Air France
Reviews and Complaints

I am complaining about Air France. We have just had our first family holiday which if you get treat like we did may be our last NOT a good experience. The way to disneyland and the actual holiday in disneyland were fantastic. It was the experience we had on the way home that ruined it. We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport 3 hours early as its a big airport an we wanted to make sure we were on time. We boarded the plane an set off the plane sounded noisey an was a bit bumpy but we didnt think anything of it. After nearly 40 mins of flying we were told there was a technical fault and we were landing back in Charles de Gaulle? When we got back we were put on a bus an told not to worry another plane was organised for 8pm. Myself my husband and my six year old daughter were given a voucher for a sandwich but i was told my 3and a half year old was a baby and didnt need a sandwich. I was disgusted at this. At 7:30 we went to board an we were told our second flight had been cancelled an there was no other flights available. After an hour an half of talkin to numerous people we got told we had to stay in a hotel (All Seasons) an fly next day. Our children were very upset. Eventually with rubbish directions we found the bus to take us there our children didnt get in bed till after 11:30pm.
Next day we were told our flight again was the 3:30 from Charles de Gaulle to Newcastle. Again we got there 3 hours early an our flight was delayed 20 minutes which was not a problem. The flight was good an we made up time we were actually only 10 minutes late getting to Newcastle. The problem is our luggage. We originally had 3 cases an only 2 arrived in Newcastle one of which was all smashed. I have been on the phone for two days now trying to find my case an have had no luck. The people in Newcastle have been so helpful bur the people in Charles de Gaulle just say we have no further info an we apologise on behalf of air france. I have since heard a lot of people have had problems with the company an think something should be done. Myself and husband actually saw them throw peoples cases. The upsetting thing about my case is my children have stood for hours in the rain an got autographs off characters an now this is all missing. Some things just cant be replaced.
Im not exactly sure what happens now as have never had to complain before. Hopefully i will get some answers soon. I am attaching photos of broken case which is exactly the same as the missing one. I will be gratefull of any help concerning my problem thankyou. Miss Jayne Newbery

This was promised by the KLM:
“If you were an Elite member of Malev’s frequent traveller programme, you can now join Flying Blue at the equivalent membership level”.
My membership level at Malev was Gold.
The KLM gave me silver because I didn’t receive my gold card yet by mail.
I have 4 boarding passes with the gold membership.
But it’s not enough, KLM wants a confirmation from MALEV but they are bankrupt.
Because of this I have to get eight times in the security queue’s again at monday morning at 05:00 AM at Budapest Airport from the end of april.
Not very service oriented towards a frequent flyer who lives in Budapest works in Amsterdam and has already bought KLM tickets until the end of february 2013

