What to do if your SWISS flight was delayed, cancelled, or you were denied boarding — which regulation applies, how much you could be owed, and how to claim.
SWISS (Swiss International Air Lines) is a Swiss-registered carrier, and Switzerland is neither an EU/EEA member state nor the UK. That doesn't take SWISS flights out of scope, though: EU261 still applies to any SWISS flight departing an EU/EEA airport — for example Berlin–Zurich — because that departure-side rule covers any airline, regardless of where it's registered. UK261 applies the same way to SWISS flights departing the UK, e.g. London–Zurich. Whether either regulation's arrival-side rule (arriving into the EU/EEA or UK from outside it, which normally requires an EU/EEA or UK carrier) reaches a SWISS flight, or how flights to and from Switzerland itself are treated, is a more specific question this page can't verify — check with the relevant national enforcement body if your flight doesn't depart an EU/EEA or UK airport directly.
Where either regulation applies, compensation is fixed by flight distance, regardless of what you paid for the ticket:
| Flight distance | EU261 | UK261 |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,500 km | €250 | £220* |
| 1,500–3,500 km | €400 | £350* |
| Over 3,500 km | €600 | £520* |
*UK261 amounts are indicative — confirm current figures with the CAA before relying on them. Either amount can be reduced by 50% if you were rerouted and still arrived within 2–4 hours of your original arrival time (the exact window depends on distance). Compensation is generally due for a delay of 3+ hours on arrival, a cancellation announced less than 14 days before departure, or denied boarding — unless the airline can show genuine extraordinary circumstances.
You can submit a claim directly and for free through SWISS’s own online compensation or customer-relations form, describing your flight and what happened. That works fine for straightforward cases the airline accepts without dispute. If SWISS rejects the claim, cites extraordinary circumstances you think don’t hold up, or simply doesn’t respond, WingRefund can review the case, challenge the stated reason against how it’s actually been treated in EU/UK case law, and escalate to the relevant national enforcement body or court on a no-win-no-fee basis — you only pay an agreed percentage of the compensation, and only if the claim succeeds.
Check your compensation estimate in about 2 minutes — free, no obligation — or start your claim now and let WingRefund deal with SWISS directly.
It depends on where the flight departed and, in some cases, on the nationality of the operating carrier. As a general rule, any flight departing an EU/EEA airport is covered by EU261 and any flight departing a UK airport is covered by UK261, regardless of the airline. Whether the arrival-side rule also applies to a specific SWISS flight depends on the operating carrier's registration — see the section above for how that applies to SWISS.
Under EU261, it's €250 for flights up to 1,500km, €400 for 1,500–3,500km, and €600 for flights over 3,500km, generally for a delay of 3+ hours on arrival, a cancellation with less than 14 days' notice, or denied boarding. UK261 uses the same distance bands, paid in pounds sterling (confirm current CAA-published figures before relying on an exact amount).
An airline can only refuse compensation for genuine “extraordinary circumstances” — things like severe weather, security threats, or third-party strikes. Technical or mechanical faults, and an airline's own crew or staffing issues, generally do not meet that bar under established case law, even though airlines (not specifically SWISS) sometimes cite them anyway. If SWISS rejects your claim on that basis, it's worth having the reason checked rather than accepted at face value.