"A total disgrace" Bulgari manager settles accounts with Swiss - and hits a nerve
It's not just the overbooking, complains Jean-Christophe Babin. The Bulgari CEO also criticizes the fact that Swiss delivers average at best for the high prices. His account on LinkedIn triggers a big response.
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- Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin has massively criticized Swiss in a LinkedIn post that has since been deleted.
- The overbooking of aircraft, which usually affects passengers at short notice and causes costs that are not reimbursed, is particularly bad.
- Poor food, average service and old aircraft are further problems.
- Other managers echoed the criticism on LinkedIn.
Swiss passengers are "hostages of incompetence and arrogance": although the airline is so expensive, it only offers average service, poor food and old aircraft such as the A-340.
At least that's the opinion of Jean-Christophe Babin: the CEO of luxury brand Bulgari vented his anger on LinkedIn and wrote about his negative experiences with Swiss. The manager later deleted the post, but not before the "Handelszeitung" (HZ ) got wind of it.
Babin is also annoyed by the airline's habit of canceling flights at short notice. This even happens to him, who has collected over 40,000 qualification points with Swiss and thus has the status of "Senator for life", which only a few frequent flyers achieve.
"A total disgrace for the airline"
His wife was recently informed only three hours before departure that her plane would not be taking off. There was only an alternative flight to Geneva the next day. The call center did inform his wife that she could claim compensation, but the lost working time would not be reimbursed.
"A total disgrace for the airline," comments Babin. "If Bulgari behaved like this, the company would be in trouble." Swiss is now on a similar level to its competitor Easyjet.
The post apparently hits a nerve and triggers a big response on LinkedIn, according to the Handelszeitung: a Breguet manager defends Easyjet, which is better than Swiss because the former does not sell its seats twice.
Swiss in decline in certain rankings
A Watchmakers United manager is quoted as saying: "Mercedes, Apple, Swiss. The list of big companies that have been in the spotlight recently for poor customer service is long. The funny thing is that they all communicate how they provide the best service for today's demanding customers."
Swiss does not wish to comment on a customer's post "for data protection reasons". However, "HZ" notes that the airline is in decline in terms of some surveys. With almost 14,000 delays out of a total of 32,222 scheduled flights, it is one of the three most unpunctual airlines in Europe.
Only Easyjet and ITA Airways are worse. The Swiss airline also ranks third worst when it comes to cancelations - ahead of Eurowings and Lufthansa.