

Air France leaves passenger with dead parent stranded in Paris - kamakazizuru
http://jayharishshah.blogspot.com/2013/10/one-night-in-paris.html

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smoyer
I have no sympathy whatsoever for the writer ... Calling someone a "walking
abortion" or claiming they're missing their cerebelum is uncalled for
regardless of the circumstance.

With the tone of this whole post, I'd love to imagine that the writer was
himself an Air France gate agent. I don't think customer service would be his
forte.

~~~
kamakazizuru
he is just upset and expressing himself after a painful ordeal. I'm sure that
wasn't what he said to the guys at the gate. In fact his frustration stems
from the fact that he was dealt with so badly - which to me implies that he
has a different understanding of what customer serviceshould be like. Anyways
- dont waste your time making ad hominem comments - the point was that Air
France treats people like crap - so unless you have to fly with them - pick
another airline.

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sangupta
I can feel the pain and frustration you might have been through, for I landed
up in something similar.

Early this year, we flew Lufthansa from Delhi (India) and were stranded at the
Munich airport. None of us got the transit visas, no food, they switched off
the air-conditioning in the night, no blankets - just plain sheets when it was
snowing outside. Lufthansa flew knowing there was no connecting flight left at
Munich to not loose the booking. Adding insult to injury, they lost most of
our baggage. On return flight, despite confirmed veg meal bookings - none of
us got it on a flight lasting 12 hours. You know the best part, we were 70+
people on a corporate booking.

Its the same everywhere in Europe - may be it's their culture.

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tga
You have a contract with the airline. They have to take you to your
destination and, in case things go wrong, there are laws that mandate what
they _must_ do extra. You will save yourself a lot of grief if you don't
expect the airline to do you _any_ favours outside of the contract/laws (e.g.
preferential treatment for passengers with dead parents).

That said, I fully support asking for your rights (in court, if needed) and
publicly calling them out for bad service -- the latter is the one thing
_after_ their profit statement that will get the company interested in
improving everyone's experience by going the extra mile.

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buyx
_He is infuriated and with an overcompensating display of anger points out the
only two things I am supposed to have as per the voucher._

It's interesting- before we were married, my wife visited Paris, and someone
in her party tried to have two croissants, instead of one, for breakfast at
their hotel and was rather rudely told "only one!". It could be a convention
in France, that one is strictly required to stick to the menu. For people from
the third world (South Africa in our case) the inflexibility of First-World
rules sometimes comes as a bit of a shock.

~~~
raverbashing
Really, this is not as much as "rules of the first world" as probably old
people stubbornness (either the attendant or the owner most likely)

Another thing would that he would be obliged to ring a drink+pastry and match
that with the voucher, so if it doesn't match he doesn't get payed.

But what happened to your wife is probably common, one of the reasons I pick
"chain" hotels so something similar is less likely.

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pymonks
Feel sorry to hear your ordeal, however i am glad you are following it up with
court summons. Please do write up a follow up article regarding this as and
when you can

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raverbashing
Yes, they should have picked another aircraft to do the flight, especially
since it's their hub.

But some schedules are tight, and there may not have been a free aircraft that
day

~~~
cyphax
It's very possible that Air France couldn't have them on a plane sooner. This
can happen. But Air France would be smart to communicate this more clearly.
It's bad enough having to be stranded somewhere, but to leave your passengers
-- which paid you to be taken from point A to point B -- wondering if and when
anything is going to happen is not a very good idea in my opinion. This whole
story would not have been written if they'd had that in order.

