[Voland]

I have attached below the text of my complaint to Air France from October 2007. Needless to say, Air France used its usual ploy, i.e. blaming the passenger for their own mistakes. They have refused to provide any compensation - and I have of course never flown with them again.

Lausanne, 31st October 2007

Air France - Europe
Customer Care Centre
TSA 13002
60035 Beauvais Cedex France


Air France Ticket No. 000001770745953/2
Outgoing flight GVA-CDG-MIA-SAL (27th September 2007) and return flight SAL-IAD-CDG-GVA (Friday, 5th October 2007, scheduled arrival in GVA on Saturday, 6th October 2007)
[MIA-SAL and SAL-IAD with TACA]


Dear Sir / Madam,

Why does Air France treat its customers so badly?

Despite a very frustrating experience with Air France in 2003, after which I refrained from flying with your airline for over two years (the description of which would require a whole, separate letter – which I would be happy to provide upon request), I decided to try Air France again after reading of the many improvements at the company.

Over the last couple of years, although still normally preferring to fly with Star Alliance, I have travelled relatively often with Air France and quickly gained Gold status with the Flying Blue programme (membership no. 1417 854 162). While not extraordinary, I have been generally satisfied with the level of service on the flights, even though this cannot be said of the services on the ground at CDG airport (e.g. rebooking on different flights following delays in connecting flights).

My recent flight with Air France SAL-IAD-CDG-GVA, however, was nothing short of horrendous – due to the atrocious and totally unacceptable treatment I received at the hands of the Air France check-in staff at Dulles Airport.

I will try to describe here in some detail the events that so frustrated and disappointed me. The first leg of the trip, a flight with TACA, left San Salvador on time and arrived at Dulles airport even before scheduled arrival time (14:50). To help me catch my connecting flight with Air France from Washington to Paris (2+ hours between flights), TACA kindly – and without any prompting on my part – upgraded me to Business Class so I could gain some time upon arrival at IAD. TACA was not able to check me in for the flight IAD-CDG, as they had no access to the Air France system, but explained that I should check-in at Dulles.

As mentioned above, the TACA flight arrived ahead of time at Dulles, more than 2 hours prior to the Air France connecting flight to Paris. Long queues at passport and customs control meant however that I just made it to the Air France counter at 16:00, still in good time to catch the 16:55 flight. I immediately indicated my urgency to the Air France attendant on duty (I am referring here to the lady channelling passengers to the correct check-in counter), but was kept waiting for an amazing twenty-five minutes before actually being served at a check-in counter!

I was finally shown through to the special check-in counter at 16:25, only to be informed that the flight had been over-booked and that, in any case, it was now too late to board me!!! Very convenient indeed from the point of view of Air France staff (since there was no space on the flight) - but extremely frustrating from my perspective. I explained my frustration to the Air France check-in attendant, and emphasised that I definitely had to be in Geneva on the following day at the latest (i.e. on Saturday). The attendant explained that the next flight was also full and placed me on waiting list, upon which I requested that she move me to a flight with another airline flying out of Washington to Europe, which would allow me to be in Switzerland on Saturday. The attendant said that she could not do this due to ticket restrictions, waiving aside my protests that it was not my fault that Air France had over-booked its flight, but I was somewhat calmed down by her guarantee that, in the case I were not to make the second flight of the day due to it also being overbooked (I believe it was at around 20:00), I would certainly be put on the last Air France flight of the day at 22:25. I was asked to return to the counter at around 18:30 to find out on which of the two flights I would be flying on.

You can imagine my sheer frustration and disappointment when, returning at the requested time, I was informed that both of the remaining flights of the day were over-booked and that I could not be guaranteed a place on either. Demanding to see the Supervisor on duty (a lady, whose name I do not know for reasons that you can read below), I requested that Air France place me on another flight, since the fault lay fully with Air France. Again, I was told that this was not possible due to ticket restrictions. I insisted, pointing out that the fault was of Air France, and therefore that it was the responsibility of Air France to help me out. The Air France Supervisor not only refused to help me, saying I simply had to wait, but refused to provide her name when I requested this in order to file a complaint with you (this happened at around 19:00 in the evening). I can only say that I have only experienced his kind of frustration and helplessness once before in my life – namely in dealing with Russian traffic police in the early nineties. As you will understand, the comparison is not exactly flattering for Air France.

Seeing that Air France had absolutely no intention to look at ways of helping me, and faced with the absolute necessity of being in Geneva the next day, I turned to the only airline which still had free seats on flights to Europe at that time, i.e. Lufthansa. I should point out that, at this late stage and having lost some four hours of valuable time due to the delaying tactics and unwillingness to help in any way of Air France staff, I risked not finding a place at all! As the Lufthansa flight attendant pointed out, I was lucky to find a seat at all on Friday evening; and I certainly considered myself lucky to be able to buy a one-way flight in Economy – albeit for a pricey USD 2’004.76 (actual credit card charge EUR 1,451.44).

