Stay away from Air France!
My experience:
I had booked an Air France flight from London Heathrow to Delhi (India) departing on 17 Dec 2008 and returning on 17 Jan 2009. On 17th December 2008, I was travelling by Air France from London to Delhi. The journey involved a change-over of flights in Paris.
The flight from London Heathrow to Paris CDG was AF 1981. It was scheduled to leave at 06.40 (London time), and arrive in Paris CDG at 09.00 (Paris time). From there I was supposed to catch the connecting flight AF 148, scheduled to leave Paris CDG at 10.25 (Paris time), and arrive in Delhi at 23.00 (Delhi time) on 17th December 2008 night. But the flight from London to Paris, AF 1981, was delayed and it arrived in Paris at 12.21 (Paris time). This led to my missing the connecting flight, AF 0148, to Delhi on 17th December 2008.
My flight from LHR to Paris CDG (AF 1981) was delayed by several hours. I was told that the flight crew did not have the stipulated rest as was supposed to as the reason for the delay. Due to the delayed departure from Heathrow my connecting flight from Paris CDG to Delhi (AF 148) was missed. The Air France staff at Heathrow made a public announcement promising that flight from Paris CDG to Delhi (AF 148) is being delayed for us; so that passengers will be able to catch onward flight AF 148 to Delhi.
Surprisingly, when we reached Paris, Air France staff informed us that flight AF 148 had already departed. And that at no point of time they had communicated to their counterparts in LHR that flight AF 148 is delayed; for us to be able to catch it. It is disappointing to know that such a reputed airline does not operate transparently and just for their own convenience they had put so many passengers into trouble. So if the airline staff was aware that the flight AF 148 is not being delayed – they should not have flown me to Paris. The flight was destined to a non-EU country and therefore it was highly unlikely that passengers like me will have the right to enter Paris without having a transit/ Schengen visa.
When I bought the ticket from Air France, I entered into a contract with Air France which included the airline getting me to Delhi on the 17th Dec itself. I had no intention of entering or staying in France, and for that reason I had not gone through the trouble of getting a Schegen visa. It was Air France’s fault that they had delayed the LHR to Paris CDG flight because of which I missed my connecting flight. The immigration (police) officials at Paris decided not to grant me a (like many other fellow passengers) transit visa to stay overnight in a hotel in Paris.
It is also surprising that Air France staff at Paris CDG had poor communication skills. Paris CDG, being an international airport, the Air France staff should have been well conversant in English – most of Air France ground staff lacked the basic language skills. They were unable to understand the passengers and could not communicate properly.
I had left my house 3.30am (UK time) to catch my flight from LHR to Paris CDG. I had not eaten anything in the morning and just got a croissant in the flight AF 1981. Till about 4pm CET, we were left stranded at Paris CDG airport with no one providing us any food or water. Air France staff did not even realize that the passengers are hungry and thirsty and it is their responsibility to provide them the necessities. These are basic human understandings. These should have been provided without even anyone asking for it. The passengers had to fight for even these basics. I believe that the staff behavior was highly inappropriate. At last, when the Air France staff did manage to get a few sandwiches, most of it was non-vegetarian. Most of the passengers on the other hand including myself were vegetarian. I could not even get a sandwich to eat as the staff ran out of vegetarian sandwiches. Until about 10pm CET I had to survive on few chocolates I had in my handbag. The dinner we were provided was also very inappropriate. There was just a vending machine at the terminal where we were stranded but I did not have any Euros to use it.
Under such circumstances it is also the airline’s responsibility to provide calling cards to passengers so that the passengers could at the least inform their family members of the situation. My friends, family members and relatives in the UK as well as Delhi were so worried about my well being. The airline had very few calling cards which they soon ran out off. I could not get hold of a calling card.
My troubles did not end here. On my return flight (AF 147 & AF 1080) on 17 Jan 2009 my checked-in baggage was torn.
Under the circumstances specified above, as per EU laws, it is also the legal responsibility of Air France to inform me of my rights and information about where to complain. No such information was provided by Air France to me at any point of time.
