Air France extra seat failure

Why did you spend thousands to get a reward ticket.?

But hang up and call back. You might be able to find someone to sell you the ticket for $.

Thanks for your feedback.

To earn reward tickets, you have to fly a certain amount of miles, for which you have to pay.

We have talked and messaged with Air France on four separate occasions and we have not been successful.

Dutch

How very frustrating for you. If buying an extra seat isn't going to be able to happen, there are a few other approaches to try.

1. Find out if they have "comfort plus" or "premium economy" type seats available. In a perfect world, they would let you upgrade for a fee. Another way to get a bit more room is to look for extra legroom seats such as exit row or behind a bulkhead and pay the seat reservation fee for those. I would suggest two aisle seats across from each other rather than two together in a row of three. That way, you can lean out a bit into the aisle if no one is passing. The warning here, is that you need to be alert so that you don't get bashed by carts or people who have not removed their backpacks prior to boarding.

2. See if any of their partner airlines such as Delta or KLM have a better seating option available for you. You should be able to cancel the Air France reward tickets and rebook on a partner if there is reward availability.

The most uncomfortable flight of my life was on Air France due to limited legroom and the person in front of me reclining their seat for the entire flight. I was in such physical pain. I only barely managed to keep it together when I noticed he was actually leaning forward in his seat watching a movie and not really reclining at all! I haven't flown Air France since.

I don't love AirFrance. It bugs me that I have to pay extra for a seat choice when I've purchase a main cabin ticket from Delta. Also, their planes seem old AND there are no free cocktails and to top it off, their wine is terrible. How can AirFrance have terrible wine? I've heard that they make wine in France. LOL

Air France false advertising scam, lack of attention to details, or
"we just don't care that you spent thousands with us to get a reward
ticket"? You decide.

It's none of the above. It's just an example of one of the countless obscure little rules that are part of the larger game of loyalty programs/frequent flyer programs/award seats. It's a game that strongly favors the house (like any casino) and often frustrates those who play and end up with less than they had hoped for.

I'm sorry that you had expected to do this and only found out late in the process that it's not possible, and I can understand your frustration. But many (all?) airline frequent flyer programs tend to have complex rules, each has their own quirks (which sometimes work in your favor, sometimes they work against you).

You are not allowed to purchase that extra seat with the 25% discount
we advertise...

I bet if you look at whatever advertisement you are referring to, you'll see an asterisk or some fine print from the lawyers noting terms, conditions, exclusions. If not, ask for a full refund of your points and all fees, and start over with Plan B.

When you are using an award ticket, and are looking for something that's even slightly non-standard, you really can't just assume that things will go the way you would hope or expect, unless you ask specifically and you receive a reliable answer, or you do solid research to verify the details you care about - in advance. The "extra seat" option that you speak of is not a common thing, and to be honest, although I only have a little experience with Air France's program, I would not necessarily expect the "buy an extra seat" option - at a discount - to work with an award ticket. Lots of things don't work with award tickets, they are often treated as a "special case." They can be great, they can be a disappointment, often they're a mix or somewhere in between.

As suggested above, your best bet is to try and make the best of it that you can, but your options will probably be very limited and constrained. IME Air France is not a terribly flexible company, and employees may not always be empowered to "just fix the problem" for customers - I've seen other airlines do better at that (Air France still owes me a refund for a cancelled business class flight home from Istanbul when the pandemic blew up and flights were being cancelled by the hundreds...I don't expect them to ever come though with that refund and I've given up hope they will).

Thank you for your comments.

Here is the link to the page that advertises this options. I do not see any "but", "however", conditions or asterisks.

https://wwws.airfrance.us/information/passagers/forte-corpulence

An airline mentioned: " We understand that you have a choice of airlines, and we are thankful that you choose......today."

Yep, likely no AF in our future. And probably no 373 MAX for a while.

Again, thanks for your input. I hope you get your refund.

Dutch

Pretty sweet deal that they give you your money back if there is an empty seat in the house.

Others report every flight being full, but my last half dozen transatlantic flights have had lots of room. I pick a center section aisle seat with the opposite aisle already sold. The seat in the middle has remained empty on 4 of the last 5 flights. On the other flight I gambled and a few days prior to the flight moved my seat to a row with no other seats sold. I stretched out and slept across 3 seats. Nice.

If you are traveling in the Economy cabin on one of our long-haul flights, and the width of the seat is not sufficient for you, Saphir will offer you a second seat next to yours. This second seat will provide you with greater comfort, while ensuring your safety with a seat belt extension.

If you would like to book an extra seat in the Economy cabin:
you will receive a 25% discount and the 2nd seat will be exempted from all taxes.
Air France will refund you if there is an extra seat on board, in addition to the 2nd seat you have purchased.

Did you contact Saphir as directed? It sounds like this is the entity that provides this service, and it looks like you do it through the website.

Yes, as directed on the website, I contacted them. Once by telephone and three times through their chat function (8 +/- hours on hold for those).

They were not helpful, but very polite and very consistent: No, not possible.

We will try the seat switcheroo or something upon check-in.

Dutch

I’m going to be blunt. It’s no longer worth playing the game. Do not spend money on airlines on the hope you’re going to get free flights. Those days are over and I played the game for years but it’s no longer worth it.

I just buy what’s cheapest now.

But reading that link you posted, it looks pretty clear to me that they’re telling you to contact them before you book so they can determine if you actually qualify for this deal, you’re trying to get. Not to book your seats and then contact them and try to get this added. And had you done that you probably would have been told this is only available for cash bookings..

I know a lot of people that book 3 seats for two people but they’re not using this kind of arrangement where they might get their money back. They’re just booking it so they have the space. And that’s what I assumed you were doing when I responded originally.

Carol, thank you.

You are right. For many years I was a Continental flyer because of the reward Tix.

Now, retired, I use my Capitol One X card to gain points and spend them where I want.

With regard to the time of booking, nothing said you have to contact them first, but you are right. No extra seat for non-revenue tickets.

We tried to buy that extra seat. No can do.

Thanks for your comments

From the Air France link posted above --

In the Economy cabin: passengers cannot book two seats side by side and for the same person using our online booking system.

I'm not an Air France customer, but that says to me folks who need two seats need to contact AF first, or contact them to assess your needs before buying/doing anything.

Air France false advertising scam...

Nope.

...lack of attention to details,...

I agree, lack of attention to detail.

Air France never indicate that the timing of our request was incorrect.

Rather, as I mentioned, they indicated that reward tickets are not eligible for this, ever. That part of the policy is nowhere to be found on the page to which I posted the link.

In other words, if requested before or during booking reward travel, the request would not have been honored.

If the larger one of you qualifies and needs this service, you could always cancel the rewards ticket, have the points redeposited. Then buy the ticket and the second seat at the discount price. Have your reservations linked. If the second person, the one with the award ticket, needs a seat extension, too, that needs to be arranged before, too. Neither of you would want to be denied boarding.

I realize you’re going to keep tilting your sword at this windmill but the advertisement clearly seems to indicate that you need to contact them to do this. Had you done that I am sure they would’ve told you that you can’t use miles for it. You decided to book your ticket and then contact them. That’s not their fault. .

I think Bets idea is a good one.