Bill

I've never done it. Who do I address it to, who do I CC to get best results? What should I expect or ask for?<BR>I also have to write a "GOOD" one for United (Heathrow).<BR>In a nutshell: AirFrance (in Paris) was unbelievably unhelpful, no voucher or arrangement help at all. My wife is 5 1/2 mo. pregnant, we slept on the floor during our 16 hours a cdg airport. 10 hours were spent in 10 different lines all with a different answers. Thanks.

sjk

Sorry Bill but the airlines do not care. Write the letter to the FAA but don't expect to hear anything back. Until the government steps in(they won't) things will never change. Sorry to hear of your bad experience. It happens thousands of times each day.

cdrt

Airlines have consumer offices ... you start there. Dont just send emails or letters. get a real live person n the phone and network from there. Think of something you want ... maybe a free ticket for the two of you, a coupon worth money you can apply to a future ticket.

bob

Please, sjk, the last thing this country needs is more government interference in anything. In addition, the complaint was with AirFrance, not a US airline. <BR><BR>Bill - follow the advice of cdrt, much more helpful.

Avery

It may be difficult to get a response from the airlines--as a previous poster said, they don't really care. But I always read the Umbudsman section in Conde Nast Traveler. It seems that they will sometimes step in if you deserve compensation for your incident. I think the airline might be more helpful if you threaten to contact the press.

kc

Call the airline, get the name of the manager of customer service.Write your letter to that person, to the general manager of the airline,& the manager of the airport.cc's to everybody.Also,it never hurts to write to a travel mag or the NY Times travel section,and be sure to tell the airlines that you have done so.<BR>Tell them that you wanted to fly on their airline, that they had a good reputation and now that seems to not be the case.What would they like to do to show you and your wife that they are sorry.<BR>With all the unhelpful advice you have gotten here, I would like to tell you that we had an unfortunate incident while flying to Paris one year.When I got home I wrote to the airlines.We got round trip first class tickets anywhere in the US for an apology-my husband had also told me not to bother.I hope this helps, and that you get some kind of satisfaction-for the amounts of money and time that are involved in flying these days,not to mention concern for personal welfare, I would expect them to make everything as comfortable as possible for their customers.

jdt

I don't know about Air France, but Air Canada is horrible for responses. I wrote six letters regarding a life or death situation and did not hear anything. Pathetic in my opinion. I would encourage you to be persistent though. Call their customer service, start a file and demand to talk to someone. You are the customer and they need your service. Don't forget that!

sjk

Bob I travel by air domestic and internationally several times per month and know with firsthand experience that airlines do nothing to compensate travelers with horror stories. I have yet to be compensated for airline personnel eliminating my reservation 2 weeks before international travel. I fought for weeks to get my seat back on a full flight and it was a paid business class ticket. I can go on and on with things that have happened and I have yet to be rightfully compensted for things that have occurred. The airlines do not care. Have you ever tried to use one of those discount vouchers they give? Worthless.

Carl

To sjk: how did the airline personnel eliminate your reservation? I'm interrested to know what happened to you!

mark

Last year I bought a round trip ticket on Malev to Budapest - 2 weeks later it was half the price I had paid. I had specifically asked about whether or not the ticket would go on sale, etc. Long story short - when I called to complain I also asked for an address of the President of Malev. The reservationist was suddenly able to credit me another round trip to Budapest. They couldn't give me a refund but I did get to go to Central Europe twice last year. <BR><BR>Be focused and reasonable but make it clear that you intend to bang on some of the correct cages.

Leilani

A couple of years ago I wrote a letter of complaint to Continental. I sent my letter directly to the CEO, figuring that his office would route it to the proper department. A few weeks later I received a very courteous letter of apology from a customer service rep, along with a consolation gift. When I wrote back to her to say "thanks," I sent a copy to the CEO, who actually wrote a note in reply. I was impressed that I got such personal attention. Some of the airlines do care what their passengers think!

Lina

Try www.planetfeedback.com

sjk

Carl I was flying with my father, same names but Sean Senior and Junior. Even though I supplied different passport numbers, was issued two tickets and explained there were two of us traveling when booking a person still went in manually and deleted my reservation. The airline even confirmed my reservation 2 times in months prior. I accidentally found out on my 3rd phone call when asking for seat assignments. I was never compensated for my aggrivation and I could tell you that things like this happen on a very frequent basis when traveling between US and European carriers. I could go on and on with more stories like these....

Harriette

I had a situation with American Airlines<BR>where when I booked for myself and a friend with 2 separate credit cards they gave me the seat #'s etc but never charged my card so in essence I didn't have a reservation{ all unknown to me} I ended up having to leave a day earlier on the departure than my friend. It took 6 months to resolve but I was persistent calling and writing--I am a frequent flyer with A/A . I had receipts for the extra hotel night, car rental etc but they never even asked to see them--they just sent me a voucher for the cost of the ticket. I find that persistence pays off. Don't threaten --be cordial but firm. I don't know about foreign airlines