Flying_Duck

Ms. Duck was visiting her ailing mother in Denmark and was returning to SLC 12/21/05. After arriving in Paris, she went to the AF BC lounge and kept an eye on the monitor. She saw no "go-to-the-gate", for her flight (DL 21) scheduled to leave 11:45 am. - but did see it for others. At 11:10 she decides to go to the gate to find out what is going on. When she arrives, 11:15 am, she sees that the Gate reads "gate closed" and sees the dors closing on what has to be the last bus as it takes off. She ask whether she can get to the plane, but is told "no way - gate is closed" and is told that her luggage now will have to be removed from the plane (to which she astutely replied that that would the first time in years her luggage would have made it on the Transatlantic plane when transitting in CDG!!). She can actually see the plane just across the tarmac and can actually see her luggage being taken out, resulting in the plane being 30 minutes delayed (left 12:17 PM).

She goes back to the lounge and now has to endure a nasty supervisor deriding her for missing the plane. Mrs. Duck defends herself with nothing being on the monitor and no announcement calling for her being made in the lounge. The supervisor continues to bash her to the point where Mrs. Duck, who is a seasoned traveler, asks her whether she truly believes she missed the plane on purpose in order to endure hours wait and uncertainty as to whether she will make it back to the U.S. that day. Madame "I-was- opbviously-chosen-for-this-position-at-CDG-for-my-lack-of-people-skills" huffing and puffing books Mrs. Duck on the next Delta flight (DL 51) 2 hours later. Somewhat surprisingly, she is not downgraded (she was traveling on a BC award ticket), however, there were no F-class seat from ATL-SLC. Finally arriving home 10 PM (rather than 7:30 PM) - Oh yeah, of course without suitcases as happened to a large portion of the paxes on DL 51 - nothing new there!!.

Finding a way to get my wife to the plane 30 minutes prior to planned departure: <b> Impossible!!</b>. Delaying said flight 30 minutes so her suitcases could be taken off (having left 60 minutes to somehow getting her out there): <b>No Problem!!</b> Treating her like an imbecile when needing rebooking: <b>Standard operating procedure!! </b>

Just can't win in CDG I guess

MikeMpls

After a couple close calls, I learned always to be at the gate at the prescribed time. Don't believe monitors, and don't believe estimates as to when a flight might eventually leave. Sounds like Mrs. Duck has yet to learn that lesson. That doesn't excuse any rudeness and stupidity on the other side, but Mrs. Duck could have avoided the situtation.

(Now if only I'd had time even to find a lounge on my last mad endless rush through CDG!)

fastflyer

CDG has regressed so far that it now functions like a 1960s airport:

- lots of single-file lines
- huge distances to travel on bus, broken by interludes of passengers unloaded to march up and down stairs, (you expected to roll your bags?!)
- arbitrary yet unrelenting deadlines for boarding (boarding will occur strictly from 11:00 until 11:15).

I have found that 2 hours are barely adequate for a connection, and the passengers must check, physically go to the gate to check, on the departing flight at least once every 15 minutes. If the lounge is more than 7.5 minutes from the gate, well, too bad.

hfly

Sounds like a typical CDg story to me. Even happened to me once, except that I had asked the desk people in the louge several times to check on the flight and was told each time that it was not yet boarding. I believe the Supervisor thatyou are describing is named Genevieve, have had several run-ins with her over the years, she is especially rolled out in order to blame everything on pax, try to make them feel like crap and try to do nothing to help/assist (which she eventually will do only if the right threats are made, however always an extremely tiring experience).

Mountain Trader

Sounds more like an Air France horror story to me.

When we went thru CDG Terminal 2 a month ago, the front half of the operation (eg. through security) was pretty normal. The back half is still a mess following the roof collapse in mid-2004.

Our Delta boarding pass had printed in large letters that you had to get out to the bus boarding area at least 45 minutes before departure, and when we checked in, we again were warned by AF personnel who handle Delta ground ops at CDG. I guess your wife wasn't aware of the lead time needed for this temporary, one-off system of buses, etc. It is pretty byzantine.

The rest of your tale involves AF ground ops people, and I can't comment further since my mother taught me that if you can't say someting nice........

avflyer

CDG Issues...Ha Ha Ha.

My favorite one was that after you got off the bus (arriving), you had to take an escalator upstairs to where you move along to your connecting flight (which usually involves yet another bus). Why they parked an AF CSR at the top of the escalator (to help out people who were lost) was the most stupid thing I have ever experienced. Imagine boarding an escalator going up while folks just getting off stop to try and get help to their next destination. The stairs just kept on moving and moving, all the while my three kids are getting smushed because no one is getting off at the top. When I brought this dangerous situation to the attention of AF personel, they gave me that "oh...stupid American" look.

FYI, once you start a "Why I hate CDG" thread, it will live on and on.

hfly

"One off" sorry but the bus shuffle has always been a facet of the CDG experience, something which the opening of 2E only slightly lessened (with the right connections you might not have a bus, but you could STILL have three busses). This is the way it has been for many years now.

vennamn

I think this post should be renamed "Another CDG Standard AF Experience Story"

Once at CDG, everyone in the waitlist on my flight to LAX was standing by a monitor saying "Delayed" for more than an hour after the flight had actually left. As expected, the attendants not only refused to inform the waiting pax, but even expressly stated that they would not answer questions. After much insistence (and charm), one attendant finally confessed (quietly, and only to me) that the plane was probably gone.

gayparav

I'm sorry to disagree but I like CDG!

I usually have less than one hour connection and never missed a single flight in 5 years at 3 roundtrip ATL-CDG-MRS a year. Neither did my wife nor my kids.

I cross my fingers since I'll be flying tomorrow to be in MRS for Xmas eve.

