Complaint Letter

An open letter to Mr Alexandre De Juniac, CEO of Air France-KLM

To,
Mr ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer,
Air France-KLM

Dear Alexandre,

Can I call you Alexandre? I hope you dont mind if I call you by your first name, I understand
only your close friends and family members would lovingly call you Alexandre. Im sure by
the time were through this entire incident; youd feel like weve known each other for years.
As was the flight delay time, on one of your aircrafts I had the misfortune of flying.

You know Alexandre, I seldom read and the only thing I've ever lamented online is the
proliferation of religious ideologies. I don't believe in throwing brickbats on any passing
subject but I do believe in the fact that writing needs a sense of purpose, which I've rarely
come across until now. So you should feel special Alexandre, very special.

The thing is Ive started dreaming about Air France, Alexandre. I cant seem to get over. Its
like weve been flirting for so long, I cant take it anymore. Everyday I wake up and I check
my inbox to see if Ive received an e-mail from one of your Customer Relations Executive, I
frantically search my mailbox to see if theres any post from Air France regarding the
incident thats probably going to have lifelong implications on the goodwill of your
Company. I cant take it anymore Alexandre, I cant.

Please allow me to provide specific details in a timeline format, so that you can either pursue
your professional dispensation and seek to resolve these difficulties or more likely (I
suspect) youll probably bury yourself in the buckskin leather chair you have and pass this
nonchalant piece of information to your interns.

9th October 2013

5.45 pm (New York): I message my older sister good-bye and board Air France flight AF 17
from JFK Airport, New York. More often than not, my trips abroad are marred with
unforeseen events so I was pleasantly surprised when I left New York to go back home, and
that nothing untoward occurred over the course of 4 weeks. But then again, "impossible" isn't
a French word Alexandre and I didn't realize I was still far from home, which means, I had
spoken too soon.

See, youre getting to know so much about me already. Although, a lot of this might come as
a surprise to you, but life is full of surprises, no? Okay never mind.

8.15 am (Paris): Everything seemed normal and I tried to sleep my way to Paris with little
luck. We landed in Paris around 7.00 am and proceeded to Terminal K Gate 51 to board my
connecting Air France Flight AF 218 to Bombay, which was to depart at 10.50 am. I've had
an eventful experience while passing through Paris the last time and I wasn't feeling any
better this time around either.

10.15 am: The information screen finally comes to life and announces that Flight AF 218
scheduled to depart at 10.50 am for Bombay has been delayed and rescheduled for 12.20 pm.
You know the funny part Alexandre? I dont see any of your ground staff who shouldve
shared this information with us. You guys have taken digitalization to a whole new level.

12.00 pm: Its been 5 hours now since weve been at the Airport. Once again Alexandre, there
is no word from Air France, its way past our Boarding time but I dont see any of those
failed medical experiments asking us to Board the Aircraft. Im worried Alexandre, will I
ever get home? I couldnt tell.

12.45 pm: As more and more passengers panic, voices grow louder; finally two of your
immaculately dressed French men come to the floor. The words they utter, go through my
chest like a glass splinter, only you couldve helped stop the pain. They say that the flight to
Bombay has been cancelled indefinitely. No clear reasons are given, just a plain, meaningless
statement the aircraft has technical issues! Do you feel the coldness Alexandre? Its like
your wife, sending you an SMS saying your marriage cant work. She doesnt say why, she
doesnt even tell you if theres any possibility of it working out. She just bails out on you
Alexandre, harsh, isnt it? I know, I can feel you.

Ive been away from my family for a month; do you know how eager I am to get home? You
cant! But as you will realize later in this letter, my eagerness to get back home is nothing
compared to, with good reason, the emergencies faced by some of the other passengers.

1.30 pm: The French men have now completely lost it! They forget your beautifully worded
guide to solving customer issues and are completely clueless about whats going on. They
stick their ears to their talking devices and arrogantly refuse divulging any information to the
stranded passengers. The only thing they promise us is that we wont be flying out of Paris
until next day. How comforting, feels just like your Buckskin leather chair, NOT!

Kindly note, were in Paris! Its the hub of Air France. An alternate flight couldve been
arranged?!

