pommie

Ah so the late flight back is on a proper plane then :-) - I hadn't noticed because the Flybe site doesn't show that - you have to visit the AF site to be told what plane Flybe will be using used

Are the overhead lockers a decent size on that plane?

I got in the lounge by paying the extrortionate amount they require for a flexible fare - it seems they are happy to provide a carton of orange juice and a cup of coffee and to let you look longingly at the BA Lounge next door through the window in exchange for £510 return

MAN Pax

From what I remember they will take a roller bag, but not wheels in. Plane comfort is great - though FlyBE may have screwed the seat pitch to unpleasant levels.

stirlingFR

I have spent the week-end in Paris and flew with AF (I thought I was going to try Flybe but I had only AF planes).

MAN:
-at T2, I used to think the AF-KLM check-in area was very small, now that AF have "split" and joined Flybe at T3, the area feels even smaller (also what a nightmare to go from The Station to T3!!! escalators, lifts, walkoutside ...)
-Passport control: at T2, there was IRIS + lots of desks, at T3: there is no IRIS and seems to be fewer desks (not all attended this morning). Thankfully, the first AF flight of the morning seems to be the only flight arriving around 8am at T3. I can already imagine the potential nightmare when more than 1 plane arrive at the same time .
-I don't know if it is a consequence of the codeshare agreement but the priority boarding (for Elite and possible for Premium, from what I could hear from the gate staff) was out of the question: it was back of the plane first ... (it was 'applied' at CDG)
-Again, might (might not?) be a consequence of the codeshare but adieu complimentary newspapers (it was a 3pm flights and in the past, even on later flights, they would still have newspapers available). This could have been a one-off with AF running out of newspaper. I will be flying the exact same times in 2 weeks, so I will see for myself. They were back on the CDG-MAN.
-Both at CDG and MAN, my bag came out amongst the first 10 bags with a priority tag.

Now that I have made it to STE+, I will see whether or not I get lounge access in the Flybe lounge at MAN ....

As pommie said earlier, it seems to be very negative changes to the MAN-CDG route.

pommie

Trying to find out if booking pemium eco via air france wil give me an economy plus booking with Flybe or the economy ticket advertised on the web site. As usual there are "exceptional circumstances" that mean that the AF "Customer Service" line is too busy for them to actually speak to customers (10 mins wait and counting now)

Anothe grouse is that Ican't check in online for the 8:30 flight back to MAN with a flybe ticket.

They really ought to get al this stuff worke dout BEFORE they start the code share shouldn't they? Instead it's a total mess.

And why is it that every time we arrive back in MAN we have to wait 5 minutes for the air bridge. Perhaps they aren't expecting us - lol.

pommie

Aha - the nice lady at AF says that the Flybe ticket is Premium Eco (or Eco + in their talk) even though the web says clearly that it's "Economy".

Also Premium ECo return tickets booked VIA AF cost from £430 and are fully refundable compared to Flybe's £499 non-refundable, only exchangeable ones.

I can't see any logic there but AF have currently got my boookings in preference to FB.

As soon as I get an alternative they are both out of the window though as anything involving Flybe (including badly managed code shares like this one) is cheap and nasty and Ryanairish.

Come on someone - MAN to Orly please?

stirlingFR

Hello,

I am happy to report that I could access the FlyBe lounge at MAN T3 (E+ on AF plane) and the complimentary newspapers were back on offer. I can't comment on priority boarding as I was still in the lounge when the gate open.

Cheers,
Charles

Bagehot

Regarding the miles accrual question, they posted in one case after I call, in another one 10 days after the flight. So I assume it is working but very slowly

nickyboy

So I'm off MAN-CDG-PEK next week and, due to the weather have decided to swallow hard and book the Flybe codeshare (3.5 hours transfer) rather than the AF flight (1.25 hour transfer). A few questions if I may:

1) How to get from the train station to Flybe check in?

2) I am hoping to get away with a rather large carry on instead of hold luggage. I am expecting that Flybe will not allow it. Do they allow gate checking? If not, could I check it as hold luggage for the MAN-CDG leg, then pick it up and carry it on at CDG? Would that mean I would have to check in again in CDG?