I am writing to comlpain about the attitude of the ground hostess and her supervisor on the flight AZ317 from Paris to Athens via Rome departing on 01 September 2011 at 07:00 from terminal 2F (seat 11F). On arrival to checkin around 05:30-05:45 in the morning with 3 kids, age 3.5yrs - 2.5yrs and 13months old, including a push-chair, 3 suitcases and the relevant bags to feed and take care of all of them we were informed by the lady on the desk that the push-chair cannot pass at all and it has to be handed in.
On request of my husband why we were not informed about this in advance since never before we had encountered an issue like this at any airport including Orly, Fiumincino, Venizelos and other smaller airports the hostess replied that it was 'OUR OBLIGATION' to check this up on the AirFrance website something that it is totally not right since as far as I know there was no problem for going all the way to the plane with a push-chair so WHY LOOK IT UP? It made no sense.
On that answer my husband said that the ground-hostess was wrong and that we should have been informed either on booking the flight or by the company since they could see that we had 3 kids regarding those exceptional to us regulations. The hostess insisted that it was our fault and then things fired up and both started raising their voices until the ground hostess said to my husband ' je ne veut pas me prendre la tete avec vous' go and see my colleague (2 desks further) that she deals with the families.
I was extremely agitated with a furious husband, a baby and two children crying because of lack of sleep and all the yelling and the ground-hostess could not understand that the prolem could have been settled if she had only said 'yes I am sorry you are right you should have been informed some how, is there anything we can do to help?
I had packed in such a way in order to be able to have the baby in the push chair - their bags of food/milk and nappies hanging at the push chair. With no push chair we needed to take baby, bags and laptops in our arms and also control our other two girls. If I had known I would have packed otherwise, I would have made other arrangements. They did not even offer any kind of help, NO CARING AT ALL from their part.
Once we were passed over to her colleague dealing with the families (a very nice lady indeed, very polite) my husband went over to the previous one demanding her name and took a photo in order to place a complaint against her, which he immediately erased from his mobile. How is it possible that they can have our names (boarding passes) and we cannot know theirs?
Anyway at that point her supervisor came at our registration desk and asked the lady 'OUR FILE' so we couldn't check in. At that point I had enough I told everyone to calm down and please let us proceed because I was in no mood at all to lose our connection flight to Rome and then to Athens.
Nevertheless that does not mean that my complaint does not go towards the responsible that showed up and 'THREATENED' us that we were not leaving the airport and not boarding the plane.Who the hell does he thing he was, the fact that I did not say anything was because of my kids that were already in a bad state not because I feared the so called gentleman. On top he told us that it was our responsibility on how we deal with our kids when my husband asked him how we should do without the push-chair? WHAT AN ARROGANCE! Ofcourse it is our responsibility on how we deal with our children as it is HIS RESPONSIBILITY TO HELP, ASSIST AND AID the passengers.
They should offer to families some means of help since this regulation exists that no-one seems to know, it was not only us with kids and push-chairs there.
I am disgusted from all the uncomfort they made us go though, obviously they do not have kids or they just do not care...their attitude and above all the supervisor's attitude was inexplicable. The ground hostess i might even understand, bad morning, bad day but he is responsible for them all, he should listen to both sides and be client-friendly not threatening families that they won't board. We never menaced the ground-hostess we were just asking for an apology and accept the fact that there was noway we could have known about that regulation.
Thanks for the great trip...

Air France has turned into a terrorist organization.
I bought 2, 000 extra miles to have enough for a on-segment washington to paris towards a round trip ticket.
I asked for a round trip ticket using flying blue mile s for one segment and the return using cash, sure they issued the flying blue ticket, then I receive an e-mail with only one way. For the other segment, I had to buy a one-way ticket. Why ddin't you say so when I placed my order? we are only flying blue they said, we have nothing to do with air France. Really?
The one-way ticket costs $2500.00, which is ridiculous, so I had to revert to buying a round trip ticket full fare which cost $1500.00, now I paid $200.00 for extra miles, and another $70.00 to return the miles to the flying blue number.

The next thing is they change you miles status at the 1st of the year, so you have to plan your mileage usage after January first. What happens is that you lose your status and you will be downgraded. Which I was from Silver to Ivory.

The next thing is that without telling you, they are changing the rules:
1. they give out only 25% of actual miles flown.
2. when you pruchase a ticket, they ask you to click on that box saying that you agree to the rules and regulations, what I did not know, I was buying a non-exchangeable ticket without knowing it. Sure enough, I had to change my date, and wound up losing my return ticket and of course got to buy an expensive one-way ticket back. The rules were that when one changed dates, you paid $150.00 fne, well, apparently no, when I complained, I was told flat out that I said that I agreed to the rules by checking the box.

The next thing is: There is no way in hell that you can get anybody to complain to, they ask you to post your complaits on their web site, be my guest, all comaplnts are ignored outright.

I fly from Europe to asia or from Europe to the US just about every 6 weeks, and yet, I get a treatment so disdainful.

I am going to other airlines. So long Air France.

Meziane Touati USA

Me and my husband travelled from Bangkok to Warsaw with AirFrance on 22/23rd Dec 2010, changing plaine in CDG Paris airport . Needless to say, our flight was first cancelled, redirected, then delayed and finally we ended up stranded in the airport up to 2:00 am until finally somebody organised a bus transport to the hotel. We spent a few hours waiting in the corridor (wearing only thin sweatshirts with -3 degrees outside) and being exposed to rude and stressed out airport staff. Not to mention that the only bus from the hotel was schedulled at 6:00 am... We ended up walking 20 min to the train station (freezing to death in our light clothes!).

It's been 18 days (!) now since our baggage was claimed at the Baggage Services at CDG airport...Oh sorry, one of the bags finally arrived after 7 days. As all of you, we've experienced the "don't know" and "so what?" attitude of the staff. It seems nobody really wants to help us. With the availability of contemporary technology it just seems impossible that they are unable to track over 10 000 bags...

