newflyer27

Hello everyone,

I just received a mail from AF proposing to give me an 80€ voucher (that can changed for cash) to change my flight to a later one. the offer is called SWING. here is the link, only in French.
https://www.airfrance.fr/FR/fr/commo...ante/swing.htm

at first, I hesitated to open the mail as I thought it was a spam (I received an SMS first) so I called Platinum Line to enquire. The lady on the phone was not aware of this but she went and asked someone else who confirmed the existence of this offer.

In my case, for a ticket ORY NCE that cost me 240 euros (before weekend card discount of 25%), they offer 80 euros to take a later flight which is at least 4 hours after my orignal flight. I am not taking it because I find it low to change my plans and lose my afternoon in the south of France.


has anyone received this before, is this a new way for AF to deal with overbooked flights?

bodory

Very interesting.

I wonder how they deal with EU 261/2004 since the offer to change still seems to come from them.

brunos

I don't think that EC261 applies.
You are not denied boarding or have a cancelled flight.
You voluntarily change your flight (you could keep your original flight if you wish)..

What worries me is the process itself, and we know that AF is not good with execution. It seems that confirmation of the new booking and voucher are sent within 72 hours. That would suggest that there is uncertainty about confirmed booking for a long time.

newflyer27, how far ahead of your flight did you get the email/sms?

newflyer27

My flight is in 10 days from now. So I still have time.

San Gottardo

Yep, right you are. Calling the Plat line and speaking to somebody who has never heard about this is a first symptom. In this case the OP was lucky that the agent didn't just insist that he/she was right but actually asked someone else for help. But that isn't always the case.

Ditto

Well it seems like they are seeking volunteers (which they are obliged to do) well in advance which is a good idea, surely there are people on that flight who won't mind or even prefer moving to a different one and it's much easier to organise those things 10 days before your flight.

NickB

Indeed, although a mere €80 is rather on the mean side. But if they can find volunteers at that price, why not?

brunos

In the example, this was offered 10+ days ahead on ORY-NCE.
I do that route often for leisure and book a long time ahead. In many cases, I would not mind much adjusting my schedule and get 160 (for two pax).

newflyer27

just a follow up on this, the offer is still available 2 days after, although i have less options to choose from.
one of the fligths is appearing 3 times.



Also, when you change the language of the page, the part that said " Une fois cette offre acceptée, vous recevrez par email sous 72 heures la confirmation du nouveau billet ainsi que l’avoir pour chaque passager (sous réserve de disponibilité, l’offre étant limitée)."
becomes this :
"You will receive an e-mail from us within few hours confirming your new flight and a voucher for each passenger. Please note: this offer is limited and subject to availability. "

72 hours in french become "few hours" in english.