Flying Delta but may end up on Air France.

The 2 airlines are part of the same airline alliance. Google the term to understand what it is. Your situation, flying on a code share, is completely common. I fear you have been listening to misinformation. If you have questions about your booking, contact either Delta or Air France customer service. Your booking information will tell you if you are on an Air France aircraft or not. But that information would also have been on the airline website when you looked for flights. You can go to the Air France website for more information about the amenities of your aircraft, and booking category.

In our experience, it has been clear when we booked the flight if it was a AirFrance (or KLM) codeshare. When I've booked, it will say in small print that the flight is "operated by AirFrance and there may be additional fees"

My opinion, AirFrance, does not even come close to Delta, and to get an assigned seat (unless flying premium) you have to pay more. Maybe their food is better, can't remember, but the aircraft seemed older and dirtier. I was in an exit row once and my video screen was duct taped. Their wine was awful. How is it that AirFrance of all airlines would have bad wine?

AirFrance did assign seats the night before the flight and my husband and I were seated together. We could have been lucky. Another suggestion would be to get to the airport early and perhaps, your seat assignment could be changed.

My opinion, but if Delta is selling the ticket, there are certain things you are supposed to get with each level of ticket. With main cabin, you are supposed to be able to pick a seat and the ticket is changeable. To me, in the scenario of a code share, if the passenger has to pay more to select a seat, then Delta is not delivering the product purchased. However, there is the small print indicating additional fees, and Delta really doesn't care what I think, haha.

I avoid AirFrance when possible, but like I said, previously, it has been pretty clear when booking the flight was a codeshare.

I've booked a couple of flights where the operating aircraft was Delta and later changed to Air France. I fly out of Seattle where both Delta and Air France operate flights to Paris. I also book way in advance so flight changes are common and can include Delta canceling that particular flight and Air France picking it up or something like that. I fly basic economy/economy lite, so can't speak regarding business class. I do prefer Delta, but since I buy cheap tickets, I just roll with it.

My one Air France experience was poor, but mainly due to the person in front leaning his seat all the way back for the entire flight. I was in physical pain due to lack of space. Catering served a lentil salad with disastrous effects of major flatulence release by many passengers over the nine hour flight. The odor was overwhelming.

Those memories have kept me off Air France since.

Delta does not “change the airline.” They disclose this when you are in the process of booking. When you search for a flight on Delta’s website or app, it tells you which airline will be actually operating the aircraft - Delta, Air France, KLM, Korean Air, etc. If a partner airline is operating the flight, in small print under the flight number it will say something like “DL 8500 is operated by Air France. Additional fees may apply.” Also, Delta international flights usually have a three-digit flight number while flights operated by other airlines have a four-digit Delta number.

If it’s important to you to be on a Delta-operated flight, you need to pay attention to this information when you pick a flight. However, most flights operated WITHIN Europe or Asia are actually operated by Delta’s partners. Flights to and from the US are operated by both Delta and its partners. The advantage of this is that customers have more choices of itineraries.

If a Delta flight is cancelled, then Delta may rebook to another of their flights or on a codeshare with KLM or AirFrance, or other. It will have a different flight number, and the passenger would be notified.

I flew RT on Air France between JFK and CDG at the end of February and in March. I booked the tickets through Delta using American Express points but the flight was operated by Air France and that was obvious when I booked the flight. I sat next to my husband in the two center seats (we took the divider out) and our adult son was nearby, across the aisle from me. We had no problem getting those seats. The service was fine. My only comment is that on the way to Paris I asked the flight attendant to wake me up for breakfast if I fell asleep and she did not because my husband told her to let me sleep. I was starving when we landed but on the plus side, I slept for the final 2 hours of the flight. I have flown business class on Air France to Paris a number of times and the only time that I have had a mediocre experience was on a trip that I took in 2021 -- the airplane seemed old and the cabin crew was not the best but I chalk that all up to COVID.

We jsut came in on a Delta Flight from Chicago on Air France.

We were glad because our last Delta flight in PE had those horrid uncomfortable clamshell seats -- I don't know if that is still true on Delta but I usually avoid them for that reason. The PE in Air France are cramped but fairly comfortable. Food is so-so and breakfast definitely worse than other PE seats on American, United and Delta. On those airlines the morning meal has always been special -- on AF it was a cold roll and jam and a yogurt drink -- just like in economy. You pay 3 or 4 times as much for PE and US airlines usually upgrade meals and amenities.

