Air France Frequence Plus - Check-in at Air France 101: a guide for dummies

Modern airlines have made traveling a lot easier by offering electronic tickets and a choice of possibilities how to check in: at the airport counter, at self-service kiosks at airports and elsewhere, at home over the internet, on one’s mobile phone via SMS or a mobile internet interface. Things should also be easy for people traveling on one airline or one alliance by checking through their luggage until the final destination, and for frequent flyers who would never need to worry about their ticket again as everything would be stored under their FFP number. Status pax shouldn’t worry, the best seats would be reserved for them.

There are numerous airlines where these things work very well. Fully visible seat maps when checking-in remotely, best seats guaranteed for status customers, many also offer advanced seat reservation for short-haul Economy flights for their status pax, and all of that by quoting one’s FFP number. Certain airlines have gone so far as to allow for boarding passes on mobile phones, where a bar code is read by an infrared reader at the gate, and off one goes.

Air France, one of the world’s leaders in civil aviation, offers most of this as well – well, sort of. Never underestimate the power of the “AFCOMATIUNCO” – the Air France Committee to make things unnecessarily complex (even their name).

Electronic tickets? Yes, sure, AF has that. The small print on their website says “Thanks to the electronic ticket, you no longer run the risk of losing or forgetting your ticket!”. Obvious, because it’s a paperless ticket – no paper, nothing I can lose. But then, when you try to approach the check-in desks at Terminal 2D and sometimes also at 2F and 2E, you are being asked for a paper (!) “confirmation”. So what is the point of an electronic, i.e. paperless, ticket if to take my flight I have to have a paper with me? Maybe it’s not called a ticket, but it defeats the purpose of paperless travel.

Check-in on the internet? Again, that exist in the AF world. But it’s not as simple as “type in your FFP number and we show you a seat map, you print your boarding pass and just make sure you come to the gate before doors close”. No no no. For our entertainment Air France has created a wealth of variants: FFP numbers are sometimes recognized. They are definiteley not recognized if you have different flights on different ticket numbers in the next 30 hours, and they may or may not be recognized if you just changed your reservation. Instead you can give your ticket number, that is the veeery long number on your ticket, which changes with every trip, and which you don’t know by heart – unlike the short number of your FFP card. In other words, make sure you have that ticket number somewhere (for instance on the paper that accompanies the paperless ticket :rolleyes:). Other than that you have some other golden rules: you cannot get your boarding pass if leaving from/to the US, and numerous other destinations. For some of them it sometimes works, sometimes not. You get a “check-in confirmation” which means that you still have to turn up before the CKI deadline at the airport. Also, you cannot get your transfer boarding pass when changing between ORY and CDG from the internet. And to make things really a surprise every time, it may also be that the thing which does not work on the AF site does work on the KLM site, although the underlying platform is the same. As for seats, you do get the first two rows on domestic flights, but other than that you get stuffed wherever suits AF. You can of course try to change your seat, but there’s of course no protection from the seat next to you being occupied as well.

As for mobile phone check-in, the portal is a reminder that to go to heaven you need to go through many doors. Unlike a little mobile application which stores your data and where pushing the “check in” button will give you all your upcoming flights available for check-in, you are first asked for that ticket number again. To enter your FFP number, you have to do a first click. Then some more clicks, until you have the choice not from a seat map, but between “aisle” and “window”. In the front, in the back, emergency exit – nada. You take what you get. If you don’t like it you may change from aisle to window or the other way around. But if you wanted 10A instead of 8A, forget it. Then, there are mobile boarding passes, which is good as you don’t have to pick up your BP at the airport before the deadline. Trouble is, the chaps checking your BP before you enter the check-in area/the line for your CKI counter/the Acces No. 1 lane/the security filter – there’s always a fair chance that one of them will refuse your mobile BP and ask for a paper one. Which of course you can’t get if it’s after the CKI deadline.

Then there are kiosks. They work in 80% of cases. But if they don’t, getting out of trouble is difficult. The easy bugs can easily circumvented by experienced travelers like us. But the difficult bugs – like the kiosk offering you two flights in five weeks’ time, but not today’s flight; the kiosk not recognizing/remembering the seat choice that you’ve done on the web previously – cannot even be resolved by the “service” staff at hand to help you (not). Still, these kiosks are my best friends compared to all the other methods.

