Air France Frequence Plus - Help: AF won't send delayed bag because " planes are full"

I'm in Seattle.


My parents just called from Prague. They arrived Thursday. They are in their 80's.

Their baggage never made it. AF says that my father's bag is on the way now from Paris . My mother's cannot be sent because " the planes are full". huh?

They leave for a 7 day Danube cruise tomorrow.

They do have a reference number and the cruise director has been as helpful as he can.

Any ideas on how to convince AF to put her bag on a plane?

What a contrast with your other thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-france-frequence-plus/1356965-thank-you-air-france-saphir.html.

Their baggage never made it. AF says that my father's bag is on the way now from Paris . My mother's cannot be sent because " the planes are full". huh?

this is just BS. Come on, together AF & OK have something like 8 flights a day on this route :rolleyes:
You should call AF and put some pressure on them, as this is clearly unacceptable.

Did they say where your mother's bag is? Is it in Paris (in which case there really would be no excuse), or is it still in the USA? (You should in fact be able to look this up on AF's web site, if you have the tag number)

If they can't physically get the bag to your parents before they board (a possibility, if it's still in the USA) then you should insist that they send it to your parents' next stop. Also, don't forget that in cases like this they have to cover any reasonable expenses - so if your mother didn't put a change of clothes in your father's bag then AF should pay for some clothes for her.

What a contrast with your other thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-france-frequence-plus/1356965-thank-you-air-france-saphir.html.

I know.... I actually tried calling the Saphir desk to see if they could help but I was on hold for 20 minutes or so and gave up. My guess is that the Saphir service did such an amazing job getting them to their connection in record time ( 55 minutes) at CDG that the luggage never had a chance.

My father's bag arrived tonight. They say my mother's bag ( which is in Paris) will be arriving in the morning but if they want to get it before they board the ship they need to go to the airport and pick it up.:rolleyes:

In the words of my father: " nightmare".

It is a shame that a trip they have been looking forward to for 2 years becomes a pre-occupation with lost baggage.

Very disappointing given the time you have spent optimizing your parents' trip. Feel sad for your parents.

Nevertheless, what happened is not unusual. They had a SEA-LAX (Alaska airline) connecting to LAX-CDG-PRG (with 55min transfer in CDG). The likelihood of delayed luggage is significant. LAX is notorious for "losing" bags in transit from domestic to international. Having less than one hour connection in Paris is calling for trouble. Once the bags miss your flight, they are handled by airport agents with all the other stranded bags and that becomes messy, with many issues that need not be detailed here.

I always prefer to have substantial connection time so that my bag follow the usual transfer "channel" rather than have them go through the lost-bag "channel". Also remember that, in most airports, bags are handled by airport staff not airline staff. Calling to find out where is your bags can yield all kind of "approximate" answers but until the bag is at final destination (or in its flight to final destination), the info provided is often just approximate (meaning they often do not know exactly so they make strange answers to angry customers).
The bags could have been delayed anywhere on the route. Unfortunately, this is a common happening and not specific to AF.

Thanks Brunos.

I valuable lesson learned.

I have been tracking this situation via the http://www.worldtracer.aero lost baggage site.

It looks as if the bags have arrived in Prague but I still don't know if my mom's luggage made it to their hotel or they picked it up at the airport before their ship departed.

One note: It appears from the tracking that my mom's suitcase actually went to Chicago (!)...which was never on their route.


ORIGINAL FLIGHT: AS460/13JUN/AF65/13JUN
NEW FLIGHT: AF667/15JUN/AF1982/16JUN
NEW ROUTE: PRG/ORD/CDG

Thanks Brunos.

I valuable lesson learned.

I have been tracking this situation via the http://www.worldtracer.aero lost baggage site.

It looks as if the bags have arrived in Prague but I still don't know if my mom's luggage made it to their hotel or they picked it up at the airport before their ship departed.

One note: It appears from the tracking that my mom's suitcase actually went to Chicago (!)...which was never on their route.