For choosing to fly Air France, after paying for it, I was harassed in all possible ways. Stranded for approximately 24 hours in an airport with no blanket, no proper seating arrangement, nothing to eat or drink causing so much mental and physical stress to me in addition to the worries of my friends and family members. Additionally, we were moved from terminal to terminal by the security staff because of which we could not even rest properly at night. This was not only my worst ever flying experience but my worst life experience – thanks to Air France.
After retuning to UK; I lodged a written complaint to Air France Customer Service. I have received no response so far.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Flying and lying
If you're going to fly Air France, remember to bring a hidden tape recorder. That's because many of the promises you hear won't be honored.
I can only point to my own experiences as an example. On a recent flight from Pisa, Italy, to New York with a connection in Paris, the first lie was told in Pisa. The Pisa Paris flight was late, and both my family and some other Italians making the same connection feared missing it.
"Don't worry," said the agent at check in. When you arrive in Paris, there will be an Air France agent waiting for you as you debark, and a special minibus will take all of you to the waiting flight to New York." Wow. Three lies in one sentence. Needless to say, no agent was waiting, there was no special minibus, and the New York flight did not wait. I told the agent I was a type one diabetic, and that surprises tended to create problems. She assured me that a special message would be sent to Paris just for me. Another lie.
The plane hovered around a lot before landing, eating up another forty five minutes. As we disembarked, an Italian couple joined us in the race to the gate when we found no one there to help us, and no minibus. My wife, who has never traveled alone, was stressed looking after our two toddlers, and this couple became very helpful. After nearly another half an hour of brisk exercise, we arrived at a customer service desk. Feeling faint, I stressed to the agent that I could be in big trouble with the diabetes, and using a portable meter, measured a drop of blood in front of him. Seeing 45, when normal lower limits are 80, I employed him to call me emergency medical services. "When we finish re-booking the rest of these passengers," he said. My new Italian friends rolled their eyes, and said to me in Italian, "this is criminal...".
In fact, in Europe, refusing aid to someone who needs it, is. But one of the things that happens to some diabetics in crisis, like me, is a sort of apathy. I simply didn't care. Twenty or so minutes later, as I began to see colors, and the voices around me started to develop hollow echos, I began to panic. I begged him to call emergency medical aid a second time, and stressed to him that it really was an emergency. My slurred speech may have had some effect, but all he called was a wheelchair attendant, who sped me through the checkers, thankfully after grabbing me a sandwich at a fast food place, and onto the plane with a special elevator truck. Although I managed to eat the food, I still only came back to my senses after the plane was in the air. My wife and children were next to me, in tears.
Customer relations, aside from being only accessible by mail, informed me that they would investigate. Subsequently, they contacted me to say that as a result of their inquiry, they'd found that the agent at the customer service desk had suggested to me that he call emergency medical services, and I'd refused. The wheelchair attendant had asked me if I wanted to be seen by a doctor, and that also then, I'd refused help.
The Italian couple stayed by my side until we passed them in line waiting to be checked, because of the privilege afforded by a wheelchair, and saw and heard everything. They have promised to testify to the refusal of aid. It is only through this unexpected stroke of luck that I have a prayer of demonstrating the truth to the civil aviation authorities investigating this matter. Otherwise, as Air France probably knows through extensive experience (visible on the web, search Air France Complaints), it would have been just my word against theirs.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I lost the last page of my complain. Can you verify that You got rest of it.
sarkissarkisyan@att.net
Hi,
I purchased a ticket yesterday and didnt receive any email confirmation for my booking.
I checked with my credit card and they say that there has been a ticket purchase.
Why didnt i get anything on my email?
please send me an approval to Elahaddad3@gmail.com
Thank you
My Name Francis Ndibui Booking number226919321. My Golf bag got lost in Paris but was later found and delivered to my house in Nairobi Karen.
One of the golf club Kit came broken into two pieces. I need to know how I can file a request.
Regards
Francis Ndibui
Dear Sir / Madam,
I hope you and your family are well.
