Don't Fly Air France!
We often travel to Europe from the United States. Over the years, we have flown with most of the major air carriers.
In June of 2000, we traveled with Air France for the first time between San Francisco, California (USA) and Munich, Germany. Our travel with Air France was the worst travel experience we have ever encountered. Below is a letter we wrote to Air France summarizing our experience. We would like to share it here as part of our travel recommendations. Although we received a telephone call from the company claiming they would answer our letter, we never heard another work from Air France.
Allen and Rachel Rizzi
(Address)
(Phone)
June 20, 2000
Air France
125 West 55th Street
New York, New York 10019-5384
Attention: Customer Service
Gentlemen,
We recently traveled with Air France from San Francisco to Munich, Germany. Our flights were as follows:
June 02, 2000 SFO to CDG	Flight AF 083
June 03, 2000 CDG to MUC	Flight AF 2322
June 18, 2000 MUC to CDG	Flight AF 1423
June 18, 2000 CDG to SFO	Flight AF 084
Without a doubt, travel with your carrier was the absolute worst that we have ever experienced. Our problems are enumerated as follows:
All of our Air France connections were late, ranging from ½ hour to two hours. The planes were dirty upon boarding and absolutely filthy after we deplaned.
Your ground staff personnel in both San Francisco and Paris were extremely rude and disorganized. Examples include belligerent answers to questions at the gates, unannounced last minute gate changes at Paris on June 18 and poor handling of ticketing and luggage
At both locations (San Francisco and Paris), we encountered genuine anti-American sentiment and discrimination from virtually all of your staff on both our outward and return flights. Your personnel at both airports make it readily apparent that they do not like (perhaps hate) American citizens and those in possession of American passports. Frankly, we thought this kind of nonsense ended years ago
At the CDG airport, our hiking sticks were rudely seized and we were accused of transporting weapons. We have traveled all over Europe with these hiking sticks for several years without incident. Again, this was only at the CDG airport. The lack of consistency was bothersome; if you have a policy regarding hiking sticks, it should be stated in advance of the flight and the regulations should be evenly applied at all of your locations. We were told that the sticks would be returned by an Air France representative; instead, they appeared on the baggage carousel, crushed under a mountain of heavy luggage
On the June 18 flight AF 1423, there was utter chaos on the plane. A group of young French athletes was disruptive, throwing objects in the cabins, yelling and blocking the ails. Children were also running in the cabin, unattended by adults. At no time did your flight crew try to correct these dangerous situations which are in violation of FAA regulations
On the June 18 flight AF 084, children were again running throughout the cabin unattended. Your flight crew again did nothing to correct the situation. Rather, they demanded that several people (not including us) move seats to accommodate families with screaming babies. These families blocked the aisles with baby accessories and were loud and disruptive, again without a word from any of your crew. We feel that it is not our job as paying travelers, but rather yours, to control the environment onboard flights.
We were not able to sleep even one minute on both of your cross-Atlantic flights due to uncontrolled noise from infants and their parents. (Some of us do not find it "cute" to stay awake for 11 hours listening to and smelling these yuppie spawn.
Upon re-entering the United States, custom forms were not provided. We had to search the plane ourselves to retrieve this form which is required of all returning U.S. citizens. Again, we detected more than a faint whiff of anti-American sentiment
Lastly, one piece of our luggage did not arrive in San Francisco with our June 18 AF 084 flight. At the SFO airport, your staff rudely told us to talk with our final destination carrier, United Airlines, about all missing luggage issues. They would not even answer the most basic questions This luggage was delivered to our house by United Airlines two days later, severely damaged. (A damage claim has been filed, without resolution as of this writing.). When I showed your staff another damaged bag at SFO, the Air France representative refused to review or discuss the matter.
For the above reasons, this was the worst travel experience that we have ever encountered. Overseas travel is taxing enough without the air carrier going out of its way to make your life miserable. Especially disturbing to us was the unmasked anti-American sentiment that we received from virtually every one of your ground representatives. If your company really has such low regard for Americans, perhaps youshould exclude them from ticket sales all together and save them from your grief. We certainly have a choice of international carriers here in the United States and we intend to exercise that choice in the future.
We would never again travel with your carrier and will recommend to our friends, numerous business associates and through our worldwide website that all people choose another air carrier. This horrible experience will definitely be shared with all.
Jamais encore!
Sincerely,
Allen and Rachel Rizzi