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Air France review: Stay away from Air France! 21

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12:00 am EDT
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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.

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The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

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21 comments
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derek
,
Aug 04, 2016 7:52 am EDT

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.

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Gallso
Hopeman, GB
Jul 22, 2011 6:38 pm EDT

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.

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AirFrancePssenger
, IT
Jun 12, 2011 1:42 pm EDT

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.

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Jason
, US
Aug 13, 2010 1:15 pm EDT

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.

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Palinite
, US
Feb 22, 2011 6:35 pm EST

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.

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Christophe Wies
San Francisco, US
Jul 08, 2011 1:27 am EDT

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.

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The Prisoner
New York, US
Jan 07, 2011 8:00 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

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.)

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northsea89
, US
Jun 27, 2011 3:49 pm EDT

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.

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Pesst
, US
Jan 25, 2011 5:18 pm EST

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.

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vinilus
, US
Aug 19, 2011 12:30 pm EDT

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.

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Jose
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Aug 27, 2007 12:00 am EDT

To whom it may concern,

I was at the airport today trying board on a 1:25 flight from Zurich to Brest, FR. The flight was canceled due to the plane breaking down and Air France not having a back up plane. I got to the airport around 12:00pm which was when I found out of the cancellation. There was a 1:15 flight with a stop over in Paris which they did not want to put me on unless I paid an additional 500 swiss francs. (Note: I was not checking any luggage - all I had was a carry on) Instead they had me wait the whole day until 6:05pm and arrive at Brest at 9:40pm.

The 1:15 flight was not fully booked and dont understand how they run their business. It would not cost them a dollar more to put me on the earlier flight. They chose to have a very dissatisfied customer stay in Zurich and miss his cousin's wedding. This would not have happened with any other company. The supervisor did not want to even hear my story. His level of customer service was very unacceptable to say the least.

I paid about 600 francs which was expensive as is for such a short flight. A reasonable fee would have been fine, but to try and charge such an exaggerated rate is beyond human. I would like to make sure that this complaint is heard by top personnel at Air France. I would also like to be refunded some type money if not all. I am very angry, dissatisfied and can't even put into words how I really feel right now. Thank you for your time.

Regards,
Jose

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Air France pricing model is flawed
Dundee, GB
Jun 21, 2011 6:55 pm EDT

I am a frequent traveller with Air France on their route from London City Airport to Dundee. The frequency of my flights vary, but its between 1 and 2 flights per week. I am a Silver frequent flyer member.

I would like to complain and inform you about Air France pricing structure and lack of customer service.

Because I fly so frequently, I book my tickets 1.5 to 2 months in advance. Over the past 6 months, the prices for advance booking of this route wee listed as £131.89 as the lowest price available.

Recently I searched for a flight for 1st of August and notices that instead of £131.89 it is listed as £68.89 on 4 of my reservations for July 25th, Aug 1st, Aug 8 and Aug 15th.

I contacted Air France customer care on June 21st, 2001 at approximately 5:25 London time. I explained the situation stating that I would like to either receive the refund in the amount of the price difference or be allowed to cancel my current ticket because of significant (£63.00) difference in prices.

I was told by the Customer Service Representative that that is not allowed because the tickets I got were the cheapest ones available at the time of purchase. The Fare class I have was ‘X’, which is the lowest fare available from Air France. The fare that is now available on their website for almost 50% is class ‘L’. I asked them to explain the difference between the fare classes. They informed that there is no difference between them, but they will not be able to do anything because the price I paid is final.

Conclusion:

Their pricing model is either unfair or flawed and when I called them on it. Their customer service is not existent. Their explanation was that I was given was that the tickets were like this because tats what was available at that time and more cheaper tickets were released. Their Terms and Conditions stay that they offer price guarantee but only from outside sources and not from themselves. Clearly a catch-22 for raising any complaints with them

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MDPCElaw
White Plains, US
Aug 19, 2011 2:03 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C. is a law firm experienced in class action litigation. The firm investigates potential false advertising claims. If you purchased this service/product or have a similar issue, and would like to discuss your legal options, please contact:

info@mdpcelaw.com
Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C.
Attorneys at Law
1311 Mamaroneck Avenue
White Plains, NY 10605
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Attorney Advertising

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SumeetVatsa
Austin, US
Feb 03, 2010 5:33 pm EST

Date Travelled: 12/14/2009
Airline record locator: zzzzzzz

Subject: 70 Year old Disabled parent harassed, denied a requested wheelchair and left unattended at Charles De Gaulle airport.

I am putting this complaint regarding the treatment meted to my parents who flew from India through Paris to Houston recently. My father has multiple health issues – amputated feet (actually he doesn’t have one foot and doesn’t have any finger on other foot), has gone through multiple Heart surgeries and heart attacks and has diabetes. For him walking one mile is a very painful and cumbersome proposition. To add to all the woes they can’t speak English and can barely read it.

