Air France - Holidays Without Your Luggage

Converted · Site Admin Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 5602

Well, we have just walked back in the door after what was meant to be a restful & happy week in Paris. The first problem was that we flew Air France. I can't even begin to tell you the mess that they caused. Our flight was at 8.15am from Heathrow on Sunday 23rd. We arrived at 6am, and the check in line was quite long. There were stressed Air France staff wandering around, as it was clear from the queue that they had overbooked their 8.15 flight (plus, we could hear the staff saying this). My partner and I were asked if we could take the 6.45 flight. Keep in mind that this was at 6.15am. We said yes, so long as we got through security. We were ushered to the check in counter, where the woman (very rude and condescending woman I might add) advised that we could not change our flights. She seemed to think it was our choice - duh! I grabbed the guy from Air France who had arranged this, and he told her to do this. She then advised that our bags would be unable to go on the flight. I advised that we would wait for our flight then. Seeing that this would exacerbate the overbooking problem, she agreed that our bags would be on the flight. I should have listened to my intuition at that point.

Well, we all know security at Heathrow, and we boarded our flight at 6.45. I got a lecture from the rude gate woman, who told me off for being late. In front of a whole lot of passengers, I informed her that we were doing Air France a favour, and to cut the attitude - we were taking an earlier flight as they had overbooked our flight. Other passengers looked less than impressed with her, as it seemed as if they had been given the same lecture.

NB they also let a man on the flight with a boarding pass that was made out in a woman's name, who turned up at 7.30am for the flight. Obviously his boarding pass didn't match his ticket. They booted him off, as they couldn't locate him on the passenger list. He was showing them his ticket, they didn't belive him (plus they had no seats at this point).

Well, we arrived at CDG, and guess what, no bags. We were told numerous lies (your bag will be at your hotel at 1.30), well at 4 it wasn't, I called and was told that it would hopefully be delivered that night. It wasn't. To cut a long story short, my partner got his bag on Monday night, I got someone else's bag on Monday night, I called on Tuesday morning, and was told by what I can describe as a rude tart that my bag (and my partners) would be delivered that day. I then advised that we had received one bag but not the other, and that we had received someone else's bag, she seemed surprised. (NB, the only similarities between my bag and the other passenger's bag was that they were blue - mine was 15kg, his was 5kg, and a suitcase - mine is a rucksack in a pack bag - DUHHHH). In the end, I found my own bag, with the person whose bag I had, we couldn't swap them over as Air France took my bag back, and then delivered it at 4.30 on Thursday night. We left Paris in the afternoon today (Saturday). Not only was our holiday wrecked, as they give you 75 Euros to buy clothes (go figure, this is Paris), we had to traipse around town trying to find clothes to fit, and then spend hours on the phone trying to locate our bags. It meant that we couldn't do the things we wanted to do, and couldn't go out for dinner etc, as I had no nice clothes. Yes, I hear you say, go buy clothes, but unfortunately I was on a budget, and couldn't afford to do this, and sightsee. I also found the Air France staff condescending and rude, apart from one or two of the people I spoke with. It was really sad, and I am very angry at Air France. They are a bunch of incompetent monkeys, in fact words cannot describe how crap my "holiday" was because of them.

PS I was told that they have "misplaced" 5000 bags last week, and the same amount again this week. In the age of electronic tracking, you'd think they could do better than this.

My advice is to not fly with these people. Yes, other airlines lose your luggage, but not for 5 days over such a short travelling distance, and if they do, then they are generally a hell of a lot more helpful than Air France.

Submitted By: Anonymous
Posted: Tuesday, September 02, 2003

Converted · Site Admin Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 5602

That sucks. Next time, don't fly AirFance and don't go to Paris. There are plenty of great vacation spots right here in the USA and Canada. Cincinnati is just like Paris, without the high prices and rude people. Montreal is very much like a french city without the rats, trash, and rudeness.

Submitted By: Anonymous
Posted: Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Converted · Site Admin Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 5602

screw you #1. canada sucks too.

Submitted By: Anonymous
Posted: Saturday, September 13, 2003

Converted · Site Admin Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 5602

Once again, I feel absolutely no pity for anyone booking travel on Air France. You were treated rudely??..DUH!! they lost your bags??..DUH. They acted like they could care less??...DUH!!. What the hell do you people expect from the French??. Maybe you should have taken 30 seconds to read the volumes of Air France complaints on here before you chose to patronize them.

Submitted By: Anonymous
Posted: Sunday, September 21, 2003

Converted · Site Admin Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 5602

I won't bore anyone with what happened to me on Air France but they suck as no airline has ever sucked before. Don't ever give them your bags or your trust!!!!

Submitted By: ny2ct84@aol.com
Posted: Thursday, October 30, 2003

smaragda@icon.co.za · Guest

Be very, very careful when sending your children (a teenager in my case) overseas with Air France:

My 16-year old daughter was left to sit at the airport for 10 hours, after she had missed her connecting flight to Edinburgh. This was due to the fact that their flight was late. Showing complete disregard for EU-regulations (if an airline is responsible for a client missing their flight, the airline is under an obligation to get the passenger onto the very next available flight to that destination, regardless of the airline, and they have to carry the coast), they let her sit at the airport for 10 hours, without offering her even one cup of coffee. She was treated with total contempt by the Air France staff.

After correspondence, Air France offered an apology with information THAT WAS AIMED AT MISLEADING THEIR CLIENT. I hope I never have to use this pathetic airline again.

Elanman · Non-Elite Joined: 19 Dec 2003 Posts: 19

I fly Air France all the time with no problems. Perhaps the problem could be avoided if you would avoid flying out of London.
The people in the London airports are the rudest people I have met in any airport. They are far worse than any US airport.