I live in London and my flight from Punta Cana to Paris was delayed.
Is it correct that I must apply for mediation in France?
If so, which mediation bodies are available to me in France to use?
Thank you
I got some presents and got back Hme and they were al damaged Iam not happy about it I want sonetmhing done about it it's hard job when u go on holiday and can't even bring presents back without them being broken they shouldn't be aloud to chuck people's cases about the way they do there not getting paid for that
sadfdsaf
My parents, my mother being seventy one and my father being seventy six and suffering from Parkinsons disease quite badly were booked to fly from Narita in Tokyo to Manchester England via Paris France.
The flight time was 10:30 a.m. with the checkout closing at 9.30, unfortunately due to very heavy traffic and finding a way to wheel my father around Narita to the checkout counter meant that we arrived twenty five minutes after the checkout had closed, I completely understand that such companies have to run to tight scheduales but the treatment we received when we finally arrived at the checkout counter was totally idiotic to say the least, even though the check in counter had closed the flight was still in the process of boarding, as there was at least another thirty minutes before take off, absolutely no effort was made to try and get my parents to the plane before take off, I would like to add that I had completed internet check in twenty four hours before and so there would be no need to go through the check in procedure, the response from the staff was basically this, the check in is closed and you will now have to buy new flights, even if this was the case the way that we were told this with absolute no care or respect for our situation especially with my father being so ill and needed to be back in England for doctors visits. The only thing the staff seem to be bothered about was making more money by selling us more seats and having no thought or care to my parents situation. In my opinion, they had every opportunity and time to rush through my parents so that they could make their flight, but straight no from the off was all we got combined with give us another two thousand pound and we will fit you on the next flight.
I would like to add that yes, the tickets were non transfereable or refundable but if this company are quite willing to leave a sick man stranded with no money to pay for an extra flight and with zero concern for his situation then the whole event is an absolute disgrace.
My parents have now had to stay on with me for another four days causing considerable stress on both my parents as they needed to be back in England due to their health.
Two seats have now been booked for Sunday the 9th of August with B.A. at a cost of well over one thousand pounds, money which my father needs for for his hospital treatment and medication.
I made a special trip to Heathrow to change my flight home to an earlier one. At the Air France counter I paid $250 to change the ticket. When I returned a few days later for the flight, I could not get a boarding pass from the computer so I went back to the counter. There I was told that I had been issued a paper, not an electronic, ticket, and that I "must have lost it." I said I had NOT been issued a paper ticket, only give a piece of paper with flight info and reservation numbers...much like the one I had received from my travel agent when I bought the original flight. The agents replied that their fellow agent was reliable, he would have given me a paper ticket. Two of the agents were aggressive and unpleasant about this; the other, an Englishwoman, was more sympathetic. By the same logic, I could argue that I am an experienced traveler who has lived abroad and made frequent trips to Europe and that I am very careful with my travel materials, carrying them all--hotel reservations, flight schedules, etc.--in a single bright transparent plastic envelope. Still, they wouldn't let me on the plane and I had to buy a new ticket home, at more than $1000, although from another airline.
I am totally displeased with the horrible service and atmosphere with Air France. THEY ARE DESPICABLE AND FILTHY! The plane could not have possibly been wiped and cleaned for a decade. The filth and dust was building up and I use a CPAP machine and there is no way possible that I could afford to have that crap in my system.
I paid $1239.00 and I WANT MY MONEY BACK IMMEDIATELY! This service should be shut down. READ THE COMPLAINTS AND FOLLOW -UP. It was a very uncomfortable flight, parents with uncontrolled children who controlled them, the seats were hard and filthy and the atmosphere was repugnant. None of the attendants were courteous. These complaints need to be addressed immediately.
I do not ever read ANYTHING positive about this airline and I WANT MY MONEY BACK!
On October 18th 2017 I flew Air France Business Class from New York to Paris CDG, then from CDG to Johannesburg, South Africa, on flight AF990.