1.45 pm: After some verbal altercations with the passengers, your staff finally decided its
time for us to have lunch. They handed out meal vouchers which could be redeemed at one of
the two restaurants in the Terminal but directed us towards Exki in particular since it was
closer to the Gate and we had to assemble at the Air France Office at the lower terminal for
further instructions.

2.15 pm: Passengers assemble at the office. After waiting for 45 minutes, were told that
well be given accommodation and Meal Vouchers for the stay. Passengers already holding a
Schengen Visa are directed towards the Hotel whereas the rest of us are asked to submit our
passports to apply for a Transit Visa. As of now about 5-6 people have a Schengen Visa out
of nearly 40 passengers in total.

Are you with me so far Alexandre? Dont lose me now.

This is where things turn for the worse. This is where it gets really serious! Godforsaken
company.

3.30 pm: Passengers with emergencies try to get themselves placed on an alternate flight to
India. Some are senior citizens, some are patients and some have personal issues to tend to.

27-year-old Mr S. Mishra, who is consumed with emotions, tries to negotiate a seat on any
other flight to India but is flatly refused. I later realize that his father passed away in a car
accident two days ago and his family was waiting for him to perform the last rites for his
father in Bhubaneshwar. If that wasnt enough, Bhubaneshwar was bracing itself for the
worst Cyclone to ever hit the country, Phailin, two days later. I cant imagine whats going on
in his mind. Its just really sad!

Suddenly none of my problems hold any value compared to his, Im taken aback with his
helplessness and we try to persuade the Air France Officials to give him a seat on an
alternate flight or airline. At this point, I realize the lack of courtesy, even on humanitarian
grounds extended to him by the officials as they arrogantly refuse him a seat, saying many
people have emergencies and they cannot afford to accommodate all of them. They
immediately deny and say there are no flights going to India without making any calls or
checking any monitors for alternate flights to India. Seems like this is the only information
theyre sure of even though they have no clue when our flight would be departing the next
day.

We are later told by one of the informed passengers that a woman flying Business Class on
our flight was accommodated on an Air India flight to India.

6.00 pm: The Staff finally arrives with our Passports after 3 hours. To my utter disbelief, only
6-7 people are given the Transit Visa whereas the rest of us are denied. There is no proof of
rejection on the passport, nor does it carry any form, that holds any evidence of rejection too.
Most of us have traveled to Europe before and considering we were flying originally from
New York, we also had US Visas apart from a number of other visas from countries world
over. On what grounds were our Visas rejected? Wed never know.

Ironically the 6-7 passengers who received the Visa are only Senior Citizens as well as
women with children. No one else and I mean NO ONE ELSE got the visa.

Weve now been at the airport for nearly 12 hours and have just been informed that we cant
even travel outside the airport to rest at one of the Hotels. Everyone is furious and we try to
reason the refusal of our Transit Visa. It made no sense logically or practically for a stranded
passenger to have been refused a Transit Visa. Although, it made a lot of logical sense for the
airline to have not applied for our visa at all considering it would help save Visa Fees and
money spent for our Accommodation. How can you refuse a Transit Visa to a stranded
Passenger? On what ground? This question is directed both, towards the French Embassy as
well as Air France, whoever finally decided to refuse the Visa.

By now youd feel that this is the worst your airline couldve done in terms of Customer Care
but did I say Im in Bombay yet, No! It gets even worse Alexandre. Id be very worried if I
were in your place, you see its not that complicated, its rather quite simple. These things
happen world over and Im sure youve faced them too someday. But think about it
Alexandre, what would you do if you were Mr S. Mishra, cant imagine, can you? Hes a 27
year old boy who hasnt seen his father in months, the only reason hes going to India is
because his father suddenly passed away and all he wants, rather all he can do, is see his
father, one last time! But by the grace of your ground staff and officials, he probably wont
even get to do that! Do you feel his pain, Alexandre? I dont think so! I cannot curse your
airline enough or the imbeciles running it. Whats your raison dtre? Please tell us, so we can
all hear it.

Anyway, I digress.

