airfrance.co.uk

Reviews:

Business class on board was the same as I remember from traveling before Covid, for a flight to Rio from Paris it was comfortable and almost relaxing (I'm not a fan of flying) however boarding as a business class traveller no longer has the simple benefit of being out of the 'crush' once on the airbridge walking to the plane and started the journey off on the wrong foot. A note to add for the travel through Charles De Gaulle Airport. You will need more time now as the security checks take longer with all the hand luggage people are now encouraged to take.

Prior to the flights from Newcastle to Malta, I went to check in and get my boarding passes. The Air France app and website could check me into the Newcastle to Paris flight and issue a boarding pass but not for the Paris to Malta flight. At Newcastle airport I went to the Air France desk and asked them to get me checked into the Paris to Malta flight and give me a boarding pass but they were not able to, although they were able to book my luggage through to Malta. They told me to find a Customer Services person in Paris airport. When I arrived at terminal 2E in Paris, I quickly found a Customer Services person and they tried to help me get a boarding pass from the automated machines but were unable to. They directed me to the Customer Services helpdesk on the level below. I went there and they also tried to check me into the flight and issue me with a boarding pass but they could not. As the man said, Air France could not get me a boarding pass for an Air France flight. This was also an Air Malta flight, on an Air Malta plane. Attempts to check in and get a boarding pass on Air Malta website just got an error message every time I tried. The Air France customer services help desk person suggested that as time was slipping by, I should to go to Terminal 2 D where the flight was leaving from and tell the security staff what the problem was, show them my Newcastle to Paris boarding card and my itinerary and see if they would allow me through. I did this and although the flight was still boarding, not surprisingly they would not allow me through without a boarding card. I checked the flights board and my flight was still boarding so I found another Customer Services person and she directed me to check in area 2 where she said Air Malta staff would be able to help me. There were no Air Malta staff or any signs for Air Malta so I also went to check in areas 3 and 4, running as fast as I could. On my way past I saw that the flight was still boarding, on last call. Again there was no sign of Air Malta staff or counter at 3 or 4 so I went back to the Customer Services person who again directed me to check in area 2. The flight was still boarding on last call. I returned to the area 2 and absolutely there was no Air Malta counter/ desk/ staff/ signage / anything. I returned to look at the flights board but it had now closed. If you look at the CCTV of that area on that day you will see a woman running between check in areas, wearing a black and red stripy top and black trousers, which is me. The Customer services person was not able to tell me what I should do next, but could tell me where to go and look for my bag as I knew it would have been taken off the flight. I went to the baggage reclaim area, told the staff there what had happened and some time later my bags appeared. This left me 20 minutes to go to the ITA airways desk and buy a flight to Malta via Rome and check in which I did. They had no trouble at all giving me 2 boarding passes, one of which was also for an Air Malta flight (from Rome). As you can imagine, this was very incredibly stressful. I could not get on my flight, even though I was at the security gate before the flight closed, because Air France app, online, Newcastle check in , automated machines in Paris and personnel in Paris could not check me in and give me a boarding pass - although (in Newcastle ) they could check my luggage to Malta. And I could not check in or get a boarding card directly from Air Malta which actually ran the flight, with an Air France Booking Reference. I have tried the online complaints and have spent a lot of time completing forms , only to get repeated error messages or “try again tomorrow” messages. Phoning is not an option, I cannot call from work and where I live has terrible signal.