A friend of mine is in Barcelona on holidays. Last night, he was attacked by a group of people and left with a broken nose and black eye. He spent half the night in the emergency room. He is clearly shaken and was in tears when I spoke to him by phone a moment ago.

I called Swiss Airlines to ask if he could board the last flight tonight back to Switzerland. They have empty seats. However, because my friend bought a low fare ticket with restrictions, they would not even consider a flight change (he is scheduled to return tomorrow). The only option was to buy another full fare ticket. Wonderful.

When I was pleading with them to make an exception, or even to pay a change fee, they said, "No sorry, that's what travel insurance for."

That's cold.

Now in this case, they are technically right in how they are handling this, but I will not be giving them any more of my business anytime soon.

Just had to rant...sorry about that, but I hate it when corporations put money before people.

But, that's business.

Thanks Swiss.

yep thats business.... and they are correct thats what travel insurance is for as he had a cheap restrictive ticket.

All the airlines are the same freecken bunsh !!

When was working in calgery for 3 month ,one weekend i got so horney i wanted to get home to my mamma ,in ottawa . You think those bastarts would fly me home BTW don`t get involvet in any bar fight if you can stand the pain

I would argue that it is your friend that only cares about money. He booked the cheapest ticket (saving money) and didn't buy travel insurance (saving money).

Life is never going to tell you when you will have to learn these lessons.

IF its the barcelona to zurich flight tonight you can tell your friend there are 147 seats available so they would have no problems or concerns with overbooking and although they have to pay a large amount for a last minute ticket they should contact his travel insurance company for assistance.



single is 359 euro but if he buys a return its 156 euro and bin the return part of the ticket.

Man up is my advice. I've seen it referred to as HTFU by an old, Aussie friend.

If he didn't have a broken nose, when is he suppose to come back to Zurich?

By the way, it is certainly not the fault of Swiss if he got in a bad situation. Sorry for him though...

If I can help, let me know.

I'm so sorry that you friend got attacked. I hope he gets better soon. Although with things like this it is often the emotional scars that take longer to heal.

If you have to buy a new ticket you might want to try easyJet to see if they are cheaper and/or check the last minute specials page on Swiss.

Ah, yes. Nil has a point. Did he miss his flight or does he want to come back early?

Read the original post!!! He says when the friend is scheduled to fly home.

I do feel sorry for your friend, he has to consider though that if he had surgery to repair the nose (which I doubt) he will have to wait at least a week to fly. Otherwise he should be able to fly. He should just have a nasal decongestant in hand.

Hopefully he will have a speedy recovery.

Blame Nil. She confused me!! :P

Women

Well yes, of course. But in view of the fact it is really a quiet time, plenty of seats- a bit of compassion wouldn't go amiss, would it

Airlines are businesses not charities. If they helped everyone with a hard luck story, they would go out of business in short order.

I'm sure they have lots of claims like this.

• Got beaten up
• Fell over, cut knee
• Had a row, split up
• Weather's not good
• Child feeling ill

Remind me again how "compassionate" consumers were when SwissAir went under?

Or MG Rover in the UK?
Or Saab?
Or <INSERT NAME OF ANY OTHER BUSINESS THAT WENT BUST - BIG OR SMALL>?

Travel insurance is for exactly this purpose.

what next.. i was stuck in traffic missed my flight so i want another... ?

business is business however fair or unfair it is.

reading thru the OP post i missed the friend wants to come back 1 day early, doubt any travel insurance will pay for that, and anyway the cost is only 156 euro so he should open the wallet and come back if he is that desperate.

I was going to say the same thing: they are a business, not the Salvation Army.

Admittedly, it was a few years ago, but a friend of mine was visiting Germany, can't remember which city, when she had a minor stroke, and was hospitalised for a few days. Swiss Airlines changed her ticket and that of her husband without any charge in order that she could return to Switzerland earlier than planned.

there are certain exemptions