Air France: Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs!
Written: Jun 16 '00 (Updated Oct 24 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Philippe!!
Cons: Delayed flights, poor flight schedules, delayed luggage
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| craigmoosh's Full Review: Air France |
When I put in a request to Priceline for a $430 flight from Chicago to Oslo, Norway, I didn't have much hope of my offer being accepted. However, less than an hour later, there was an email saying it was accepted, and I'd be flying Air France. Hmmm… I had never flown on Air France before. So of course, I immediately came to Epinions to check out reviews of the airline. After reading several epinions, the two things I came away with were great food and delayed flights. Well, I found one of those two things to be true…
After telling my Mom that I was going to Norway, she said she'd like to go sometime, so I told her she should come along (she had never been overseas before). She was able to match my flights, although she opted to spend 6 hours in Paris on the way back so she could take a quick trip of Paris, and take a later flight home. What had me worried was both ways my layover in Paris was only 50 minutes. That didn't leave much time for delayed flights. I was assured that "they always book them that close" so it shouldn't be a problem. Well, it is a problem, and I can't understand why they book them that closely.
Our plane from Chicago O'Hare to Paris Charles De Gaulle was a 767. It left about 15 minutes late, which wasn't a good sign. 15 minutes isn't bad under normal circumstances, but it was cutting into our 50-minute layover in an airport we weren't familiar with. As is customary in coach, there was little room to move. The stewardesses were nice enough, and supplied us with earplugs and a blindfold (I didn't find out what the blindfold was really for until later). The movie shown on the plane was "Sweet and Lowdown." While I thought it was a pretty good movie, it seems like a bizarre choice for a looong 9-hour flight. Not only is the movie only 95 minutes, but it is an esoteric Woody Allen film that a lot of people wouldn't like.
When you're on a plane for 9 hours, you tend to really look forward to the food because there isn't a heck of a lot else to do. On short flights, I even get excited when I get my bag of 7 peanuts. Since I'd read in other epinions how great Air France food was, I was particularly looking forward to eating something decent on a plane. Unfortunately, the food was nothing more than mediocre. In fact, I preferred the food on my four previous International flights, all on United/Lufthansa. Despite ravenously eating everything served, I arrived at both of my destinations hungry.
We arrived in Paris 15 minutes late, and were met at the plane by an Air France employee with a sign saying, "Oslo." She put us in a van, and whisked us to the terminal. Once in the terminal, she disappeared and we had no idea where to go. The gates were all close together, and none of them said "Oslo" on them. We were getting panicky because our plane was supposed to take off in just a few minutes. However, when we finally found the gate, they hadn't even started boarding yet. It finally took off almost about 45 minutes late.
On the way back from Oslo, my Mom decided not to spend the 6 hours in Paris, and to just come back with me on the earlier flight. At the Air France counter, she was told that there was plenty of room on my flight, while her flight was almost full, so they should be able to change her ticket… just not now. We were told that we had to make the change in Paris. Uhhh, but we only had 50 minutes, which wouldn't be enough time, my Mom told her. The woman assured us there would be enough time, but my Mom persisted. Finally, the woman "figured out" how to make the change, but for a cost of $150. That seems ridiculously high, especially since my Mom was actually helping them by changing from a full flight, but at least she wouldn't have to try to make the change in Paris. It's a good thing because she probably wouldn't have made it…
Once again, our plane took off late. The plane didn't touch down in Paris until about 25 minutes before our next flight time. That's when Philippe came to our rescue…
As we disembarked the plane in Paris, there was an Air France guy with a sign saying "Chicago." I have no idea what his real name was, but I like to refer to him as "Philippe." Thinking back, it may have been Mario Andretti, because he drove even more maniacally than I usually do (which is saying a lot!). He put six of us in a van and took us on the ride of our lives (I think this was what the blindfold was for). He sped across runways, and at one point, sent me sailing out of my seat and onto the floor. After quickly turning to make sure I was still alive, he continued to the oval track around the airport, veering in and out of traffic and cutting off luggage trucks.
But Philippe didn't stop there, like the Pied Piper, he led us into the airport, holding the sign high above his head for us to follow. He let us skip in front of dozens of people in line for the metal detector and took us right to our gate with just minutes to spare before our flight… or was it? Once again, our flight was delayed, so after Philippe had risked his life and ours to make it on time, we had to sit and wait again.
After our 4th delay in 4 flights, we finally arrived back at O'Hare, and there was a woman holding up yet another sign for us, this one with our last name on it (for weeks, I couldn't go anywhere without looking for signs). This time the sign was to inform us that our luggage didn't make it to Chicago. Arrrghhh!! It seems our luggage was enjoying a 6-hour layover in Paris, and ended up on my Mom's original flight (I guess they should have a Philippe for luggage). The luggage was delivered to my house the next day, but one of the suitcases was damaged.
Unless I get a great deal on a future flight, I don't plan on flying Air France again. Granted, this was my first time flying on the airline, but 4 delayed flights, arriving just minutes before scheduled connections, and delayed luggage... not good signs!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
craigmoosh
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Craig
Location: Mequon, Wisconsin
Reviews written: 25
Trusted by: 200 members
About Me:
100,000 readers can't be wrong!! Well, okay, they *could* be...
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