airfrance.us

Reviews:

I experienced some trouble choosing seats on the leg of my trip operated by another carrier (Delta). First it let me choose seats from the seatmap. But then I got error messages, and the portal wouldn't let me go any further. When the error cleared it did not have the chosen seats I had tried to pick for that leg. So I reached out to AF customer service, who were very nice and prompt and helpful. They confirmed this was because it was operated by another carrier and I should reach out to CS of that carrier, which I thought made sense and I was happy to do. I engaged w Delta's CS, who were just as nice and prompt and helpful as AF's. The rep offered to stay on with me while I finished the booking, at which point I could pass her the ticket #s and flight details and she would help me choose the seats. After all that, when the booking confirmation came up on the screen it did have the original seat #s I had tried to select in the first place and the Delta rep confirmed those seat selections did go through to Delta. It just took a long time and was confusing. I think it's fine either way, to be able to choose the seats or not be able to and give the details to a rep at the other carrier, but it caused a lot of confusion for me and used a lot of time getting the erroneous error message and after all that it took the seat selection anyways.

Living in the USA, I am not a regular Air France/KLM customer, so I cannot comment on the website or the airlines from the perspective of a cash customer. However, as a hobby, I arrange travel and manage frequent flier accounts for 25+ friends and family. Consequently, I have far more knowledge of frequent flier programs than most people. As far as FlyingBlue is concerned, it is difficult to find something nice to say. 1) I do appreciate that transfers from Chase to FlyingBlue are instantaneous. (That is, when they are working at all.) It is frustrating that some other airlines still take a couple days to process an online transfer, and award seats may disappear before the points are available. 2) When attempting to transfer points to FlyingBlue from Chase, I got an error message, something along the lines of "This transaction requires special handling, please call...." I tried on my wife's account, and got the same message. So, I set up yet another account in my daughter's name, and the transaction went through without a problem. I googled the error message, and apparently this has been a regular occurrence with FlyingBlue for at least a few years. Some folks report that it was due to slightly different name spellings between their Chase and FB accounts, but that is not the case for me, and we have transferred points before. I do not know if the glitch is with Chase or FlyingBlue, but since you have chosen to be partners, you should correct this longstanding bug. 3) Why is it necessary to select a specific airline to perform an award search? I have just one FlyingBlue account, and, as far as I can tell, the search results are the same whether I choose the KLM link or the Air France link. (I have not tried a search on Transavia.) 4) When performing an award search, a 6-day calendar of results will appear, but the miles indicated on the calendar do not reflect the actual miles required. You must click on each day individually to see the actual results. 5) The mileage requirements for award tickets are completely out of whack. You might find one itinerary from Europe to North America in economy for 15,000 miles, which is a great price, even with the fees considered. However, the other itineraries, which are nearly identical, will be priced at 275,000 miles. WTF? I find it hard to believe that anybody would look at the results page and choose the 275,000 option, when the 15,000 option is readily available. It seems clear that you do not want to offer award tickets on certain flights. If that is the case, then you should simply not show those flights, which will clear up the clutter on the results screen. 6) Award pricing for premium cabins is simply absurd, often 600-700K for a one-way ticket in business class. Who would blow that amount of points on a single one-way ticket? As with most people, the bulk of my points are from credit cards, and I can transfer those points to multiple airlines. Why would I transfer 700K Chase points to FlyingBlue to get a single one-way ticket in business class? The same points could get me 8 tickets on United, Air Canada, Singapore, Iberia, British, Turkish, etc.? Better still, some of these airlines only assess fees of $6, compared to FU fees of $250+ on FlyingBlue. When planning award travel, I continue to consider all options, but FlyingBlue rarely comes out on top.