I cannot emphasise how disappointed and frustrated I am, yet again, with Air France. In 2003, I did not take the time to complain and simply refrained from using your services for almost two years (although I would be happy to file in a complaint and request compensation in the unlikely event that you should encourage me to do so). This time round, I am taking a more active approach, both in order to obtain compensation and – hopefully not forlornly – to attempt to convince Air France to take measures to improve its sorely lacking customer service. I believe it is high time that Air France began to match the client responsiveness of its premium European competitors.

I therefore request two things: (1) monetary compensation for the ticket I had to buy from Lufthansa, as well as the additional monetary compensation in accordance with EU regulations due to your failure to allow me to reach my destination within a reasonable time delay; and (2) a formal apology and assurance that Air France takes my complaint and the need to improve its customer service seriously.

I have also seen on your website that you are planning to establish (or have established) an ROC (Reservations Operations Centre) Service to deal with cases such as the one described above – but cannot see from your site how I can access this service. I would be grateful if you could explain how your ROC Service can help where unhelpful Air France staff on the ground cannot – or does not want to – help.

I would like to continue using the services of Air France and hope that your positive reaction to this complaint will encourage me to do so. While improvements in client service are in your hands and I can only point to problems such as the one above, I will not hesitate to resort to legal means to ensure appropriate monetary compensation for my troubles. I do of course hope that this will not be necessary and that you will finally show the client responsiveness that one would expect from a premium European airline.

Thanking you in advance for your prompt attention.

Yours faithfully,

...

[jimworcs]

Well done for sticking to your guns.. and keep it up.. they deserve to lose customers for this. I know it was a long time ago, but I think you had an opportunity to appeal that decision if there was a through ticket from San Salvador

[Cicero]

I've just discussed this with Silent Bob Jerkero who is our expert in these matters and he says that the Montreal Convention provides a two year limitation period for making claims against airlines for matters like this. So unfortunately, while you can still complain and let others know what happened, your time for seeking redress is over.

[Voland]

Thanks but I think it would not apply as I have already complained on two occasions (the letter you have seen and a further letter a few months later) and have received confirmation of receipt of my complaint - and a refusal to do anything about it - on both instances.

[Cicero]

If you think you are still in time and want to make an official complaint, there is an enforcement authority in each EU country that will chase after the airline for compensation for you.

Silent Bob Jerkero has asked me to give you this link to the Complaints Form.

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/passen...ts_form_en.pdf

You print this form and mail it to the enforcement authority.

Here is the address of the enforcement authority in France.

Direction générale de l'aviation civile
(DGAC)
Direction du transport aérien
Mission du Droit des passagers
Bureau des passagers aériens
50 rue Henry Farman
FR- 75720 Paris cedex 15

Fax

: +33 1 58.09.38.45

http://www.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/

[Voland]

Very grateful to you both for your help!

Are you aware if it would be possible to launch the complaint with a Swiss authority? Although Switzerland is not an EU member, they have bilateral agreements with the EU that essentially provide the same rights in most areas including aviation.

Where did you obtain the contact details of the French authority?

[Cicero]

This site has all the addresses of the EU enforcement authorities

http://apr.europa.eu

Silent Bob Jerkero says you can bring your case in Switzerland, as it is a signatory to the Montreal Convention but you would have to be using the court system as there is no enforcement authority that we know of in Switzerland, but you can check that again locally.

To avoid court costs, we like the remedy of the EU complaint to the enforcement authority in France as the problem occurred on the Washington to Paris leg of your journey and the EU rules apply to flights entering the EU (as well as leaving).

Before filing any case in Switzerland we suggest that you take advice from a Swiss lawyer as to how the 2 year limitation period will be calculated. Is it from the date of the incident or from the date of the refusal of compensation by the airline?

Silent Bob Jerkero thinks US courts will count it from the date of the incident.

[Cicero]

Silent Bob Jerkero just asked me to bring this to your attention:

2. RIGHT TO COMPENSATION IN CASE OF DENIED BOARDING, CANCELLATION OR LONG DELAY
In case of denied boarding, cancellation of your flight, or delay at arrival of more than three hours, you may also be entitled to compensation between €125 and €600 depending on the flight distance and the delays incurred. Furthermore, the airline should always inform you about your rights and the reason for the denied boarding, the cancellation or the long delay (of at least two hours). .
If passengers feel airlines do not provide in a satisfactory manner with the minimum set of rights under EU law, they can lodge a complaint to the national enforcement body in the EU Member State (or in Iceland, Switzerland and Norway) where the incident happened. When the incident concerned an EU airline and it took place outside of an EU Member State, the passenger can lodge a complaint in the EU Member State of their first transit point or destination.


You can find the information at this site:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleases...guiLanguage=en

So there are two things here:

In addition to the US$2,000 cost of your Lufthansa flight, you can claim 600 Euros for the delay

Secondly, there is apparently an enforcement body in Switzerland.

I take responsibility for the error and thank Silent Bob Jerkero for bringing this to my attention.

We have not yet found the address in Switzerland, but you should be able to find it locally. If we find it I'll post it.