Some airlines have been very kind in permitting refunds during the pandemic. Then there is Air France, which continues to nickel and dime in the worst possible way while playing games with refunds.
Air France Games Refunds
I’ve already written about how Air France is unreasonably denying refunds and has conspired with American Express to deny chargebacks for flights that did not occur. That problem continues.
> Read More: American Express Conspires With Air France To Rip Off Consumers, Break Law
But to make matters worse, there’s the issue of cancellation fees, which impact both Flying Blue (award) and revenue tickets.
Award Expert clients were supposed to travel from Los Angeles to Paris this week. Husband and wife. U.S. citizens.
Small problem: most Americans residents are not allowed in the European Union. With the trip literally not possible due to governmental restrictions, I phoned up Flying Blue to cancel the ticket.
While I wasn’t expecting it, I was hoping that Air France would follow the policy of many other airlines and not charge a cancellation fee for a trip that passengers really wanted to take but were not allowed to due to matters far beyond their control.
But no, of course Air France demanded a 50€ cancelation fee per ticket.
Ok, fine. Better than forfeiting the miles.
But the salt in the wound was that the agent warned it would take up to SIX MONTHS to receive a refund for the ~500€ in taxes on the ticket…but that the cancellation fee was due immediately.
Yes, far be it for Air France to deduct the 100€ from the 500€. Nope, instead, that had to be collected immediately and now my clients will have to wait six months for their taxes/fees back.
It’s a ridiculous policy and applies not just to award tickets, but to refundable revenue tickets as well.
CONCLUSION
So let me get this straight. You’re holding 500€ of my money and I can only get it back in a half year’s time if I pay you an additional 100€ on the spot?
This, folks, is why people hate airlines. This is why they have little mercy during these tough times and are reluctant to support additional bailouts.
@ Matthew — I will add them to my NO BUY list, along with AM and AC.
So why is it there problem your clients cannot fly? Isn’t it your clients’ fault?
Don’t you and all others always say it is the responsibility of the passenger to make sure they can fly? To have the proper documentation in place?
They booked last November. Come on.
@ Matthew — Can I borrow your crystal ball?
James, evidently you can’t comprehend the meaning of words. Read the article SLOWLY. Maybe you will catch on to what’s being said and why elcheapo AIR FRANCE. is just that. NO GOOD DIRTY……
Typical. And many in this country want to make our nation more socialist like France!
@Andy K
I’m no socialist (at all) but this is a rare instance in which socialism (with the additional government regulation of private business it brings about) would actually help in protecting consumers over businesses!
Thanks Andy. We can all learn from United Airlines, where a flight isn’t really cancelled, it’s “removed”.
Also, we should all be against government intrusions that reek of socialism, like government bailouts. I’m sure all the U.S. carriers would agree
Hi Mathew,
I had the same experience with AF Flying Blue. My planned flight SFO-Paris-Algiers was cancelled by AF due to Covid19. I called to get my mines back and the taxes i paid. AFanswer is to pay the 50 Euros to get my miles back and it will take several months for the taxes. I complained with the agent that I did not cancel and it s AF that cancelled my trip and I am not paying this fee!.. After over 5 minutes going back and forth, they agreed to put back my miles without the fee…But i still have not received the taxes…
What I learned from this experience is to insist, not to give up even if uou have to write to the CEO of AF who is having a lot of trouble staying in business…
I try to avoid Air France but my wife had some FB awards on them this year. For the sole reason that she wants to go to Paris and fly non-stop (otherwise we prefer KLM). One from March was outright cancelled and I got the taxes back in a few weeks. The other one is next week and had a schedule change on both ends (by a few hours). She still intends to take the trip (think she needs a COVID test, right?), and my understanding is she could cancel without penalty. You should make sure there wasn’t a schedule change. If the flights were booked in November there’s a very good chance the times shifted and your clients can avoid the penalty.
They shifted by only five minutes.
AF has never been easy to deal with. C’est français. But I always liked their soft product. In any event, I don’t plan on flying them except using miles until things are back to normal.
So glad to have used the last of my FB points. It’s my firm intention to avoid AF unless there is a compelling reason to choose it. Even Lufthansa is a better choice.
Same here. Have had a very bad racist experience on Air France. Not worth the effort to fly them and be treated like a 2nd class person.
Lol. Your company, a travel consultant meets unexpected policy of the airline during pandemic. Of course you wrote against the airline. Lucky you have an air travel blog, eh?
So James, do you really want to defend Air France here…? Collect the cancellation fee now and process the refund in several weeks or even months?
This is surprising. I have status with Air France so perhaps that affects my personal experience, but I have found Air France to have some of the best customer service in the business despite somewhat checkered operational reliability on flights between NYC and Paris which hopefully we be less of a problem without the A380s (this is with the caveat when you are dealing directly with Air France, unfortunately most of the time you will get a Delta rep when you call in the US who is often ill prepared to deal with Air France tickets and policies). At the beginning of COVID, I cancelled award tickets and the fees were waived by Air France without me even needing to ask. Unlike United who when I asked nicely, I was quite rudely told no. Honestly, I did not expect United to waive re-deposit fees, but it can’t hurt to ask, and a polite no rather than a rude one would have not cost the company anything. I hope this is not a sign of economic distress at Air France (at least above and beyond the economic stress all airlines are feeling). Sorry this happened to you Matthew. Sometimes, I wonder if the airlines realize that if they are to be profitable they need to maintain and expand their customer base. Times are difficult and there is not a lot of room for good will gestures, but this is really egregious. You should try writing a complaint to Air France Corporate. At least in normal times they would give you some frequent flier miles or a credit against future travel.