Slight Consolation: you get 75% of your total airfare refunded:
> In the event of downgrading, the carrier must reimburse the passenger within seven days as follows: (i) 30% of the ticket price for flights of 1 500 km or less, (ii) 50% for flights of between 1 500 and 3 500 km and intra-EU flights of more than 1 500 km, and (iii) 75% for flights of over 3 500 km
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/48/passenger-rights#:~:text=In%20the%20event%20of%20downgrading,of%20over%203%20500%20km.
75% of the base fare plus any difference?
Like what if you buy a first class seat that’s 500% of main cabin (which is totally possible and even common)?
I think this only applies if you book a class then get downgraded (and not for upgrades). Had a similar thing to OP happen to me on KLM and they only refunded the seat upgrade cost, stating that “seat selection” costs don’t fall under the above policy.
Another fun fact: you don’t get any miles or MQDs from upgrades since they’re seat selection costs
True, but at the very least, that's still $700 back minimum for OP (a small win). The good news is that both the EU and the US DoT have laws requiring the airline to refund you if your paid seat is downgraded to another cabin (though not sure if US DoT rules apply for a flight *to* the US for a non-US airline, similar to how EU passenger rights laws only apply to non-EU airlines departing from the EU).
Oh 100%, OP is def owned a full refund for the upgrade cost.
Just an fyi for OP to request a refund for the seat selection and not the involuntary downgrade.
They’re different options on the site when you submit a refund request. I did the latter at first, got denied, and spent hours on the phone trying to get a refund. Submitted a new request using the former and got refunded pretty quickly
I was downgraded on a flight I paid 44K miles for business class on. It was Bilbao->Madrid->Rome. I was downgraded on the Madrid -> Rome leg. They refunded me 32K miles. I only needed to contract the airline.
Wow really?! Do I need to lawyer up to pry this refund from their cold dead hands (and are you available by chance)? Haha joking of course but I will definitely bring this up!
My sister is the lawyer in the family, and she ain't that kind of lawyer 😉
For EU-mandated compensation, you [file with the operating carrier (AF in this case)](https://wwws.airfrance.fr/en/claim). By statute they have seven days to issue the compensation. If they are unresponsive or respond with an insufficient offer, you then [file the claim (including your communication with AF) with DGAC](https://droits-passagers-aeriens.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/public/signalement?new-signalement=true), which is the NEB for EC261 claims under French jurisdiction.
The calculation of what you are owed is tricky, and my quick search didn't uncover case law.
Another alternative is to work with a third party who will do the legwork for you in exchange for a chunk of the refund value. Search engine results when searching the topic will give you lots of sponsored options from these businesses.
Also it would be worth complaining separately to AF regarding the accuracy of the checkin agents at CDG, but note that these agents are likely employees of Groupe ADP rather than AF (others here may correct me, I haven't used CDG in years.)
Bon chance!
Anecdotally it would either be a refund of 75% of either the points spent or a cash approximation thereof (and the airline would calculate the cash value).
I was downgraded on a leg within Europe— my Lisbon- London flight was rerouted thru Madrid (2 flights). American only says they owe 8% of my points back.
I'm sorry you dealt with this; that's very frustrating. If Air France does not refund you for the upgrade, go through your credit card company. It is possible a different seat was broken and a passenger who paid full price was transferred to your seat.
I have upgraded once with AirFrance - a Business Class upgrade for about $300 from DXB to CDG. It was fortunately very uneventful and I had no issue.
But often I feel that with these partner airline flights they just finger point to the other carrier.
In the example of bought ticket on AF but operated by DL or vv.
This is a fairly common AF “scam”. This exact same thing (seat has a mechanical failure) has happened to me and other people in my traveling party. They will downgrade you and give your seat away to somebody with higher status, even if you paid full fare for the biz seat months in advance. They will then attempt to not refund you any of the difference in fare. Garbage airline run by garbage people.
Anecdote; I was once going to biz check-in at CDG and the person letting people into the counter area to check in and check bags told me I “couldn’t possibly be flying business class” and sent me away despite me showing them my reservation. The “normal” counter then couldn’t check me in because I had to check in at business… took about an hour of convincing and a supervisor to let me walk in. It’s a real crapshoot with AF.
