You are so right! Air-France is the worst!
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Sorry for your rather uncommon experience but I must add that as a frequent flyer, Air France is among the best. Doesn't mean though that issues doesn't come up but compared to other airlines, I will rather stick with them.

Airfrance is ok. I haven't had any bad experience and I hope not. Although I had my bag misplaced once but it was delivered to my home address free of charge that same day.

asiwaju:

my brother,i am gentle as dodo,my kids are mixed(white/blacks)please believe me the customer service was very bad,i normally dont complain,i travelled home very often,if i paid for a service,i expect at least some respect,it is not too much.

You admit to yelling and cursing the lady behind the counter in your original post. Are you really supposed to do that?

If you feel entitled to diss Air France because of ONE bad experience, would you be happy if that woman (and others around) decide that all Nigerians are loud and abusive just because of your behaviour?

great!!!!!!! i thought iam the only one with bad experience with this suck airfrance.
no one talk about the plane food service.it funny cos i throw up two times
after eatin there rubbish.i hate the faces i see when ever am boardin airfrance.
there mean,even if they are forcein there self to smile.worse
the guys look like gay.i hate air France.

as for me, I stopped flying AF the day I almost got beaten up by their mad security personnell at CDG.

After an uneventful flight from MMA, we were queued up to disembark & there  were these guys at the arrival gate screening randomly. I got pulled to one side, along with 2 other Nigerian guys and  some Chinese sailors. The flight was full and we were about to miss our connecting flights, so we politely asked the guys to do whatever verifications they needed to do so we could catch our flights in time. Of course they ignored us, so we repeated our polite request in a louder tone of voice. This was drawing the attention of other passengers (we were still at the arrival gate), so one of the guys asked us to follow him,

You know 'Tango City' at MMA? Well, they took us to the CDG version, deep in the bowels of the complex. As soon as we got there, 1st thing they did was lock the door. Next a hulking black guy  (he was pushing 7ft, I swear!) walked up to us and said - you guys were making noise outside,let me tell you, if you make any noise here, I will beat you up and NOTHING WILL HAPPEN! - I thought I was in a Lagos police station. Well, I kept my peace till I got my British passport back, and caught my connecting flight by the skin of my teeth.

that was it for me, and this was after about 10 trips with AF.

Never Again.

^^^^ i guess CDG immigration has now learned how to deal with "Nigerians" with their own medicine. they must have learned from their MMA counterparts.lol!

you better check the rules, the immigration have all the rights to detain you if they see fit, whether it be 10mins or more than 3hrs. . . . . . . . . . until they can fully verify that your passport is in order and that you are not carrying any illegal stuff.
missed connections, delays, lost luggages etc there is ONE simple solution: TRAVELING INSURANCE!

Is better to be late or delay than not to get to your destination.What if there is bad weather on the air route? They can't do nothing about is. Is better to be safe than sorry. My brothers and sister patience pay off.

Can all those defending Airfrance please read the post and refrain from commenting.

That you have not experienced it does not mean you won't, in the near future.

I had a similar experience in March, just more embarrassing.

I am a Frequent Flyer with KLM, an Air France partner. On this occasion I flew Air France thinking the service will be the same. We left Lagos 2 hrs after scheduled departure. Over 1 hr was spent in the plane with a dysfunctional AC. We were told the AC doesn't work when the plane is on the ground, that it would start functioning when the plane is flying, meanwhile we were roasting. People had started disrobing. I believe they even sprayed their insecticide. I don't know if the purpose was to exterminate the Nigerians or the mosquitoes.  SINn1.

I was flying to London via France like a lot of the Nigerian onboard. Naturally we missed the connecting Flight. I was given priority as a frequently flyer and waited only 2 hrs to get on the next flight to London. Several other people had to wait 5 hours or more. Including one Ibo brother going for a business meeting to return the same day. He planned to get to London first thing in the Morning for the meeting and return the same night to Lagos. They frustrated the man, he gave them hell. I was too fortunate to wait for the end of that story, or so I thought. SIN 2.

I got to London safely, all the Glory to God. Spent my time wisely, then started my return trip.

The Flight to France from London was uneventful. At CDG Airport, when it was time to board my ticket was upgraded to Business Class. I jejely entered the plane and sat down in Business Class, where i was greeted with a warm smile by a nice looking air hostess. After about 45 mins (we were late again, only with Nigerian flights), after I had started sipping my cool bottle water, one oyibo  man appeared holding a walkie talkie and asked me for my boarding pass. He simply collected it and spoke their language to the air-hostess who went and brought my things and ushered me to economy class. I couldn't talk because my boss's boss's boss's boss was sitting a few rows from me. I jejely went with her and she asked me to take a sit without giving me a boarding pass to reflect my sitting. SIN 3 (mortal Sin).