3) On my online reservation I can't preselect seating despite it being in J. Any idea why? I can preselect all other legs (including the J CDG-MAN return on AF metal)

Thanks from a Flybe virgin

nickyboy

stirlingFR

I can only help with the first question. Despite complaining a lot over the past few weeks, I have only tried the AF-operated flights in co-operation with FlyBe.

From the Station, you should take the lift/escalator up and follow the signs to T1/T3. Upon arrival to T1, do not take the elevator down, take a left to the lift and head downstairs.
After that, wear gloves/hat and extra layers as you are about to walk outside between the exit of T1 and the entrance of T3. Take the lift up to check-in level. When you see the entrance of the security, go left, walking past the bmi check-in area and you are at the FlyBe and then AF check-in area.

It is weel indicated I thought .

The walk between The Station and T3 feels longer than between The Station and T2.

There may be a bus service joining The Station to T3 but I never took time to find out.

good luck with the rest.

carnarvon

I have never tried to have one bag checked through and one bag checked to connecting city only.... Only all luggage to connecting city.

But here is what I would try : check one bag through to PEK and one bag to CDG. If they agree (why would they not?), then you are all set. Upon arrival in CDG, you go to luggage retrieval area, get your bag. Back through passport and security check and off you go. No need to check in again at CDG, you will have your BP already (normally...).

nickyboy

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I will only be travelling with the (hopefully) hand luggage. However, your suggestion is equally valid. Presumably if Flybe won't let me take it as hand luggage then I can check it in to CDG, then pick it up there and go through security check. The expectation is, of course, that AF Long Haul J will be lenient re carry on dimensions, certainly more so than Flybe

nickyboy

pommie

Well lets see. Things are not very good here are they?

Yesterday morning I narrowly missed check in for my AF/FB codeshare 06:45 to Paris CdG because of a delay in getting to the airport caused by the weather. It would appear from the flight information boards that at 07:30 the flight was still on final call so I could in fact have made it easily had the Flybe check in not applied their check in deadline rules so rigidly – mind you as we all know Flybe are decidedly NOT a full service airline , so maybe that approach is to be expected. (By the way, nobody can tell me by phone from either airline if the check in deadline is really Air France’s 30 minutes or Flybe’s 1 hour)

Of course I suppose it’s equally possible, given the dire way T3 in Manchester is designed and run, that they just don’t update the flight boards in anything resembling real time and that the flight had in fact left on time.

Having booked my Premium Economy ticket via the Air France site I was able to transfer to the 09:40 Air France flight at no additional charge.

If I had booked it via Flybe I would have had to pay a surcharge. Mind you had I booked via the Flybe site I could have checked in on-line, so might have been able to make the flight. Having booked via Air France for a Flybe operated flight the on-line check-in system on the AF web site leads me to a Delta code share page which obviously won’t accept my details for a Flybe flight. I do so much that hope the AF aircraft software is better programmed than their web site is!

The new code share has resulted in AF moving from the relative comfort and efficiency of Terminal 2 at Manchester to the horrible Terminal 3. In T3 Flybe operate their own tiny lounge. It seems that even paying AF £420 for a premium economy return ticket does not qualify me to use their facilities under this code share agreement. I find this quite bizarre given that a Flybe “Economy Plus” ticket purchased via the Flybe site allowed me access to the Air France lounge at Paris CDG last Friday whilst I waited for my delayed (again) flight home.

Flybe did offer to allow me access in T3 if I spent a huge amount further upgrading my ticket beyond premium economy ( They were having a laugh weren’t they? Weren’t they ???). Hence the fact that I typed most of this in a corridor sitting on the floor next to a plug socket in T3 Manchester Airport whilst I wait for my (delayed) 09:40 flight. I hardly felt like a premium Air France customer as I sat in my suit on a dirty floor.

Next week I am going to sit in the same place with a laminated A4 sign saying
“Air France Premium Customer Lounge”

Feel free to join me - no free papers or coffee I'm afraid though.

This is just another example of the awful degradation in service that we have seen since this code share was brought in about a month ago. The full service Air France experience has now been infected by Flybe’s no-service, price gouging ethos and the results are depressing.

I did ask the lady on the desk in the Flybe lounge for the contact number of their customer service department but it seems that our friends at Flybe care so much about their customers that they don’t actually have a phone number that you can call their customer service department on. No not even a premium rate, 10p a minute one, like the one you have to call if you need any information from them.

