Do NOT fly Air France if you can help it!!

[CiaoItalia]

Writing this from Venice, Italy, where we are stranded with NO luggage. It was lost by Air France 3 days ago when we arrived here and tomorrow we leave for the cruise...with nothing but the clothes we flew in. We have to now cut into our time in Venice to shop for clothes to replace EVERYTHING. Apparently Air France's baggage handlers went on strike the day we arrived and the strike will not end til Weds. I hear from others this is not even close to the first time Air France has done this. Now we have to waste time and $$ buying clothes to replace bathing suit, tux, dress, and everything else we had packed so carefully for this trip. So, if you have a choice, do NOT book Air France. We are devastated and miserable and will NEVER fly them again.

[Bruin Steve]

Of course this is not a situation unique to Air France...

 

I had a situation a few years back using SwissAir for my Baltic cruise...

They lost my luggage (actually, I guess it wasn't lost...it was having a nice time in Zurich where they sent it...Unfortunately, we were arriving at Heathrow)...I went three days without my luggage and was buying clothes and supplies on a day-to-day basis since they kept promising they woud have it to me "the next day"...

 

In the end, I got ZERO compensation from the airline since they went into bankrupcy...

 

On our last cruise, we ran into people whose luggage was lost by Delta and who never recouped it throughout the entire cruise...

 

I think anyone who travels enough will eventually have at least one horror story about how some airline or another lost their luggage...If I stopped flying on any airline that ever lost anyone's luggage, I'd have to buy my own jet...

[wwinfl91]

One thing we do when we are flying to vacation or to start a cruise is divide my wife's and my clothes so each suitcase has some of each others clothes. When we are driving to catch a cruise or go a vacation we aren't as careful. But when we are flying we always split the clothes so that in the worse case that one suitcase gets lost we will each still have some clothes. Of course if all the suitcases get lost this wouldn't help.

 

I have to agree with the above poster in that in can happen with any airline. Sometimes your travel insurance will cover the costs of the clothes you need to buy if you have travel insurance.

 

Hope you still have a good cruise in spite of the problems.

[DEL67]

It won't help you and does not help with the formal clothes, but I always try to carry on one or two days worth of clothing plus a bathing suit (in addition to my husband's medication) in case our luggage gets lost. Like the previous poster, I also split our clothes bewteen our suitcases in case, one, but not both get lost.

 

I hope you vacation improves and you enjoy it in spite of the lousy start.

[lisiamc]

One thing that might help a little - you will probably be able to rent a tux on board the ship, even if you haven't reserved in advance. Most cruiselines carry some spare tuxedos in popular sizes for cases like yours. Your replacement Italian tux would no doubt be very nice, but the price would probably make my eyes water!

 

Good luck

 

Lisa

[cberge]

I guess I was VERY lucky..I just flew from Rome to Paris to Dulles on AF arriving home late Friday night.Even with a tight connection in Paris we and our luggage made it home.I must admit the seats are very cramped,but the food was not bad.I had not flown them before,but the price for an open-jaw ticket from here to Athens and home from Rome was hard to beat.I think I would look elswhere again. I hope you recieve your luggage or it will catch up with you along the way.

[dkingdom]

We just flew British Airways and they lost 3 of our 4 bags when we arrived in Rome. They said our bags didn't make the connecting flight in London, that they knew exactly where they were and would be at our hotel by 10 the next morning. The next morning we went sightseeing and didn't return until after 7 p.m. Low and behold our luggage hadn't arrived. Of course I had divided our clothes between the 4 suitcases however the bag that didn't get lost was our garment bag and of course that was the only bag I put most of our formal clothes in. We had been in the same clothes for 48 hours and after a hot day of sightseeing...well you get the message. All our extra camera batteries, rechargers, converters were all in the other bags which now we needed to use for our next day of sightseeing. We normally would have carried those in our carry-ons but because of the strict carry-on limits (13 pounds) we had to pack them. The hotel contacted the airlines but the office was closed already. We were devastated. We went down the street to eat dinner and upon our return the desk said our luggage had arrived! What a relief, instead of 10 in the morning it arrived more like 10 at night. So even though I was careful in packing it really didn't matter but I guess it could have been worse.

