Air France Missing Customer Service
Hello, Air France, are you listening?
I fully accept that 45 minutes is tight and tight connections are risky and a travel agent would strongly advise against booking this and but that's not the real point.
The real point is that Air France could have said the connection timing was risky but it didn't.
It could have said the connection involved a change of terminal buildings but it didn't.
Its system could be programmed not to sell overly tight connections or to print warnings when the connections are dangerously close but it doesn't.
Despite the time being tight, we were not actually late for it; AF closed the flight before its own published deadline, with us in the departure lounge and checked in. In that situation, it knows full well it will upset us but it didn't seem to care. AF could have been much more sympathetic and could have proactively volunteered to look after us but it didn't.
These things don't require anything more than thoughtfulness - an essential quality in any service business. Thoughtfulness doesn't cost anything but it makes all the difference to one's reputation and ultimately one's profitability.
When senior management focuses its attention on playing with financial derivatives (as is apparent in its financial results press release) rather than being thoughtful about its customers' experience, it truly deserves to make a loss.
What do I want to achieve with this article? (http://www.eturbonews.com/11026/why-air-france-deserves-its-loss) Look at all the comments and hardly anyone defends Air France.
I would like to see Air France focus on customers, improve its communications and manage expectations honestly.
Good communications means telling the truth so customers are properly informed and then complaints will be minimized. Bad communications hide the truth and the business has to spend disproportionately on fixing the problems caused.
I am an advocate for the travel industry and I am very concerned to see poor service and the general loss of glamour. Those are things that will put customers off and will damage all our businesses.
With this article, I want Air France's top management to realize that if they put their attention into customer service and good communication (rather than playing with financial derivatives) they will not only do the whole industry a huge service; they will also be more profitable.
I would even be willing to help them if they have the courage to call.
David Tarsh provides high-level strategy and communications advice to several companies in the travel industry. He may be reached via the email address: David@Tarsh.com
Comments
How does a "high level advisor" not know how to book his own flight without reasonable chance of success?
You should know better.
Air France has its problems, I'm not going to defend their generally poor customer service. But let's face it, the public demands a 9 Euro fare and complains when they don't get first class service. Clearly, it's not possible to do both. Even if you paid full Y Fare, your seatmate didn't, and the flight attendants can't tell the difference.
So grow up, take some responsiblity for yourself, and please stop with the delusional personal vendettas in public spaces. You're just kind of embarrassing.
David,
Sorry to hear about your experience. You summarized beautifully. I agree that AF deserves its loss. I hope they bankrupt soon.
I had an experience in September 2010. They lost my musical instrument. It was found damaged later. They refused to pay for it. They made me miss my flight, giving me horseshit about my passport/visa and I lost my flight.
What did they do?
They apologized!
Thank you AF. I have lost 3 days and more than $2000...
Am I ever going to fly with you again?
No!!!
Actually, I am so angry with AF that I will not fly any of the skyteam members...
I hope AF loses everything....
Had horrific experience of Xmas flying from Buenos Aires to Copenhagen, and back again, with Air France, the plane, Boing 777, was ready for scrappage, I paid 9.000 dollars for 2 busienss class tickets, and seats and interior in general was in tatters.
Have tried emailing all Airfrance contacts I could find on the net, but have not even received an acknowlegement of my complaint, so does anyone have any contact emails for anyone who might take a serous complaint seriously in Air France ?
David... Perhaps there was no room for you and your family onboard? I am thinking that the flight was oversold and they had let others board the flight. That's why they did not allow you and your family to board.
I suffered through a acutely painful experience yesterday, 16 September 2009, on Air France Flight AF 026 from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to Dulles Airport in Washington.
The plane was packed to the gills. And the flight attendant crew was the worst – the absolute worst – I have ever encountered.
I am a 55-year-old man, with a fair amount of experience flying with virtually every major airline on trips both here in the USA and internationally, both for business & pleasure. In my hundreds of thousands of “air-miles” – probably around two million miles - the Air France flight crew was the worst. By far.
There are many examples showing the total incompetence and complete lack of humanity of the Air France flight crew, but for now I will focus on one issue, although I must mention this: The plane was left to accumulate filth in the form of empty glasses, trays, napkins, etc. scattered throughout the cabin. The attendants spent the majority of their time chatting with each other.