They insist that you email your complaints after you have found out the email address from their web site. Well I suppose that is one way for them to cut down the volume of complaints received to a manageable level isn’t it? Mind you Air France, just to be contrary don't provide an email address, so I can't complain in detail to them as their web site a) doesn't work and throws an error when you send in a complaint and b limits you to 1500 characters which in this instance is barely enough for me to get started!


Here is my summary of the “improvements” we have seen on this route:

• Booking tickets via the AF site is very confusing. Tryy to book a canceallable / echnageable ticket and whilst the AF operated flights show Premium Eco, the Flybe flights show as Economy even though they are finally shown as Premium Eco later in the process.
• On-line check in for a Flybe operated flight with a ticket bought via AF is not possible and vice versa.
• Check-in deadlines are 1 hour if ticket booked via Flybe and 30 minutes if booked via AF. Why this difference for the very same flights?
• The Flybe Lounge does not accept AF premium travellers although the AF lounge at CDG does accept Flybe premium passengers. Where is the logic in allowing different access depending on who the ticket is bought from? Can they think of a better way of making sure I don’t buy my tickets from Air France? Perhaps they don’t care? And why not treat premium passengers properly? Since themove from T2 I can’t even pay to sit in a lounge, hence the fact that to plug my laptop in I had to sit on the floor of a corridor cursing both Air France and Flybe together.
• The early AF flights have now been replaced with FB operated flights on planes so small that standard airline carry-on baggage will not fit in the overhead bins causing chaos and overheard delineation disputes between ground staff and flight attendants. “Who is going to tell the Air France passengers that they can’t bring 2 large bags on board?” “it’s not my job” “Well it’s not mine so it MUST be yours” “Oh well let’s not bother then”. Amusing from a certain point of view but very annoying nonetheless.
• Anecdotally Flybe planes would not appear to be the travellers' first choice for relaibility. I was told by a fellow passenger that one of their aircraft on this route made an emergency landing at CDG last week when the landing gear failed to deploy properly with passengers having to make emergency exit via the slides.
• Arriving at CDG with the early morning flights we now park a mile from the terminal in what seems to be a Flybe holding area and have a 15 minute bus ride to add to the journey once the entire flight has finally deplaned. It took a full 45 minutes from touch down to arriving at T2 CDG last Tuesday. This is particularly annoying for people like me travelling with only hand baggage who could otherwise clear the terminal quite quickly.
• Flybe in general is a shabby, no service airline and their involvement severely degrades AF's brand image. Air France now appears to be a budget airline with premium prices.

I understand that there are challenges in integrating new procedures. However, I would hazard a guess that this is not the first code share that AF have ever put together, and they should be able to deal with it professionally without inconveniencing regular customers in this way.

I have to travel this route once a week return until at least the end of March and hate the fact that what was for the first 2 weeks of my project, until 4 weeks ago, a pleasantly efficient and easy to use service via Air France is now fraught with unnecessary issues and complications whilst the prices appear to be creeping up at the same time.

In the space of 4 weeks AF have turned me from being a fan of Air France to being an extremely dissatisfied customer who will grasp with both hands the first viable alternative that presents itself. I know, from conversations with fellow passengers, that I am a long way from being alone here.

nickyboy

Hi pommie. As you will see I am on a FB codeshare next week so we'll have to see how it goes. A couple of comments on your post in advance however:

1) I think everybody applies their check in deadline rigidly these days, I know AFKL do, as do BA. In that respect FB seem no different. I do take your point re the confusion over 30/60 minute check in dealines however.

2) Lounge access rules are that Premium Economy doesn't qualify. Don't know why you got it at CDG on a FB Economy plus ticket but perhaps look upon that as an unexpected bonus rather than the norm

I will assess the FB/T3 service next week and if it isn't up to the AF/T2 standards then I will let AF know about it. Having said that, my CDG flights are exclusively to connect to Long Haul so they are a relatively small part of my overall AF "experience"

nickyboy

JOUY31

Premium Voyageur, the AF long-haul product, does not qualify for free access to lounges.

Premium Economy, the AF medium-haul product, does qualify for free access to lounges at CDG & AMS.

NickB

I find this surprising. Surely check-in deadlines are those of the operating carrier, no?
Some flights are codeshared by up to 9 or 10 airlines. It just would not make sense to have a different check-in deadline depending on the marketing carrier.