I was flying out of Kiev, Ukraine with Air France. When I arrived at the airport, the woman who was checking me in, an Air France representative, told me that colored negros like me shouldn't be in her country and that I don't deserve to board the flight. I honestly was just shocked and started to cry and refused to miss my flight. After literally begging to get on the flight, I was checked in. However, my luggage arrived at my final destination in the United States half empty and about a month late. I don't know if the two are related.
When I arrived back into the United States, I contacted Air France through email to explain my situation. I never received a response.

I recently purchased two full fare premium economy tickets on Air France leaving Seattle to Paris with a 3 day layover then on to Italy via Air France. Given the general strike in Paris and our expected arrival on October 21st (the day Parliament votes on the pension change), I called Air France to request moving out departure flight from Paris to Italy to the same day as our arrival in Paris, October 21st. Thus avoiding strikers and fuel lines in Paris.

The ticket agent stated this change was in excess of $4, 000 for only changing the Paris/Italy segment departure date. I travel extensively internationaly and when paying full fare, ticket schedules are routinely changeable. Obviously Air France does not care about repeat business, rather totally into screwing their customers for all they can get with no concern for repeat business.

It was most frustrated experience with Air France. Because we change the date of return over the phone with Air France. Before the departure we did call Orbitz to conform who to call in case we need to change.The Orbitz rep told us it would be Air France and even gave us the Air France number to call. Because the Air France rep who changed the return date with told us that we can pay the changing fee before the flight we did not pay the fee at the time we changed it. After wards, I spoke to five different Air France reps. Every one of Air France reps, told us that different way to pay the changing fee. We couldn't get tickets issued until we pay the fee! BUT none of Air France reps were helping us. instead, we had to hold on the phone almost one hour each of THREE TIMES calls with Air France. One of Air France rep told us that we had to go to the local air port or the local Air France office to pay the fee because we had to pay the fee before the original return date. At the local Air France office, a very cold woman told us that we had to pay the fee to Orbitz because Orbitz was the who we booked the flights originally. It was a MESS! We call Orbitz and ask to deal with Air France take the fee so we can GO HOME! which they did. This is how we had to spend the end of our vacation. I don't even want to imagine that what if we didn't book it with Orbizs and we had to deal with Air France alone! HATE Air France!

We were a group of three from India travelled to Phoenix USA for a technical conference through Paris CDG. we took a Air France flight from Bangalore to Paris on May 7th and had our connecting flight to Salt lake city at 11 AM. But there were some oil leakage found in the engine lead to the delay of 3 hrs boarded on the flight. They finally cancelled the flight and diverted us to Air France desk promising to accomodate other flights or next day flights with hotel accomodation. The line was very long queue of 150 odd passengers moving at a crawling pace. We stood in the line at 2 PM, by 4 PM we barely covered few feet, we saw AF officials start calling thier day and leave one after another from 8 to barely 2 or 3 left attending the rest of passengers. They were not adding officials to replace those left and had no intention to fasten the pace.

We finally had our turn around 6:30 PM, where the Air France official (Female) told us, it is just late to put us on to any US flights the same day as the last one starting in few mins to New york. She casually told us, she can't help it and putting us on next day flight 2PM to Detriot. She told us that she'll initiate a transit visa request to police and if rejected we'll have to stay in the airport. She said the visa process may take time and we'll have to wait until her collegue carrying the request to police return. we then waited for another 4 hours while we saw many of them granted visa (I'm sorry but I must note my observation that all of them are either US citizens or whites). Finally, we three along with few chinese and two arab left and they announced at 10:30 PM that all our visas were rejected and had to stay in the airport. I'm fine and must accept that any country reserve its right to grant visa with whatever policy they have, although we wish them treat everyone with equality.

Well, the wait is not yet over, as they took another hour to get our passport and take us to the terminal 2E gate 13. They provided us one buisness sleeping pack, one sandwitch and soft drink coupen where we actually need three course of meal till our next flight. They simply denied and said they could only offer this. They were so irresponsible for thier own flight problem which landed to this situation and didn't care to take care of thier passengers with even proper food/facilities. As it was already close to 12AM, most of the shops in that airport terminal were closed and we had to sleep starved. But no one seems to care or bother listening to our concerns. A simple answer we get was, we can't help it and this is what we can provide. Long live Air France! we were pleased with your service!