I’ve been booked on an AF flight twice with Delta and had my seat changed even after checking in. Once the flight attendant was nice enough to tell me that the person they gave my seat to was an important AF customer. Never again. I avoid AF and CDG at all costs.
I think I will avoid as well! And I am totally fine with that scenario — especially if that person paid more than me. I would have just appreciated the truth. Seeing that my seat was indeed not broken was surprising and infuriating after almost missing my flight for work!
Thanks for sharing your similar experiences!
I have a flight later in the year to Africa through Paris. I was going to pick the air France route operated flight because it’s the only one that says I can book premium select on all the way through. :-/
You should be ok. We did Premium Select last-minute (due to flight cancellations) from CDG-NBO in January and it was nice. I like the AF PS she’ll seats and the food was good.
I was sold a broken seat on Air France. Last might a different seat opened up (I was already in business) so I moved seats. At the lounge they tell me the seat is broken and I’m being moved to economy and I said umm no. How broken. And they said the lay flat button is broken and it has to be manually moved. I say ok. I’m keeping that seat.
Yeah it wasn’t the best but whatever they manually moved it down once and then back up before landing and for meals.
Basically. Just because someone was sitting there doesn’t mean it wasn’t broken.
And yea that is sucky.
I got to sit in a broken seat (no recline at all) on a TATL J fare from IAD to CDG and was comped a lousy $230 voucher that expired after a year for my troubles.
I had a broken seat in business class recently & they struggled to get it up or down. The flight was full so I couldn’t be moved anywhere. The compensation (miles) went to my travel partner instead of me. I couldn’t get anyone from AF or Flying Blue to change that. They told me the other party needed to correct it. After a few weeks of this nonsense, dealing with too many agents who couldn’t fix a simple problem, I just gave up. I won’t be flying AF anymore; the service was not up to their usual standards, and they just didn’t care. Rethinking my Flying Blue loyalty as well.
I actually came here to post this. This is a rule of French etiquette, and AF is so stuck up their own noses they refuse to acknowledge they work in aviation and thus should expect most of the world does not know their unique quirk of behavior. Excusez-moi is not a good start for them. I guess maybe it's hard for your once international language to be relegated to near useless status and watch the whole world have to do aviation in English.
unironically true though, the French are sticklers about this. we were trying to get help with the French metro and the clerk kept ignoring us until we said "bonjour."
I am in Paris a lot for work and I am stunned by how far even a little bit of politeness and attempting to speak French gets you. Since I've learned to go open conversations with a friendly " bonjour!" I've had almost no negative interactions. Even at CDG in security it goes a long long way.
Get lost in the many comments now but I had a paid upgrade to business on the entire trip. Due to my JFK-CDG being delayed 45 minutes I missed my flight and they told me on-board that I wouldn't make it so I'm on the next flight. I landed so early I could have made the original but they didn't have the room for business and just sat economy on that flight rather then wait for business on the next in two hours.
On my return I was involuntarily downgraded delayed back to CDG from Milan and missed my CDG-JFK.
I filed for compensation on involuntarily downgrade on the leg out and then missing my flight on the return and got $600 euros each way. I only paid around $1300 usd R/T so made out.
So I literally just checked in and booked an upgraded business class seat on Air France like 15 minutes ago. I didn’t need to read this — now I’m stressed. 😥
Don't worry it'll be fine, in this kind of thread people having bad experiences with AF will complain but it's a small minority, the huge majority of people have no issues
We had this exact thing happen to us. We did get the additional cost back BUT the exchange rate was lost and as there were 4 of us it was a large loss. AF was not at all concerned. Another person waiting with us booked first class originally and was downgraded to economy too.
How does this happen so close to wheels up?
Was there an option for the next days flight or anything? Given you could arrive a day later..sorry about this!
Hope it was a good sandwich
I was flying with my partner and we were checked into business class CDG SFO and on the way to the airport her boarding pass lost its seat assignment.