[Globaliser]

I think anyone who travels enough will eventually have at least one horror story about how some airline or another lost their luggage...

Of course, the real mark of someone who travels enough is when the luggage doesn't arrive but it is no longer a horror story, just part of normal life ... :D

 

And that's one of the reasons why anyone who travels enough will never travel without travel insurance.

[dbh62ark]

Well, it is a frustrating situation no matter what the circumstances, so I'm sorry when it happens to anyone. I just wanted to say that our luggage didn't make it to London in late August with us (thanks to Delta for that one), and the concierge at our hotel, the Rubens at the Palace, really stayed on top of it for us. We are very grateful because it made a difference, and we were able to go out and see the sights without worrying too much. So if it happens to anyone else reading this thread, that might be a resource for you because when you're in a foreign country, your hotel staff can help you with the way things are done there.

 

Yes, we've had luggage lost before and chose to go with the flow, but clothes are important to a lot of passengers on a cruise, so the OP gets to choose what is and is not upsetting to him/her. I always liked it when the Europe boards were more friendly and we could just say that it's a shame that happened and offer words of advice without comments that aren't helpful. (Sigh.)

 

Donna

[Globaliser]

Yes, we've had luggage lost before and chose to go with the flow, but clothes are important to a lot of passengers on a cruise, so the OP gets to choose what is and is not upsetting to him/her. I always liked it when the Europe boards were more friendly and we could just say that it's a shame that happened and offer words of advice without comments that aren't helpful. (Sigh.)

Clothes are important on a cruise, but not much more important than on any other holiday. In any event, I've been there before (luggage didn't make it to my cruise), and my parents have been there before - in fact they were a week into the cruise before their luggage caught up with them. But even though it's a cruise, you can either make it into a horror story or you can go with the flow. It sounds like you and I would agree about what we'd choose out of those two alternatives. The more one travels, the less one cares if luggage goes walkies.

 

Although I always thought that underlining the utility of travel insurance was a piece of (IMHO good) advice.

[dbh62ark]

Yes, I would dearly love a good excuse to skip formal night, and I also think that this emphasizes the importance of travel insurance. I would rather go naked :) than to skip sightseeing in Venice.

 

Donna

[Jane110]

It won't help you and does not help with the formal clothes, but I always try to carry on one or two days worth of clothing plus a bathing suit (in addition to my husband's medication) in case our luggage gets lost. Like the previous poster, I also split our clothes bewteen our suitcases in case, one, but not both get lost.

 

 

Same here!

 

 

Bruinin Steve,

 

You're right. As much as I sympathize w/ the OP, who I agree 100% is in a miserable state, this stuff happens with all airlines. :(

 

QANTAS once "lost" DH's luggage on a 1 hour flight from Melbourne to Sydney. They misplaced luggage of about 10 pax. We got it a day later and only minorly inconvenienced since I was smart enough to "cross pack" so he had clean underwear and shirts. But the family of Grandparents with their 3 grandchildren getting ready to board a cruise out of Sydney that day, were in a real pickle! We felt sooo bad for them. 5 people getting ready to board a cruise w/ absolutely nothing!

 

I hope CiaoItalia bought insurance that covers her because she's going to have to do alot of shopping. What a drag for her!

 

Jane

[mcsea]

Returned last night from a glorious 12 night med cruise on brilliance

of the seas. Our only complaint... Air France.

 

We were lured in by a more reasonable airfare and now wished we had paid the extra money to fly another carrier.

 

We were delayed on every leg of our journey.

 

Lines for check in at each airport. Boston, Paris, Barcelona

were long with wait times up to 2 hours just to check in.