I got to Lagos in one piece, and like most Nigerians, just fumed about it. For sure, I won't fly with them if I have a choice in the matter, in the future.

[size=20pt]If it were you defending Air France what would you do?[/size]

asiwaju:

my brother,i am gentle as dodo

lwkmd

@all_swag
when the lady asked you to move back to economy, you should have specified to her that the reason you were upgraded was because of the poor service on your inbound flight (or whatever) and that AF took some miles out of your card for the upgrade. they wouldnt have touched you. . . . . . . . . but hey, it happens to the best of us because we cant blame AF delays due to weather conditions etc

if a plane is delayed then the only thing we can do is wait and if we miss our connection then AF will put you on the next available flight and if you missed the biggest deal of your life then your insurance company will reimburse you what they think its fair.

as for the guy who went for a meeting and hope to comeback that same evening, i will just say that he is an unwise businessman who probably didnt fly often in his life.

With this kind of situation, what i'll suggest is to write a complaint to their management
if you feel that strongly about it and then dont fly them again.

for instance, on a number of occasions (not all), i have found lufthansa cabin crew very aloof (like they dont want to be there)
or they just look down on africans ? (i wont put it past them bloody germans   )
As a result , i tend not to fly them.
chikena.

I said it on this forum a couple of years ago,my family and I don't do Air France anymore
I label them the worst airline to Nigeria
They are very rude and classless.
I even suspect they serve expired,left over foods.
sometimes no ice for their drinks
On one of the trips,they overbooked for the return flight and some passengers were left stranded then at Charles De Gaulle, a ticketing agent pushed my husband and challenged him to a fisticuff while he asked simple questions.
He (the stoopid agent) should thank his lucky stars this was in Paris,had it been at Aba ,the man would have seen  serious stars, I had to calm my hubby down  because of course they were going to throw him in jail if he retaliated.
Having the nerve to challenge a man that was born and bred in Aba in that manner,God saved him we were in his territory.
That airline is full of agberos,even if they were dashing away free tickets,they won't see me there.

@all,

Thank you all for your pro and contra,i got today a reply from Air France(very quick indeed).

Dear !!!!!!!!!!!!!,
Thank you for your message from the 15th August 2010. We are sorry to learn of the difficulties you and your family encountered on one of your recent journeys with us from Vienna via Paris Charles de Gaulle to Lagos. We recognise and sincerely regret the inconvenience that this must have caused you and offer our sincere apologies on behalf of our company.

Our records show that your flights AF 2639 and AF 3054 from Vienna to Paris Charles de Gaulle and from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Lagos on the 24th July 2010 were delayed due to operational reasons.

For our airline, one of, if not the major performance indicator, is on-time delivery. The ability to adhere to a published schedule is an important ingredient of any airline product. The delay of a flight, however rare, is therefore major frustration to our aim of providing passengers with the reliable service they demand.

As an airline, we are fully aware of the inconvenience flight delays will cause, and seek to limit them in every way. When they do occur, we try to see that passengers are inconvenienced as little as possible. Please accept our sincere apologies.  

We are sorry to learn that you experienced further delays on your return journey. Our records show that your flight AF 3051 from Lagos to Paris Charles de Gaulle on the 13th August 2010 was delayed due to air traffic control restrictions. Hence, the transfer to your connecting flight was put on risk.  

In order to minimise the impact of this incident we offered you an alternative routing on the next available flight to Vienna.

In accordance with the terms of the EU Regulation 261/2004 and because flight irregularities due to the air traffic control restrictions are sometimes unavoidable no airline accepts liability for the consequences of these disruptions. Therefore we do not offer any kind of compensation or commercial gestures in such circumstances.

We would like to reimburse any reasonable expenses, such as for food and drink; you may have incurred as a direct result of this delay and would be grateful if you would forward us the supporting receipt(s) together with the enclosed bank details including the IBAN number and the BIC/Swift code form duly completed.

We are sorry to learn that you were dissatisfied with the comfort of your seat on your flight AF 3054 from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Lagos on the 24th July 2010. We fully understand your displeasure and wish to apologise on behalf of Air France.

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us regarding this matter. Your feedback has been shared with the quality managers in order to continue to improve our services.  
   
We do hope that the above explanation will help soften the negative impact of this situation and that you and your family will afford us another opportunity to serve you to your entire satisfaction.

Yours sincerely

S. Sereke
Air France - Customer Care


NB,

i accept their apology,and i am thinking of flying them again,because they show they really cared when customers complain,this only is enough for me,i have forgiven them.

Asiwaju.