I was carryinga hunting rifle in a locked metal case for which I had the keys. While at CDG airport, about 45 minutes before boarding AF990, I was called aside by Air France officials along with another US citizen also carrying a hunting rifle. We were driven to what seemed the opposite end of the airport to a baggage area. We both opened our rifle cases and after enduring over 35 minutes of Air France officials arguing about whether we could carry our ammunition and bullets tips for reloading purposes (not live ammunition) they took all our ammunition and bullet tips with no explanation. These items had a combined value of over $450 yet I received no receipt or explanation. I asked what danger there was in carrying 20 rounds plus the bullet tips (pieces of lead) in a locked metal case for which I had the key; I got no answer.
During the flight to Johannesburg I received a handwritten baggage check and was told by the purser that my items would be delivered to the address I had given them. The address was for the farm to which I was travelling in Namibia, my final destination.
On arrival in Johannesburg I had to catch a connecting flight to Windhoek in Namibia. For the duration of my stay in Namibia I tried unsuccessfully to find out what had happened to my items. I have contacted Air France at least 6 times with no cooperation. I have been told that "the file is closed". No one can tell me where my items were delivered or who signed for the parcel.
This situation is unbelievable. Why would they take my ammunition and bullet tips out of a locked metal case that was checked all the way through to my destination, and put them in a plastic bag?
Wat if these items have ended up in the hands of criminals or terrorists? Are airlines not supposed to be doing everything possible to improve security?
After 10 phone calls (usually with a 30+ minute hold time) they can still give me no answer. I have faxed a letter with details of this case twice; no one has responded.
In addition to this, even though I was flying Business Class, on the leg from NYC to Paris, we had no hot water on the flight - no coffee, no hot water in the bathrooms. Unbelieveable. If anyone ever mentions Air France to me, I will give them all the details of the "service" I have received from Air France and advise them never to us that carrier. If anyone would like details of my file numbner please let me know and I'd be happy to respond.
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After flying from punta cana in dominican republic, my wife and i had to stop off for connection to dublin. We bought duty free drinks on punta cana and i kept the receipt to show. When we got to the security gate the xray showed the bottles and i was called aside. The lady said that i cant keep my drinks i told her in bought my in punta cana and showed the reciept she called her boss, he came over and said leave the bottles. When i asked why i was sold them he just snapped back to leave them or he would call the police. He treated me like a common criminal and insulted. not one bit of courtesy was shown and i am trying to get in touch with airfrance to complain.
Air France sold me a return flight from Aberdeen Airport (Scotland) to Barcelona in Spain (which went via Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris). On my return flight, according to the the timetable, I had 45 minutes to make the connection. (Ie to disembark the aircraft from Barcelona, to go through passport control, to go to the next terminal, go through security and board my connecting flight. Only to find when I arrived at CDG, the boarding of my connecting flight closed 15 minutes after the first flight arrived (on time). It was a physical impossibility to make the connecting flight (which led to a night stuff in the terminal, eating crappy expensive food, a extra day of car parking charges, and missing an important business meeting the next morning). The more I research this, the more I find that it is common practice. A O'Malley who represents Air France customer service is arrogant, not at all helpful or understanding, and totally backs up Air France (as he'she is paid to do). All in all, I will never fly with this airline again. Their underhand, dirty practices are a disgrace. Air France... learn from your Asia counterparts. Service is the best, travel is once more fun with them. As for you, you totally suck.
Air France attempted to bake their passengers aboard flight 039 from Washington DC to Paris on Friday, June 10, 2011. Temperatures aboard the plane reached 92 degrees Fahrenheit as crew members denied passengers water. Women, children, and old people all baked aboard the plane for over an hour as the departure was delayed and crew members repeatedly lied to passengers about new depature times. When the plane finallyushed back from the gate, the pilot had to shut down the engines to "reboot the computer". Avoid Air France at all costs.
Air France / KLM have changed the validity period of bonus miles from 36 to 20 months without notification.
I did not receive any email, SMS or phone call for this subject. That's why I thought I had enough time to use them. But when I tried to do so some months ago, I saw I had no bonus miles in my account. Very surprising.
