A few days ago my wife and I flew AF back from BKK-CDG-IST. Now as some of you may remember, the only reasons for flying AF were that AF owed me two upgrades due to a lost baggage incident, and Af is a Skyteam partner (my wife needed the miles to lock in status for 2001). I don't even want to go into the disaster we had getting out to Vietnam on AF (In short, we didn't: Due to some kind of labour problem in France the IST-CDG flight was going to be really late into CDG, they rebooked us on SR, the seats were terrible-let's not go there. All I can say is that I am currently fighting for the miles).

Anyway, we never got any upgrades because AF customer service stinks and they decided that they would not give them for travel which did not originate in the US.

Anyhow, I digress: I am 6'7", I do not fly coach on long hauls, on the rare occasion that I do, I get an Emergency Exit seat or I simply do not fly (OK, I will take a seat with aminimum of one empty seat next to me in a pinch). I requested over and over again EE seats and was assured by the Af office in Bangkok two days before the flight that the airport had been called and I would get the seats (That's how paranoid I am about this). Besides with Skyteam, I am a "superduper elite plus plus titanium" or something like that (DL Plat).

We arrived at the airport 3 hours before the flight, just after check in opened. I went to the Espace desk, handed in my tickets as well as our DL cards with their newly applied Skyteam stickers, and was told, "These are economy tickets, you have to get in that line!". I said, "look at our cards and status at Delta". to which she said, "Yes, but they both expired on 12/00". I told her that we had not received them and that she should check on her computer.

I was told that they do not have this facility. She than agreed to check us in at that desk but gave us the wonderful seats of 18F and G (the middle of the middle). I of course refused to take them. I asked where my EE's were. She told me that they are only for elite members and that besides there had been no request made (looking over the desk I could see 2 requests in the record in English and one in Turkish). I then asked if we could have a whole row or at least an extra seat. She told me that the flight was overbooked and it was impossible. I asked for the station manager.

Five minutes later Dragon Lady appeared. She told me that I could take the seats offered or not fly. At this point, the check in idiot tried to change the subject by pointing out that we had 4 pieces of luggage which weighed 60 kilos while our limit was 46 kilos. I fought this one off as we had checked the same bags HAN-BKK four days earlier with AF.

Anyway, I asked Dragon lady to please upgrade us as the flight was overbooked by 20. She stated that they would have to take care of Frequence Plus Rouge passenegers 1st and then Bleu passengers. I later established that there were a grand total of two rouges on the flight and one bleu (the two reds were already in Business). She then told me that Delta Platinum meant nothing to her as we fly much less than AF Rouge members. I went nuts, I mean a Rouge has to fly 40K while we have to fly 100K, besides, they should take care of their own first. I just though that as a "Superduper elite" I would at least get upgraded before people with no status on any airline, I later checked the manifest and there were only something like 18 Frequence Plus members on the entire plane.

The woman then told me that she had very little idea about Skyteam as it only came into being the previous week (ie Jan 1st?), and started mumbling about whether I knew that she also had to cater to AeroMex and KL passengers as well.

This was all quite surreal as she then started to mumble about not knowing whether my card was real, and that she couldn't check my mile balance. I responded that soon shw would have to deal with Czech passengers as well. She grunted and started walking away. I then told her that I was going to call Delta in the US from my cell phone to have someone explain to her what Skyteam was and what her responsibilities were.

After 10 minutes I got through to SMS, I explained my problem and tried to get her on the phone. She got very nervous and refused. Then immediately she came up with TWO EMERGENCY EXIT SEATS. Then they refused to give us lounge passes. It took another five minutes to get them!

What a bunch of *ssholes. I really really hate AF. Look Skyteam has been around for 6 months now and they can't even teach their people what it is. They have no concept of service or customer loyalty.

Delta really has to get them in shape or dump them. This is ridiculous.

You should write a letter to Vicki Escarra and also Uncle Leo and let them know how you feel. AF treats all DL medallions like s__t!
Perhaps that is their version of "Simply Good Business".

My sympathies. AF failure to honor their upgrades was certainly a tough start, and then it went downhill.

Delta has contributed to your misery by failing to provide current credentials in a timely manner.

Partnerships always seem to work this way, I have heard similar stories from Star Alliance Elites.