0hsisi:

That airline is full of agberos,even if they were dashing away free tickets,they won't see me there.

lmao

@Poster

Honestly, Airfrance might not have the best planes to Nigeria, but their service is about the best. I remember the last time I was flying to Paris from Nigeria with my friend and we were so high, it was the night Chelsea played Inter Millan on Champions league, so we watched part of the match at the airport and we had a lot to drink. We were so high and we still had red wine again inside the flight, mehn I was so messed up. I think I even fall on the cabin, but the crew assisted me and helped me to the rest room. I lost my medicated glasses and one of the hostess was really searching for it and just before we landed in Paris she found it. They were so friendly. Apart from that night, I have used AirFrance a couple of other times and they were nice.

@ohsisi
i can understand why someone would be extremely pissed off if they were not allowed to board due to overbooking BUT all airlines do it and the reason why they doing it is because of passengers holding tickets that are NO SHOW.
its either overbooking to make sure that all flights leave at full capacity or hiking the prices up. . . . . . . . which would you prefer?!

as for the checking agent challenging your husband to a fist fight, i guess there must have been much more said (or done) than you're telling us. i have worked for AF and i have seen it all. when people learn that they wont get onboard/travel, THEY LOOSE THEIR GODDAM MINDS (especially people from 3rd world countries)!

MRbrownJAY:

@ohsisi
i can understand why someone would be extremely pissed off if they were not allowed to board due to overbooking BUT all airlines do it and the reason why they doing it is because of passengers holding tickets that are NO SHOW.
its either overbooking to make sure that all flights leave at full capacity or hiking the prices up. . . . . . . . which would you prefer?!

[b]as for the checking agent challenging your husband to a fist fight, i guess there must have been much more said (or done) than you're telling us. i have worked for AF and i have seen it a[/b]ll. when people learn that they wont get onboard/travel, THEY LOOSE THEIR GODDAM MINDS (especially people from 3rd world countries)!

Assuming there was even something said for the sake of arguments,a ticketing staff will push a customer?
Is that the training they gave you guys over there
To act like Adebibu's thugs?

AGARIautos:

HUMILIATING ENCOUNTERS WITH FOREIGN AIRLINES IS ONE THING NIGERIANS WILL CONTINUE TO FACE UNTIL WE FIX OURS. WE HAVE FLOWN ROUND AND ON SEVERAL AIRLINES BUT ONE MAJOR QUESTION THEY ASK YOU IS "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR AIRLINE, GO USE YOURS AND STOP COMPLAINING ON OURS".

Do you really think that Nigerians will receive better services from a gerian own airline? I don't think so.

0hsisi:

Assuming there was even something said for the sake of arguments,a ticketing staff will push a customer?
Is that the training they gave you guys over there
To act like Adebibu's thugs?

people are HUMAN before all, just because we are paid to do our jobs, doesnt mean that anyone can just come and throw their shiit day in and day out without one of the agents finally snapping.
everyone can snap, its all down to how far they were pushed. it happens in all walks of life where people have to deal with (sometimes) too demanding customers.
passengers take their anger on checking agent while THEY (the checking agent) have absolutely NOTHING to do with the overbooking itself.

here is a clue: if you and your husband would have said OK after being told that you couldnt board due to overbooking and left it at that then this incident wouldnt have happened. there is only very little the checking agent can do anyway.
here is a flight with 300 or so available seats and 400passengers, what exactly do you expect that single person to do for you (instead of explaining the situation) while dealing with 50 other passengers as pissed as you?!

So sorry bout ur experience. All the times i flew with Air France i had wounderful, stress-free flights

MRbrownJAY:

people are HUMAN before all, just because we are paid to do our jobs, doesnt mean that anyone can just come and throw their shiit day in and day out without one of the agents finally snapping.
everyone can snap, its all down to how far they were pushed. it happens in all walks of life where people have to deal with (sometimes) too demanding customers.
passengers take their anger on checking agent while THEY (the checking agent) have absolutely NOTHING to do with the overbooking itself.

here is a clue: if you and your husband would have said OK after being told that you couldnt board due to overbooking and left it at that then this incident wouldnt have happened. there is only very little the checking agent can do anyway.
here is a flight with 300 or so available seats and 400passengers, what exactly do you expect that single person to do for you (instead of explaining the situation) while dealing with 50 other passengers as pissed as you?!

where did you read the reason why my husband was attacked ?
I never divulged the reason so from where are you pulling up your theorems?

below was part of my post

On one of the trips,they overbooked for the return flight and some passengers were left stranded [b]then [/b]at Charles De Gaulle, a ticketing agent pushed my husband and challenged him to a fisticuff while he asked simple questions.

I never mentioned that I was stranded and couldn't board from Naija.
I said some passengers

"Then" in the first sentence shows there were two different incidence being cited.
Don't make this about me please
I merely gave my own views about the airline, why you decided to latch on my response beats me

@ Ohsisi i think the ticketing officer must have had a 'Steven Slater' moment.Haven't flown AF before & judging frm the responses here,i don't think i'm willin to try.Stick to my Lufthansa & haven't had any cause to regret

chaircover:

It's a bog standard letter in which they just filled in the flight numbers etc but IMO they tried by responding withn 48 hours.