ORIGINAL FLIGHT: AS460/13JUN/AF65/13JUN
NEW FLIGHT: AF667/15JUN/AF1982/16JUN
NEW ROUTE: PRG/ORD/CDG
PRG/ORD/CDG is strange as this seems to suggest that the bag has been flying back and forth TATL. If we read the reverse order, it got to CDG and then was mistakenly sent to ORD. Is there a nonstop ORD-PRG that it could have taken?

PRG/ORD/CDG is strange as this seems to suggest that the bag has been flying back and forth TATL. If we read the reverse order, it got to CDG and then was mistakenly sent to ORD. Is there a nonstop ORD-PRG that it could have taken?

I wondered the same thing but dare not say it.Did the bag actually make it to Paris (or even PRG !) and then went back to the States before finally being rerouted to Prague?

IF the info is correct, I think that another alternative is more likely.
AS never sent it to LAX. When they finally treated the bag, they considered it would be faster (or maybe standard procedure) to route it to AF to Chicago.
But you can only tell if your mother's bag has explanatory labels.
In any case, those things happen. And they are thousands of bags misdirected every day.
Unless there is a mistake in tagging (but rare because they are automatically generated on all bags), or the tag is torn (does happen but then it takes a very long time to recover the bag), it is usually some baggage handling error. And baggage handling is done by airport employees. Some airports have better systems to handle luggage with rare errors (my home airport HKG is one of those). Others have much larger error rates. I think that LAX is notoriously bad, and CDG is not good (just a personal impression, no hard stats). I do not know about SEA.
I would not fault AF in your case, unless they make no effort for prompt notification/delivery once the bag reached PRG.

Just to give you two personal examples.
- We checked two bags at SFO (3 hours before departure) in AF F class nonstop to CDG. One bag never made it. No one knew where it was. After a week, I called the SFO AF office and talked them into checking. It happened that the bag was still left in some corner of the US custom area; it had been checked by security/customs and was never put back to be sent. Just sitting there. AF delivered it by taxi as soon as it arrived.
- We checked two bags from Phuket to CDG on MH. One of the bag mysteriously went to Japan. Could not track it until it was delivered in Paris four days later and the labels showed that it went through Japan.
Although the tracking system for lost bags seem impressive, entries in the system are done manually and occasionally, so they are not very reliable.

I would not fault AF in your case, unless they make no effort for prompt notification/delivery once the bag reached PRG.


Although AF, as the last operating carrier on the OP's itinerary, must take responsibility for the baggage mishap, I would guess that, in PRG, things will be managed by Czech Airlines, acting as AF's handling agent.

I'm in Seattle.


My parents just called from Prague. They arrived Thursday. They are in their 80's.

Their baggage never made it. AF says that my father's bag is on the way now from Paris . My mother's cannot be sent because " the planes are full". huh?



I believe the translation from French is "We lost the bag and may run across it someday."

Although AF, as the last operating carrier on the OP's itinerary, must take responsibility for the baggage mishap, I would guess that, in PRG, things will be managed by Czech Airlines, acting as AF's handling agent.

That's exactly who took over in Prague.

FWIW.... they just called from port. My mom's suitcase arrived 30 minutes before they boarded the bus to go to the ship.

They sounded euphoric and were headed to the bar for a much needed drink.

That's exactly who took over in Prague.

FWIW.... they just called from port. My mom's suitcase arrived 30 minutes before they boarded the bus to go to the ship.

They sounded euphoric and were headed to the bar for a much needed drink.

^

Hope they have a wonderful time.

Although AF, as the last operating carrier on the OP's itinerary, must take responsibility for the baggage mishap, I would guess that, in PRG, things will be managed by Czech Airlines, acting as AF's handling agent.

You are quite right.
I was just trying to find an explanation of what happened and where the blame lies. But according to international rules, AF is "responsible" and should provide some compensation for the inconvenience induced by the delayed bag (such as buying necessities), if any.

I was just trying to find an explanation of what happened and where the blame lies.

I believe your explanation was quite helpful and gave a good account of what actually happened. :)

They sounded euphoric and were headed to the bar for a much needed drink.

Hurray to that! :) And I too think brunos's explanations are likely to be pretty close to what actually happened

I'm glad also everything was solved on-time and I hope your parents will have a wonderful and uneventful cruise.