One another humiliation before we left the living hell in the world, when we tried the sandwitch coupen in one of the food outlet in 2E. A lady in that shop looked down at the coupen and instructed at us pointed to few selected sandwitch option are available to this coupen and asked us to look at other shops if we don't want these. They barely had the vegeterian option anyway. so we managed our rest of our stay with muffins and soft drink. Comes on next, another delay announced to our Detriot flight by 30 mins (reasons unknown) and it finally took off 1 hour late. It reached Detriot 2 hrs late (reasoned that they had to take longer route to avoid volcano ashes). so we missed our next connecting flight to Phoenix too! This time around, we were told at Delta counter that they have put us to next day flight 9AM and it has been directed by Air France not to provide any hotel accomodation to its connecting passengers (Delta claim to have providing accomodation to its own passengers) and asked us to approach the Air france desk in the airport. when we approached them, as usual to us by now they denied accomodation stating they can't provide accomodation because it was due to volcano. We tried our best to explain them that it was just not valcano, but the flight departed 1 hr late due to some issue. But they doesn't seem to listen or agree to take responsibility. we gave up and thanked them for their great service!

Atleast, this we were in US. we went out and took accomodation on our own. we finally reached our destination two days late with bundle of humiliating experience and fatigue. The only mistake we made on ourself was selecting the Air France and chose to flew through Paris.

I was actually planning for a vacation to Paris this december with my family. I cancelled it at once and atleast feel fortuante that my family is saved from such humiliations.

Air France KLM Lottery 2010,
10 Warwick Street, Soho,
W1B 5LZ London
Phone: +[protected]
Web: www.airfrance.com

Dear Winner,

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(No tickets were sold).

Your e-mail address emerged as one of the winners in the 1st category with the following
Qualification Information attached:

TICKET NUMBER #: [protected]
E-MAIL TICKET NUMBER B9665 [protected]
FILE REF. NUMBER AF-2010/4.12.14.17.36.4
SERIAL NUMBER 97560

You are therefore to receive a cash prize of USD$850.000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty
Thousand Dollars Only) from our total lottery payout. Forsecurity reasons, be advised
to keep your winning information confidential till your claim is processed upon meeting
our statutory obligations, verifications, and general requirements, as double claim will
automatically disqualify your e-mail ticket number.

To file for your claim do contact the Claim Agent with the provided contact information
below:

Name: Sir Robert Walpole (Claims Agent)
Air France KLM Lottery 2010
Phone: +[protected]
E-mail: [protected]@adinet.com.uy
Web: www.airfrance.com
Send the below information to the Claim Agent for the processing of your winning payment.

WINNERS APPLICATION FORM
NAME: _____________________________
ADDRESS: _____________________________
NATIONALITY: _____________________________
SEX: _____________________________
AGE: _____________________________
PHONE/MOBILE: _____________________________
FAX: _____________________________
OCCUPATION: _____________________________
COMPANY: _____________________________

Congratulations once again from our members of staff and keep flying Air France KLM,
first European Airline, to operate the A380..

