Flying Blue (Air France & KLM) - Changing a Pre-April Redemption F Ticket (A Class)

I just got off the phone with FB and they said that because of this:

Caught this in the news today

************************************************** *************
26AUG-JH.JR* BOOKING CLASSES FLYING BLUE *CB*
************************************************** *************
AS OF OCTOBER 25TH 2009, AWARD TICKET BOOKING CLASSES FOR ELITE
MEMBERS ON AIR FRANCE LONG-HAUL FLIGHTS ARE MODIFIED AS FOLLOWS:
.
- CLASS W BECOMES CLASS R
- CLASS E ON USA/CANADA-PAPEETE BECOMES CLASS M.
.
THESE CLASSES WILL BE INTRODUCED AS OF OCTOBER 26TH 2009 IN THE
BOOKING SYSTEMS.
THE MONA LISA AND GG COMMUNICATION AIDS AND TRAINING AID ARE
CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED.
FOR FLIGHTS AS OF OCTOBER 25TH 2009, FIRST CLASS AWARDS AS PER
THE STANDARD SCHEME MUST NO LONGER BE OFFERED TO CUSTOMERS
(CLASS A MUST THEREFORE NO LONGER BE BOOKED FOR AWARD TICKET
FLIGHTS AS OF OCTOBER 25TH 09).
ONLY THE OFFER AS PER THE FLEX SCHEME REMAINS AVAILABLE

AS A REMINDER, FLEX PREMIERE AWARDS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE TO ELITE
AND ELITE PLUS MEMBERS.

I cannot make any changes to my ticket past October 25th even though the ticket rules clearly state that the ticket is changeable for one year from the date of issuance. Even the agent thought it was extremely unfair of AF to all of a sudden eliminate A Class and not allow us to book in to F anymore. She went on to advise me to e-mail FB to make an exception, but in reading their ability to respond...

Help? Options?

Many thanks!

Unfortunately this is not news, as you could have read on this forum a fewmonths ago.
Try pushing AF, but they can simple state that there are no more A seats available on the flights you wish... Doubt that you will get anything beyond recredit of your miles. sad, sad.

Unfortunately this is not news, as you could have read on this forum a fewmonths ago.
Try pushing AF, but they can simple state that there are no more A seats available on the flights you wish... Doubt that you will get anything beyond recredit of your miles. sad, sad.

Thanks, brunos. As I always prefer to tack my posts on to a relevant thread if it exists, I did run a Google search using all kinds of terms, quotes, etc, but did not find anything specific to my situation...even scrolled through the first 14 pages of the FB section clicking on any topic that might be related. So...unless the topic headings were too general... :)



Well, 7 e-mails later and I'm still no closer to a resolution. The last contradicting response said, "In accordance with the Terms and Conditions of the Flying Blue programme, Classic Awards* are valid one year from the date of issue and can be changed or cancelled againstfor [typo is theirs] a fee of 45 euros/70USD/70CAD per person.

We wish to inform you that, your reward ticket is not valid after the October 24, 2009."

Does anyone have the e-mail address (not a guess as to what it is) of AF's CEO?

Many thanks.

Hi Huge Al,
I did not mean to be harsh and this AF attitude is totally unacceptable. Neither did I mean to say that you are guilty of not finding that informaton in existing threads. Just FYI several posters in the two sticky on April 1 changes noticed and warned that A fare bucket disappeared after October 25 (start of the new season). I once called FB before April 1 trying to book an A award and the answer was that there were no more A seats available after Oct 25, and will never be. I am afraid that their legal position is defendable as they dont guarantee you that A seats will be available in the future. You booked a flight with available seats and they are ready to honor it, but you cannot change it post october 25 as no seats are available on any flights. So your only option is to recredit miles with the change fee (YOU decided to cancel the flight that you were booked on). Again I was also furious, and sympathize with you.
Even if you had the private email address of the CEO, it would be screend by assistants before reaching him.Just like thousands he receives daily.

Hi Huge Al,

I do not have an email address for the AF CEO, but the other contact details are:
Pierre-Henri Gourgeon
Air France Head Office
45, rue de Paris
95 747 Roissy CDG Cedex

Air France switchboard: 01 41 56 78 00 (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday)
Fax : 01 41 56 70 29

I hope that is of some help.

In addition to the comments made by Brunos I see another challenge that is bound to arise (if you get a response). 'This is not a problem of AF, it is a problem of FB, so there is nothing AF can do ...' You may do better than me, but I have never managed to find any corporate information on Flying Blue. Someone must be the CEO (or equivalent). Someone must run it ... even if it is considered to be a subsidiary of AF/KL, it must have an organisational structure, etc.

Good luck!

I have never managed to find any corporate information on Flying Blue. Someone must be the CEO (or equivalent). Someone must run it ... even if it is considered to be a subsidiary of AF/KL, it must have an organisational structure, etc.

FB is managed by Bluelink whose head-office is located 57 rue Ledru-Rollin, 94203 Ivry sur Seine Cedex, France. The CEO is Tanguy de Laubier.

FB is managed by Bluelink whose head-office is located 57 rue Ledru-Rollin, 94203 Ivry sur Seine Cedex, France. The CEO is Tanguy de Laubier.

Now let's get that as a sticky and create a website with good Google linkage for all the p*ssed FB members who want to complain!