Well if that is an accepted behavior of an FA on Air France, they should be avoided at all cost.
One wonders where that behavior ends, would the FA take your drink right out of your hand to clean up without saying a word?
Simply bizarre.

Maybe it's a French thing. I had a tussle on an AirTransat (Canadian charter airline to be avoided at all costs) with a French speaking FA who tried to wrestle my blanket away from me "for security reasons" while on initial descent.

I won, he lost; but had he called the authorities on me, I wouldn't have cared.

So the Flyertalk guiding principle moving forward is:

French food: Good^
French Airline: Bad

sounds good to me!

hell funny thread

God we all find the smallest things to whinge about

Touching someone against his will can be considered assault.

In your complaint letter put words in their mouth (i.e. specify) regarding compensation that should be made to you.

Here the primary purpose is to make heads upstairs roll and the secondary purpose is to make good to you.

In addition the FA's should be working on the recline issue from the front of the plane rearward.

Having people that recline their seats for the entire trip is one of the most annoying things on flights. At a minimum seats should be upright during meal times. The simplest things is for FA's announce we are getting ready to serve meals will everyone please put seat backs up. Then as they are serving they should double check them and ask passengers to put them up if they haven't already done so.

I've flown AF trans-A several times, and they are pretty aggressive about requiring everyone to raise their seats during meal times. My guess is the OP may have been asked and did not hear due to the headphones. The idea is that his wife, sitting next to him, would get the idea and raise her seat. I'm really surprised they allowed the person in front of the OP to remain reclined.

I've never found the AF staff to be "rude," but I tend to like the French.

Possibly... it's really to hard to tell.

On the surface, that may seem to be obvious - to ask or instruct first. But it may be worth realizing that we don't necessarily set the constraints by which the FA's do their various functions. I have to assume she's done it before and feels they have a reason or rationale for it.

I would have asked the FA at the time. Coming here after the fact? Well...


I agree, which is why on a recent flight I selected a bulkhead seat just to get some relief from the flood of inconsiderate dolts who slam their seats back into my face for an entire transcon.

And agreed, again. But I'd prefer the passengers did it as a matter of courtesy, not rule or instruction (yes, I'd like a comet to go with my moon and stars, please...)

If I was the flight attendant I would have said Excuse me sir would you be as kind as to bring your seatback into an upright posistion so that your fellow passengers and you enjoy the meal"? I would then say thank you and when the meal service is over you may recline your seat again.

The relevant variable, here, is eating or not. If you are partaking, I do not think that you can do that comfortably from a reclined position. There is a tendency to hover over the plate. If the person in front of you is reclined, it makes this hover challenging. Would you not prefer that the person in front of you "derecline" during the period which they are leaning forward to eat as you are? I understand if you are sleeping, but if you are not using the recline during your repast, I believe the lean forward non recliners are the offenders, not the FA's.

AF will actually ask passengers to sit up for meals. AF will usually only ask once.

your logic is not consistent

What about people who prefer to eat in the airport, forgo the meal service on a red-eye (especially on discount carriers where one may not care to pay extra for the privilege of being poisoned) and attempt to sleep through the flight? I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this.

While I'm sure it's annoying to the pax behind the reclined seat, in the end it's the airline's fault for packing the seats as close together as they do.

Good thread... I'll never fly Air France after reading this.

I understand what you are saying. For work I am 9 times out of 10 I on a budget airline working more than I 12 hour day. For my pleasure trips I am travelling from Ireland to California so by the time I get to EWR it is past my bedtime I have been up more a full day. I am knackered and ready for sleep but sleep upright until after the meal as not to bother the person behind me. I agree it is the airline's fault for cramming people in.

It the rude people that really annoy me. Like the last time I flew from LAX-LHR and this man behind me who rolled his eyes and sighed loudly when he saw my then 1 1/2 year old and me. He continued to sighed loudly everytime she spoke, not screamed or cried but in conversation. He had the seat back the whole time. Then when I reached to get her antibiotics and accidently bumped he chair turned around had a go at me. I had to store her "need to be refrigerated" meds in an ice pack made for me by FA by the air vent. I accidently bumped chair once. He didn't give me a chance to apologise before he set on me. What did he expect me to do?

I wish people did it as a courtesy too