AF has changed our seats THREE times in the last month or so. We booked the exit row bulk head seats, and keep getting moved, re book (yes they change equipment) and tonight they were changed again further back. We are flying with a friend, and their seat got moved even further back than ours. The seats now in bulkhead say the are "not available". So they aren't "occupied". We put a lot of thought in seat selection and pay the extra and booked three seats together. I know Prem Economy is not the best on AF. Grudgingly, we upgraded (two of us) to get the leg room we had booked the three previous times. Hated doing that. Then the agent kept telling me she didn't have access to the seat map for Prem Econ and I had to upgrade online. Explained I couldn't see if there were even any seats, and she said I can't upgrade over the phone. Our last trip on AF three months ago, we easily upgraded over the phone. This is only our second time flying AF. Is this typical of this carrier? Never had this problem so much before on other airlines.
Posted by
Hudson Valley
2267 posts
I'd try twitter support. For many organizations that channel seems to be more capable than call centers.
(And I loath twitter. I only have an account so I can DM companies in situations like this.)
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1601 posts
Follow the standard rule if you don't get an appropriate answer - be polite, hang up and call again - repeat till you get a helpful agent.
Posted by
Upstate NY, USA
892 posts
AF is rolling out the A350, I'm on one out of YUL in April, the other flight is a B777 currently. So I'm sure that's why they're swapping.
When do you fly? I'd wait until you were closer if you're not flyng immediately.
Posted by
OP
Gulf Coast, usa
1191 posts
All - leaving next Monday on the 777-200. AF customer service is absolutely worthless. Did as you suggested and tweeted and all they kept telling me is that for more $$$ we could upgrade to better seats. I pointed out several times we PAID for bulkhead seats, and until yesterday even with two previous changes - we had bulkhead seats and were seated with our friend who is flying for the first time internationally. They certainly didn't have a problem taking our money to pay for premium seating when we booked. They won't address the "not available" only that lol - they aren't available. Truly we will never fly AF again after this. They didn't bother to even email us - the only way we found out was going to the site to check on things. Their Twitter DM response is they work hard to solve problems and we are welcome to send customer feedback. There are 9 seats on bulkhead that are "unavailable" - not "occupied" and they weren't even willing to put us back where we were, to begin with. If you purchase tickets, pay for seats, and they change planes, they should be obligated to give you back the same seats you paid for. In this case they had our friend rows back, and us back from the bulkhead we paid for - in a row of 4. #AirFrance - your customer service stinks. You made no restitution what-so-ever or offered a solution. We were polite and just asked for assistance and a solution, neither of which they offered.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
2790 posts
Just a note...
Bulkhead seats are actually more likely to get you moved on a lot of carriers. That's because if they get special needs passengers you just "bump" out of those seats. (People with mobility problems such as broken legs, some airlines will but bassinets there so will bump you for those seats etc...)
Posted by
OP
Gulf Coast, usa
1191 posts
Carol - you are correct. But they also "held back" exit row bulkhead seats which they won't put a bassinet or someone with a broken leg. There were four of those seats held back along with the four in the center. The center I can understand. They just shouldn't sell them if they aren't going to honor them.
Posted by
OP
Gulf Coast, usa
1191 posts
Scudder, after my initial twitter DM, and their curt response that they can't do anything, a bot took over and everything else said was the standard bot message. Frustrating.