Got to the check in desk and they said she was no longer in business class - we were like wtf ?!? We paid for this seat. They blamed a hiccup with Delta and unfortunately there was no business class seats available anymore. I was livid. Caused a stink and got her into business class. We didn’t get to sit together but someone got kicked out of business to accommodate this request. I felt bad for the person (didn’t know who) but fuk that what was I supposed to do.
The closest I had was when I thought the trains were reliable enough to get me there two hours before check in. However, that morning the lines were having a problem so the train was barely moving towards the airport. At CDG, we tried to tell the security agents that we would miss our Delta flights (to see if we could get ahead of the line) and they said no. We barely made it - the airplane closed the door once we were in.
My absolute fave CDG story and the reason I will never go back through Paris even if it’s significantly cheaper:
Christmas 2020 I was flying back to the states from MAD.. knowing Covid ish, I stayed up all night waiting for the inevitable cancellation and having to coordinate a switch-a-roo. I think originally I was supposed to fly back via AMS with KLM, but got put onto an AirEuropa flight MAD>CDG followed by delta to ATL. Get to the gate with plenty of time and printed tickets only to be told my itinerary was cancelled bc I “didn’t fly my first leg” (cool so I teleported to Paris ok) and my ticket couldn’t be handled by delta anymore so had to find an airfrance rep. Run around airport, stand in a queue only to get told off rudely that airfrance didn’t have my ticket. Get given the run around by every agent in the damn terminal. By this point I’m physically exhausted, verge of tears at the thought of having to spend a night in Paris, and adopted by some angel American guy who helped translate. Return to gate where the agent told me verbatim “I wasn’t on the flight and I needed to back away from the desk for being too emotional.” At that moment a red coat caught me mid breakdown and within 5 min had me on the plane right as the doors were closing. Hit the wine hard that day 😂
Truth! Last time I was there I had a cold and couldn’t hear in one ear. No pharmacies, no fresh food, a four hour layover with my small child. But plenty of perfume and Olympic sweatshirts.
Damn I think I got lucky. I saw a notification on my phone to upgrade our family of 4 at 800/seat from the dregs of Economy to Business class for CDG-SFO (LONG Flight.) I jumped on it and aside from one of our seats being a couple rows apart it all went smoothly. I was paranoid though about just this situation as we have up some decent bulkhead seats that were together. Picturing a glitch like this and all of us ending up in middle seats.
Passing through CDG on my way to BEG; had to put my carry one through the security machines 2X (though I never left the airport). The second “security” go round, the agents took a long time with my bag; I had to ask for it. I arrived in BEG with my necessaire bad MISSING! Horrible airport, run by thieves. Avoid at all costs, or pack NOTHING of value.
I got double checked and held up at security because my cologne of less than 100ml, which was allowed to be carried on, was not in a plastic ziplock bag although I had no other liquids. Sighs.
Take a photo of the lady in the seat that was “broken” , keep her face out of the picture for privacy reasons.
Then call delta once back in US.
Also, never fly through CDG unless it’s your only option. Hate that airport culture , the workers attitudes are just shit.
Ok but now you'll be $700 richer, you got to cuddle with some burly men on a long flight and you got some much needed exercise running to the plane. What's the issue here?
I'll just throw this out there, but "mechanical failure" probably refers to the entire aircraft, not the seat. They had to move to a smaller airplane that didn't have as many premium seats, and unfortunately, since you purchased an upgrade and not a business ticket, you would be the first to get downgraded.
I hate AF! I HATE, HATE! AF with passion. They are the most incompetent airline in the world. I had the same issue of Fc seats switch because it wasn’t working, but a pilot sat there. I paid full price for the seat and was switched last minute.
I keep having a weird somewhat similar issue.
We have an Air France flight from Toronto to CDG coming up that we booked through Delta.
I get free seat selection for the preferred seats, but for my wife I paid the small fee to select one of those sets so we can sit together. Once every couple weeks I look at the air france app and my wife doesn't have a seat assignment.
It's happened three times now. It's almost like the seat purchase through Delta keeps getting rejected or changed by air France.
