The flight from HELL: 40 hours to get to Paris
Written: Mar 01 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: none
Cons: unorganized; no reimbursement of additional costs; extremely rude
The Bottom Line: Don't use Air France to fly to Paris. Forty hours to get there and 38 to get back. Undependable and NO Support.
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| fullmer8's Full Review: Air France |
On December 26th I was scheduled on flight 071 from LAX to Paris, France at 9:25 pm. That afternoon I received a voice recording message from Air France stating my flight had been delayed due to mechanical problems in Papetee. Since I was already on my way, I decided to not travel the 3 hours back to Bakersfield and to stay at a hotel close to LAX. The next morning, I arrived at LAX at 7:00 and everything proceeded smoothly. However, after taking off at 10:10 am and into the flight for close to an hour, our plane was diverted back to LAX due to engine failure. At 12:30 pm, we returned back to LAX and sat on the runway for two hours. We received no water or food during that time, because the cabinets were automatically locked when we landed. When we complained to the stewardesses, they told us that they were in the same situation as us and we’d just have to tuff it out. At 2:30, we were bussed to a remote area of the terminal and told to wait there. At 5:15 pm we were told the engine could not be repaired and therefore we would have to retrieve our luggage, go through US customs and return to the ticket counter. This was a full 7 hours after our original flight time!!!!
What a disaster that was. Here we were, a full 747 airplane full of travelers, jammed with another set of passengers, who were scheduled to fly to Paris at 6:55.
No one at the counter was notified or prepared for our appearance, 220 very tired and upset passengers crowded with another full set of travelers who were trying to make their flight. France personnel were totally unprepared to handle this situation. Eventually I was directed to the British Airways counter. There I waited in line until 9:00 and was one of the last 70 passengers from Air France to board their flight to London.
I arrived in London at 3:30 pm the next day and again it was a disaster. We couldn’t find the Air France counter. The confusion was caused by there only being one personnel at the check in counter and a single monitor which kept cycling on to different airline names. So here were 70 people all trying to make connecting flights to their destinations and only one, very frustrated personnel, who had not been told that we were arriving. After waiting 3 ˝ hours in line again, I was ticketed to Paris on flight AF2171 leaving at 7:15 pm and arriving in Paris at 9:25 pm, fully 12 hours after my expected arrival time.
At the ticket counter in Paris, I finally met the most helpful and kind personnel from Air France, Mr. Castellan. He helped me with my lost luggage, hotel, dinner and breakfast vouchers. From then on my arrival to my designation, Montpellier went smoothly. I arrived in Montpellier after 40 hours of travel, which should have taken only about 15 hours. This was actually a full 1˝ days after my original scheduled arrival.
Leaving France:
My original flight home was delayed to Tuesday, January 7, 2003. When I arrived at the airport in Montpellier that day at 5:00 am, I was told the flight was canceled until the following day due to weather. The next day I again arrived, but due to all of the frustration I had, I had inadvertently left my ticket on the computer at my daughter’s apartment, after checking to make sure my flight was not again canceled. My daughter rushed home to get it, but I missed boarding the flight by 3 minutes and although the flight had not left the terminal, I was not allowed on that flight and had to take another one to Orly in Paris. There I took the bus to Charles De Gaulle and arrived there at 10:30 am. Again, I was not allowed on that flight because boarding was closed, even though the plane was still at the terminal. So I had to wait to see if I could fly by standby on the next flight to LAX at 7:00 pm that night. During my wait in Paris that day, there were even two bomb scares.
I was in line for the 7:55 pm flight at 4:00 and waited there until I finally got to the departure counter at 5:20 pm. There I was told that even though I was checked in I would have to wait until 6:10 to see if there was any room for me on that flight, so I waited. Finally the time arrived and I was told there was no room for me on that flight and I would have to go again to the ticket counter and reschedule my flight for the following morning. Again I waited for over an hour and was then told to I had to go to the line at the correspondence desk and see what they could do for me. Well, finally at 7:30, the personnel looked up all of my flight information. Unbelievably, there was room for me on the flight that I had waited all day for. However, since I still had my luggage because they wouldn’t let me check it in, I was not allowed to take that flight either. I was then told that I would have to pay for my own room in Paris, because of my mix-up in Montpellier, but they would confirm my flight for the following morning at 10:15 am.
So I stayed in a hotel and arrived at the terminal at 7:00 am that morning, where again I waited in line to check in. I asked if I could be upgraded because of all of the problems I had had trying to get to France and also to return, but the check- in personnel told me that it was just too bad, cars break down too. At 9:30 we were told our flight was delayed 2 hours due to a dispute with the fire marshal. Finally at 12:00 pm we took off and no further problems were experienced. Lucky for me, the travel home only took 36 hours to make the 15 hour scheduled trip. Overall, I arrived home 2 full days after my scheduled arrival. Obviously my family and employer were extremely upset.
Due to the numerous problems I have incurred numerous costs… 2 nights stay at hotels, extra food costs, cell phone call costs, days off of work and much more. The most frustrating problems were caused by your inability to have a plan created in case these types of problems arose, and the lack of understanding and kindness by the Air France personnel. This was my first experience traveling with Air France. Unless you can give me some kind of assurances this was a uniquely bad occurrence, it will most certainly be my last. As my daughter is now living in France, we expect to be traveling between LAX and Montpellier regularly. We had been told Air France was a great airline to travel with. My opinion currently is Air France is the worst airline I have ever had the displeasure of flying with. I believe I am due some sort of compensation to cover all the additional costs I had associated with this flight and all the emotional and physical stress caused by the numerous delays and lack of support by Air France.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
fullmer8
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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