We ask them for directions to their lounge. At first, they seem perplexed and then comes
another one of those cold, illogical and insensitive replies, were told the Air France Lounge
is only for Business Class passengers and they cant allow us to stay there. We are asked to
take an airport shuttle to the other terminal and fend for ourselves at the upper deck resting
area.

Out of the 35 odd passengers, most of them are senior citizens and a lot of them can barely
speak English. They are scared and eager to get back home. They cannot speak out for
themselves. At 6.30pm we call for four wheel chairs for senior citizens who can hardly walk
let alone go to the other terminal, which needs a train to reach. After waiting for over an hour
and half, the ground staff arrives with one wheel chair saying they couldnt find more wheel
chairs, so we point out the 20 odd wheel chairs lying right across the hall in a section which
was closed and we hear something that baffles all of us, those wheel chairs are from another
company and we cannot use them! I recorded this on my Camera.

The thing that lingers at the back of my mind more than anything else right now is the gut
wrenching fact that everyone you know who had traveled to France earlier warned you about
this, you knew you were being targeted because of your race but youre in denial thinking
youre being irrational. You wonder at this point how could it all go, so wrong, but youre left
with insidious and plausible deniabilitys of the fact that youre attacked for being from a
particular ethnicity. Youve traveled across the world, its never happened to you before, but
you were warned and, it did.

A French gentleman probably my fathers age, flying Business Class apologetically said,
Ive been flying since the past 35 years and Im sorry but Ive only seen this happen to
certain people, Im really sorry. I made a few friends there since we all were stranded
together, one of my friend Jo who is a Dutch National just e-mailed me saying she was
offered a compensation package from KLM. Meanwhile, we are yet to hear from either KLM
or Air France. Surprising, dont you think? Considering we were the ones who were left to
fend for ourselves at the airport without an iota of assistance from Air France?

Its an incoherent mess. There was absolutely no assistance, ever. Every time we needed
something, we would have to travel across Terminals, meet new Air France Officials each
time and have to request them for all of our basic needs. There were really old, senior
citizens, an old patient suffering from Asthma and perhaps, just out of customer care, couldnt
there have been an Official assigned to tend to our grievances personally?

7.45 pm: We get a Sandwich and a Soft drink from the Air France Office, thank god! The first
proper morsel of food. Although we could probably have been sharing an Indian feast with
our families back home, by now. Something is better than nothing.
10.00 pm: Mr S. Mishra, Ms Shruti Kore and I proceed towards the resting area on the upper
deck of the Terminal where we are asked to retire for the night. We head to the Air France
counter there and request for a Blanket and a Bed Sheet, once again were asked to wait
incessantly as they've run out of bed sheets and blankets. After 45 minutes we get our resting
kit. They also issue us a new Boarding Pass for the Flight tomorrow and inform us
that they've arranged a completely new flight for us, which would be flying out at 10.50 am
just like our original departure time. We complete the formalities and go back to the floor. We
reunite with the rest of the Passengers. A few passengers manage to occupy the sleeping
chairs whereas everyone else has to sleep on the floor. It is not surprising to notice that out of
all the passengers in the entire upper deck resting area, we barely spot anyone from a
nationality other than India.

12.00 am: Mr Mishra picks a corner to charge his laptop so that he could write to his family
and is still overwhelmed with emotions because he isn't sure if hell get to see his father one
last time. By now, were all tired and exhausted but still in shock about the treatment meted
out to all of us. By 1.30 am, I call it a night and put on my headphones to try and catch some
sleep in bits and pieces.

10th October 2013

7.00 am: We head to Terminal K Gate 49 once again and go to Exki to redeem our Breakfast
Vouchers.

Were allowed 1 Danish pastry and 1 hot/soft drink. I grab a bowl of soup only, which is half
the price of the voucher, since the pastry has eggs and I dont drink tea/coffee or aerated
drinks. I head to the Cashier, explaining and requesting her to let me take the bowl of soup
instead of the two. She calls the Chef who is a young man not older than 30-34 years and
perhaps, with a missing cerebrum. He is infuriated and with an overcompensating display of
anger points out the only two things I am supposed to have as per the voucher. He doesn't ask
me to buy the soup, he doesn't refuse politely but he raises his voice and tries to insult me in
front of every one else. I raise my voice louder than his and tell him why I got the soup in the
first place. The pastry has eggs, which I dont eat, and they've run out of vegetarian food. I
also point out lividly that anyone who has this voucher is someone who is stranded at the
airport without a choice and showing some courtesy to anyone holding the
voucher wouldn't harm him in any way. I push aside the tray and move on. Hes completely
startled; everyone around is also surprised with his behavior and they put in a word.

