Complain about a product or service

Air France

Sandeep of Edinburgh, OTHER March 16, 2009

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. 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 [them] as well as i will not recommend anyone else to fly. i m looking to get refund.

Hamid of Atlanta, GA February 27, 2009

i book a air ticket from www.airfrance.us from atlanta to casablanca stoping at paris for 4 hours.departur time 09/15/2009 arrive 10/13/2009. not even after 8 hours a try to change the day of departur to 16 for just one day thay told me i got pay 200 fee plus the deference i wans shocked..they been sending me from one departement to other .they hung up the phone on me twice but i call back.i was so mad that i asked to cancel .thay say ther is an other 200 canslation fee.so i told them its ok for u guys to lose a costmer thay say it realy loud YES we folwo the policy.to ask for my refound they say it will take more thatn 10 day to prosses and i will get my money later from 2 weeks to 4 weeks

no flight no immediat refund no more air france in my life even if its free

Samira of Manama, OTHER February 20, 2009

dear sir / madam we were traveling from casablanca to paris in 7th of october 2008 for honeymoon we used the dept card in paying the tickets .the lady there told us that the process rejected and we paid cash.they withold the amount of the tickets for 4 and half month without our knowledge althogh we paid cash and they hold amounts for 3 tickets and we took only 2 tickets

we were in need for that many as we were newly married if we didnt recive the bank statment we will lose the money i feel no more secure to travel with air france regarding money issue

Dan of Mountain View, CA February 12, 2009

My family had a ticket non-stop from Paris to San Francisco. During the flight an Italian soccor team of 15 players sat in the aisles on the the back of the seats and held a team rally. It was directly in front of us on the next row. It went on for hours with the players shouting and yelling. No one could move through the aisles. I talked with the stewardess and and steward and they advised me to confront the players myself. They offered no help and no recourse. It was certainly a safety issued and a security issued having so many men out of their seats and congesting so that there was not forward movement in the cabin.

The long flight was also miserable under these conditions. At length after we landed in San Francisco, we discover that Air France does not have any resources where customers can file complaints. Nothing. Even on there website there is no customer service number.

Are consequences are that we had a terrible 12 hour flight with two young children. It was really bad! What a lousy way to end an expensive vacation.

Ankur of Jaipur, OTHER January 29, 2009

I am writing this email to complain to you about the pathetic service offered by Air France Airline & the sheer inhuman treatment of your passengers. Pls. take this complaint as a true reflection of my anger against the ordeal I have faced at the hands of Air France in the last 2 days. I had booked my flits through Yatra.Com for my holiday in the UK. The onward journey was through KLM Royal Dutch & return journey was through Air France. Details of my return journey are appended

when I went to the Edinburgh Airport & Paris Airport and asked the AF team member to update my Jet Membership Number on my boarding pass, they had no clue as to how they should do that. I was told by your staff that you do not have any tie up with Jet Airways. Only on my insistence that there is a tie up and upon showing the boarding card of KLM, your staff did the needful. My flight from Paris CDG to New Delhi was cancelled and I was told that it was due to a technical problem. Apart from this no reasonable explanation was given to us. We had around 10-12 passengers stranded at Paris airport.

Our passports were taken and we were told that we would be accommodated in a hotel in Paris for one day as our flight would take off on 04th Jan 2009. For seven continuous hours we kept waiting with no access to food or water. We kept requesting for some food & water but our requests fell to deaf ears. We had a 2 year old child with a lady and even he was not provided with any food. After 7 hours we were told that we cannot go to hotel and need to spend the night at the airport. When I requested to speak to a senior member of the Airline staff, the request was refused. When I requested to speak to the Indian Embassy officials in Paris to complain about the inhuman treatment, only then we were given the option to fly to London Heathrow and then take a Jet airways flight to New Delhi. The staff assured all the passengers that our checked in baggage would fly to London with us & from there it would be boarded on the Jet Airways flight to New Delhi. We were also assured that our reservation on Jet Airways flight no 9W-121 was confirmed.