 

When you do miss your connection, you are treated with the utmost disregard. you are "lucky" to get a seat on another connection and of

course there are no seats together. However on boarding the flight

there are seats together all over the plane! HMMM!

 

Lastly LOST LUGGAGE. After the trip of a lifetime we return with

no luggage. We now know it was due to a strike in paris. Air France knew

before we boarded the flight our luggage and 3/4 of the passengers on

the flight would not receive their luggage. No announcements, no one

in the baggage claim area to inform passengers. Then another

long line to make a lost baggage claim. One lonely agent with no information

to process 3/4 of the passengers on a jumbo jet!

 

Who knows if we'll ever see our luggage.

 

AIR FRANCE Never again!!!!!

[Pat848]

I just love these reports on Air France. We have flights booked with them for May 2006 for Brilliance cruise.

We are flying out of Boston - did you have long lines in Boston? How long was your connection time in CDG? We have 1 hour 25 minutes. Everyone says we won't make it. How did you get from 2C to 2F? How long did it take? We are going 2 days early so have the time.

What time was your flight out of Barcelona? How did that go?

Hopefully there will be no strikes when we go. At least I will be prepared for the worst.

[mcsea]

Hi PAT848

 

Yes we had long lines in Boston. I kept a journal and made a note in the future

to leave extra time for check in at the international terminal. We arrived 2 1/2 hours before the flight . Boston wait time was approximately 45 min to 1 hour

to check in then another 30 min wait to clear security. The security lines were long and slow but I do not mind waiting for that. It was the fastest of all the airports.

 

Charles de Guale is tricky to navigate. I have flown all over the world and

had difficulty here. The wait times to check in at air france were no less that

1 hour and security lines were very long. Pay careful attention at the boarding

gate as delays and gate changes are common. They announce in french and

english however it is very easy to miss and announcement if you are not paying careful attention. We left out of paris after a 24 hour ( planned)

layover. Our flight to Barcelona was delayed by 1 hour 30 minutes

with a gate change then another 15 min delay onboard the plane.

 

The return from Barcelona was a nightmare. We left one day post cruise

The check in wait time in Barcelona was 2 hours One open window

for all the passengers. People were irate!! Then we were delayed at the gate.

 

connecting through CDG transfer from the plane to another terminal is done

by a bus that you board directly off the plane. Everyone crams in and it travels terminal to terminal. It does take time. If all goes smoothly 1 hour 25 minutes should be enough time to make it without rushing. You would need

at least that much time. anything under woud be a frantic rush. They stop you along the way for passport checks, security checks even though you have not exited the gate areas. If you miss your connection there is a transfer desk staffed by personnell who couldn't care less. They are Rude

even if you are as gracious as you can be to them.

 

We are now dealing with getting our luggage.

 

I'm sorry to give you such bad reviews but these are simply the facts.

If I were holding an air france ticket I would try to apply it to one of their

affiliate carriers if possible. If it is nontransferrable or refundable I wish you good luck

and I hope my info helps :)

[Pat848]

Thanks for getting back to me. We are stuck with our Air France tickets. I really wanted to go Delta but was afraid with their Chapter 11 so went with Air France.

I appreciate the information as I will be better prepared. Do you stay on one bus from the plane to the different terminals? I have heard reports of taking one bus from the plane and another to terminal 2F.

Boston will not be a problem as I will get in there early. We live on the South Shore and with the traffic on the expressway & "Big Dig" always go early.

We have a 10:30am flight leaving Barcelona. I have private transportation (Angie at Taxi International). I am hoping to get off the ship first and get to airport before the buses (hopefully). I have already checked later flights in case of a problem. We also have a 2 1/2 hour connection time at CDG going home. This is going to be quite an adventure I think.

On another note - were you on the Venice cruise? If so can you tell me how many formal nights and when they were?

Thanks again for all your info as I said before its better to be prepared.

[Globaliser]

They stop you along the way for passport checks, security checks even though you have not exited the gate areas.