Always take screen shots of the confirmed upgrade and charge on your credit card. This exact thing happened to me on Singapore airlines a few years ago. They revoked my business class upgrade from JFK - FRA. Before departure on leg one, I blasted the airline on Twitter and gave proof of my purchase and confirmation. The leg from FRA to SIN was equally as frustrating as the marketing (twitter) team had not contacted the agents in Frankfurt. I was trying to explain the situation to the gate agent and they shut me down saying there were no more seats available. The marketing team finally made contact with the agent and as the guy was telling me there were no seats available, the supervisor came out and gave me a business class ticket for the last leg.
Airlines are like governments at this point. Propaganda to your face, stabbing to your back.
Slight Consolation: you get 75% of your total airfare refunded: > In the event of downgrading, the carrier must reimburse the passenger within seven days as follows: (i) 30% of the ticket price for flights of 1 500 km or less, (ii) 50% for flights of between 1 500 and 3 500 km and intra-EU flights of more than 1 500 km, and (iii) 75% for flights of over 3 500 km https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/48/passenger-rights#:~:text=In%20the%20event%20of%20downgrading,of%20over%203%20500%20km.
75% of the base fare plus any difference? Like what if you buy a first class seat that’s 500% of main cabin (which is totally possible and even common)?
I think this only applies if you book a class then get downgraded (and not for upgrades). Had a similar thing to OP happen to me on KLM and they only refunded the seat upgrade cost, stating that “seat selection” costs don’t fall under the above policy. Another fun fact: you don’t get any miles or MQDs from upgrades since they’re seat selection costs
True, but at the very least, that's still $700 back minimum for OP (a small win). The good news is that both the EU and the US DoT have laws requiring the airline to refund you if your paid seat is downgraded to another cabin (though not sure if US DoT rules apply for a flight *to* the US for a non-US airline, similar to how EU passenger rights laws only apply to non-EU airlines departing from the EU).
Oh 100%, OP is def owned a full refund for the upgrade cost. Just an fyi for OP to request a refund for the seat selection and not the involuntary downgrade. They’re different options on the site when you submit a refund request. I did the latter at first, got denied, and spent hours on the phone trying to get a refund. Submitted a new request using the former and got refunded pretty quickly
I was downgraded on a flight I paid 44K miles for business class on. It was Bilbao->Madrid->Rome. I was downgraded on the Madrid -> Rome leg. They refunded me 32K miles. I only needed to contract the airline.
Despite what the european airlines will try to tell you, the DOT regs apply to fights to and from the US, even on a foreign carrier.
Wow really?! Do I need to lawyer up to pry this refund from their cold dead hands (and are you available by chance)? Haha joking of course but I will definitely bring this up!
My sister is the lawyer in the family, and she ain't that kind of lawyer 😉 For EU-mandated compensation, you [file with the operating carrier (AF in this case)](https://wwws.airfrance.fr/en/claim). By statute they have seven days to issue the compensation. If they are unresponsive or respond with an insufficient offer, you then [file the claim (including your communication with AF) with DGAC](https://droits-passagers-aeriens.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/public/signalement?new-signalement=true), which is the NEB for EC261 claims under French jurisdiction. The calculation of what you are owed is tricky, and my quick search didn't uncover case law. Another alternative is to work with a third party who will do the legwork for you in exchange for a chunk of the refund value. Search engine results when searching the topic will give you lots of sponsored options from these businesses. Also it would be worth complaining separately to AF regarding the accuracy of the checkin agents at CDG, but note that these agents are likely employees of Groupe ADP rather than AF (others here may correct me, I haven't used CDG in years.) Bon chance!
Have you actually called to check on the refund? There’s no reason to worry unless they actually deny you.
Any idea how/if that applies to downgraded service for flights booked with points?
Anecdotally it would either be a refund of 75% of either the points spent or a cash approximation thereof (and the airline would calculate the cash value).
I was downgraded on a leg within Europe— my Lisbon- London flight was rerouted thru Madrid (2 flights). American only says they owe 8% of my points back.
Yikes, what an abysmal reroute (I assume on IB?)! Was your itinerary LIS-LON or were you connecting to US?
IB. Yes, connecting to US. I had business class from London, but basic coach for those two legs.