I asked for a correction, but they refused it. Not sure what was the reason.
I dont trust those two companies anymore.And I am not going to fly with either Air France or KLM.
I would like to warn people to think twice before use them.
I have been making international travels quite a number of times by a number of Airlines in last 6 years. But Air France is the first horrible experience.
I will try to be short. They had overbooked the flight we (I & my wife) were supposed to fly. That was a connecting flight on my way to India from USA. Even though we turned up in time at the counter, the lady (Mokdad Borka) at the counter told clearly, “The flight was overbooked & you are late” I just couldn’t believe it, whats the point of making the reservation if its “first come first serve”?.
After arguing and reasoning with this lady and her supervisor ( Mr Salil Mustapha), I realized there is no point since they had already sold my ticket to someone else. And since their evening flight was not fully booked, they pushed me down to the evening flight. This trick they have played on many other co-passengers. And we had to wait for another 8 hours, inside the airport. It was very pain full particularly for my wife as she has gastro issues.
Once I return to USA, after my vacation is over, I am going to take my Lawyer help to see what options I have to sue Air France.But I am sure no one wants to get into all these. So one simple way is, Avoid Air France. The Air France people really “Don’t care about the passengers”. They don’t even care to pretend they care. I have never seen such “Rude” staffs in any other airlines.
I am trying to book a direct flight from SFO (san Francisco) to Paris leaving late August and returning to SF late September.
I have noticed the following:
If I book the same dates from SFO to LHT (London Heathrow) through AF, I would pay almost HALF what I would pay for the same trip to Paris. To add insult to the injury, it would be on the exact same plane than the direct flight SFO-CDG! I would then hop from CDG to LHT.
A call to your customer service led to the answer that it was a different market and therefore different pricing.
I am an expat trying to use a French airline. But Air France is not making itself loved by the sizable French community in the Bay Area.
I am still trying to get my luggage from Air France after a week in Paris. I have heard they lost over 20, 000 bags. This alone is unacceptable, but I would like to post about something more general that is clearly a huge problem with Air France's policies in general.
Every step of my journey has been fraught with incorrect information from Air France. They seem to have a habit of saying things that they cannot or will not actually do.
A simple example is this - I call "baggage services" and a recorded voice informs me that my wait time on hold will be 7 minutes. Not "approximately 7 minutes, mind you, it claims it will be a 7 minute wait. Following that I am on hold for over 20 minutes.
They do not seem to understand that this alone is already a deplorable way to treat a customer. If the recorded voice came back after 7 minutes and updated the time estimate, or if it simply did not tell me how long I would be waiting, that would be much better than claiming 7 minutes and then not delivering on that promise.
In general, this has been my continual experience with Air France. Another more extreme example occurred during take off from JFK to Paris. After many delays, all of which contained this same over-promise/under-deliver characteristic, we were still waiting to take off after sitting on the plane for well over 2 hours. When we finally moved away from the gate, the pilot informed us we still had to wait for the plane to be de-iced, but assured us this would take no more than 10 minutes. In fact, it took well over 30 minutes, and we continued to sit still for another 30 minutes after that with no information about when we might finally move ahead.
I could give countless other examples of this, as it seems to be acceptable to Air France to essentially lie to its customers and never to recognize or apologize for giving entirely inaccurate information during times when information is the most important thing they can give to a customer.
As I sit here now, I had been told my luggage (actually only one of my two bags) was to be delivered four hours ago. I actually spoke to the delivery person and was told this. When I finally called Air France to complain, they didn't even seem to understand why this was a problem until I explained that I am a virtual prisoner in Paris because I do not want to miss the delivery. They have not set up any system to track or contact the courier for an update on the arrival of the delivery.
(While the bag was eventually delivered, I still feel that Air France has no interest in taking proper care of paying customers.)