8.30 am: We meet the rest of the passengers who had gone to the hotels for the stay and wait
for our flight.

Thats where I meet one elderly gentleman who is going to Baroda. Im amazed at what he
has to say. His flight from Newark to Paris on the 7th was delayed and therefore he missed his
connecting flight to Bombay from Paris, so they put him on our flight only for that flight to
have been cancelled too. I cant believe it! He looks like hes preparing himself for the role of
Mr Viktor Navrovski from the movie Terminal. Imagine spending two whole nights at an
airport you didn't prepare yourself for!

9.45 am: Once again, as if this is an endless joke, our flight is delayed. We've lost all hope
and I feel like Im part of a stupid prank let alone a very expensive one. They say the flight
will leave at 1.50 pm. Sick of their nonsensical replies and unrealistic reasons, I just want to
get home but Im having trust issues with this company on monolithic proportions.

1.30 pm: We realize were being accommodated in an existing, scheduled flight as against
what was told to us, that a special flight was arranged only for us.

All the pieces of the ever so confusing puzzle finally fell into place. Air France never
organized a special aircraft for us, why would they when they cancelled our flight due to
under utilized capacity anyway? We were just being accommodated on a scheduled flight.
Two flights in one? You do the math!

2.25 pm: Were finally heading to Bombay.

Now let me throw some facts and figures.

Air France Flight AF 218 is an Airbus A330-200 Aircraft. The average seating capacity of
this Aircraft is 209 passengers. The number of stranded passengers in all was not more than
45. The final aircraft we boarded on the 10th of October was on full capacity. Perhaps our
original flight was cancelled due to the high number of empty seats? Was it easier to cancel
an empty aircraft rather than fly one, resulting in huge savings? Also, it makes even more
sense to accommodate two flights in one. Maximum returns? We were not even given
accommodation or proper food. Could this be the reason?

My guess is as good as yours!

Getting back to you, Alexandre, I dont think theres much left to say.

Im over and done with this debacle but not without spreading the word about your service
amongst my friends and family. Theres no doubt that your company is not competent or
professional enough to take passengers world over. You may get defensive and say that this is
a one-off incident but unfortunately, it isnt. Number of people have voiced a similar opinion
about the treatment meted out to them by your company. It is rather unsettling. Dont know
the effect this letter might have on your customer service but rest assured, you can thoroughly
deduct an average of 5000$ from your annual profits if not more. Although that might be just
a whisker in your overall mess, itll be one which was done with due diligence. Weve had
enough of your staffs condescending bullshit. We have encountered inadequacy of service,
which I never knew was possible for such a big company along with ignorance and stupidity
of humungous proportions.

Let me make it very clear, we dont fly your airlines for free and more often than not are the
only people flying on this particular sector. You might try and make some damage control but
be completely sure, that we will never forget the way we've been treated at the hands of your
staff. You have failed miserably in meeting the expectations of your customers based on the
promises you've made to them.

I will be circulating this letter amongst popular press and media along with a court summons
were in the process of filing. This is a true account of what happened in Paris, Charles De
Gaulle Airport.

Au revoir.
Your new best pal,
Jay Shah

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/consumers/protection_of_consumers/l24173_en.htm
Link to EU Law for flight cancellations.