Yours In Service,

Air France Online Bonanza

This dispute has been ongoing with Air France and AMEX Business Travel Customer Service (or lack thereof) since July 2008!
My wife and I researched long and hard for flights suitable to pair with our cruise from Istanbul, Turkey to Athens, Greece. We settled on the Air France flights not on price, as there were less expensive options, but on times, convenience, and CLASS OF SERVICE.
Before I proceed further, let me qualify myself by stating that I have been a professional airline pilot for the last 29 years, and am currently a 25 year Captain with American Airlines, currently flying the Airbus A-300. Suffice it to say, I do know a few things about airplanes and the airline business.
This is not a letter from a passenger with a customer service complaint. This is solely and specifically about not receiving something that was paid for.
The second leg of our itinerary was on 7/3 from Paris to Istanbul, a 3 ½ hour flight on a Air France Airbus A-320 for which we purchased business class seats and had boarding passes for the second row. This is the entire contentious issue. These seats were not even close to being business class. These were coach seats with not so much as a pillow or blanket offered. As stated previously, I know airplanes and know a coach seat when I see one, or worse, when I sit in one for 3 ½ hours with no legroom, no pillow, no blanket, and we were quite frankly furious. As I made clear, this is not about a disgruntled passenger complaining about poor service. I clearly paid for something I did not get. Air France plain and simply does not have a business class on its Airbus A-320 no matter what they want to call it. Here’s what you need to do; Go on the Air France website and look at what they call their business class with the description of services; http://videocdn.airfrance.com/experience/#en/affaires/index.html L’Espace Affairs Business Class has photos of reclining seats with fluffy pillows, blankets, chocolates on the pillows, comfort, class, etc, ., etc. THAT is what they are advertising and selling. When you get on the A320 you are getting a coach seat with NOTHING, no reclining, no pillow, no blanket, no service, no NOTHING. It’s a COACH seat at business class prices. OK, fine, they don’t put anyone in the middle seat but it’s likely that you could buy an extra coach seat in the middle at less than what business class costs. Look, I can rent a BMW and you give me a Hyundai and try to tell me it’s a BMW but it’s not.
Air France is guilty of misleading advertising at a bare minimum, and blatant consumer fraud, not to mention awful and unresponsive customer service. Book elsewhere, there are plenty of airlines to choose from.

My cousin, and her two young sons booked a return flight from Port-harcourt in Nigera to London. through an IATA travel agent, who unfortunately did ot process Air Flight additional excess baggage allowance for them . This would have made them entitled to 120kg allowance. In their e-ticket, Air France only show 20kg per customer. Upon their departure on 25th, I was at the aiport with them, we discovered this maistake, and pleaded with Air France customer service offuicer at the counter, to help and cross-ckecked for us, as we were the only person with this problem. The lady saireplied'WHY SHOULD I?' It was unfortunate that i did not take her name. Anyway we were made to pay for our luggage in ecxess of the 60kg shown despite that she and her sons were entitled to 120kg. In Nigeria my cousin went to their office, and the reply was she made the booking through an agent, otherwise she would have been compensated. I want to believe that an agent fully represent their principal, and Air France has conceeded to the contract. Also it was possible for them to duscover this error, but they were just not too interested. I had to pay for this with my Maestro. I want Air France to make this refund, as she was did not carry any luggage outside her entitled 120kg. I am aware that other airline would have discovwered this error easily, and rectified it at tha point of checking in, but Air France refused tio help.

Do not fly air france ever, they are ruthlessly arrogant, they overbook their flights, they breach their contractas

The incident that transpired on the morning of august 25, 2009 was as follows. I arrived with my family at cdg terminal e at 9:28 am by hotel bus. Our bus was slow to get passengers off the bus at earlier terminals a, and c, but we did arrive at terminal e by 9:28 am. As we approached the “check in counter” to cue up for our flight an air france female agent informed us that “the flight was closed”. The time was 9:30am. The departure of the flight was 10:30am. The ticket said, “last check in time is 9:30 am” (see attached ticket). We pleaded with the woman to show some understanding and compassion for our children and that we still had time to make this plane as we were right there in the airport and standing only 200 meters from the gate. There was plenty of time to pass through security, 1 hour to be exact.

The female agent made a phone call to another air france colleague at the gate to ask if we can get on board still and her colleague agreed. By now the time was 9:38am.
Still 52 minutes before departure. The af agent noticed we had baggage and then made another call to her colleague and asked “the clients have bags, can they get the bags on the plane?” apparently, at this point, her colleague said, “no they can not get their bags on the plane”. We immediately said “this is not a problem” as my husband had a different flight back to chicago with american airlines at 12:30 pm and he said “I will take all the bags with me on american, just go ahead and get on the plane”. The time was now 9:42 am. The agent heard this, understood this, and agreed all was well for our departure under the circumstances that the bags will not get on the plane. One moment later at 9:43 am the agent received a call from the gate and her colleague said to her “they are not allowed on the plane at all because they have bags”.