And then there’s the counter. If you think your brain could go lazy and you just go to any Air France counter, drop your luggage and get your BP – ah non, Monsieur, not so easy. Stepping on board an Air France flight is a privilege that has to be earned. So here we go: in Terminal 2D there is one counter per flight. Except for business class where there is one counter for all flights. Trouble is, if you don’t know where the Business Class CKI desk is you just have to rely on your luck to find it. In Terminal 2F there are counters for regions, but there’s nowhere where it says which row of counters covers which region. And then also the Business Class counters for those same regions are not always adjacent to the corresponding Economy counters. At least now the row of counters have big signs on top of them saying for which class they are. But if you enter the terminal building somewhere in the middle you have to take your chance and walk either left or right to read the signs above the counters. If you walk left but your counters are to the right end of the terminal, well, just walk back. Why signposts can’t be put up is unclear to me. The departure boards only show the CKI counters for Eco. Terminal 2E seems to be better organized, with at least some sort of signposting. But then, why not have signposts outside the terminals? For instance, at 2F, why not have signs at the various doors saying “Economy Schengen”, “Affaires non-Schengen”, etc.

Once you found your counter, some person wants to see the imprint of your paperless ticket (how they can ask for a paper version of an electronic ticket without realizing how idiotic that request is is still beyond me), and maybe your passport. Sometimes not. Sometimes no person. Sometimes you show them your paper, but you still end up in the wrong line because they haven’t looked properly (normal, they are paid for taking a look, not paid for actually reading, understanding what is written and guiding the pax accordingly – it’s you who has to merit your AF flight, not them. They sneak in for free, don’t worry).

Also, in its eagerness to promote self-CKI and bag drop, there are situations where there is an Eco counter, two bag drop counters, and an unmanned Affaires counter. When you are in Affaires and the kiosk is on strike you would probably just walk up to the bag drop counter where there is no other pax waiting and just have them check you in. But you’d be told by the two work-less ladies that you have to queue up in the long Eco line because this is only for bag drop. They don’t care that the kiosk doesn’t work, that you’re Platinum, that CKI closes in 3 minutes – rules are rules. Not when it comes to upgrades of AF employees, but when it comes to making sure people stand in line.

This entire zoo of creating more hassle than necessary is yet another proof that Air France doesn’t understand how to speed up and smoothen the travel process for frequent and premium travelers. They don’t understand that for many of us our FFP number is like our phone number, we know it. But no, they ask for the ticket number – which is like asking me for the number of my SIM card. They don’t understand that playing hide-and-seek with check-in counters is a possible waste of time – instead of simply having a policy of “any desk for any flight.” They don’t see where assistance is needed – it is needed with kiosks when they don’t work, or with seat-blocking. It’s not with telling me that Barcelona is part of Schengen. They don’t leverage the possible benefits of using the FFP card as a single identifier for everything, nor the benefits of having electronic tickets and thus doing away with all paper.

But then, are we surprised?

To take away all ammunition from AF apologizers: I am not saying AF is the worst, but then why should one only criticize a company when they are the worst? They are still bad enough to leave much room for improvement.

To take away all ammunition from AF apologizers: I am not saying AF is the worst, but then why should one only criticize a company when they are the worst? They are still bad enough to leave much room for improvement.

Let's put it this way. I travel mostly intra-Europe on:

1. AF
2. BA
(a distant) 3. OS

often on flexible tickets. Each of these carriers has its quirks and idiosyncracies. It is true that I seldom have more than one open itinerary for which at least one segment has already been flown and that I fly no more than 3 segments per week. Given this travel pattern, none of my 3 main carriers is perfect and none makes my travel cumbersome. They just have different areas for improvement, some of which I may be concerned or utterly unconcerned with. But then, that's just me. ;)

As far as I am concerned I find this guide useful, acute, precise and entertaining! And I have been throughost of these issues already.

Which is unfortunate, AF can do better.

Thanks creber for making funnny what it is exapserating.

But now I have resigned and I expect some things from AF when flying AF that other airlines could not afford and some things from other airlines when flying these other airlines (like LX) that AF could not afford.

For me AF offers a classy way of flying, and is the airline I have ever flown on. But it represents also the typical complexity you have descibed.

Creber report is interesting to read and it shows what can (must) be improved. However, I think we can tell similar story for every airline. I've never encountered any pb with AF OLCI, smartphone boarding pass, check-in at kiosk, but interestingly, I've never been able to check-in on a kiosk on any US airlines (AA, CO, UA, DL) except NW (before merger), while many pax never have pb with this. To focus on smartphone boarding pass, I like to use it as a frequent pax, but I have to acknowledge that it is absolutely inconvenient for all staff involved in boarding pass checking (at security, I.D. check at boarding, and finally at the entrance of the plane) as the destination, flight number and pax name are written very small. And there is a liability isue that was explained to me by an AF agent : to check your BP, they need to touch and "manipulate" your phone to look for the information that are not immediately visible on the screen and if they break your phone, they are responsible.
Checking the e-ticket receipt at 2D has always been surprising to me but it's not an AF thing. It's ADP and concerns all airlines in this terminal. You can find this in many airport in the world when they want to restrict an area to ticketed pax. But in the specific case of 2D, I don't know why this suddenly appeared a few years ago.

This is quite amusing, yes. But also almost all true, at least at LHR T2 which, together with LAX, is my most frequently used AF checkin area. Do the employees at the LHR location have the benefit of being unionized? If not, the rationale for such Roissy behavior is more tenuous.

