaged baggage and paying for purchased items while baggage is delayed).

With SWISS I was honestly shocked how blatant and brazen they were in their lies (and even more shocked how Ben lust summer praised SWISS for ease of process of EU261 claims).

The case. GVA-JFK, paid biz class ticket, half an hour after departure the aircraft diverts to ZRH due to mechanical issue. After 3 hours of wait we were off to JFK on a replacement aircraft, arrived at JFK 5+ hours later. Seems like crystal clear EU261 case. Nope! They denied compensation claiming mechanical issue with their aircraft was outside of their control. I couldn't believe my eyes. The whole message was incredibly arrogant and had a tone: you should thank us we take your safety and security so seriously.

Back in forth didn't get me anywhere. They agreed to pay for my Uber and meal at ZRH tho, offered me a voucher and lied about its conditions (in fact it's unusable).

There is a reason for their behaviour tho. As CH is not in the EU they're not obliged to follow decisions of EU courts (which clarified before that mechanical is clearly under control of an airline and some other). CH adopted only baseline EU261/2004 and not all the clarifications that followed. CH courts tend to side with airlines and practice generally doesn't favour passengers. I initially was going to take them to the court but after researching that gave up.

If your departure point in the EU (e.g. CDG-ZRH-XXX) you can still complaint to government overseeing agency, however if it's from CH - no recourse.

OK, I will refer to a different era and a different airline but they are related. We flew SR (Swissair) decades ago. I was travelling with my parents, age about 70 with no medical issues. One hour into a TATL flight my mother became unwell. While nobody wants to be that person it does happen. My mother spent the rest of the flight TATL on the floor with Oxygen. There was no concept of diversion and I assumed upon landing she would be quickly seen and removed. SWISSAIR then pushed Mother out of the way and demanded all passengers disembarked before allowing the medics aboard.
Mom survived quite well and refused to complain. She reasoned that karma would even things out. I do not know the details but soon after Swissair failed. I am not privy to employment, job security and pension issues after the failure.

Bottom line, Swiss (airline) are not nice people.