Booking DL domestic flights with FB miles
May 8, 2019, 5:55 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2019
Programs: FB Gold, Accor Gold, IHG One Rewards Platinum, SNCF Grand Voyager le club, Hertz 5* Gold,
Posts: 326
Booking DL domestic flights with FB miles
How hard can it be? A whole morning, just for 3 flights 
Having read here that it was necessary to call FB to book DL flights in the US, i thought i'd try it the FB way to start with.
The FB official way is to use the either the Airfrance.fr or KLM.fr sites, but searching there showed no flights available - any route, any date, any class - as seen on FT but i wanted to see how things "work".
I sent an email enquiry to FB support who repeated the same information multiple times - use those sites, even giving step by step instructions on where to click.
Finally after sending the results, again, an FB agent told me to call and they'd waive the 50euro fee for technical issues.
1st call this morning and got a couple of flights sorted - agent didn't make the 50euro charge - great.
Then the line got cut somehow - it happens, no bother, i'll call back.
2nd call and the agent steadfast refused to waive the 50euro fee, saying it was possible to book on-line.
He reviewed the previous emails, saw all the correspondence with FB and investigated.
Finally, he showed me that DL domestic needs to be booked with airfrance.us - not .fr
Suddenly i can search and get results - great.
Then trying to book the last flight i need i get all the way through the booking on airfrance.us and after confirming passenger details there's a "technical error - contact CS" message.
Same error on multiple PCs, OS versions, browsers. Huh.
3rd call to FB and the flight is eventually booked - no 50euro fee.
Why does AF make it so difficult?
One would imagine that the CS agents and website, no matter the region would all be aligned
At least the email responses were quick, even if they turned out to be quite unhelpful..
Also rather disappointing about the flight availability and miles cost when booked through AF/FB compared to what's availability on the DL site in the US.
By my basic calculations, booking through AF/FB compared to DL means the flights are approximately twice the price, if using the miles/point values on TPG.
Not sure i would consider DL/FB partners in the way they advertise it.
For a first foray into mileage awards was quite a disappointing experience
Mal
Having read here that it was necessary to call FB to book DL flights in the US, i thought i'd try it the FB way to start with.
The FB official way is to use the either the Airfrance.fr or KLM.fr sites, but searching there showed no flights available - any route, any date, any class - as seen on FT but i wanted to see how things "work".
I sent an email enquiry to FB support who repeated the same information multiple times - use those sites, even giving step by step instructions on where to click.
Finally after sending the results, again, an FB agent told me to call and they'd waive the 50euro fee for technical issues.
1st call this morning and got a couple of flights sorted - agent didn't make the 50euro charge - great.
Then the line got cut somehow - it happens, no bother, i'll call back.
2nd call and the agent steadfast refused to waive the 50euro fee, saying it was possible to book on-line.
He reviewed the previous emails, saw all the correspondence with FB and investigated.
Finally, he showed me that DL domestic needs to be booked with airfrance.us - not .fr
Suddenly i can search and get results - great.
Then trying to book the last flight i need i get all the way through the booking on airfrance.us and after confirming passenger details there's a "technical error - contact CS" message.
Same error on multiple PCs, OS versions, browsers. Huh.
3rd call to FB and the flight is eventually booked - no 50euro fee.
Why does AF make it so difficult?
One would imagine that the CS agents and website, no matter the region would all be aligned
At least the email responses were quick, even if they turned out to be quite unhelpful..
Also rather disappointing about the flight availability and miles cost when booked through AF/FB compared to what's availability on the DL site in the US.
By my basic calculations, booking through AF/FB compared to DL means the flights are approximately twice the price, if using the miles/point values on TPG.
Not sure i would consider DL/FB partners in the way they advertise it.
For a first foray into mileage awards was quite a disappointing experience
Mal
