[grubdunkman]

I booked and paid for the following ticket with Swiss International Air Lines:

October 12: Kyiv (KBP) - Zurich (ZRH) - NY (JFK)
November 12: NY (JFK) -Zurich (ZRH) - Kyiv (KBP)

Actually my return destination is Moscow, so I booked and paid for Kyiv (KBP) - Moscow (DME) flight with S7 (Siberia Airlines), which takes off 1 hour 30 minutes after I arrive to Kyiv.

Now Swiss informs me they have a schedule change and time of arrival to Kyiv is one hour later. I know I will miss my flight to Moscow that way, so I cancel it, and book a direct flight from Zurich to Moscow with Aeroflot, what makes my travel cost twice more expensive.

Afterwards I ask Swiss to refund me the cost of Zurich - Kyiv flight as I'm not going to use it due to the schedule change initiated by them, and they reply they can't (!!!), they only can cancel the whole ticket, which is not an option for me at all, I mean I planned my time in New York and bought a ticket in advance to save some money, just to get it cancelled a few days before a flight??

That's not the end of the story.

I addressed to the same guy, who informed me they can't refund me the cost of the flight they changed time for, what made it useless for me, asking to give me a written confirmation they were not going to pay me back, as I will need it to file a claim to the court regarding the matter, and he just stops responding!!! Like go f*** a tree f***** pax, our big airline don't care about you little problems!

[jimworcs]

I think you will win in small claims. Take them to court.

[grubdunkman]

Thank you jimworcs, taking into account your experience, more than 2000 posts and more than three years here, I think I have a ground to proceed, and you inspired me to do so. I sent them my formal notice today, and will file a claim to my local small claims court in ten days if they don't pay me back.

[gremlin666]

I fell victim to their absurd 'coupon sequence' policy due to a change of schedule - it's like buying 4 apples, and being told you can only eat apples #3 and #4, if you have previously eaten #1 and #2. So angry - will never fly them again.

[azstar]

Originally Posted by gremlin666

I fell victim to their absurd 'coupon sequence' policy due to a change of schedule - it's like buying 4 apples, and being told you can only eat apples #3 and #4, if you have previously eaten #1 and #2. So angry - will never fly them again.

Always read the airlines contract of carriage so you are prepared whenever there is a schedule change. All airlines flying to the US must make the contract available to the passenger. This is from Swiss website:

"Should we make a significant change to the scheduled flight time after you have purchased your Ticket, the new time is not acceptable to you and we are unable to book you on an alternative flight which is more acceptable to you, you will be entitled to a refund in accordance with 10.2 below." Employees don't always know the policy, so you should.

[azstar]

Originally Posted by grubdunkman

I booked and paid for the following ticket with Swiss International Air Lines:

October 12: Kyiv (KBP) - Zurich (ZRH) - NY (JFK)
November 12: NY (JFK) -Zurich (ZRH) - Kyiv (KBP)

Actually my return destination is Moscow, so I booked and paid for Kyiv (KBP) - Moscow (DME) flight with S7 (Siberia Airlines), which takes off 1 hour 30 minutes after I arrive to Kyiv.

Now Swiss informs me they have a schedule change and time of arrival to Kyiv is one hour later. I know I will miss my flight to Moscow that way, so I cancel it, and book a direct flight from Zurich to Moscow with Aeroflot, what makes my travel cost twice more expensive.

Afterwards I ask Swiss to refund me the cost of Zurich - Kyiv flight as I'm not going to use it due to the schedule change initiated by them, and they reply they can't (!!!), they only can cancel the whole ticket, which is not an option for me at all, I mean I planned my time in New York and bought a ticket in advance to save some money, just to get it cancelled a few days before a flight??

That's not the end of the story.

I addressed to the same guy, who informed me they can't refund me the cost of the flight they changed time for, what made it useless for me, asking to give me a written confirmation they were not going to pay me back, as I will need it to file a claim to the court regarding the matter, and he just stops responding!!! Like go f*** a tree f***** pax, our big airline don't care about you little problems!

Unfortunately, if you purchased a separate ticket from Kiev to Moscow, that is not part of your Swissair "contract". They will claim that because you didn't purchase a ticket to Moscow through them, on the same ticket, that their obligation is to get you only to Kiev. And every airline claims that flight times are not guaranteed. In the future, always make sure all your flights are on the same ticket, even if it means paying a little more to fly an airline that has ticketing agreements with other airlines.

[jimworcs]

The point is not that the leg from Kiev to Moscow is by another airline. It is simply this. Swiss made a change to the schedule. It was not an unforeseen event. The OP was reasonable in simply asking for the final leg to be refunded. Swiss are arrogant and unreasonable to refuse this in the circumstances and I hope the small claims court will support this customers attempt to get an airline to treat them with fairness and decency.