Air France Reviews 105

I travel frequently for business and, unfortunately, this was one of my worst experiences with an airline.
Upon arrival in San Francisco, my luggage did not arrive. I was not the only one: many passengers on the same flight were affected. Air France staff at the airport explained that the issue was caused by a failure in the baggage conveyor system in Paris CDG. Because of the high number of affected passengers, we were told that Air France had created a consolidated list of impacted travelers and that, if we were on that list, no further action was required at that moment. We were advised to check the Air France website for compensation options.
From the very next day, I stayed in contact with the company handling the baggage delivery. I was told my suitcase would arrive on the following flight, but that flight was also cancelled. As a result, I spent an entire week without my luggage during an international business trip, having to buy basic essentials. Eventually, I had to collect my suitcase myself in Bilbao, after my trip had already ended.
Despite having declared the baggage delay immediately upon arrival and following Air France’s own instructions, my compensation claim was later rejected on procedural grounds, arguing that the delay was not reported on time.
What is most disappointing is not only the baggage issue, but the complete lack of empathy, guidance, and accountability afterward, especially toward frequent and corporate travelers.
This experience has seriously damaged my confidence in Air France.

We had to book last minutes tickets to Paris (expensive) to go to my father in law funeral…we were in a hurry but because we were groupe 5 (paid for the seats raw 10 in front as well) we had to give away our cabin luggage. We explained, showed the proof of burial time. The local employee could not care less and xould not give a s… No empathy, compassion, (nothing. They are clearly heartless and did not try to help at all.

Horrible experience, all luggage wet and my computer broken.

They have 0% customer service, it's actually scary how little they care about their customers.

We flew to Paris, due to over 1 hour delay on their first flight, we didn't make the transfer.

Next flight, 6 hours later, no apology, no compensation.

Unbelievable that such bad customer service is possible.

First and last time I use them, and I can in NO way recommend using them.

We originally booked out flights to Mauritius from Valencia in November 2021, to travel in January 2022. The flights were 1250€ total, a huge sum of money for us that we had saved for years, for what we see as a once-in-a-lifetime trip. We cancelled the flights in December 2021 due to Covid concerns, safe in the knowledge that we would receive a refund in the form of vouchers, as per Air France's policy at the time.

On 17 March 2022, we decided to use the vouchers to book flights to Mauritius over Christmas 2022. The flights had increased by over 500€ to 1760€, we used the vouchers and paid the extra amount with a credit card. We received confirmation on the website, along with a confirmation email, and we could also see the flights in the 'My Booking' section of our Air France online accounts. Crucially, we received a booking reference number. Air France state on their website "fares are not guaranteed until you receive a booking reference".

In May 13th 2022 we each received emails from Air France that simply stated "please find attached the confirmation document for the service requested - Service: Total refundable amount", along with some kind of coupon attached. Confused and concerned, I called the Madrid office bookings dept. only to be told by the customer service rep that our booking had been cancelled due to "some technical issue which meant you were never issued with a ticket". This immediately made me and my partner extremely anxious and shocked that it could happen.

I explained I had received confirmation of our booking on the website, via email and I could previously see the booking on the Air France website in the 'My Bookings' section, but was told this means nothing because it's only actually confirmed when we get tickets. I explained that to me 'confirmed' means confirmed, especially with a booking reference code (as per their own terms on their website), and that passengers shouldn't need to know the way the internal ticketing system of Air France works. The rep insisted our only option was to re-book the flights at the current price, told me to call the customer care team instead. We looked up the flights that day and they had increased in price to 2307€, which was 1055€ more than we originally paid for the flights back in December 2021, and 547€ more than when we booked these exact same flights back in March. It would be impossible for us to find the money to cover this, and furthermore, we shouldn't have to, as this is 100% an issue caused by Air France.

I subsequently spent over 2 hours on hold to their Customer Care dept. before giving up. By this point I had to leave work for the afternoon to try and resolve it. Eventually I got through to a more helpful customer service rep who looked into everything thoroughly and explained "it's 100% Air France's fault caused by a website error" and ordinarily she would re-book the flight for us at the rate we originally paid, but in this case the Paris-Mauritius legs are operated by Air Mauritius so she could not re-book it. She recommended we submit a claim, explaining everything in detail, and because it's entirely Air France's fault we should receive a voucher "within a few weeks" to cover the difference in cost, which we can use in addition to the voucher covering the cost of the flights that we booked (and had confirmed) in March, and re-book our flights at no extra cost.

I submitted a claim and heard nothing. We've emailed and called regularly since submitting the claim. Every time we call we're on hold for over 2 hours before giving up. On the odd occasion someone does answer, we are told to be more patient and wait, and that the claim would be assigned to a team member "very soon and then processed", but it never happens. Via email, we are told the same, or told to call customer services.

We have never experienced anything like this with any company. Once we received our flight confirmation in March we booked our hotel and arranged everything for the trip. The suddenly find out flights had been cancelled for no reason and not resolved by AF is completely unacceptable. If there was a technical issue AF should have rectified it before the cancellation occurred. All of this would be shocking enough, but to go 5 months without receiving any kind of resolution is unbelievable.

It's been extremely worrying spending a year in limbo, not knowing what our Christmas plans will be and what will happen with our money. This is all the more frustrating given that, back in May when AF initially cancelled our booking, their own customer claims rep admitted it was Air France's fault and that it would be resolved within a few weeks. They have ruined our Christmas plans, and left us extremely anxious about our finances.

Don't book with Air France - there's a risk they'll cancel your booking and do nothing.