We pleaded and pleaded with the agent that the bags are no longer an issue and that my husband was going to take the bags on his flight at 12:30 pm with american airlines. We absolutely had to be in chicago that day august 25 for professional appointments and our children’s school begins august 26. Waiting for “the next day’s plane” simply was not an option. Our discussion/ argument went on until 9:48am. 5 minutes of arguing by your air france agent was done, in my opinion, out of malice, lack of concern, righteousness, with an attitude of “i’ll teach you”. The agent had a malicious intent to force us to pay penalties where we could have, by then, been issued a boarding pass and easily have made it through security and have arrived at our gate by 10:05 am, 25 minutes before departure, a very reasonable amount of time to embark on a plane. Finally she said “you now have to see a ticketing agent to see if you can get re-routed through washington and then on to chicago”. At 9:49 am we were escorted to another ticketing agent and we pleaded with her that we can still easily make this flight at 10:30am. The first agent then basically disappeared from the argument and scene, and was no longer present at the counter.

The second agent refused to accommodate us. She was rude, arrogant, dismissive, and unhelpful. At 9:51 am she finally said “you have 2 options: go to an internet kiosk and try to get re-routed at www.AirFrance.com, or pay a 250 euro penalty per ticket and fly to chicago tomorrow”. We pleaded and pleaded for help and understanding by saying “we were just told a moment ago that we can get on this flight without our bags”, which was no problem at all as my husband was ready to take his flight 3 hours later with american airlines”, but this woman was rude and thoughtless and simply dismissed us and said “go back and talk to the agent that said you could get on this flight without bags, I can not help you at all, you bought your tickets on the internet and therefore you have to correct this problem on the internet or pay a 750 euros fine and fly tomorrow.” this offer was absurd and malicious and basically amounted to fraud, coercion, misrepresentation, and breach of contract. We looked for the first agent who promised us we can get on the plane without bags, but she was no where to be found as she most likely walked to the gate where af50 was to take off from.

In the end, we had no choice but to purchase 3 roundtrip tickets with american airlines (cdg to ord, ord to cdg) with american airlines to get back to chicago on august 25. Please see attached copies of that purchase.

Please know that we are regular air france customers who fly with your airline 2 to 3 times a year as a family of 4. We typically spend $8000 a year on airline tickets with air france. In addition, my father has a travel agency in morocco, itinerance plus. For the last 3 years, I have personally organized a group trip from chicago to morocco where we book with air france 10 to 16 tickets. Between my family of 4 and my fathers travel agency we buy around 20 to 40 tickets from air france every year. We have always had good treatment and no problems. We have air france flying blue “mileage cards” (see attached). However, after this incident, we would certainly seek other companies to fly with for our annual february group trip to morocco (see attached), as well as our semi-annual family trips to morocco to visit my family.

We would like to achieve a fair settlement with air france over this incident. We have lost an additional $2650 by having to buy 3 round trip tickets (paris, chicago, chicago paris) with american airlines because of this incident. We are seeking two possible settlements.
1. A $2650 refund for our forced purchase of tickets with american airlines
2. Air france issues 3 brand new round trip ticket from chicago to paris and paris back to chicago on december 16, 2009 returning january 5th, 2010

If air france refuses both options, you will leave us no other choice, but to file a formal lawsuit against air france here in chicago for fraud, coercion, misrepresentation, and breach of contract. We will also go out of our way to inform as many news organizations as possible of the incident including tv5 in france, 60 minutes, abc, cbs, fox, cnn, and nbc, as well as local news organizations here in chicago and in casablanca and paris. I work in the news business and have many contacts at these stations as well as major newspapers.

Nowhere on the ticket does it say “you will not be allowed to board the plane if you come to check in at 9:30 am”. Again, we arrived at exactly 9:30 am. And were told, “the flight is closed”. Nowhere on the ticket does it say you will be required to pay 250 euros penalty per ticket, and take the next flight, the next day, for arriving late and that you will have to do this on your own at an internet kiosk. We were treated rudely by your agents in paris, and without any concern for the fact that we had young children to care for. In fact, they seemed to have enjoyed watching us agonize over this incident. They were unhelpful, lacked compassion and were dismissive. Quite frankly, both of these agents should be fired. I wish I had their names, but the stress of the incident made that impossible to achieve. If you ever want us as a customer again, honor your end of the contract and either reimburse us $2650 or issue us 3 new round trip tickets for chicago to paris and paris back to chicago on december 16, 2009 returning january 5, 2010 to:

I look forward to your quick response and feel free to contact us to discuss the matter.