Maybe one reason is that I always book on Delta.com but fly AF flights which almost never require a bus ride.

I must say that checking-in in ATL with kids and dog (huge 120 pound one!) is by far my worse airline nightmare. Takes 2 hours to any Delta agent to not make it right so that I have to check in again in CDG...

Vincent
PS: As for luggage, agents are very well used to write delay reports are luggage are very often delayed ;-) That's the part I like since AMEX will pay me $500.00 per ticket for baggage delay insurance.

gayparav

In CDG, I can walk the dog when going to check it in for the connection flight which always make for a fun experience as everybody wants to pet him.

Vincent

DLfan

CDG horror stories are all too common.

I once was held captive on one of those buses bringing us to the terminal. The driver spent no less than 20 minutes parked at a locked door, which the agents inside steadfastly refused to open. He yelled, gestured, made loud radio calls, got out and stomped around, but would not move the bus nor let us off. The flight from Prague had arrived late, so we were already short of time and a passenger uprising was in the making. He finally gave up and drove the bus to the other side of the arrival lounge where the door was open and had been throughout. We could all see that buses were unloading there with regularity, while we were kept prisioners.

Another favorite is how they preboard B/E. You get onto a bus, which then does not leave for the plane until it is filled to the gills with coach pax...all of whom exit the bus and board the flight first because the B/E paxs are now stuck behind them all on the bus! Sheeesh!

abrelosojos

This is an actual complaint filed with several agencies (including DOT) re: Air France and CDG. I got this complaint from the person who filed it and he has given me the green signal to post this. Given my own incidents with AF and CDG, I am not surprised at all.

Cheers,
A.

================================================== ========

December XX, 2005

Air France
Service Clients
Tsa 60001
60035 Beauvais Cedex
FRANCE

Re: General Rudeness and Racial Slurs used by Air France transfer desk agent at CDG

To Whom It May Concern:

As an economist with XXX and with travel experiences to 80 countries, and as a Skyteam Platinum Elite with both DL and NW, I was stunned and saddened to witness the level of intolerance that still exists on our planet. Coming on the heels of another incident (see attached letter), I am convinced that the institution of Air France needs to adapt its work practices to reflect its global clientele and an integrated world.

On November 26th, I was connecting on Air France (flights XXX to XXX) through CDG and experienced the absolute worst customer response and racial slurs I have ever witnessed while traveling over 3,000,000 miles in over 80 countries. This happened with the agent who worked in terminal 2F transfer desk – between terminal 2D and gates 41-56. She was in her 50s and had dark hair. Moreover, she accessed my reservation to reprint my boarding card for AF XXXX (XXX-XXX) around early afternoon. My AF PNR is XXXXXX and my DL code was XXXXXX. Finally, I remember her supervisor addressing her as XXX or something along those lines. I am providing all this information as she refused to give me her name. However, since she printed the boarding pass, her agent sign code/ensigned code must be on the AF PNR.

I was standing in the Business Class/Elite line when a pregnant American lady in front of me asked her to call security as she was in pain. In the most incredible response ever, which departed from any norm of human decency and respect, the AF agent (hereby known as Miss AF) said, “It’s not my fault that you’re pregnant – can’t you see we are busy?” As the woman was in pain, I assisted her and came back to Miss AF retorting with “you have been causing problems for a while.” She was obviously agitated and responded to my very polite “Can you tell me if my flight is cancelled?” with “This is NOT YOUR COUNTRY where people are slaves. You should be grateful we let you in. Your country is full of uncivilized morons.”(Last comment in French) Her comments were made without looking at my passport (BRASIL) or without any background information of me, not that this information is relevant in any civilized society. As I kept trying my best to remain calm and muttered a polite “I feel sorry that you have so much hate,” she went on an anti-American (war against Iraq, American arrogance, President Bush) and anti-immigrant tirade in French. Moreover, she kept on referring to me as the “dirty one” whose “people had to be educated.” Throughout it all, none of her peers interrupted her or stood up against the flagrant racial abuse. Her supervisor was extremely aggressive and refused to hear me out; she insisted that I could only get her name if she volunteered with it.

I have never felt more humiliated in my life; moreover, I have never felt so disappointed with an airline. The fact that this incident comes on the heels of another on board AF, and that Miss AF’s supervisors did nothing only makes me believe there is an endemic problem within Air France.


I would strongly urge Air France to look into this serious matter and institute cultural sensitivity training. At an airline with global aspirations operating at an international hub, there is absolutely no place for bigoted racist hatred. Moreover, the handling of passengers in need (in this case, the pregnant woman) does not constitute doing anything beyond regular human compassion. It is my sincere hope that the institution of Air France can respond to my letter and ensure that bigotry is not accepted by the organization as it strives to maintain and satisfy a global clientele. Finally, I would encourage Air France to institute measures that incorporate the ability of consumers to take down names of those professionals who have violated every norm of human dignity. By allowing an environment where AF agents are offered anonymity, serious bigots and poor customer service can only thrive.

Sincerely,
XXX

amarain

Wow, just when I thought CDG couldn't get any worse! "It's not my fault you're pregnant" !?!?!??!

I would take ATL in a heartbeat over CDG. At least ATL's layout makes sense, and is an airport that's actually designed for planes to land there and for human passengers to move around, even if it can be a madhouse at times. Usually the worst ATL staff is clueless, but rarely downright and blatantly rude, and I've found on the whole they're actually pretty good (had a great experience recently with AF's ATL staff).

BearX220

I would take JFK over CDG. Unbelievable. And obviously the French have some cultural/national issues to resolve; it looks like they inform some of the psychodrama going on at the transfer desks.

abrelosojos

What I just dont get is WHY the hell institute a policy in which agents are not obliged to give out names or have tags ... including supervisors.

-A.