We are going on our honeymoon on 1st January 2010. We booked our flights with Air France (Shannon - Paris CDG, Paris CDG - Buenos Aires). At 3pm on Christmas Eve Air France phoned us to let us know that our flight from Shannon - Paris is cancelled and are putting us on a flight from Dublin - Paris instead. We are extremely angry as the representative from Air France told me the flight has been cancelled since the end of October yet they didn't phone us until Christmas Eve as we were "in a line" to be notified. The new flight departure location & times do not suit. Anybody have any similar experience with Air France? Any advice on how to deal with them?

Air France had this attarctive offer of triple miles in November 2009.

What they do not tell you (even if you ask) is that they divide real miles by 4 before applying
a 3 multiplier.

Do not get lured!!!

Both telephone and email services are equally pathetic. You would get more signs
of intelligence from a computer.

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.

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,

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.

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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.