I booked a flight from Frankfurt to Montreal on December 23 with Air France . Firstly the flight I was going to take at 10.40 was cancelled which meant that I had to get up much earlier and pay 27 € from my own pocket instead of being able to use the hotel's shuttle service. The flight, AF 1019 (seat 14F) was one hour late as the gate information was only shown 20 minutes before the scheduled departure. I still had about six hours waiting at Paris Charles de Gaulle before I was called for my scheduled flight to Montreal (AF346 Seat 30H). At first the sign said “on time” but changed about 45 minutes before departure to 15 minutes delay then 30 minutes delay. Shortly after 17.00h all passengers were allowed on board. In August I booked a flight for my daughter to Montreal from Frankfurt on British Airways. She was delighted with the flight and food and enthused about the fact each seat had a monitor and she could choose films and tv programmes. On boarding Flight AF 346 I found that the impression given by Air France website that each passenger had an individual monitor was very much misleading, this was only on the Airbus. I saw that Air France has 4 Airbus and 10 of the older 747 so that obviously the chances of individual entertainment are far lower than the idea given. In addition the seat's audio system was very poor and the only channel I could really hear well was the opera! The few other channels which were very faint were of no interest at all! Most messages from the aircrew were hardly audible.
On boarding at 17.00h all passengers were virtually held prisoner in the aircraft. No real information was given apart from the regular announcement of a 30 minute or a further 45 minute delay. This continued until 22.00h when we finally took off. FIVE hours of waiting in the aircraft and the only distraction was the showing of one of the films and the distribution of an aperitif which we would have had anyway later with the evening meal.
On my return journey flight AF 347 (Seat 23B) was also delayed, although by 30 minutes and my subsequent flight (AF 1918 Seat 17A) was postponed so my train seat reservations from Frankfurt were useless as I left more than 3 hours later than planned. The meal which was served on the flight to Paris had probably seen the inside of a microwave for a few seconds as was almost cold!
All in all my my very first flight with Air France was far from satisfactory. Certainly the weather played a role in the delay but the passengers were fobbed off with announcements of 30 minute or 45 minute delays and neither an explanation nor any extra food or drink was offered apart from that aperitif which we did not then have with the meal.
I shall be visiting my daughter again in summer but shall think twice about booking any further flights with Air France if this is the service offered its customers. My daughter has also asked me not to book her return flight at the end of the year with Air France.
Our flight from Paris to Verona was first delayed and then just cancelled managed to get onto another flight to Milan and that was delayed too spent the whole day at Charles De Gaulle only to eventually arrive in Milan in the early hours of the morning to find our luggage had not arrived. after listening to lies from Air France for a week as to where our luggage was it eventually arrived the day before we left Italy. We have some great photos from the first day but seeing as our battery chargers were in our luggage that is all we have of our skiing trip. The flight back nothing in the row of seats I was sitting in worked, no overhead light no television - i.e no entertainment for 10.5 hours, and the attitude of the attendants was what would you like us to do about it. Travelling to Europe is expensive and one has to save for a while, I can safely say the experience was unpleasant to say the least, Air France really ruined a trip myself and family and friends was really looking forward to.
I ordered a FREE trial sample of the diet drug Xanithine and I was to pay for freight only of $4.95. I told the order taker that the authorization to use the card was for one time for $94.95 only and no other charges were to be made on this card. He agreed. Only 6/12/2009 the charge for the $4.95 went thru my bank and I received the bottle marked FREE TRIAL SAMPLE.
On 6/18/2009, a charge for $88.55 was charged to my Master Charge card and is pending with Chase Bank at this moment. I filed a fradulent, unauthroized use of my master charge card with Chase and they told me that if I received any merchandise to refuse it. On June 24, 2009, i recieve a package in the mail from Digial Success, which I have refused the shipment per my bank. I talked to Draper Police Dept. today, 6-/24/2009 and they said for me to go to My Sheriff's Dept tomorrow am and file a criminal complaint with them and have them contact Draper Police.
Chase bank tells me that they have to wait for them to actually recieve the money then they can demand refund or file federal bank charges.
What can you do to stop this hit and run thief? According to the internet, there are many, many people taken for the exact ride in the exact manner from them.