Regards,

I am very tall, so I had chosen a middle bulkhead seat on an air france flight from Paris to Los Angeles. A couple who spoke very little english asked me to move to the aisle seat so that they could sit together. I attempted to politely explain that I had been assigned the seat months ago, and needed the middle seat so that my legs would not stick out into the aisle. Being the troubleshooter and peacemaker that I am, I then went to the flight attendant to see if he could accommodate them elsewhere. Meanwhile the couple starting raising hell to a female flight attendant, and she was LAUGHING at me as I sat between these two extremely rude people. They were talking loudly over me on each side as if I didn't exist. I had to sit in between to obnoxious selfish people, and the flight attendant thought it was amusing. The service on air france is horrible. I will not fly with them ever again.

Here's a copy of the letter I just sent to Air France - this should tell the whole story without overkill. (I hope, anyway.) I'm livid! And this has been going on since April 2009 (I'm posting in September 2009!).

Don't fly Air France. They suck.

--

It is with extreme frustration that I write again in regard to a flight cancellation I made now almost six months ago. I can honestly say that I cannot recall another company that has ever treated me as a customer with such utter incompetence and disregard. One misunderstanding after another in working toward a resolution with Air France has left me with few options, but I refuse to give up until I’m given what I’m entitled to.

The long and the short of the issue is that back on April 8, I canceled an Air France flight by phone. I was explicitly told by the representative that I would be receiving a full refund, less a $200 cancellation fee. I would have happily accepted a credit for use on a future flight – an option I’m still happy to take advantage of were it offered to me – but the Air France rep actually went as far to suggest that I take the refund. So I requested a refund instead of a credit. However, $460.50 of my flight was never refunded.

The fact remains that Air France promised me a service they did not deliver. Not only that, but the following occurred through the SIX MONTHS of debate surrounding this issue:
- I provided the reason for my flight cancellation: My father was diagnosed with advanced cancer, which required the family to relocate from Europe to the United States for his treatment. Despite the very valid and extenuating circumstances, this matter was not so much as addressed by the representatives; it was simply ignored.
- One not one but two occasions, Air France denied the refund on the grounds that I was “10 minutes late to my flight”. This is completely preposterous, considering I canceled my flight a week before it took off. This confusion is probably because Air France canceled one leg of my originally purchased flight and rebooked me on one departing 10 minutes later, but I don’t really care why – it’s still inexcusable.
- Air France refused to discuss the matter by phone; I was required to send faxes that were on many occasions not returned.
- As for the several faxes to which Air France actually did bother to respond to me directly, it took weeks for my original message to be processed and responded to. This amount of time, particularly for a financial matter, is beyond egregious – especially considering the response is hasty and completely false (i.e. I was “late to my flight”).

In conclusion, I am requesting that Air France refund me the $460.50 I was promised. Because the fine print of my original flight terms for this portion of the journey indicate that only a credit is given, I would be happy to accept a credit for a future flight, too. However, on principle I do believe that because I was told by an Air France ticketing agent that I would be getting $460.50 of refund – and a refund instead of a credit was actually suggested by this agent – that you as a business are obligated to deliver this to my American Express card on which the original purchase was made.

On August 8, 2009, I was a passenger on board Air France Flight 377 flying from Detroit to Paris. I was greatly disappointed with the airline’s service, crew and, later, its customer service line.

Approximately five hours into the flight, the pilot made an announcement the plane was experiencing technical difficulties and had to turn around. The plane landed in Boston around 4 a.m. - only about a half hour to an hour before it should have landed in Paris. Despite consistent inquiry regarding the next available flight and/or accommodations, no one was given any further information. Instead, only baggage handlers were on hand to assist passengers upon arrival who waited in line at the airport for at least two hours before they were able to speak with an airline representative in Boston. Although the representative did give me a hotel voucher good for limited hours, she was unable to address further information because no one from Air France was available to help. I did receive a “customer service” line to call, but it was not yet “open” for another six hours – obviously, an inconvenience considering I could not give any information to those waiting for me in Paris. When I finally did get through hours later, I spoke with a representative, Alexandra, who offered no apologies, but instead, remained aloof, giving me an attitude after explaining the situation and my concerns. Why would an airline state that the number is a “customer service” line if the number is not open when customers need it and if the agents “serving” customers clearly show no attempt at promoting customer service?