For anyone who's wondering about this, there are separate reasons:-

1. There must be a passport check if you're connecting from USA -> Paris -> Venice, Barcelona, or similar destinations. This is because you are entering the "Schengenland" common immigration area, and Paris is the point at which you cross the only immigration border. So it's Paris' responsibility to check your passports. The Paris -> Venice or Paris -> Barcelona flight is, for all intents and purposes, domestic.
2. All European airports are working towards 100% security screening between all connecting flights. This is the international standard which you'll find in most places around the world. The exceptions are principally purely domestic-domestic connections.

[Queenk2]

I have to add my sad tale of lost luggage by Air France! We flew into Venice to get on a cruise..we luckily were staying 2 nights before the cruise. They lost all three of our bags. My husband was fortunate as his bag got delivered the following day. Mine didn't make it! I bought a bathing suit, a dress, a pair of linen slacks and two tops. Off we went to the dock! I was upset, but I am a realist and I knew that I would have a good time without my clothes...I had shopped hard before the trip so that I had the perfect attire! Imagine my surprise when we boarded the ship and my suitcase was in my room! It seems that the concierge had received the luggage AFTER we left the hotel and sent it on to the ship in a water taxi! I cannot ever repay that man!

Karen

[mcsea]

thanks globaliser for the security info. I have no problems with security checks

they are a necessary part of the world today. It does help to know

the reason why you are slowed down to your connection.

 

pat 848

 

We boarded only one bus it goes from one terminal to the next and you

get off when yours is called.

 

As a side note, we used Angie at Taxi international and Highly recommend

her company. We used her for three transfers and were glad we did.

 

We were on the Brilliance 12 night med cruise. There were two formal

nights and both took place on "at sea" days.

[mcsea]

Queenk2

 

WOW! what a story. I know what you mean about shopping hard

before a cruise!! Missing the luggage pre cruise would be worse to deal with. your story is inspiring to those of us with missing luggage :)

[Pat848]

I hope I am not driving you crazy. We are planning to use Angie for all 3 transfers. You mentioned that your flight to Barcelona was late. How did you notify Angie of this? I am just wondering if we should miss our connection at CDG and have to take a later flight.

[Sea Day Cruiser]

 

As a side note, we used Angie at Taxi international and Highly recommend

her company. We used her for three transfers and were glad we did.

 

 

I've just started reading this board preparing for a trip next summer. Could you tell me please about this Taxi International. What are they and how do you contact Angie? Thanks.

[luciathree]

Just got back from the Splendor of the Sea, W Med cruise. Actually it has been six days now. It was wonderful, but made the mistake of using Air France. Anyone out there with the same problem, please let me know if you have received any information on your baggage that is still in Paris. They are telling me that the strike will be over by tomorrow, but I am wondering why they don't have a plan B, since I have heard that this happen a lot. Anyone out there actually received their baggage from them since the strike. Thank you.

[elin]

Sorry, being a little tongue cheek here.

Both the DH and I have had luggage "not make the connection" from Toronto-Detroit to Miami where we were boarding to sail at 8 pm ("the good news mam is that your luggage will arrive at midnight"), to have the next day a sea day to have our luggage (yeah) show up in Cayman Islands (late).

He has not had a bag show up in Belize (which somehow, my bag, checked at the same time made the connection) and was luggage-less for 3 day (try buying clothes in Belize for a 6'2" 240lb male...NOT easy...a few other people at our resort contributed clothing. [NOTE: for women sharing clothing is okay, for men it is a horrific experience, akin to asking one to circumsize themselves with a chainsaw...okay maybe I exaggerate, but you get the picture...]

Bottom line, is, it's not the airline, it's just travel stuff that happens. We have learned our lesson and will cross-pack our clothing, if our connection is less then 1 1/2 hours.

Elin

[Jane110]

Okay, I give....

 

Who's Angie and what is Taxi International?