We had requested for wheelchair while booking the ticket – Wheelchair for Mumbai airport and wheelchair for Paris airport. But for some reason when they landed in Paris they weren’t entertained at all. They were kept on wait from 2 and half hour. My mother kept on asking for wheelchair but they did not respond. There was a guy with wheelchair standing nearby and he said it was not his duty. When last half an hour was remaining the air lines personnel at the gate told them that they won’t get the wheelchair and they will have to walk till the other gate which was in other terminal and required a walk of almost a mile. They almost missed the flight and my mother got almost got a panic attack.

Isn’t this harassment? Can’t these officials put themselves in these old people’s shoes and realize that the treatment meted to them was painful and unjust. Can you please give an explanation for such an inhumane treatment? What is the justification you can give for not providing the requested wheelchair.

They will be returning soon and my mother panics and breaks down when it comes to travelling via Paris.

I am attaching the itinerary for reference.

Thanks
abcdefg

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CheapTickets record locator: AP270301P9RKR0UT
Airline record locator: Air France - ZCSZKT
Ticket numbers: not yet available

Total flight cost: $xxxx USD
Traveler(s) Frequent flier details
xxxxxxxx

Leave Monday, December 14, 2009
Air France 217 Economy | Airbus Industrie A330-200 (332) | 9hr 25min | 4341 miles
Depart: 2:45am Mumbai, India Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji (BOM)
Arrive: 7:40am Paris, France Paris Ch. De Gaulle (CDG)

Your flight is confirmed. The airline is assigning seats at check-in Seat assignment: choose seats |
Change planes. Time between flights: 2hr 50min
Air France 636 Economy | Boeing [protected]) | 10hr 40min | 5028 miles
Depart: 10:30am Paris, France Paris Ch. De Gaulle (CDG)
Arrive: 2:10pm Houston, TX Houston George Bush Intercntl. (IAH)

Your flight is confirmed. The airline is assigning seats at check-in Seat assignment: choose seats |
Total duration: 22hr 55min | Total miles: 9369 miles
Return Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Air France 639 Economy | Boeing [protected]) | 9hr 15min | 5028 miles
Depart: 4:20pm Houston, TX Houston George Bush Intercntl. (IAH)
Arrive: 8:35am Paris, France Paris Ch. De Gaulle (CDG)
Seats: 29J, 29K
Seats are confirmed | View/change seats |
Change planes. Time between flights: 2hr 0min
Air France 218 Economy | Airbus Industrie A330-200 (332) | 9hr 0min | 4341 miles
Depart: 10:35am Paris, France Paris Ch. De Gaulle (CDG)
Arrive: 12:05am Mumbai, India Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji (BOM)
Seats: 35J, 35K
Seats are confirmed | View/change seats |
This flight arrives two days later.
Total duration: 20hr 15min | Total miles: 9369 miles

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sat4jon
Warrington, GB
Dec 30, 2009 11:28 am EST

An update :

Received our delayed bag on 28th as expected.
We checked the AF site online today (30th) and found that our lost bag had been found but we never got a call to tell us ?

We called Air France and they said that Air France apparently phoned us this morning ? at 8.50 am ? We got no missed calls on either of our mobiles and the house phone DID NOT ring. This morning as there were 3 of us in the house. They were clearly lying.

We fly home to the UK tomorrow 31st Dec (with Air France) and they asked to deliver the case to our French location tomorrow at 8pm... But we fly home at 4 pm we said. The man on the phone was extremely arrogant (no surprise there, being French and working for AF !) and said that it was our fault for not answering "the call" this morning ! - repeatedly calling my Wife (who is french and not arrogant) Madam but in a "I am in conrol of the situation and you are nothing" kinda way.

After much gabbling, they informed us that they are going to deliver it tonight... 30th Dec at 8pm... We hope...and wait for a confirmation call ut its been 1/2 an hour already and nothing !

Great Service Air France ! NOT!

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sat4jon
Warrington, GB
Dec 27, 2009 4:23 pm EST

We flew from Manchester to Bordeaux via Paris CDG on 26th December.
I was not looking forward to the flight as we had flown with Air France in the past and both times were not pleasant experiences!

On arrival at Manchester Airport we checked in through the automated check-in terminals but then we had to queue for 1hour 30 mins just to drop off our luggage at the self drop off desk. Half way through our wait, We were told by a member of staff that we could use the luggage drop off desk for internet check-in, so we left the queue to do so... Then later we had our doubts we weren't queueing in the right place and we checked again with the same Air France member of staff who then confirmed that we were in the wrong queue - despite telling us that we could use that lane moments earlier! So we had to rejoin the original queue. At the baggage dropoff there were 2 members of desk staff for 3 planes full of passengers, as our queue was for KLM / Air France to 3 destinations. Beyond the desk staff, there was noone in charge to direct the 100s of queuing passengers or answer questions.

On board the plane from Manchester to Paris, we were offered a Muffin and a drink. No other food was available.The second Flight from Paris to Bordeaux was similar.

For a flight using a "premier airline" of £278 per person this is not acceptable !

