Flying Blue (Air France, KLM, and Other Partners) - Incomprehensible incompetence and horrible service on a trivial (mileage) issue

So here's the situation. My wife and I recently flew on AF 066 CDG-LAX, she on a miles ticket off my account, me on a paid ticket, both in business.

A few days latter, an entry appeared in my FB account, listing a flight in "J0" class, containing no miles credit for the flight. I patiently waited two weeks (required by the AF system), and filed a request for credit for the miles owed me for my flight on the paid ticket. OF COURSE, as part of the process, I had to enter the ticket number of MY OWN (paid) ticket.

I then received back a short message stating that the ticket was not eligible for miles.

I then tried to email AF, explaining the situation.

I received a form message in response (after 24hours) stating that I had to contact FB by phone or in writing.

I phoned, and got a person who first said that she could not do this over the phone, but relented when I insisted that this has been going on long enough as is. She then put me on hold for 10 minutes, and then came back, rather rudely informing me that it was all MY FAULT, because I had entered my wife's free ticket number in the system when claiming the miles. I tried to explain that there was absolutely no way I could have done that because I don't even have my wife's ticket anymore, and the number I entered was my own ticket number (I read it to her and she confirmed that this was not the ticket number they had in their system, but insisted that I entered my wife's ticket# - an impossibility). She then continued to stonewall, and insist in blaming me.

Now I realize that I can send/fax the ticket to AF, and with luck, assuming that someone who perhaps has mastered the art of reading may figure out that two people w/ the same last name but different first names can and do in fact travel together on occasion, and so the problem may be resolved.

But it is just appalling that:
(A) AF would make such a stupid mistake in the first place
(B) When receiving a request for miles credit, the person dealing w/ it could not be bothered to check the ticket number (or even the actual passenger NAME) and discover that it's different from the one they themselves (stupidly) entered in my record for no good reason.
(C) When called about this, AF personnel would be so inflexible, and blame the customer - absurdly - and refuse to do anything about it.
(D) To add insult to injury, the person I spoke to refused to let me talk to a supervisor. even when I insisted repeatedly.
(E) They would do that to someone who is in their fifth year of Platinum on AF and who previously has had no history of any complaints with AF. I mean, AF is not known for gracious problem-sloving, but this seems to stupid and so narrow-minded and so counter-productive as to boggle the mind.
(F) Given the level of callousness and incompetence displayed so far by AF on what should have been a trivial matter to resolve, it seems to me that sending the ticket & boarding card in is likely to result in just more of the same (i.e., some other incompetent person will - LIKE BEFORE - look up the on-line entry (that other incompetent AF personnel made in the first place) see my wife's ticket there, and continue not to credit the mileage due.

Any suggestions as to how I might get this fixed w/o further aggravation? An apology from someone at AF would be nice as well, but I'm beginning to think that getting AF to do the right thing - even in such a trivial matter - is akin to squeezing water from a stone...

Thank you for any useful leads you may give me...The issue is not even the miles per se, but the stupidity and arrogance combined to the difficulty of getting AF to do the right thing. In fact, I have another trip just coming up in August, which will supply enough miles to keep my platinum status for the year, but at this point I'm so disgusted that I'm wondering if I should just bail and use an airline that may be more appreciative of my business...

I once had a similar nightmare with AF. I rarely have problems with AF, but that one really stood out and cost me loads of time. IMHO you just got to know the odd idiot everybody encounters in any large company every now and then.

My advice would be to write a letter to FB including all relevant documents (keep copies for yourself though, just in case). In my experience they are ok at sorting things out. You can copy and paste most of your post above in the letter and are almost finished.

Just note that there has been a thread on the exact same problem in the past few days.

So here's the situation. My wife and I recently flew on AF 066 CDG-LAX, she on a miles ticket off my account, me on a paid ticket, both in business..............rather rudely informing me that it was all MY FAULT, because I had entered my wife's free ticket number in the system when claiming the miles........

The likely culprit is that your FB number was on the free ticket for your wife. The system processed credit for that ticket and rejected it. The system then rejected your paid ticket as it doesn't allow second entry for the same flight.@:-) It is a system quirk which only causes problem when you have two tickets on the same flight with same FB number.

Not trying to defend AF but to explain what might have happened. Hopefully, this may help FB agent to untangle it.;)

Thank you for any useful leads you may give me...The issue is not even the miles per se, but the stupidity and arrogance combined to the difficulty of getting AF to do the right thing.

As with any airline, the suggestion, when you reach an unhelpful agent, would be to hang up and call back to get another agent.

If you have the chance to fly to or through AMS soon, just take all your papers and solve this in 5min with the FB help desk in KL lounge

If you have the chance to fly to or through AMS soon, just take all your papers and solve this in 5min with the FB help desk in KL lounge

Indeed. BTW, it would be good of FB to put similar agents in the CDG lounges. So far it's been hard because of the number of lounges AF uses but now that they are refocusing on 2E and 2F maybe they would consider doing this at 2F and the main 2E lounge (or ideally also S3 and S4)?

The likely culprit is that your FB number was on the free ticket for your wife. The system processed credit for that ticket and rejected it. The system then rejected your paid ticket as it doesn't allow second entry for the same flight.@:-) It is a system quirk which only causes problem when you have two tickets on the same flight with same FB number.

Not trying to defend AF but to explain what might have happened. Hopefully, this may help FB agent to untangle it.;)

I second this opinion ! ^

Show them your BP as it would have your paid ticket number on it and they have to use that as reference for your flight.

Indeed. BTW, it would be good of FB to put similar agents in the CDG lounges. So far it's been hard because of the number of lounges AF uses but now that they are refocusing on 2E and 2F maybe they would consider doing this at 2F and the main 2E lounge (or ideally also S3 and S4)?

During the DO, we mentioned this during the FB workshop. They said they will study it. Let's hope :-:

During the DO, we mentioned this during the FB workshop. They said they will study it. Let's hope :-:

I believe it was mentioned that there would be a customer service desk (not sure about the FFP) in the new lounge at S4.

I had the exact same issue last year with me on paid J and the wife on miles. The problem appears to be that the flights are proceesed with the miles flight first. Since your account has already been credited with 0 miles for the lfight, it will not let your account be credited the same flight with X miles for being in J so it just skips those records.

I also had to hang up and try again after the first one became vary rude about it, Not accusing me of doing anything wrong, but just not wanting to listen that the first ticket was in my wife's name and not mine.

At the lounge in AMS the FB lady told me that its a (very) common issue, and well-known by FB employees. She corrected my case in just 2 minutes..