The worst experience for me, personally, was being starved to the point of suffering a physical collapse moments after the plane landed. After serving us dinner about 1.5 hours into the flight, the crew provided no food whatsoever for the next five hours. I had no time to purchase food to bring with me, so was dependent upon Air France to serve enough food so that my health did not suffer.
I am hypoglycemic. I have a physical and medical need for food – and especially protein – every four hours at a minimum. After requesting food three times from the flight crew, and requesting “protein – meat, fish, cheese, nuts”, and explaining my medical condition, I was given a tiny “sandwich” with a whisper of some strange substance that might have been cheese, three tiny crackers, & a tiny bottle of some ghastly concoction claiming to be “liquid yogurt”. The entire “snack” had almost no protein, not enough for a little dog, and certainly not enough for a six-foot tall, 175-pound man.
After arriving at Dulles Airport, before I could clear customs and buy some protein, I suffered a severe hypoglycemic reaction. Although I am still ill today, my injuries were not severe, but – nonetheless, it was a painful, disturbing event, and – totally avoidable had the flight crew had a soupçon of decency or humanity.
If Air France believes one word of my statement is libelous in any manner, I invite them to sue me, here in the US or anywhere. I would love to prove in a court of law that Air France treats its passengers with cruelty and disdain. Air France has my complete contact information – my name is Michael Radosevich, and I live in Washington, D.C. I have filed a complaint with the American authorities, and am investigating filing a lawsuit against Air France.
My advice is, fly Air France only if you are a pervert in need of a sadistic experience at the hands of Vichy French SS concentration camp prison guards. Otherwise, use other airlines.
Thanks for the great post. I've had a very recent problem with AF and have had no success using their online system to resolve the issue. Is there an address or email that customers can use to contact a AF manager? It looks to me like they are deliberating making it difficult to find such contact information.
I have just booked a trip from Tokyo to Estonia, and although Air France's fares were lower, I am will not use the airline. When I told the travel agents here that I will no longer use it (without going into detail about numerous problems I have encountered with Air France over the past 6 years), the travel agents informed me that THEY will not use Air France either.
So it is not just Mr. Tarsh with an axe to grind - time for Air France to think about customers or lose us! Whenever I have options, I will exercise them, as will other frequent travelers on business.
David,
The same thing happened to me...Landed in terminal E...It took forever for the shuttle bus to arrive and then go to the main terminal. Then I got stuck at immigration. In the meantime I missed my tight connection. Then I needed to go back to the transfer desk. They changed my flight to a later one. Great...I needed to go all the way back. Finally I arrive at the gate..Happy but then they tell me the gate is already closed. But the plane was still standing there and the jetty was still open. Bottom line I got thrown off again and needed to wait another 2 hours before I could board for my final destination to Geneva, Switzerland....Today I have decided to fly through Amsterdam....Easy...and rarely have this type of a problem. CDG is off the map for me...never again!
I can't believe some of the posts. AF like other carriers have decided that the customer is an inconvenience. THey play with connect times in GDS systems so that their flight will display first. Many of these display are bogus and ignore the hard realitiies of thier hubs and spokes.In 26 years of the travel business, I've yet to see an air carrier take responsibility for thier poor judgement.
AF have a bad reputation and for good reason , they bumped my friend who had a business class tkt because they said she checked in too late yet was there before the 45min cut off but as they had cancelled the earlier flight from BOS to CDG and needed the seat they came up with excuses as to why her seat was no longer available...obviously someone on the earlier flight made more of a fuss...I also agree all airlines need to get their act together where customer service is involved most of the staff at airports have no authority to do anything and the rest dont know anything..don't ask them to do a reissue or check for you upgrade they dont know how. It is a shame they no longer employ the people that knew something must be they cost too much and it's all about money and nothing about service. They are all as bad as each other....
I agree with the other comments. ALL airlines "maximise" connections by offering (important to note offering - not requiring) quick "legal" connections worldwide. You as the passenger must also ask for a connection with more time like 1-2 hours. Airports are huge. Delays are common. All airlines operate choices on connection times and cities. By the way, Air France is a fantastic airline with top quality service and great food! Bon Voyage and watch what flights you book before you travel and give yourself time connecting. What were you doing in the lounge when you should have boarded your flight ? If you knew it was a risky connection like you say in your first paragraph whhy did you accept the ticket with that connection ?
