Air France: bad, bad, bad!
 

here's a report of my latest Air France trip.
My flight was supposed to leave Manchester
for Paris CDG at 7:35pm. However the aircraft had to do an emergency landing coming into Manchester, so the engineers were working on it. For several hours it was not clear if the flight was onty delayed or cancelled, so we just had to stay there waiting. In the end Air France sent in a new aircract from Paris so we left around 11pm, arriving at CDG after 1am local time.

Knowing that there is no public transportation into Paris from CDG that late into the night, I had asked the personnel both on the ground at Manchester and on board whether Air France had set up transportation alternatives (I know that they have paying buses during regular hours). I was given assurance that "something will certainly be prepared by AF".

Incredibly on arrival the Air France personnel was nowhere to be found. Several
people had lost connections to far away destinations like Bombay, and were stuck at the airport all night with no information whatsoever, no hotel, nothing.
The airport personnel was not helpful either and actually it seemed they could not care less.

I had to take a taxi into Paris which cost me 50 Euros. I am a very frequent flyer. I flew over 100,000 miles with Air France (being based in Paris this was the best option). The personnel is often rude, like in many public service in France, but this was a new low.

I would recommend to avoid Air France. I will only fly once more to collect a 50,000 miles bonus and then stay away from them.

Hmmm... had a similar situation a few months back w/KLM from Zurich to Amsterdam.

The only difference was that KLM just cancelled the flight, tough luck, try again tomorrow! Assume they used a larger plane than usual for the first flight out the next day. Was lucky enough to be able to purchase a ticket on Swiss (at CHF 700!) and still fly out that evening as I had to make a very important meeting the next morning. So IMO Air France did better than most airlines insofar as it got you to your final destination with only a few hours delay.

Regarding the situation at CDG: if you think that Air France or any other airline these days is going to organize special transportation from the airport to town for people arriving on a delayed flight, you are bound to be very disappointed. So you had to take a cab - deal with it.

Those people forced to spend the night in tranit should be taken care of though (hotel voucher etc.) - if that wasn't the case, that would indeed have been shoddy treatment. Would still be surprised if there was absolutely no one from Air France to meet your flight at CDG and handle this.

Hope this helps,
Andre

Well, the point is that they had explicitely told us that there would be a bus or something, so I don't think my expectation was unreasonable. And this is France's national airline, not some obscure little airline. You would think they could do that.

There was a connection counter at the exit of the plane. The staff said they did't know anything about transportation to Paris, and referred the people in need for hotel to another counter inside the terminal. However this other counter was deserted because the staff had gone home. I wandered for twenty minutes with some of the stranded travellers, but there was nobody from Air France anywhere.

Finally, in my experience most airlines will offer a refund if they cancels a flight. It happened to me twice.

You didn't mention anything about a flight being cancelled in your post. It left 3 1/2 hours late, which really isn't that bad when a mechanical problem happens.

And no one told you that they <b>would</b> have transportation for you. At least according to what you've said, someone who wouldn't be likely to know said they were sure they would. Have you ever said that and been wrong? They made an assumption, but it wasn't an official promise made by Air France.

And since when are many public service people in France rude? Not trying to become your friend is not the same as rude. They are polite, but not overly friendly in general.

Finally, why would you fly with them one more time to collect a bonus 50,000 miles if you wouldn't then be willing to fly with them after that to use them?

I can totally understand being angry about how a trip turns out. You might even contact them after the fact for compensation. It couldn't hurt. But I'll never understand how people so readily claim they'll never fly a particular airline again because of things like mechanical problems or them not offering you special transportation. It was a sucky situation, but I doubt any other airline would have handled it differently. And I'd bet that you'll consider flying them again when they offer the best price/schedule for a flight you need to take. Will you really spend several hundred euro more to fly a different airline with two plane changes instead of a cheaper, non-stop flight on Air France?

jim_mi, maybe I didn't explain myself, or you didn't read carefully.

1. I was answering to Andre concerning his canceled flight, not mine.

2. I will redeem the miles with a different airline (yes, it's possible).

3. I have never seen airlines before leaving passengers stranded in the middle of the night without providing no hotel. Not me, the other who had lost their connections because of the delay.

4. I have lived and worked 2 years in France, and lived in 3 different countries for several years, so I know what I'm talking about regarding public service in France.

Many sympathies Matt. I think that what you received was a &quot;tell him what he wants to hear and he'll go away&quot; promise. I have to agree with your assessment of French public service as well. I find that other than in sole proprietorships, or when the owner is there, there is a remarkable lack of concern when something isn't right. Obviously not all cases, but I have seen it often enough. I wouldn't fly them again either. ADP in France is also not known for their helpfulness. Better luck next time.