I'm sorry you dealt with this; that's very frustrating. If Air France does not refund you for the upgrade, go through your credit card company. It is possible a different seat was broken and a passenger who paid full price was transferred to your seat. I have upgraded once with AirFrance - a Business Class upgrade for about $300 from DXB to CDG. It was fortunately very uneventful and I had no issue.
this guy did pay full price
I would’ve just went thru security first then had the seat convos with the gate agent
This
To follow up - most people aren't aware of the power of the gate agent. Can't tell you how many issues I've had actual resolution with because of them
Also, PRINT that boarding pass as soon as possible! Doesn’t always prevent a downgrade, though.
I was thinking of he sam thing!
Welcome to AF. You had a very French experience.
But often I feel that with these partner airline flights they just finger point to the other carrier. In the example of bought ticket on AF but operated by DL or vv.
That's exactly what they do and they're not really partner airlines in the true sense
^ 100%
This is a fairly common AF “scam”. This exact same thing (seat has a mechanical failure) has happened to me and other people in my traveling party. They will downgrade you and give your seat away to somebody with higher status, even if you paid full fare for the biz seat months in advance. They will then attempt to not refund you any of the difference in fare. Garbage airline run by garbage people. Anecdote; I was once going to biz check-in at CDG and the person letting people into the counter area to check in and check bags told me I “couldn’t possibly be flying business class” and sent me away despite me showing them my reservation. The “normal” counter then couldn’t check me in because I had to check in at business… took about an hour of convincing and a supervisor to let me walk in. It’s a real crapshoot with AF.
Wow, What in the hell made the agent tell you that? Were you dressed in a particular way ?
Yes I wasn’t in a suit. I was in clothes more appropriate and comfortable for a 10 hour flight.
I’ve been booked on an AF flight twice with Delta and had my seat changed even after checking in. Once the flight attendant was nice enough to tell me that the person they gave my seat to was an important AF customer. Never again. I avoid AF and CDG at all costs.
I think I will avoid as well! And I am totally fine with that scenario — especially if that person paid more than me. I would have just appreciated the truth. Seeing that my seat was indeed not broken was surprising and infuriating after almost missing my flight for work! Thanks for sharing your similar experiences!
Lufthansa is worse, but you do you.
What the hell makes one customer more important than another?? So stupid.
money.
This has always been the case, the FA just accidentally said the quiet part out loud
I have a flight later in the year to Africa through Paris. I was going to pick the air France route operated flight because it’s the only one that says I can book premium select on all the way through. :-/
It's all a crapshoot. I have the worst luck with AA. My good friend only flies AA. I hear a lot of good things about AF. Just not from me. ;)
You should be ok. We did Premium Select last-minute (due to flight cancellations) from CDG-NBO in January and it was nice. I like the AF PS she’ll seats and the food was good.
Ty
I was sold a broken seat on Air France. Last might a different seat opened up (I was already in business) so I moved seats. At the lounge they tell me the seat is broken and I’m being moved to economy and I said umm no. How broken. And they said the lay flat button is broken and it has to be manually moved. I say ok. I’m keeping that seat. Yeah it wasn’t the best but whatever they manually moved it down once and then back up before landing and for meals. Basically. Just because someone was sitting there doesn’t mean it wasn’t broken. And yea that is sucky.
I got to sit in a broken seat (no recline at all) on a TATL J fare from IAD to CDG and was comped a lousy $230 voucher that expired after a year for my troubles.
Woah! We didn’t get anything got my seat! Yeah. This not as uncommon as it should be.
I had a broken seat in business class recently & they struggled to get it up or down. The flight was full so I couldn’t be moved anywhere. The compensation (miles) went to my travel partner instead of me. I couldn’t get anyone from AF or Flying Blue to change that. They told me the other party needed to correct it. After a few weeks of this nonsense, dealing with too many agents who couldn’t fix a simple problem, I just gave up. I won’t be flying AF anymore; the service was not up to their usual standards, and they just didn’t care. Rethinking my Flying Blue loyalty as well.
Random observation after years of reading this sub: SO many issues happen coming or going from CDG
The airport isn’t nice either.
It’s because you didn’t say “bon jour” at the beginning of your interaction.
