Flying Blue Regular Platinum
Jun 28, 2019, 4:45 am
#80
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: CMN,DXB,CDG
Programs: Flying Blue Platinum
Posts: 764
TL;DR version at the end.
Another "Regular Platinum Level-of-service" experience that may be worth sharing. Was considering to post this in the "I cant believe I made it" thread or this one, but it does highlight I guess the level of service one "might" expect when regular Plat.:
Scheduled to fly the following during storms & strong winds over France earlier in June this year (routing due to cheap J fares on UX from MXP) :
Day 1: CDG-LYS-MXP (AF-coded and operated)
Day 2: MXP-MAD-JFK (UX-coded and operated)
Both different bookings
At the airport day 1, I noticed my CDG-LYS flight was delayed, making it a very tight connection in LYS (it will turn out the LYS-MXP flight will be cancelled later that day anyway, but not the point). I checked-in, and was in the 2F satellite and inquired about the flight to the customer desk they set-up right after the shops. The AF agent told me that the flight will actually be later than what was initially announced and that I will not make the connection in LYS. So I started to ask about rerouting and explained why I needed to be in MXP that night (flight MXP-MAD day 2 was leaving early in the morning). She acknowledged my Plat status and say "we'll do everything we can" (and actually meant it
). She proceeded first to try to book me on another CDG-MXP direct flight, but all were full with several stand-by (several CDG-MXP/LIN on Alitalia & AF were cancelled that day), so she said she couldn't guarantee that I would arrive that night. She then tried to route me CDG-AMS-MXP, but same issue with AMS and KL. Than she tried to call UX to ask them if they were okay to sell back the J ticket to AF, and have AF fly me that night or the next morning direct CDG-JFK in J. They were okay, but turned out all flights to JFK were also sold out with several PAX on stand-by as well. She then offered to route me to Rome and that I rent a car from there (to which I replied she was probably not that familiar with Italy's geographic, since renting a car in CDG and drive to MXP would probably - 2 hours difference, give or take- be the same). Finally, she came up with an other idea: she looked at CDG-MAD the next morning, where she could guarantee a seat, called back UX to ask them to remove me from the MXP-MAD segments while ensuring that the other segments would still be confirmed, to which they said okay (side-note : due to restrictive, consecutive ways you have to fly segments, not sure I would have obtain the same if I called UX and inquired about this myself). So she booked me on the CDG-MAD and I ended up doing Day 2 only, CDG-MAD-JFK. She really went beyond to make the flights happens, and I assume this was (at least partially) due to my Platinum status as it was mentioned several time over the phone when she was talking with other booking agents. I even got a EUR 375 voucher afterwards. What meant a lot to me is that even though the second part of the booking had nothing to do with AF, she did try to fix it and make it happen.
TL;DR: was about to miss an important flight routing on two different bookings (including a non-AF, ST one), and AF agent successfully made it happen at a very tense, busy and complex time in CDG, partly due to my Platinum status.
Another "Regular Platinum Level-of-service" experience that may be worth sharing. Was considering to post this in the "I cant believe I made it" thread or this one, but it does highlight I guess the level of service one "might" expect when regular Plat.:
Scheduled to fly the following during storms & strong winds over France earlier in June this year (routing due to cheap J fares on UX from MXP) :
Day 1: CDG-LYS-MXP (AF-coded and operated)
Day 2: MXP-MAD-JFK (UX-coded and operated)
Both different bookings
At the airport day 1, I noticed my CDG-LYS flight was delayed, making it a very tight connection in LYS (it will turn out the LYS-MXP flight will be cancelled later that day anyway, but not the point). I checked-in, and was in the 2F satellite and inquired about the flight to the customer desk they set-up right after the shops. The AF agent told me that the flight will actually be later than what was initially announced and that I will not make the connection in LYS. So I started to ask about rerouting and explained why I needed to be in MXP that night (flight MXP-MAD day 2 was leaving early in the morning). She acknowledged my Plat status and say "we'll do everything we can" (and actually meant it
). She proceeded first to try to book me on another CDG-MXP direct flight, but all were full with several stand-by (several CDG-MXP/LIN on Alitalia & AF were cancelled that day), so she said she couldn't guarantee that I would arrive that night. She then tried to route me CDG-AMS-MXP, but same issue with AMS and KL. Than she tried to call UX to ask them if they were okay to sell back the J ticket to AF, and have AF fly me that night or the next morning direct CDG-JFK in J. They were okay, but turned out all flights to JFK were also sold out with several PAX on stand-by as well. She then offered to route me to Rome and that I rent a car from there (to which I replied she was probably not that familiar with Italy's geographic, since renting a car in CDG and drive to MXP would probably - 2 hours difference, give or take- be the same). Finally, she came up with an other idea: she looked at CDG-MAD the next morning, where she could guarantee a seat, called back UX to ask them to remove me from the MXP-MAD segments while ensuring that the other segments would still be confirmed, to which they said okay (side-note : due to restrictive, consecutive ways you have to fly segments, not sure I would have obtain the same if I called UX and inquired about this myself). So she booked me on the CDG-MAD and I ended up doing Day 2 only, CDG-MAD-JFK. She really went beyond to make the flights happens, and I assume this was (at least partially) due to my Platinum status as it was mentioned several time over the phone when she was talking with other booking agents. I even got a EUR 375 voucher afterwards. What meant a lot to me is that even though the second part of the booking had nothing to do with AF, she did try to fix it and make it happen.TL;DR: was about to miss an important flight routing on two different bookings (including a non-AF, ST one), and AF agent successfully made it happen at a very tense, busy and complex time in CDG, partly due to my Platinum status.
