RB
Established Member
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2004
- Posts
- 4,270
Received the following as an email today. We have a paid flight booked in mid May
The spread of the coronavirus is affecting people’s lives all over the globe. It is having a particularly strong impact on air travel worldwide. In view of the tightened immigration restrictions both in and beyond Europe, we at SWISS will only be able to maintain a minimal flight program for the next few weeks.
We are well aware that due to these developments, we sadly are unable to offer you the kind of air travel service at present that you have come to expect and enjoy. For this we offer you our sincere apologies. Should you have booked a SWISS flight departing in the next couple of days, please check its latest status in advance on our swiss.com website. You will also find all the latest news on the coronavirus and our current SWISS timetable here.
Safety on board
The cabin air in our aircraft is a combination of fresh air from outside and filtered circulating air. The use of special filters make our cabin air cleaner than the air we inhale on the ground. In addition, we always clean our aircraft cabins to the highest possible standards. Additionally we constantly ensure that our inflight service meets all the latest hygiene requirements. Please rest assured that in these truly exceptional times, too, your safety remains our paramount priority.
Repatriation flights
Being The Airline of Switzerland, it is very important to us in this extraordinary situation to bear all our responsibilities and to ensure, despite the increasingly difficult operating parameters, that our home country remains connected with the world. Our efforts at present are focused on repatriating the thousands of people who are still involuntarily abroad due to local travel restrictions. SWISS is helping the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) to conduct its biggest-ever repatriation program, by providing long-haul aircrafts and their crews to bring these Swiss nationals and residents back home safely.
Should you currently be away from Switzerland and unable to arrange your return flight home, please contact your local Swiss diplomatic representation. The FDFA is also urging all Swiss nationals who are currently outside Switzerland seeking to return home to register on the Travel Admin App as soon as possible. This will enable the FDFA to contact you and provide you with further helpful information.
Flexible rebooking
We have also eased and simplified our rebooking provisions to help our customers as much as possible in these uncertain times. The changes here in brief:
Any customer holding a ticket for any flight – cancelled or still operating – may retain their ticket with no need to commit yet to another flight date.
The ticket will retain its full value, to which a further CHF 50 discount will be added.
The ticket may also be rebooked to a new destination.
These provisions apply to all tickets booked up to and including 31 March 2020 for confirmed travel up to and including 31 December 2020.
Should you need to rebook, you can also do this after the departure date of your originally booked flight via our swiss.com customer services or a travel agent. Please note that you are under no obligation in such cases to contact our customer services or your travel agent before your original date of travel. All the information you need is always available on our website.
Longer waiting times
Customers using our Call Centres are currently experiencing long waiting times because of the high call volumes. In view of this, we kindly ask you only to use our Call Centres if the flight in question is scheduled to depart within the next 72 hours. If you are looking to rebook a flight that is scheduled to depart later than this, please call us at a later time.
Status customers
If you are one of our valued status customers, we acknowledge that your possibilities for accumulating status miles are currently limited. In view of this, we will be easing the corresponding provisions for retaining your program status in the course of this year.
The present crisis poses a huge challenge to us all, and one that we can only master together. Please rest assured that we at SWISS will continue to do everything in our power to take you safely to your destination and that you, our customer, will always remain at the heart of all our activities.
The spread of the coronavirus is affecting people’s lives all over the globe. It is having a particularly strong impact on air travel worldwide. In view of the tightened immigration restrictions both in and beyond Europe, we at SWISS will only be able to maintain a minimal flight program for the next few weeks.
We are well aware that due to these developments, we sadly are unable to offer you the kind of air travel service at present that you have come to expect and enjoy. For this we offer you our sincere apologies. Should you have booked a SWISS flight departing in the next couple of days, please check its latest status in advance on our swiss.com website. You will also find all the latest news on the coronavirus and our current SWISS timetable here.
Safety on board
The cabin air in our aircraft is a combination of fresh air from outside and filtered circulating air. The use of special filters make our cabin air cleaner than the air we inhale on the ground. In addition, we always clean our aircraft cabins to the highest possible standards. Additionally we constantly ensure that our inflight service meets all the latest hygiene requirements. Please rest assured that in these truly exceptional times, too, your safety remains our paramount priority.
Repatriation flights
Being The Airline of Switzerland, it is very important to us in this extraordinary situation to bear all our responsibilities and to ensure, despite the increasingly difficult operating parameters, that our home country remains connected with the world. Our efforts at present are focused on repatriating the thousands of people who are still involuntarily abroad due to local travel restrictions. SWISS is helping the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) to conduct its biggest-ever repatriation program, by providing long-haul aircrafts and their crews to bring these Swiss nationals and residents back home safely.
Should you currently be away from Switzerland and unable to arrange your return flight home, please contact your local Swiss diplomatic representation. The FDFA is also urging all Swiss nationals who are currently outside Switzerland seeking to return home to register on the Travel Admin App as soon as possible. This will enable the FDFA to contact you and provide you with further helpful information.
Flexible rebooking
We have also eased and simplified our rebooking provisions to help our customers as much as possible in these uncertain times. The changes here in brief:
Any customer holding a ticket for any flight – cancelled or still operating – may retain their ticket with no need to commit yet to another flight date.
The ticket will retain its full value, to which a further CHF 50 discount will be added.
The ticket may also be rebooked to a new destination.
These provisions apply to all tickets booked up to and including 31 March 2020 for confirmed travel up to and including 31 December 2020.
Should you need to rebook, you can also do this after the departure date of your originally booked flight via our swiss.com customer services or a travel agent. Please note that you are under no obligation in such cases to contact our customer services or your travel agent before your original date of travel. All the information you need is always available on our website.
Longer waiting times
Customers using our Call Centres are currently experiencing long waiting times because of the high call volumes. In view of this, we kindly ask you only to use our Call Centres if the flight in question is scheduled to depart within the next 72 hours. If you are looking to rebook a flight that is scheduled to depart later than this, please call us at a later time.
Status customers
If you are one of our valued status customers, we acknowledge that your possibilities for accumulating status miles are currently limited. In view of this, we will be easing the corresponding provisions for retaining your program status in the course of this year.
The present crisis poses a huge challenge to us all, and one that we can only master together. Please rest assured that we at SWISS will continue to do everything in our power to take you safely to your destination and that you, our customer, will always remain at the heart of all our activities.
