Dear Swiss Air,

I am absolutely disappointed in your service. I flew from Paris to Singapore via Zurich on 11 September LX645 leaving 2045. I had checked in online prior within 24 hours and chose window seats for both flights. I am very sure everyone knows seat selection plays a critical role in a long haul flight, for various reasons and for me, I do not like to be disturbed when I’m sleeping with people going to the bathroom in the middle of the flight. My friend and I reached Paris airport (CDG T1) way before and started queuing at 1800 even before the check-in counter for Swiss Air was opened. We were 2nd in line, and upon reaching the counter, to be told that the flight was overbooked when the service staff knew we were flying to Singapore. He offered a solution to fly us with Air France given we were involuntarily bumped from the flight without much alternatives, and were told to come back in an hour’s time when the check-in counter would be closing. I had chosen to fly with Swiss Air because I have heard reviews on great service and flight quality but if you are offering to fly me with another carrier, I would have just chosen to fly with Air France in the first place without going through so much headaches at the check-in counter.

So we heeded the guy’s suggestion to come back in another hour and we were on ‘standby’ list. But what I don’t appreciate is the attitude the service staff who wasn’t even apologetic that we were in this situation at all. He was the duty manager at the period of time but he was not providing the best solution to our benefit, but instead whichever solution that he thinks work best for him by telling us repeatedly he cannot do anything more for us with his very limited powers even though he is the guy who can make the decisions. He even told us to write a complaint to Swiss Air. I was appalled and even amused by his reasoning. A flight that is overbooked is not a passenger’s fault, and I think we have the right to reclaim our seats, plus I had the screenshot to confirm I was checked in with seats allocated. I am a frequent traveler and had flown with many International airlines but I had never had such a bad experience before. I hope you can understand the unnecessary stress and unhappiness Swiss Air had given us in the hour of waiting, and the remaining 12 hours of flight time back to Singapore, and I would think much more improvement would need to be done on your end in order to pride yourself as an airline that provides good service and high standards of quality.

I know I am an insignificant economy class passenger but I am still a passenger of Swiss International Airlines which is why I hope Swiss Air can take this feedback seriously. I have no patience to wait for a reply that may take weeks or months to or may not even come given I had already filed an official complaint once I landed. As much as I hate to do this, until my grievance is resolved, this review will be going on a different platform every 24 hours, so I suggest the relevant department(s) attend to this as soon as possible. I hope my letter will not reach the senior management of the airline but if if the unfortunate calls for the extreme, then it cannot be helped. And if anyone can provide suggestions to resolve this, I welcome you to drop me a note!