I encountered a similar situation with Swissair few years back after weather cancellations. The Swissair agents were equally recalcitrant. It wasn't until the third one I tried - she agreed to call US to confirm the e-ticket was in fact an upgraded one (they all insisted it wasn't), and after she did, everything changed for the better. But I felt lucky to succeed, and I was stuck in the airport for eight hours so I had nothing but time to deal with it ...

I agree that AF is a really bad airline, boy do i miss SR. I dont fly on DL unless I have to because there are so little good redemption opps for the miles. Skyteam certainly is not as streamline as oneworld or star. They have their glitches and bad apples but face it, Sky team is a patchwork of airlines left out of the 2 major alliences. DL is the only good airline in skyteam, they should have kept SR insted of getting AF

I am certain I felt my blood pressure rise as I read your account



TW

Just stopped by the Delta board for my daily dose of love...

To be fair, I had a pretty good experience with AF in 2000.

I had missed my connection in CDG due to an air traffic situation. I was supposed to fly back on a AF/DL codeshare CDG-SFO, where I had used a SWU.

Although DL had no upgrade seats available for the next day's flight, the AF agent tried for a half hour, on the phone and on the computer. She finally got me a revenue business class seat. I also got a hotel room, and provisions for 3 meals. They offered to get my checked luggage if I wanted. I was impressed at the trouble they went through.

(They seemed willing to provide any routing I asked for, but I preferred the non-stop the next day).

However -- no debate from me that the SR alliance worked better. THAT was seemless.

Thanks for the warning. This reconfirms my worst suspicions about Air France.

i flew AF (Delta codeshare)once, was treated badly by the CDG agents (ticket and gate), who also refused me the SWU upgrade... from then on, i refuse to fly AF internationally... besides, Delta's bizelite is much more superior!

Delta should be ashamed of the Skyteam alliance.

I used to be such a Delta loyalist. But their managment has made so many decisions that just don't make sense.....not enough 777's, no response to More Room Throughout Coach, 737's instead of A320's, Korean and Air France as partners, SWU changes, no upgrade on L & U fares, poor cabin layout on the new 767-400's,....the list just goes on and on.

Add to this the fact that they are being left behind in the consolidation war, and you've got.....well, not much.

AF staff at CDG handled my recent flight back on DL119. We did not receive pre-boarding as medallions should (I had inquired about it and was told by an agent at the gate that they would make an announcement). Not one announcement was ever made. They opened the gate door and everyone just pushed their way through it. We had to walk down an icy and extremely slippery metal staircase to the tarmack to board a bus. Not one of the AF ground personnal helped any of the eldery people down the stairs. They just stood there and were busy telling jokes and were laughing ( probably about Skyteam and the DL medallion smucks that use them). DL doesn't even rate gate boarding on many of their flights there, what an alliance!

While I have also had similar problems with AF, I think this is the model for Sky Team and DL in 2001. Watch out, the end may be closer then we think.

It is beginning to become clear that Delta fits in somewhere between A&P Supermakets and Eastern Airlines.

In my experience, the only times I have been treated baly has been on airports in the USA, where versions differ vastly on same question from person to person. Anyway, i am a Silver Medallion Delta customer, although I have only flown them once on International routes. Most of my Internatioal travel has been with AF. And while my blood boiled as well at the original posting in this thread, I must add that in my experience AF (service, food, seats) are far superior to DL.

I find AF to be just fine in the air. I feel safe, the food is usually good, and the FAs are generally polite. The problem is on the ground. I would say I have problems with AF at CDG about 75% of the time and go out of my to avoid AF or AF partner airlines. A real kicker, fly on an AF owned parnter and no Sky Miles.

It could be worse then AF, but then again, it used to be much better with Austrain, Swiss Air and Sabenia. I don't like the fact that I now feel old and will one day be able to tell my grand kids about the grand days, when DL was a great airlines.

Better take some photos. At the rate things are free-falling, Delta won't be around when you tell your kids about the Grand Olde Days.



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Time..... is on my side.

That's a great story. I have Gold with DL and now I really just feel like totally not flying AF anymore. Check-in I thoiugh was supposed to be a breeze! I alwyas get the names, and or ID numbers of the people that I talk to on the phone and at the airport, so that I can be sure to write letter and have all the identifications needed. That was the right thing to do, call someone else up on your phone who does not know whether they should support the perosn on the other end(i.e. their supervisor) or not support them. That was great that she got all scared and gave you what you wanted!

I agree their ground service it horrible, but their in-flight service is okay.