This is quite amusing, yes. But also almost all true, at least at LHR T2 which, together with LAX, is my most frequently used AF checkin area. Do the employees at the LHR location have the benefit of being unionized? If not, the rationale for such Roissy behavior is more tenuous.

In my personal experience, the AF locally employed (AF Services Ltd contract) ground staff at LHR T2 are among the least welcoming in the AF network.

Oh the joys of getting on a plane..

Loved your 'dummies' guide - Af is by far the most difficult to do online check-in, it has never worked for me, the kiosks are even worse..

In my personal experience, the AF locally employed (AF Services Ltd contract) ground staff at LHR T2 are among the least welcoming in the AF network.

Not that it makes any difference but in fact AFSL is no more. It merged some months ago with KGS (KLM Ground Services) to form Cobalt Ltd. The ticket desk is however manned by employees on AF contract. This may however change in the near future as AF have plans to also outsource this activity.

In my personal experience, the AF locally employed (AF Services Ltd contract) ground staff at LHR T2 are among the least welcoming in the AF network.

While duly noting occasional exceptions, by and large, I couldn't agree more! Some of them are outright frustrating/depressing

Thank-you, Creber, for a very amusing post! ^:) Now, although I agree with many of the sentiments you expressed, I have to admit to ignorance regarding others (e.g. mobile phone BPs).

However, I would like to say that, in my (somewhat limited) experience, the AF staff at the check-in desks at CDG 2E/2F (when I have eventually navigated my way through the bizarre signage to an appropriate counter ;)) have always been efficient, friendly and very helpful (even directing me to the priority lanes and lounges when travelling Y as FB E+). But maybe that's all down to my native charm!

-- Henry

Checking the e-ticket receipt at 2D has always been surprising to me but it's not an AF thing. It's ADP and concerns all airlines in this terminal.

This is 100% true and yet another example how ADP makes AF's life more difficult (even more difficult than they already make it themselves by overcomplicating things). BUT it still is AF's responsibility to put up a sufficient number of kiosks before gorilla-gate. Right now, there are four kiosks (or is it only two?) before the paper check to enter the CKI zone - but about 25 kiosks thereafter. Thus, all those people that don't have any paper on them have to stand in line to get some sort of paper. Look there on a Monday morning, and the wait at those few kiosks is long. AF could do something about it and install another bank of kiosks.

You can find this in many airport in the world when they want to restrict an area to ticketed pax.

It is indeed, but again, because others are bad, how does this make CDG be good? Downward benchmarking is always a poor strategy, albeit all too often used by AF.

I posted before that some management consulting firms had assignements to improve AF ground staff's "client culture" at CDG.

Personaly, I have experienced some very helpful, polite and efficient AF ground agents at CDG as well as some very rude ones. I guess this is how it works.

Personaly, I have experienced some very helpful, polite and efficient AF ground agents at CDG as well as some very rude ones. I guess this is how it works.

Fully agree, some of them are phantastic. Only a few ones at CDG are really out of place (London LHR indeed was a real problem, glad to hear it's changed now).

But then, my guide was more focusing on the process/system/pax flow setup of things, less on the human factor. It may be nice to have a perfectly gentle, nice and understanding person helping me out - but it still costs me time and nerves that first internet CKI doesn't work, mobile CKI doesn't let me choose my seat, and then I need to go though several needless controls to arrive at that gentle, nice and understanding person's desk.

Not that it makes any difference but in fact AFSL is no more. It merged some months ago with KGS (KLM Ground Services) to form Cobalt Ltd. The ticket desk is however manned by employees on AF contract. This may however change in the near future as AF have plans to also outsource this activity.

Thanks for the update :).

Since I opened this thread some things have changed and I want to make sure Air France gets all the ^^^ they deserve for those changes (they get so much bad press these days, in the public).

Mobile phone boarding passes have now been rolled out to large parts of the network, and from my own experience they work like a charm. Used them on several flights from CDG and to CDG, never any problem at security controls, check-in, on the plane. ^

One thing to remember though if you don't want to be trapped: if you do the check-in on the PC and opt for "immediate printout" or "print BP to be sent to my email" but then fail to print out your BP, you *can* retrieve your CKI details on your mobile phone by just going through the CKI process on the mobile phone itself. BUT (!) the system will consider this a *new* check-in and therefore you have to stick to the CKI deadlines. It's another one of these typical AF half thought through things, but well, in the grand scheme of things this is a minor point in a context of a big improvement.

Let's hope for next steps: ability to CKI on mobile with choice of seat, and mobile CKI to systematically recognize Flying Blue number as ID for electronic ticket. And a somewhat more user-friendly and esthetic user interface, something like the iPhone apps developed by many airlines.

But for now: well done! This makes travel with AF a little less hasslesome.