We reached Heathrow via AF 1780 but when we reached the Jet Airways counter with the ticket, we were told that we do not have confirmed reservation and had to wait before Jet Airways allowed us to board the flight. Jet Airways staff at London Heathrow were very sympathetic towards us and tried to help us in all possible ways and made frantic phone calls to Air France team to sort out the mess created by [their] team members. Our trouble did not end here. When we landed at New Delhi on 04th Jan 2009 (1130 hours) our luggage was not on the flight as well. I and my wife were on a two week holiday and we never deserved such shabby treatment by Air France.

We lodged the missing baggage complaint through Jet Airways and when we went to the Air France counter for claim wrt toiletries etc, we were told that they cannot help us in this regard & asked us to email Air France team. I spoke to Mr. G. Sharma of the Air France team at the New Delhi Airport but he showed his inability to provide any compensation wrt missing baggage and told me that I need to email AF team. Pls. let me know as to how expect customers to sort out things without any cash when their luggage is misplaced by the Airline. [They] dont provide any assistance to the passenger and leave him on his own.

I feel that the treatment of the airline was inhuman, baised and amounts abuses of civil rights, civil liberties, and profiling on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, by Air France.

Catherine Rankin Harper of Dubai, OTHER January 18, 2009

My sister booked flights some months ago for herself, her husband and her children. Eloise was to be 23 months old at the time of the outbound flight, but was to travel on a child ticket as she would be two years old on the return, and Toby was to be eight months. On booking, my sister requested a baby cot seat and was told that Toby would be too big. She was not given the opportunity to advise his weight or size. She was also informed by the customer services representative that she would need to bring a car seat for Eloise, as she would need this in order to travel in her own seat.

In the weeks prior to travelling, my sister contacted Air France staff several times to ask for guidelines on the car seat policy, in order to ensure she purchased the appropriate seat. She was told the following;

there was no requirement for her to bring a car seat unless she wanted to; Eloise had to travel in a car seat by law and if she did not bring one she would not be permitted to fly; the car seat was necessary and had to be a maximum of 38 inches in size; the car seat was necessary and had to be a maximum of 42 inches in size; regardless of whether she had a car seat or not, Eloise would not be permitted to sit in it for take-off, landing or turbulence.

As you can imagine, my sister was confused and frustrated by the conflicting information received, and the inability of staff to clarify or confirm policies and procedures. She emailed a request online for further information, which was completely ignored. She therefore had to guess which of the above statements was correct.

The week before departure, my sister attempted to change their allocated seats online. The system would not allow her to do so as she was travelling with infants - a message advised her that seats would be allocated upon check-in. She telephoned the Air France customer service centre in England, again, to ask if she could be given baby cot seats.

She gave Toby's weight and height details to the representative and was advised that baby cot seats were reserved for them on the outbound sector.

The representative was unable to allocate such seats for the return sector, however, as they had all been assigned to other passengers. My sister asked if the seats had been allocated to passengers travelling with infants, and the answer was no. I am at a loss to understand why online seat changes are not permitted for passengers travelling with infants, when baby cot seats are clearly not reserved for passengers with infants in the first place.

Upon boarding at Heathrow, my sister was challenged by the cabin crew as to why she had a car seat with her. She explained that the airline had in fact requested it and was eventually allowed to bring it into the cabin. She was not, however, permitted to bring her strollers into the cabin. The cabin crew told her that Air France policy did not permit strollers in the cabin, despite the website clearly stating that a certain number of strollers would be allowed in the cabin.

Once at their seats, she was told by a member of the cabin crew that it was not permissible for them to travel with two infants, despite there being both my sister and her husband travelling, and my brother (on a separate booking). The crew member eventually agreed that they could travel.

Several crew members then watched my sister spend a considerable amount of time installing the car seat, before advising her that it could not be positioned in a middle seat and must be moved to the window.

Upon boarding in Paris, my sister was again challenged as to why she had a car seat with her. Cabin crew were reluctant to allow it onboard but eventually decided that it could be used, although not before several crew members had told her it could not.

During the in-flight service, my sisters husband requested a beer from the bar. Although he was only the second passenger to be served, he was told that there were no beers left. The crew member then made a comment in French to her colleague, and the passenger seated behind advised her that she also spoke French and found her comment offensive.