Mr. Tarsh,
It is obvious you are trying to get a few extra miles into your frequent flyer account, out of a situation you could have avoided by booking another carrier with a better connecting time in CDG or any other hub. If your flight from Heathrow would have been late only 15 minutes, you would have also lost the connection and no appology from the airline either. You must know this if you are a 'high-level strategy advisor to several companies in the travel industry'. So, situations like yours happen on a daily basis, for several reasons, to thousands of passengers around the world, flying different airlines and who unfortunately don't have an article published on ETN.
We have had similar experiences with Air France, but mostly on the ground (service was quite nice in the air) and primarily at DeGaulle Airport. Thus we have avoided flying through there for the last two years. Had we not printed out a map of the airport with all the terminals shown the first time we flew through DeGaulle, we would have been totally lost and likely missed our flight to Bordeaux. Terrible signage--I would happily deal with good signage en Francais! Forget English, just give me signs! The Prague airport, by comparison, has fantastic signage. DeGaulle Terminal transport buses don't always stop for you. My husband had to throw himself in front of one in order for us to make our connection (and we had had plenty of time--more than two hours). And we're still pondering why Air France didn't tell us we had to bring our marriage certificate with us when we booked a special "couples" fare. Quelle surprise! But they grudgingly didn't charge us extra. All in all, I can't say we find Air France much better or worse than many U.S. carriers. Air travel is just pretty miserable these days, with the occasional exception on individual flights with cheerful personnel. C'est la vie.....
While Air France was initially remiss in not advising you of the change of terminal, only a very optimistic traveller would count on catching a flight, within 45 minutes transit time.
This not withstanding, I am puzzled by your concern for the `loss of glamour` in the airline industry.
Do you want Miss Universe to serve your cocktail?
Once again, a good travel agent would have warned you about what your rightful complaints are in the above article. Also I agree, Air France is NOT the only airline that treats customers like baggage.
David, David, David... (as I addressed the last comment)
It appears that Nelson Alcantara
editor-in-chief, eTurboNews has once again given you a Soap Box to speak from.
Nelson ? There are no Quality headlines in the industry ? Maybe we need to go from Daily to 3x a week.
As I said last time, this just lowers the repute and quality of your publication. If David is advising corporations on travel, watch out.
Let's try one more time.
The Scheduling is a result of the SYSTEM. Airports are a CHALLENGE, especially CDG / De Gaulle, but getting thru most is a challenge today.
In the USA and Europe you can drive a car with the aide of a GPS, but NOT an AIRCRAFT ! In the USA we have ATC (Air Traffic Control) equipment that still uses "VACUMN TUBES". For younger people such as David, those are the Tubes that "GLOW inside the equipment".
Bottom line is it's a MESS in the US
(that ryhmes) and alot of our infrastrucure is a mess, and the INFRASTRUCTURE at CDG and other airports many times DRIVES the connections. But let's blame AF.
Think about it DAVID, if NO ONE was making those flight connections then no one would be flying (on that aircraft).
Can your company, my company, Air France be bettered managed ? Of course,
but that's not the point of your AF Bashing.
I Guess the next edition of ETN that has something propagated like this.. I'll exercise Editorial control and CLICK DELETE, or Unsubscribe.
Wayne Lawhorn
Someone would fly Air France twice, I don't believe it.
I can't avoid an impression that the author is on a personal quest against an arline company, that origined in a mishap that happens thousand of times every day on every airport in the world. I would appreciate if the author is going for a consulting contract to talk to the airline directly and to spare us readers with his Don Quixote type crussade.
If we want to talk about problems in the service industry than let's do it in this forum, but please stop throwing foul tomatoes onto one service provider knowing that it is a common practise in the industry.
Perhaps it would make more sense to think about why this incident happened - and I can't follow the author's argumentation that this incident was programmed on purpose - and let's talk about possibilities for big service companies to improve their customer care, keeping in mind the price of an airline ticket that we consumer's are willing to pay nowadays.
This is not just an Air France problem. United has legal connections at O'Hare under an hour. These only work if the connecting flights are in the same concourse and IF THE ARRIVING FLIGHT IS ON TIME, A BIG IF! Airlines need to be realistic about connections and not schedule connections under 90 minutes if different terminals and concourses are involved, especially at large sprawling airports!
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