Jun 28, 2019, 5:00 am
#81
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 756
TL;DR version at the end.
Another "Regular Platinum Level-of-service" experience that may be worth sharing. Was considering to post this in the "I cant believe I made it" thread or this one, but it does highlight I guess the level of service one "might" expect when regular Plat.:
Scheduled to fly the following during storms & strong winds over France earlier in June this year (routing due to cheap J fares on UX from MXP) :
Day 1: CDG-LYS-MXP (AF-coded and operated)
Day 2: MXP-MAD-JFK (UX-coded and operated)
Both different bookings
At the airport day 1, I noticed my CDG-LYS flight was delayed, making it a very tight connection in LYS (it will turn out the LYS-MXP flight will be cancelled later that day anyway, but not the point). I checked-in, and was in the 2F satellite and inquired about the flight to the customer desk they set-up right after the shops. The AF agent told me that the flight will actually be later than what was initially announced and that I will not make the connection in LYS. So I started to ask about rerouting and explained why I needed to be in MXP that night (flight MXP-MAD day 2 was leaving early in the morning). She acknowledged my Plat status and say "we'll do everything we can" (and actually meant it ). She proceeded first to try to book me on another CDG-MXP direct flight, but all were full with several stand-by (several CDG-MXP/LIN on Alitalia & AF were cancelled that day), so she said she couldn't guarantee that I would arrive that night. She then tried to route me CDG-AMS-MXP, but same issue with AMS and KL. Than she tried to call UX to ask them if they were okay to sell back the J ticket to AF, and have AF fly me that night or the next morning direct CDG-JFK in J. They were okay, but turned out all flights to JFK were also sold out with several PAX on stand-by as well. She then offered to route me to Rome and that I rent a car from there (to which I replied she was probably not that familiar with Italy's geographic, since renting a car in CDG and drive to MXP would probably - 2 hours difference, give or take- be the same). Finally, she came up with an other idea: she looked at CDG-MAD the next morning, where she could guarantee a seat, called back UX to ask them to remove me from the MXP-MAD segments while ensuring that the other segments would still be confirmed, to which they said okay (side-note : due to restrictive, consecutive ways you have to fly segments, not sure I would have obtain the same if I called UX and inquired about this myself). So she booked me on the CDG-MAD and I ended up doing Day 2 only, CDG-MAD-JFK. She really went beyond to make the flights happens, and I assume this was (at least partially) due to my Platinum status as it was mentioned several time over the phone when she was talking with other booking agents. I even got a EUR 375 voucher afterwards. What meant a lot to me is that even though the second part of the booking had nothing to do with AF, she did try to fix it and make it happen.
TL;DR: was about to miss an important flight routing on two different bookings (including a non-AF, ST one), and AF agent successfully made it happen at a very tense, busy and complex time in CDG, partly due to my Platinum status.
Another "Regular Platinum Level-of-service" experience that may be worth sharing. Was considering to post this in the "I cant believe I made it" thread or this one, but it does highlight I guess the level of service one "might" expect when regular Plat.:
Scheduled to fly the following during storms & strong winds over France earlier in June this year (routing due to cheap J fares on UX from MXP) :
Day 1: CDG-LYS-MXP (AF-coded and operated)
Day 2: MXP-MAD-JFK (UX-coded and operated)
Both different bookings
At the airport day 1, I noticed my CDG-LYS flight was delayed, making it a very tight connection in LYS (it will turn out the LYS-MXP flight will be cancelled later that day anyway, but not the point). I checked-in, and was in the 2F satellite and inquired about the flight to the customer desk they set-up right after the shops. The AF agent told me that the flight will actually be later than what was initially announced and that I will not make the connection in LYS. So I started to ask about rerouting and explained why I needed to be in MXP that night (flight MXP-MAD day 2 was leaving early in the morning). She acknowledged my Plat status and say "we'll do everything we can" (and actually meant it
). She proceeded first to try to book me on another CDG-MXP direct flight, but all were full with several stand-by (several CDG-MXP/LIN on Alitalia & AF were cancelled that day), so she said she couldn't guarantee that I would arrive that night. She then tried to route me CDG-AMS-MXP, but same issue with AMS and KL. Than she tried to call UX to ask them if they were okay to sell back the J ticket to AF, and have AF fly me that night or the next morning direct CDG-JFK in J. They were okay, but turned out all flights to JFK were also sold out with several PAX on stand-by as well. She then offered to route me to Rome and that I rent a car from there (to which I replied she was probably not that familiar with Italy's geographic, since renting a car in CDG and drive to MXP would probably - 2 hours difference, give or take- be the same). Finally, she came up with an other idea: she looked at CDG-MAD the next morning, where she could guarantee a seat, called back UX to ask them to remove me from the MXP-MAD segments while ensuring that the other segments would still be confirmed, to which they said okay (side-note : due to restrictive, consecutive ways you have to fly segments, not sure I would have obtain the same if I called UX and inquired about this myself). So she booked me on the CDG-MAD and I ended up doing Day 2 only, CDG-MAD-JFK. She really went beyond to make the flights happens, and I assume this was (at least partially) due to my Platinum status as it was mentioned several time over the phone when she was talking with other booking agents. I even got a EUR 375 voucher afterwards. What meant a lot to me is that even though the second part of the booking had nothing to do with AF, she did try to fix it and make it happen.TL;DR: was about to miss an important flight routing on two different bookings (including a non-AF, ST one), and AF agent successfully made it happen at a very tense, busy and complex time in CDG, partly due to my Platinum status.
