AF Bad Service = Ca$h for Me! Thanks Air France!
Written: Mar 28 '04 (Updated Mar 28 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Compensation for overbooked flights, cute staff, delicious inflight food, self-serve drinks
Cons: Routinely overbooked flights, reputation for losing baggage
The Bottom Line: If you want a direct flight to France with French people - as well as cold, hard cash for minor inconveniences - go for it.
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| minan's Full Review: Air France |
Thanks to the European Union's agreement in January to boost compensation for air passengers who are "bumped off" overbooked flights, or suffer from the cancellations or delays, Air France is the place to be. As long as you come to the airport 3 hours early, fully aware of the AF system of shuttling standbys and other unfortunates from flight to flight - it's endurable. Service still mostly sucks, but at least for some of the budget-conscious folk, the automated refunds outweighs the "bumps."
I bought a vacation package through AF for a trip to Paris in mid-March from New York City, departing from JFK. I went with a friend who didn't take seriously my pleas for her to arrive at the airport early. One of the AF staff approached me in line and asked if I would like to "volunteer," which he explained was giving up my seat for some compensation - and that JUST for being willing, I'd get $100 or $150 in AF credit, and a guaranteed seat on the next flight. Just like that. And if my seat got taken, I’d get $400 cash or $600 AF credit! All I had to do was tell the ticket person and they'd direct me.
"Volunteering" is a familiar scenario, but the cash isn't - it's at least double of what I've seen before, and I've never heard of being offered money upfront just to say you're willing to give up your seat. So I decided to take them up on the offer because of my late friend. The ticket person, who was very warm and helpful (I suspect because I was dressed well and polite - this is your first line of defense as an American dealing with the French!) checked my passport, gave me a ticket for my luggage, and gave everything back. Then he explained that all I needed to do was go to the ticket counter to get the cash or AF credits to my card.
When I got to the ticket line, the manager saw me standing in line and said, "You don't have to stand in line - come with me." And she took my card, processed everything, gave me a receipt with a smile and told me the rest of the process - basically at one hour before the flight leaves, I was to stand at the standby booth and find out whether I get on the current or next flight.
Meanwhile, my extremely late friend showed up only a half hour before the flight (ticket booth closes one hour before) so she had to go find out if she could fly again at all. As she fumed with international newbie flyer rage, I found out that I got on the current flight. I said good bye and good luck to my very upset friend, and left her to the consequences of her poor judgement. Sadly for me, I received a middle seat but being a very prepared traveler, I had my U-shaped pillow and slept soundly on the Boeing 777 (great plane by the way!).
Turned out my friend only had to pay a $150 penalty and she caught a plane the next morning (thought she’d have to buy a whole new ticket!). We had a jolly great time in Paris and schemed to try for the $500 on the way back.
It was the same deal, just different airport and currency (90 or AF120 euros to volunteer, 300 or AF600 euros if you take the next flight). The very thing that might have infuriated me a couple months before the EU agreement now absolutely delighted both me and my friend. We almost got split up with her staying and my leaving on the current flight, but again a nice AF staff person straightened things out. Our next flight was the following morning, so we had an extra night in Paris to party (which we did). They had us stay at the CDG Ibis hotel, which is conveniently at the RER (CDG 1 stop). All we had to do was buy an RER ticket to and from Paris – and it went express through all the dumpy local stations!
Air France is now my secret vacation weapon - I’m going again in June! Just make sure you keep your days wide open and flexible if you want to take advantage of Air France’s ineptness!
And by the way, for those of you who worry about lost baggage - both my friend and I got our baggage back both times, no sweat. Just remember that if you volunteer, keep your luggage with you until you actually find out which flight you'll board. As for the inflight experience, you get the modern conveniences of a brand new Boeing 777; the food was good and the alcohol was free (I prefer to stick with tea and water for long flights). Liked the self-serve drinks, but didn't make up for the fact that the inflight staff was otherwise not very helpful.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
minan
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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