In recent weeks, budding travellers have taken to the internet to reveal a new “price hack” when booking SWISS flights in and out of Zurich. Users on the e-commerce website Preispirat noticed that passengers could save hundreds of francs if they booked their journeys from Geneva Cornavin station instead of Zurich. The airline has since confirmed that the hack does work.
According to Blick, travellers can now save a fair amount of money on their next flights out of the largest airport in Switzerland. Users on Preispirat explained that if you choose Geneva’s main rail station as your departure point on the SWISS website, not Zurich, prices can be cheaper. This is despite the fact that these connections still use flights from Zurich and come packaged with a rail ticket that takes you from Geneva to the airport and back.
For instance, users found that on the same flights from Zurich to New York - departing on August 21 and returning on August 24 - tickets were 92 francs a person cheaper if users chose Geneva Cornavin as their departure point rather than Zurich Airport. In one case created by Blick, a return flight package from Zurich to Dubai was 100 francs a person cheaper when a train ticket from Geneva was included.
This trick can also work for short-haul bookings. On flights on September 11 and 18, prices from Geneva station to Manchester - using the flight from and to Zurich - were around 54 francs a person cheaper than booking directly from Zurich to the English city.
Further analysis from Blick revealed that the trick works for most, but not all, flight connections that use Zurich. What’s more, a user confirmed to the newspaper that it can also apply when booking from stations in Basel and Lugano, and that SWISS doesn’t actually care whether you take the train you booked or not, as you will have to check in and out in Zurich anyway.
When presented with the findings, a spokesperson from SWISS confirmed that the trick is likely possible due to supply and demand. "The price is always determined by the entire journey, from the place of departure to the destination," they told Blick, noting that there is often lower demand in Geneva for Zurich flights, which is why prices are lower on occasion.
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