Now lets face it, how many big organisations give such a detailed response within 48 hours. It took Barclaycard 6 weeks to deal with a formal compalnt I raised.

I still beleive that this airline is not the worst in its class

At least they responded. Some just choose to ignore the complaint

cold:

@ Ohsisi i think the ticketing officer must have had a 'Steven Slater' moment.Haven't flown AF before & judging frm the responses here,i don't think i'm willin to try.Stick to my Lufthansa & haven't had any cause to regret

LOL
I have since kept away.
Currently I only fly delta, the sky miles and direct flight to Naija without stopping at Europe are my attractions
I also hear they have area boys and girls as flight attendants but I haven't had any problems so far.

All_swag:

Can all those defending Airfrance please read the post and refrain from commenting (aka SHUT-UP).

That you have not experienced it does not mean you won't, in the near future.

I had a similar experience in March, just more embarrassing.

I am a Frequent Flyer with KLM, an Air France partner. On this occasion I flew Air France thinking the service will be the same. We left Lagos 2 hrs after scheduled departure. Over 1 hr was spent in the plane with a dysfunctional AC. We were told the AC doesn't work when the plane is on the ground, that it would start functioning when the plane is flying, meanwhile we were roasting. People had started disrobing. I believe they even sprayed their insecticide. I don't know if the purpose was to exterminate the Nigerians or the mosquitoes. SINn1.

I was flying to London via France like a lot of the Nigerian onboard. Naturally we missed the connecting Flight. I was given priority as a frequently flyer and waited only 2 hrs to get on the next flight to London. Several other people had to wait 5 hours or more. Including one Ibo brother going for a business meeting to return the same day. He planned to get to London first thing in the Morning for the meeting and return the same night to Lagos. They frustrated the man, he gave them hell. I was too fortunate to wait for the end of that story, or so I thought. SIN 2.

I got to London safely, all the Glory to God. Spent my time wisely, then started my return trip.

The Flight to France from London was uneventful. At CDG Airport, when it was time to board my ticket was upgraded to Business Class. I jejely entered the plane and sat down in Business Class, where i was greeted with a warm smile by a nice looking air hostess. After about 45 mins (we were late again, only with Nigerian flights), after I had started sipping my cool bottle water, one oyibo man appeared holding a walkie talkie and asked me for my boarding pass. He simply collected it and spoke their language to the air-hostess who went and brought my things and ushered me to economy class. I couldn't talk because my boss's boss's boss's boss was sitting a few rows from me. I jejely went with her and she asked me to take a sit without giving me a boarding pass to reflect my sitting. SIN 3 (mortal Sin).

I got to Lagos in one piece, and like most Nigerians, just fumed about it. For sure, I won't fly with them if I have a choice in the matter, in the future.

[size=20pt]If it were you defending Air France what would you do?[/size]

Regarding your first two lines, you beat me to it So because a few Nigerians are rude, loud and obnoxious, you deserve to all be treated the same or using the same logic, because a handful of Nigerians dabble in fraud, i should grin and bear it if i am subjected to extra scrutiny and called a potential fraudster to my face Airfrance and its crew are known worldwide for their crap services, especially towards the North Americans. There is also 2 or 3 other threads on NL discussing the atrocities Airfrance gets away with


Regarding the incident whereby you were rudely transferred back to goat class, dem never born them, the world go hear, the heavens will be aware Thank God i can get away with blue murder with my barely audible sonorous voice and gentle as a lamb look  

And as per the dude who was taken to the dungeon and threatened with being beaten, na wa oh, you no get family? CCTV no dey? You are British and it is a "connecting" flight for that matter? Is their defense Lawyer going to defend them by claiming you were abducted and beaten by UFO's O ga oh

@ohsisi
come on, we all know the drill. your hubby "ask questions", dont like the answers given to him and keep asking for solutions that the checking agent has no power to offer.

my point is that no customer service agent snaps for no apparent reason thus me saying that you are not telling us the whole story. something must have happened for a paid professional to wanna get down to a fist fight with a customer. wouldnt you think so?!

only an insane person would do that for no reason whatsoever and, in that case, the airline company shouldnt be blamed, only the person that got this temporary insanity spell should.

by the way, Delta is part of SKYTEAM, so who knows, one day you might have a Delta ticket and unknowingly fly AF (i.e. code share flights).

Busy_body:

Regarding the incident whereby you were rudely transferred back to goat class

ROTFLMAO!!

Are you sure it's a part of SKYTEAM? I thought they were legit o.o
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