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Delta and Air France alliance? Are you kidding?

Delta and Air France alliance? Are you kidding?

Old May 28, 2013, 5:45 pm
  #1  
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Delta and Air France alliance? Are you kidding?

We booked a round trip from Dallas to Paris, France on Delta which is not a small expense. And now after a half dozen calls to Delta and half a dozen website visits to select my seats, we are told we have to call Air France ?
Air France says `Delta cusotmers can not get assigned seats? `
Note, these tickets are over $1500 each and one would think Delta/Air France would care to keep a customer? Yet, Delta and Air France offer no form of customer support for such a high dollar ticket?

I have never encountered such a nasty process for such a simple activity as selecting seats? Maybe AA has spoiled me ? I have booked on AA and traveled via AA alliances w/ Alaska, Quantas and Iberian with no issues. The transaction was transparent and as smooth as `silk` using AA resources.

So what is the deal with Delta ? Is there a `magic button,` beside booking on a different vendor, to get customer service w/ Delta or their alliance partners ?


Thanks,
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Old May 28, 2013, 7:03 pm
  #2  
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Delta and Air France alliance? Are you kidding?

Call delta ask for AF reservation code which are combination of six letters or numbers then log into air France site go to manage reservation put your code and last name and you will have access to your seat selection I have used this route and it works good luck
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Old May 28, 2013, 7:10 pm
  #3  
 
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I never had problems to reserve seats on AF.com with a DL bought flight, just enter the DL ticket number to retrieve your reservation and assign/change seats. In rare occasions the flight is under airport control and in that case seat selection does not work, but for all customers, not just DL pax.
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Old May 28, 2013, 7:12 pm
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Delta and Air France alliance? Are you kidding?

I believe the DL & AF confirmations will be the same. Go to AF website, then manage reservations...add code & name, you should be able to select seats.
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Old May 28, 2013, 7:43 pm
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Originally Posted by johnkel1
I believe the DL & AF confirmations will be the same. Go to AF website, then manage reservations...add code & name, you should be able to select seats.
Usually not the same confirm #. AF and KL will have the same confirm #.
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Old May 28, 2013, 8:01 pm
  #6  
 
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In this case while you bought a DL ticket from DL, it is operated by AF, and therefore seat selection is an AF function.

As suggested, call DL and ask "for the AF record locator", which will be different from the DL record locator. Note that in the US, DL supports AF and therefore, you could ask to be transferred to an AF representative who can likely select your seat. However, I like to look at the map myself, which is why I recommend simply requesting the record locator and going online.

Next, go to AF.com and type in the AF record locator as well as your last name, and your reservation as well as seat selection should be available.
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Old May 29, 2013, 8:57 pm
  #7  
 
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airfrance.us puts you into the English/US version of the website.

I was able to make and see a Econ seat but not the BE award seats on DL. On AF I could buy a seat plus (exit row) but couldn't pay to get into Premium Economy. I could make the BE seat selections.

The AF flight connected with DL in LAX. I couldn't get the DL BP on AF or from the AF ticket agent. Same with the AF lounge. I was able to get it from DL but had to wait 12 hours. It was like the LAX - LAS reservation was a different ticket.

Be aware - others have lost their seats as they didn't show as checked in on the DL connection.
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Old Jun 2, 2013, 1:04 pm
  #8  
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Awesome idea. I enrolled in AF FF program and used my ticket # to find the flight.
However, I still can not select a seat. We have called AF three times and are told they are `working on it.` AF service really stinks, particularly when you pay over $1500 for a ticket !
One more tidbit, I can login to AF site and try to select a seat. I see an advertisement to `upgrade` my seat. But get this, I can't even upgrade my seat ! Now that's the dumbest marketing mistake I have seen in a while. What's the old say, ` Make it easy to take a customer's money.` Each encounter with AF leaves me shaking my head and say `what are these AF people thinking?

