Swiss is on my shit-list yet once again. If you are a regular reader of The Big Finn's Big Blog!, you'll remember that I recently ranted about how the airlines list the price of the flight and then disclose all the add-ons right before you're ready to book the ticket. Well, it's time to renew the rant.
I'm planning on going to Amsterdam to get together with John (even though he's a Packer fan) while he's in Holland on business. John used to live down the street from us here in Switzerland, and he's since moved back to North Carolina. Anyway, I went to the Swiss website to check out flights and I found a flight that left on Friday afternoon and returned on Sunday evening. The fare was listed as 239 CHF. After setting up my itinerary, I clicked to find out the add-ons and I was shocked to see that they added up to 133 CHF - a hefty 55.6% mark-up!!!! But, that's not the worst part. If you break down the components of the add-ons, you find them listed as:
Fuel Surcharge: 40.00 CHF
Airport Taxes: 68.00 CHF
Swiss Service Fee: 25.00 CHF
Wait a minute...Swiss Service Fee??? What???? For a flight that I'm booking myself on the internet??? Unmitigated outrage!!! They might be able to get away with it right now because there aren't many options for direct flights between Basel and Amsterdam, but the time will come when Easy Jet adds a Basel/Amsterdam flight and then we'll see who has the last laugh.
In the meantime, I booked the flight using my Swiss miles (just can't get rid of the damn things!), and lo and behold...they only charged me for the Airport Taxes and not the Fuel Surcharge or Swiss "Service" Fee.
So, I'm going to Amsterdam over the weekend of September 9-11, and the round-trip "free" ticket is only going to cost me 68 CHF.
All's well that turns out well.
1 comment:
i never fly out of switzerland unless there is a ridiculous deal (we actually found a flight to new orleans out of zurich for 600 francs, we're convinced it was computer error) or i fly out of basel and use my husband's french bank card to get the french price. i am also a train fan. round trip to amsterdam from basel is only 300 francs or so. I am loathing moving to lausanne only because i detest flying out of geneva.
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