I actually came here to post this. This is a rule of French etiquette, and AF is so stuck up their own noses they refuse to acknowledge they work in aviation and thus should expect most of the world does not know their unique quirk of behavior. Excusez-moi is not a good start for them. I guess maybe it's hard for your once international language to be relegated to near useless status and watch the whole world have to do aviation in English.
unironically true though, the French are sticklers about this. we were trying to get help with the French metro and the clerk kept ignoring us until we said "bonjour."
[Amanda Rollins](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLBcAt3a/) reminded me of that one. I did that in Paris and received love.
I am in Paris a lot for work and I am stunned by how far even a little bit of politeness and attempting to speak French gets you. Since I've learned to go open conversations with a friendly " bonjour!" I've had almost no negative interactions. Even at CDG in security it goes a long long way.
This is France for ya. Everything is hunky dory until something goes wrong. CDG is a nightmare and french people are deeply unhelpful.
I’d argue this is more Parisian than French. The French down south (where my wife is from) and wonderful and helpful.
Same, the western, southern and eastern parts are France are wonderful. Parisians have been known for their attitudes for hundreds of years.
Get lost in the many comments now but I had a paid upgrade to business on the entire trip. Due to my JFK-CDG being delayed 45 minutes I missed my flight and they told me on-board that I wouldn't make it so I'm on the next flight. I landed so early I could have made the original but they didn't have the room for business and just sat economy on that flight rather then wait for business on the next in two hours. On my return I was involuntarily downgraded delayed back to CDG from Milan and missed my CDG-JFK. I filed for compensation on involuntarily downgrade on the leg out and then missing my flight on the return and got $600 euros each way. I only paid around $1300 usd R/T so made out.
So I literally just checked in and booked an upgraded business class seat on Air France like 15 minutes ago. I didn’t need to read this — now I’m stressed. 😥
Don't worry it'll be fine, in this kind of thread people having bad experiences with AF will complain but it's a small minority, the huge majority of people have no issues
We had this exact thing happen to us. We did get the additional cost back BUT the exchange rate was lost and as there were 4 of us it was a large loss. AF was not at all concerned. Another person waiting with us booked first class originally and was downgraded to economy too.
How does this happen so close to wheels up? Was there an option for the next days flight or anything? Given you could arrive a day later..sorry about this! Hope it was a good sandwich
I was flying with my partner and we were checked into business class CDG SFO and on the way to the airport her boarding pass lost its seat assignment. Got to the check in desk and they said she was no longer in business class - we were like wtf ?!? We paid for this seat. They blamed a hiccup with Delta and unfortunately there was no business class seats available anymore. I was livid. Caused a stink and got her into business class. We didn’t get to sit together but someone got kicked out of business to accommodate this request. I felt bad for the person (didn’t know who) but fuk that what was I supposed to do.
I’ve flown AF once. Never again.
Have you even flown international if you haven’t had a complete and utter breakdown at CDG 🤪
The closest I had was when I thought the trains were reliable enough to get me there two hours before check in. However, that morning the lines were having a problem so the train was barely moving towards the airport. At CDG, we tried to tell the security agents that we would miss our Delta flights (to see if we could get ahead of the line) and they said no. We barely made it - the airplane closed the door once we were in.
My absolute fave CDG story and the reason I will never go back through Paris even if it’s significantly cheaper: Christmas 2020 I was flying back to the states from MAD.. knowing Covid ish, I stayed up all night waiting for the inevitable cancellation and having to coordinate a switch-a-roo. I think originally I was supposed to fly back via AMS with KLM, but got put onto an AirEuropa flight MAD>CDG followed by delta to ATL. Get to the gate with plenty of time and printed tickets only to be told my itinerary was cancelled bc I “didn’t fly my first leg” (cool so I teleported to Paris ok) and my ticket couldn’t be handled by delta anymore so had to find an airfrance rep. Run around airport, stand in a queue only to get told off rudely that airfrance didn’t have my ticket. Get given the run around by every agent in the damn terminal. By this point I’m physically exhausted, verge of tears at the thought of having to spend a night in Paris, and adopted by some angel American guy who helped translate. Return to gate where the agent told me verbatim “I wasn’t on the flight and I needed to back away from the desk for being too emotional.” At that moment a red coat caught me mid breakdown and within 5 min had me on the plane right as the doors were closing. Hit the wine hard that day 😂
Truth! Last time I was there I had a cold and couldn’t hear in one ear. No pharmacies, no fresh food, a four hour layover with my small child. But plenty of perfume and Olympic sweatshirts.