At this stage, my sister and her family were disgusted with the level of service received from the airline, both in terms of consistency of policy and procedures, and staff attitude.

When they checked in for the return flight, my sister asked again if they could be given baby cot seats. The check-in staff member told her that there were none available as there were seven infants travelling on the flight, but he was unable to confirm if the other six had all checked in, or if the seats had been given to passengers without infants. He advised her that even if they had been given to passengers without infants, he was unable to change them.

My sister boarded and, again, was challenged as to why she had a car seat with her. At this point, she was reduced to tears by the lack of knowledge and total inefficiency of the cabin crew. After initially advising her that the car seat was to be offloaded, the crew finally allowed her to use it.

She was then very disappointed, to say the least, to see that at least three baby cots seats had been given to passengers travelling without infants. She asked the cabin crew to assist her in changing seats, but was told that the passengers already in those seats had refused to swap.

This was a most unsatisfactory answer, given that on her last flight with Air France, she was unable to sit with her husband as the cabin crew had given their seats to other passengers without asking them if they were willing to swap.

Upon boarding the flight from Paris to Heathrow, it was no great surprise that the crew were unfamiliar with the car seat and reluctant to allow my sister to bring it on board. Yet again, she had to explain and plead with the crew for it to be allowed into the cabin.

On arrival into Heathrow, after spending the night holding an 8kg infant, the situation became farcical when my sister was advised that one of the baby strollers had been left in Paris. My sister and her husband then had to struggle through the airport with several bags and only one stroller for two children. The stroller has yet to arrive - the representative my sister spoke to this morning admitted that they had no idea where it was, and even asked her to be patient.

Roy of Port Perry, ON January 15, 2009

In order to make connecting flight from Air France (Niger, Africa) to Air France (Toronto, Canada) at airport, our group had to take 3 bus trips from arrival to departure lounge. This is at an airport that is practically owned by Air France. In addition, all three pieces of luggage did not make the connecting flight and only 2 pieces have been delivered (2 courier deliveries) in almost a week after arrival in Toronto.

Misplaced luggage and still one piece of luggage outstanding almost one week following return trip.

Ivana of Belgrade, OTHER January 15, 2009

On January 5, 2009 I checked my luggage in Paris with final destination to Belgrade, Serbia.However, when I arrived to Belgrade, my luggage were lost. As of now, more than 10 days later, the luggage is still not found.Of course, upon arrival to Belgrade, I filed a Lost Baggage Claim which assigned to it a File Reference Number.I have called every day and was told according to the Montreal Convention law there is nothing I can do as a customer, there is no limit in the time they take to ship the luggage. The reprsentative of AF are very unkined. I don't know what to do anymore! Everything I had was in that suitcase, my staff, gifts, cosmetics..... I fill the inventory letter, the value of this suitcase is around 2000 .

Abheek of Philadelphia, PA January 14, 2009

Incident = My 1/5/09 flight AF366 was cancelled and was stranded at the airport three days with no information. I spent the next 2 nights at the airport terminal..without any assistance (blanket/pillow)from Air France. I was put on a flight on 1/7/09 to New York.

When I got to NY my luggage was missing - it had not arrived with me. It has been a week now (1/14/09)and my luggage is still missing. Since then i had to travel to Chicago on business, and have to buy all business clothes again, since my business attire is still in my lost baggage.

Out of pocket expenses at Paris airport was over 100. The luggage contained all my business attire, as i was in India for a month on business. As a result, i have to buy a whole new wardrobe of business clothes/shoes to get to work in chicago. This will cost me well over 500...even if the luggage eventually arrives

Rajesh of Amsterdam, NE January 14, 2009

On 6th January 2009 Myself and my wife travelled from Dubai-Amsterdam via Paris.The Flight was delayed in Dubai for an hour and even the connecting flight at paris was also delayed for 3 hrs.Finally when we arrrived at Amsterdam ONE OF OUR BAGGAGE WAS LOST.

We filed a report @the arrival services and till date they have only one thing to say SORRY WE DON'T HAVE ANY UPDATE.This happened when we travelled in Business class.I pity those who have travelled in Economy Class.I am sure that they are treated worse than us.

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