Jun 30, 2019, 10:54 am
#82
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Jnb
Programs: FB PFL
Posts: 68
AF dreamliner cdg nbo saturday night red eye, booked N, packed plane opup to PE (by the way PE seats on the 787 are so much better than on 777 or 380..), chef de cabine came by to apologies for the delay (1h, AC issues), then was offered wine from C, then an expresso, ... plane was packed with folks going on holiday. felt special, as on that flight I passed the bar of 600XP, and with 8 years Plat behind me, I guess unless my math is wrong, I am now Plat for life!
Jun 30, 2019, 2:22 pm
#83
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Montreux CH
Programs: FB Platinum, M&M FTL, BA Blue
Posts: 11,609
So if you exceed the number of XP necessary to renew Plat, for example you do 500 (instead of 300), do the 200 exra just get carried over to the following year? I am pretty sure they do, but I am just looking for confirmation.
Jun 30, 2019, 2:34 pm
#84
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 756
Jul 1, 2019, 4:47 am
#85
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Zanzibar
Programs: Flying Blue
Posts: 1,319
Had a really nice one the other day
Travelling to UIO. Me direct, Miss G on a separate ticket via Paris (way cheaper). We checked in together. He asked us for a moment, went away, came back and said he needed to call to check something. We did not really noticed what was going on as we where early and I had a lot of luggage which always causes calls etc. Then he presented our boarding passes. We where both on the same flight next to each other direct.
Travelling to UIO. Me direct, Miss G on a separate ticket via Paris (way cheaper). We checked in together. He asked us for a moment, went away, came back and said he needed to call to check something. We did not really noticed what was going on as we where early and I had a lot of luggage which always causes calls etc. Then he presented our boarding passes. We where both on the same flight next to each other direct.
Jul 1, 2019, 5:21 am
#86
Join Date: Jun 2017
Programs: FB Plat
Posts: 195
Had a really nice one the other day
Travelling to UIO. Me direct, Miss G on a separate ticket via Paris (way cheaper). We checked in together. He asked us for a moment, went away, came back and said he needed to call to check something. We did not really noticed what was going on as we where early and I had a lot of luggage which always causes calls etc. Then he presented our boarding passes. We where both on the same flight next to each other direct.
Travelling to UIO. Me direct, Miss G on a separate ticket via Paris (way cheaper). We checked in together. He asked us for a moment, went away, came back and said he needed to call to check something. We did not really noticed what was going on as we where early and I had a lot of luggage which always causes calls etc. Then he presented our boarding passes. We where both on the same flight next to each other direct.
Jul 1, 2019, 11:14 am
#87
Join Date: Jul 2019
Programs: FB Platinum / Privium+ / Hilton Gold
Posts: 36
Being platinum for a few months biggest benefit to me is the platinum line which helped me more then once.
besides sky priority and at least Y+
hard product is okay for me, soft product I had serveral occasions some extra care from the purser and an extra drink while in Y+
besides sky priority and at least Y+
hard product is okay for me, soft product I had serveral occasions some extra care from the purser and an extra drink while in Y+
Jul 3, 2019, 2:33 am
#89
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: 🇸🇬 🇭🇰 🇫🇷
Programs: Many
Posts: 4,749
And to be honest, this is has been a constant quality benefit since the days of Le Club.
One very good thing about the Platinum line is their ability to deal with both revenue and award tickets.
Jul 3, 2019, 5:24 am
#90
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: France
Programs: FB Plat for Life, UAMP, BAEC, Accor ALL Platinum, Marriott silver, Hilton, Meliá silver.
Posts: 3,117
How could Ms G fly via Paris as there is no CDG/UIO flight? She could not possibly have been sold an AMS/CDG/AMS/UIO ticket.
Last edited by carnarvon; Jul 3, 2019 at 5:34 am