After Air France’s recent notorious media attention from transatlantic flight failures, I would think the airline would do everything it can to refurbish its image with the public. I guess I’m wrong. My discontent with the service, organization and planning has not only discouraged me from ever flying with Air France again, but also letting the public know about my ordeal. I am in contact with various passengers on the flight and many of us are already using internet blogs and the media to promote consumer knowledge of the unprofessional way Air France handled this mistake. I feel that many other potential passengers considering flying with Air France will feel more aware of the serious deficiencies in Air France’s planning, organization, safety and especially, customer service.

Although I am glad the flight did take necessary safety pre-cautions, the overall experience with Air France (my first one) made me question the airline’s capabilities. Not only was the flight experience the poorest I have ever gone through with any airline, but I lost one night in Paris, including a paid hotel room. This event was the fault of the airline and was not some weather related incident.

My daughter flew with Air France from Copenhagen, Denmark to JFK International Airport in New York, USA, on Thursday, August 13. Her luggage was locked with a TSA luggage lock when checked into the care of Air France at Copenhagen airport. It was still locked when picked up at JFK. On Thursday, August 20, she discovered that several items were missing from the suitcase. I, her mother, recieved that notice late Thursday night. The next day, on Friday, August 21, I filed a complaint to Air France over the internet, including a list of lost items and claiming monetary compensation at a value of USD 102. The following day I recieved the reply: Since I did not submit my claim within 7 days, Air France does not agree to my claim.

It's a scandal in itself that customers checking their luggage into the care of Air France can be subject to theft obviously performed by airport personel while that piece of luggage is checked in and out of control of the owner.

It's extremely annoying that Air France does not take responsibility for the incident for more than 7 days. Not even when special circumstances apply, like when the theft was discovered after 7 days, though due to a time zone difference of 7 hours between my daughter and me, it was submitted with a 1 day delay, adding up to 8 days after baggage delivery.

I think Air France are in more need for happy customers than they realize themselves. Today they just lost five customers, since we're a family of five.

We missed our connection due to plane delay, and Air France agent gave us a slip with a confirmation for the next flight the next day in the morning, and failed to provide us applicable tickets.

Continental Airlines did not honor the slip provided by Air France, did not offer any help, and wanted us to pay again for our prepaid trip, otherwise we would never fly back home. Air France office was closed by that time, and no agent could help us.

I was crying in the airport with no help and no mercy; in order to catch the plane, we ended up paying an extra $1, 010.00 for our prepaid ticket that costed $3177.84, for 2, which make a total of $4187.84 economy class...

Flight attendants effing rude for. No fault of ours. Our flight was delayed coming in to Charles de Gaulle, the one prior to AF. The people at the desk gave us incorrect information about our gate number so we were further delayed. Our names were then announced on the intercom that the plane was waiting for us and we ran all the way to the actual gate. Once on the plane the air hostesses rudely told us to put our bags up and when THEY SERVED US TEA WITHOUT ASKING US WHAT WE WANTED OUT OF ALL THE DRINKS SHE NEARLY DROPPED IT IN MY LAP. She was rude to my mother and when my mom asked for creamer she grimaced and condescended to give her one.

My 22 year old daughter travelled from Paris to Tunis on June 27th, 2009.

She transports medication from France and as the procedure states our travel agent sent a request for her to transport her injections on the flight. These need to be kept at a temperature between 2 & 8°C, failing this, the medication is no longer effective.

When she got on the plane she was told that it had to be put in the hold, At -50°C?!

Here is a copy of her confirmation with the authorisation.

1.BENSALEM/SONIA
2 AF2385 E 23JUN 2 TUNCDG FLWN
3 AF2584 Q 27JUN 6 CDGTUN FLWN
4 AP TUN 71 903 289 - HELLO TOURS - A
5 TK OK19JUN/TUNTS3111//ETAF
6 SSR FOID AF HK1 IDX2KQIZ
7 SSR OTHS 1A ORDONNANCE SERA RECLAMEE...
8 SSR CKIN AF HK1 SERINGUE ACCEPTEE PAR AF
9 OSI AF AINTUN20009
10 OSI AF TKNO0573502011141