AF also has low service -- want a drink outside meal time? go get it yourself.

but other than that it is fine -- It is common for airlines to run routes with partners. ˆ I seem to recall in our last couple trips a KLM flight and a British Airways flight leg when booking a US carrier.

It is all slightly miserable in coach and not much better in PE and we can't afford business -- we had a 4 year run of being able to upgrade with money for a reasonable price but haven't had that opportunity in the post covid years when upgrades are reserved for high level travelers which we aren't.

On our last Delta flight before this with the. miserable clamshell seats going, we had a KLM flight coming back and it was both more comfortable and had better food than Delta. Another Delta partner.

In February I flew from Washington to Tunis and back on Air France via Paris. From Paris to Washington I was offered an upgrade to business at check in for about $600 and it was well worth it. The accommodations, service, food and drink were all excellent. My three flights in economy were all fine as well.

When you look at flights, you will see everything Delta has to offer on that route. It may be an Air France plane. It will say operated by Air France but have a Delta flight number. This is a code share.

One way to possibly tell if the flight is a codeshare is to look at the flight number. If it like Delta 5522 on an internation flight it's probably a codeshare. Any number above 5000 on an international flight is probabbly a codeshare. If that number is on a domestic regional flight that means it's probably being operated by one of their partner regional carriers.

Yes and it was not 'switched to AF'; it was always an AF flight. Codeshares are common. Many American flights are also British Airways code shares and many Delta flights are KLM.

Flying east overnight, we fly AF business. It’s fine. We’ve never had our seats switched. Flying west we are in Premium economy or whatever it’s called. The seats are like domestic first class seats. It’s such a small section that the crew seems to disappear between meals whether Delta or AF. We had our own toilet for the tiny section last time we flew west to the US.

We always have a choice of Delta or Air France between Detroit and Paris. I've got to be careful to use a CC with no foreign transaction fee when we fly AF. We've never been "flipped" to another airline but we have had Delta flights that specifically indicated "operated by AF" which means that you will be flying on an AF plane, and vice versa.

We've heard many times for years now that people haven't liked the clam shell style of the AF premium economy seats. I know that they are updating them with something that promises to be more comfortable. There's been a huge price difference recently on this route for months now - the AF PE flights are $1000 less than Delta Premium Select seats and I think that's partly because many people prefer Delta's Premium Select seats. My partner thinks Delta has more comfortable PS seats so that's what I purchase. I would have chosen AF for our next trip if I knew for sure that it would have the updated PE seats. I've heard that reasoning from several people who routinely fly this route.

I still miss the 2-seat section of the A340's.

I fly Paris-Atlanta and Atlanta-Paris on Delta / Air France all the time and literally couldn't tell you the difference

The only issues I've had with Air France were with the smaller planes, like the one that I took from CDG to Berlin. That was a nightmare owing to the plane turning back halfway there, and dumping people at the airport with no instructions as to where our replacement plane would be or how to proceed. That has made me a bit leery of AF. That said, I have never flown AF on one of the long haul flights; only Delta.

In fact, when I've booked tickets in the past with Air France or KLM, almost invariably Delta will be operating the long haul flight to Europe, and then I get one of the KLM or AF "city hoppers" once in Europe, if it's not non-stop.

But as most everyone above has said, you will know who is operating each leg before you book your ticket.

We booked Delta flights in February for September, Newark to Paris, CDG. Our return flight was clearly marked as the code share, Air France. (Nothing nefarious going on there.) We paid with frequent flyer miles for a total of 57,000 miles each. If we'd flown the return flight on Delta, it would have been 14,000 ff miles less, each, however the AF flight is direct and the Delta flights were not. I don't know if my husbands' gold status had anything to do with our ability to choose seats on the AF flight, might have.
An aside--our flight out of Newark has a connection in Boston. To upgrade to Comfort + on the Boston to CDG leg was $100 more pp which we took, but from EWR to CDG, it was $350 more pp! (for a direct flight). I understand that direct is nicer, but still. . .
My one flight on Air France was in 2006, I believe, so things might have changed. It was AF's 50th anniversary and they served and served and served yet more free Champagne to all passengers--left a sweet taste in my mouth for AF.