We arrived in Bordeaux at 11.40am on 26th Dec to find that one suitcase was still in Paris and the the other was lost . We were told that once the lost case had been located it would be delivered to our destination address along with the delayed case.

Later that day (26th) we awaited a phone call to update us... And waited...and waited. NOTHING

Today is the 27th and we had to phone them this morning to find out why we had still not received the delayed bag and to see if they had located the lost one. The woman said that there was good news ! and promptly told my wife that one bag was delayed but found and the other was still lost ? "I know that this is the situation already" said my wife. "Oh ?" said the Air France woman. "Will the located bag be delivered today ?" "No, Tomorrow" was the reply...The delayed suitcase is set to be delivered on the 28th Dec in the morning (some 48hrs late) We have had to buy underwear, a replacement shaver, and personal hygene products and are still wearing the same clothes as we flew in ! Air France have said that we are entitled to €100 per person for necessary items which we thought was generous initially, but we soon found out that we quickly reached that amount by only buying essential items to make it to the next day (contact lense solution is €13). Also we have spent our own money so far and have yet to have the claim approved / verified, so it could be a long wait.

The other case is still lost and it contains(ed) Christmas Presents for our friends and family in France who we only see twice a year. The lost case also contained my wifes brand new trainers bought for her as a Christmas present from me :( All my Wifes makeup and clothes, most of the clothes were new and received as presents for Christmas!

We normally fly with BMI Baby and get excellent service and have never had cause to complain in over 11 flights to France.

We have travelled for Bordeaux with Air France on 2 previous occasions and they have:
Delayed our flights for 10 hours on one return flight
Delayed for 5 hours on another
Been rude and unhelpful during delays.
Proved more expensive than other airlines (€250-280 a return flight versus €100 max with Bmibaby or Ryanair)
Never provided proper food or the option to purchase food onboard.

Overall, I would never ever fly with Air France if given the choice, but unfortunately, they are the only option to visit our family in Bordeaux at Christmas time, as the other BETTER airlines do not fly at this time of year.

When My Wife announced that she had booked with Air France, I felt a sense of foreboding which has now proved to be fully justified.

AIR FRANCE ARE POORLY ORGANISED, INEFFICIENT, RUDE and DONT CO-OPPERATE PROPERLY WHEN PROBLEMS ARISE.

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE !

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rkbeura
, US
Nov 26, 2009 9:28 pm EST

One simple suggestion " Just Avoid Air France !"

I have been making international travels quite a number of times by a number of Airlines in last 6 years. But AirFrance is the first horrible experience.

I will try to be short. They had overbooked the flight we (myself & 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 6 hours, inside the airport. It was very pain full perticularly for my wife as she has gastro issues.

Once I return to USA, after my vacation is over, I am going to take my Lawer's 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 to "AVOID AIR FRANCE". The AirFrance 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.

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sandy
Edinburgh, GB
Mar 16, 2009 7:03 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

i travelled from klm and airfrnace on 19th feburary to india from edinburgh and returning on 8th march 2009. there was a guy on boarding section from airfrance where we give the main baggage in edinburgh airport, when i was departing, near about 5 o clock in d morning. he spoke to me very rudely and talking like a gay (sex). i asked him some question regarding my seats but he replied wrong manner which is not accepted. i am a chairman of british telecom and i know how to talk with my customers. but i didnt got a good customer service. he told me all the wrong information about the flight and baggage. as well as he charged me for the hand baggage approx 380 pounds bcoz he said that the size is bigger. i travelled with lots of other airlines and everywhere i have used the same hand baggae but no one restricted. i asked him that i can buy a new bag from edinburgh airport and i will transfer my stuff there but he replied that he will not allow me to fly if you dont pay the hand baggage cost (he want to put my hand baggage in main baggage list). he never helped me or neither give me any suggestions. in this way he made the money and sold the services to me which is benefit for ur company. but its not acceptable. we have 1000 of clients and staff travelling on daily basis from airfrance but after i recieved bad customer service from airfrance and klm on that day. i am cancelling my contract with you as well as i will not recommend anyone else to fly. even wen i returned from india, they lost my baggage and wen i m trying to contact them, they r doing delays and ignoring me. i m looking to get refund. my name is sandy and u can call me on [protected]

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n00dles7
,
Aug 04, 2016 7:52 am EDT

I had the same type of encounter just a couple of days ago. They have confiscated my liqor for which I have paid 200$ for at a previous air port. Whom should I file a complaint to?

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skn8700
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Aug 04, 2008 10:57 pm EDT

Is this because the French who articulate so much about Culture, liberty are Vultures in fact. I had a similar experience with the same Delta Airlines shared with Air France and the Senior citizens were demanded
of transit Visa's and not provided with confirmed wheel chairs either at the same point=CDG.

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Sati Pate
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Jul 27, 2007 1:07 am EDT

Air France is the worst airline I have ever used. Staff is rude, food is terrible and they have not heard the word - service. They overbooked our flight and laid the blame with us. They were rude and uncaring.