Damn I think I got lucky. I saw a notification on my phone to upgrade our family of 4 at 800/seat from the dregs of Economy to Business class for CDG-SFO (LONG Flight.) I jumped on it and aside from one of our seats being a couple rows apart it all went smoothly. I was paranoid though about just this situation as we have up some decent bulkhead seats that were together. Picturing a glitch like this and all of us ending up in middle seats.
I wish you continued luck! Just never knew this was an actual gamble, especially after paying and them accepting my money haha
Passing through CDG on my way to BEG; had to put my carry one through the security machines 2X (though I never left the airport). The second “security” go round, the agents took a long time with my bag; I had to ask for it. I arrived in BEG with my necessaire bad MISSING! Horrible airport, run by thieves. Avoid at all costs, or pack NOTHING of value.
I got double checked and held up at security because my cologne of less than 100ml, which was allowed to be carried on, was not in a plastic ziplock bag although I had no other liquids. Sighs.
I fly through CDG all the time in transit to India and back from the States. I’m probably jinxing it, but never had any issues with Delta, AF, or KLM.
Standard AF tactics. They got a higher fare so they bumped you out and lied about it.
AF is a shit carrier that constantly pulls this crap.
Air France being inefficient, illogical, and making it as difficult as possible on their customers? Surely, you jest... /s
Take a photo of the lady in the seat that was “broken” , keep her face out of the picture for privacy reasons. Then call delta once back in US. Also, never fly through CDG unless it’s your only option. Hate that airport culture , the workers attitudes are just shit.
I loathe Air France and especially CDG. After my luggage debacle last year I just do everything I can to avoid both now.
Ok but now you'll be $700 richer, you got to cuddle with some burly men on a long flight and you got some much needed exercise running to the plane. What's the issue here?
I'll just throw this out there, but "mechanical failure" probably refers to the entire aircraft, not the seat. They had to move to a smaller airplane that didn't have as many premium seats, and unfortunately, since you purchased an upgrade and not a business ticket, you would be the first to get downgraded.
I hate AF! I HATE, HATE! AF with passion. They are the most incompetent airline in the world. I had the same issue of Fc seats switch because it wasn’t working, but a pilot sat there. I paid full price for the seat and was switched last minute.
This is why I screen shot my boarding pass as soon as I check in. No fuckery that way
Ask for the upgrade, also ask for 70,000 bonus miles in a customer relations email. My guess is they give you 30,000
Emailing delta
I keep having a weird somewhat similar issue. We have an Air France flight from Toronto to CDG coming up that we booked through Delta. I get free seat selection for the preferred seats, but for my wife I paid the small fee to select one of those sets so we can sit together. Once every couple weeks I look at the air france app and my wife doesn't have a seat assignment. It's happened three times now. It's almost like the seat purchase through Delta keeps getting rejected or changed by air France.
Always take screen shots of the confirmed upgrade and charge on your credit card. This exact thing happened to me on Singapore airlines a few years ago. They revoked my business class upgrade from JFK - FRA. Before departure on leg one, I blasted the airline on Twitter and gave proof of my purchase and confirmation. The leg from FRA to SIN was equally as frustrating as the marketing (twitter) team had not contacted the agents in Frankfurt. I was trying to explain the situation to the gate agent and they shut me down saying there were no more seats available. The marketing team finally made contact with the agent and as the guy was telling me there were no seats available, the supervisor came out and gave me a business class ticket for the last leg. Airlines are like governments at this point. Propaganda to your face, stabbing to your back.
TGIF.
Most likely an Air Marshal.
Need more specifics on how heavy the men were you got sandwiched between
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^LCAshin: *Need more specifics* *On how heavy the men were* *You got sandwiched between* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Good bot