Last edited by biztraveler2007; Jun 2, 2013 at 1:20 pm
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Old Jun 2, 2013, 1:10 pm
  #9  
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This sounds like what we have encountered, ie Delta and AF are not really `code share,` but more like a `divorce code` ( ie dont talk to your x spouse .
We have not logged 8 calls to Delta and AF all with the same result, you have to wait until you check in at the airport. It is ironic that when I login to the AF FF site and try to select a seat, AF advertises seat upgrades, yet I can't even select an `upgrade.` Now that's the dumbest marketing mistake I can think of. DL and AF never heard the saying ` make is easy to take the customers money.`
I did visit with one traveler who said AF will do this intentionally so they can `upsell` you a seat at the airport. Sorry folks, but for a business traveler this just `turns me off to giving AF any more of my time or money.`
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Old Jun 2, 2013, 1:13 pm
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Have you tried using the AF phone app? Sometimes that can work when the site doesn't.
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Old Jun 2, 2013, 3:00 pm
  #11  
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Originally Posted by puddinhead
airfrance.us puts you into the English/US version of the website.

I was able to make and see a Econ seat but not the BE award seats on DL. On AF I could buy a seat plus (exit row) but couldn't pay to get into Premium Economy. I could make the BE seat selections.

The AF flight connected with DL in LAX. I couldn't get the DL BP on AF or from the AF ticket agent. Same with the AF lounge. I was able to get it from DL but had to wait 12 hours. It was like the LAX - LAS reservation was a different ticket.

Be aware - others have lost their seats as they didn't show as checked in on the DL connection.
Note that AF Premium Economy is a separate cabin class and those tickets are sold with different fare classes than those available for coach. It's not at all like EC on DL and KLM, which are just special seats for which one pays an extra fee to reserve the seat (or it's free for high level elites).
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Old Jun 4, 2013, 11:53 pm
  #12  
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We have tried the Delta and AF apps with no luck.
As of today, all I hear from my travel agent, the Delta agents and the Air France agents, is that passengers w/ Delta codeshare to AF can NOT get seat assignments. So it's a `luck of the draw` if you will get a decent seat on the flights and as mentioned above you may have issues getting to your final destination.

Air France has to be the worst in customer service in the industry... And these Air France tickets are NOT cheap tickets. That is, expensive Air France tickets and horrible service. What a way to run an airline...
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Old Jun 5, 2013, 12:13 am
  #13  
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Originally Posted by biztraveler2007
As of today, all I hear from my travel agent, the Delta agents and the Air France agents, is that passengers w/ Delta codeshare to AF can NOT get seat assignments.
This is completely wrong. I did that countless times, including very recently. You can select seats but if you want to select the correct one, you need to go on the site of the carrier operating the flight. So if you have an AF-operated flight (whatever you have a ticket with an AF or a DL flight number), you go on AF (or KL) web site. Same logic if DL-operated flight, go on DL web site.

On AF site, you need the Amadeus reference (as I don't think it's recognizing DL booking ref). On DL web site, you can use indifferently Amadeus ref or DL booking ref.
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Old Jun 5, 2013, 12:16 am
  #14  
 
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Originally Posted by gotofly
Call delta ask for AF reservation code which are combination of six letters or numbers then log into air France site go to manage reservation put your code and last name and you will have access to your seat selection I have used this route and it works good luck
Try the same but with the KLM site as well as the AF site, you may well see different seats available on each site. I've sometimes had AF tickets but better choice using the KL site.
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Old Jun 6, 2013, 4:13 pm
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Originally Posted by Goldorak
This is completely wrong. I did that countless times, including very recently. You can select seats but if you want to select the correct one, you need to go on the site of the carrier operating the flight. So if you have an AF-operated flight (whatever you have a ticket with an AF or a DL flight number), you go on AF (or KL) web site. Same logic if DL-operated flight, go on DL web site.

On AF site, you need the Amadeus reference (as I don't think it's recognizing DL booking ref). On DL web site, you can use indifferently Amadeus ref or DL booking ref.
I book Delta fights on AF all the time. Go to www.airfrance.us, click on the "view/modify your reservation". Enter the Delta TICKET NUMBER and delete the last number, enter your last name, and click on "search". This will bring up your AF booking. Jot down the AF reservation code. Scroll done to "preferences" and click modify/change. It will bring up the seat dselection screen. Works for me every time.
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