Problems with Air France, what rights do I have?

BartyBoy

WTFH wrote: »

Which is correct. If you're going from 2A/B to 2E/F, then the minimum time you'd want to allow is 60 minutes. If you're going from 2A to 2B, or 2C to 2D, or 2E to 2F, then minimum 45mins is enough.

To walk from 2E to 2F does not take 30 mins.

Did you have hold baggage?
Did you check it the whole way through?

We ran as soon as we got to the terminal building as the Leg 1 aircraft was parked somewhere like an open-field carpark. (We had to catch a bus from where the aircraft parked to the terminal building.)

Having said that, we had to run from the ground floor of the Terminal 2E all the way up to the departure level, then went through the security check, and finally carried on running to the gate which happened to be the last gate of one of the three satellite buildings.

So I don't know if the 30 mins walking time is based on the passenger is already on the departure level of Terminal 2E. And that can only happen if the Leg 1 aircraft is parked by the terminal, so passengers can walk out from the aircraft using the 'bridge' (not sure if that is what it is called).

BartyBoy

Centipede100 wrote: »

Google it!

I see, sorry for being stupid…

WTFH

BartyBoy wrote: »

I see, sorry for being stupid…

You're not being stupid.

Stupid is when someone tells you something and you ignore it.


Did you book the flights with AF or through a third party (e.g. Expedia, etc)?
Did you do online check in?

My experience of CdG is that it's one of my least favourite major airports for connecting flights, no matter how much time I've had, I've always ended up running. (this has made me think, I might have to draw up a list of best/worst airports)

BartyBoy

WTFH wrote: »

You're not being stupid.

Stupid is when someone tells you something and you ignore it.


Did you book the flights with AF or through a third party (e.g. Expedia, etc)?
Did you do online check in?

My experience of CdG is that it's one of my least favourite major airports for connecting flights, no matter how much time I've had, I've always ended up running. (this has made me think, I might have to draw up a list of best/worst airports)

Thank you for your comments and advice, it's very much appreciated.

My partner booked the flights from Expedia. To be honest, we didn't realise the Leg 1 flight wasn't operated by Air France until we did the online check-in. But I must admit there is a line to say 'Air France 1869 Operated by OPERATED BY FLYBE' on the Expedia Itinerary, but the first thing we could see was the big AF logo for all flights. It may sound like an excuse, but it is the true that we were not aware when we first booked the tickets.

We did do the online check-in before we headed to BHX. There was another hiccup for the online check-in, cos we went to AF website first then it diverted us to the FlyBe website, then the Flybe website wasn't working, it was all very complicated. I even asked AF Facebook staff for help and they couldn't make it work too...

Alan_Bowen

If your first flight was with Flybe, then we are barking up the wrong tree. It is operating carrier against whom a claim can be made and if Flybe were only 10 minutes late, I would take the offer from AF as they don't technically owe you anything. Flybe's finances being what they are, you will find it difficult to get them to pay out for a 10 minute delay.

I suspect the problem is Expedia, I fly more times than I care to remember and I would never, ever accept a 30 or 45 minute connection anywhere in the world even BA for all its faults has a minimum 60 minutes at Heathrow T5 when you do not even change terminals. As far as I can see MCT at CDG is 90 minutes for your terminals, Expedia's call centre is in India, good luck with getting help from there! This does not appear to me to be a valid connection in the first place, the fault lies with the agent not the airlines

BartyBoy

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

...This does not appear to me to be a valid connection in the first place, the fault lies with the agent not the airlines

Thank you so much for the comment and explanation, Alan Bowen. This has really given me a better picture of who I should contact to settle the matter (as in the liability to the problems).

Caz3121

It does indeed look like Air France do not offer this connection, if you search BHX to ATH, they appear to offer the KLM route via AMS

and it does appear only to be Expedia offering this connection. Agree you need to take this up with Expedia especially if you can get Air France to confirm this would not be a valid connection - not sure what compensation you could achieve

BartyBoy

Caz3121 wrote: »

It does indeed look like Air France do not offer this connection, if you search BHX to ATH, they appear to offer the KLM route via AMS

and it does appear only to be Expedia offering this connection. Agree you need to take this up with Expedia especially if you can get Air France to confirm this would not be a valid connection - not sure what compensation you could achieve

Thanks again for spending some time to look into the matter for me.

I start to think it may be to do with Expedia who sold me this specific flight, but then when I looked on the Expedia Itinerary, that specific flight from BHX to CDG did have a Air France flight number – AF1869.

When the Air France Europe Customer Care team responded to me in both occasions, they quoted that flight number too. I know airlines companies use share code flights, but mostly it happens within the same company (such as AF, KLM and Delta). So how could FlyBe get involved with this sharecode flight in the first place?

Just had a search on Google and found this:

Air France partnership with Flybe

Flybe
Air France and Flybe now offer customers better connections and higher frequencies from the United Kingdom to France.

The following routes are either fully or partially operated by Flybe on behalf of Air France:

In addition, Air France customers can book flights on many Flybe routes from the UK to France, please see more details here:

Manchester - Paris
Birmingham - Paris
Southampton - Paris
East Midlands - Paris
Cardiff - Paris
Exeter - Paris
Glasgow - Paris
Belfast - Paris

http://www.airfrance.co.uk/GB/en/local/guidevoyageur/destination/partner-flybe-intro.htm

So when passengers (like us) come to Air France to book a flight between BHX and CDG, Air France will refer the passengers to book with Flybe instead. Then when a problem occurs, Air France says it is nothing to do with them, does it sound right?

Caz3121

It works in reverse too. On Flybe you can book flight 3003 from BHX to CDG which is actually operated by Air France as AF1165....codeshares can be a nightmare - some sites are better than others at being clear on who the operating airline is

BartyBoy

I couldn't help myself to write to the General Manager of Air France UK and Ireland last night. I really felt I wouldn't get a response from the General Manager too, but unexpectedly I received a new response from the Customer Care team saying they were instructed to contact me by the General Manager.

In this occasion, the email from the Customer Care team seems much more understanding to me. The team has now increased the eVoucher to £100 from £75, but that is really not what I am trying to achieve here. All I really want is to let Air France know and acknowledge there was a problem with our flight.

Air France still says 30 mins is good enough to catch a connecting flight at CDG, and also it is nothing to do with them about us missing the connecting flight, they refer me to contact Flybe instead. But then, like some of you say it is more likely to do to with the agent (Expedia) where I bought the tickets from, so I think I will contact Expedia to let them know what has happened. Hopefully the same situation will not happen to anyone again, especially when a customer tries to arrange a trip for a special occasion, makes the effort to arrive at the airport in the early morning, then finds out it is impossible to arrive in the destination at the time that he/she has expected.

Anyway, I have learned a lot about what to look at when booking a ticket and what rights I have when problems happen during a flight trip. All comments given are very valuable and I really want to say thank you for spending some time to read and comment my thread, thank you!