Name: Shah Jay

Booking Reference Number: 4B7WMU
First Port of Boarding: John F. Kennedy Airport, USA
Connect Flight: AF 218
Flight cancelled at: Charles De Gaulle, Paris
Complaint Reference Number: 6741742001
Worried and extremely tired passengers in the night.
Letter from Air France confirming the events as they occurred.
Source : http://jayharishshah.blogspot.in/2013/10/one-night-in-paris.html

Response by Air France on 28th October

Dear Mr Shah,

We write in response to your letter to our Social Media Team dated 10 October 2013, from
which we are sorry to learn of the difficulties you experienced whilst travelling on our
services. From the outset, we wish to offer you our sincere apologies on behalf of Air France.
Our records show that flight AF218 was cancelled due to the discovery of a severe technical
issues with the aircraft.
As an airline, we are aware of the inconvenience that cancellations can cause to our
passengers. As such, we seek to prevent and limit such occurrences as much as possible.
It is true that there are occasions in which it is possible to foresee a technical problem and
undertake measures to prevent inconveniencing the passengers and avoid cancellations.
However, sometimes, as described by the EC Regulation, these safety shortcomings are
unexpected and therefore subsequent flight cancellations become unavoidable (as was the
case on your flight).
Please be assured that Air France does its utmost to ensure that our passengers' transfers
proceed as smoothly and satisfactorily as possible. On this occasion, we did regret to learn
that the level of assistance you received at Charles de Gaulle was below your expectations
and that due to border restrictions we were unable to offer you an hotel accommodation for
the night.
We do remain sympathetic towards your legitimate observations and we can assure you that
our station managers, when convening with the aforementioned airport authorities, will take
your comments into consideration. Feedback from customers such as yourself is a valuable
source of incentive for improvement and development, which we are always grateful to
receive.
In closing, we will be happy to assess your case and we would be grateful if you could
forward us your bank details such as the name and address of your bank as well as your
account number.
We trust the above explanations will go some way towards restoring your confidence in our
Company and we look forward to welcoming you back to our services in the near future.

Yours sincerely,
XXX

Customer Care Europe

http://jayharishshah.blogspot.in/2013/10/reply-by-air-france-on-10th-of-october.html
Reply to Air France for their email response

Thank you for your email. However after 18 days of the incident there is nothing of note that
you seemed to have mentioned about the treatment the passengers received at the airport.
Your email only explains that the reason for the flight cancellation was a technical issue,
which is not new information.

Kindly address the following points:

Was our Visa applied for at the CDG Airport, if so do you have any paper work for the
same where it says the Visa has been rejected?

On humanitarian grounds why was Mr. S. Mishra not put on another flight to India
when you did the same for another passenger flying Business Class? Even if there
was no other passenger accommodated as I mentioned, couldn't you plainly on
humanitarian grounds, have accommodated him on another aircraft? I hope you do
understand the severity of a person flying back home to conduct the last rites of
his/her father.

Why was the ground staff unable to provide more than one wheelchair for 4 elderly
passengers? Especially considering the fact that CDG is the home airport of Air
France.

Since you seem to agree that these were exceptional circumstances and the passengers
were made to sleep on the floor, why was no access to the lounge provided?
According to AirFrance the only solution was for these passengers to spend 30
hours at the airport the way they did? Without their main luggage (which was
refused since it was already checked in). Without a shower and without a change of
clothes?
 Jo who flew with us and was very well provided a Hotel Accommodation, was offered
800 Euro in Travel Credit or 600 Euro in Cash, whereas others havent been offered
the same? On what basis do you calculate the compensation provided to a customer,
especially when all of us flew aboard the same aircraft in even worse
circumstances?

There are a lot of things I havent mentioned yet because of the severity of other incidents
Ive rather pointed out but nothing changes the fact that we were treated the way we were.

I wouldnt have bothered to write this blog unless I had imagined my parents traveling
instead of the helpless Senior Citizens who are both scared and clueless about whats going
on. Easy targets, are we?

I will share my Bank Details once you provide details of the Compensation.

Regards,
Jay Shah
Source : http://jayharishshah.blogspot.in/2013/10/reply-to-air-france-for-their-email.html

Air France 29 October 2013 at 07:26

Hello Jay,
We have given our utmost attention to your blog and our social media teams have been in
contact with you over the last few days.
We truly regret what happened during your trip and we are currently collecting the various
elements to be able to deal with your request.
We want you to know that Air France values all of its passengers and that we do not distinct
between age, gender, race, religion or lifestyle.
Our Customer Care team will be in touch with you promptly.
Now, after you gone through the problem, what do you think Air France should have done ?
A public apology?
A print advertisement explaining their stand?
A TVC that tells the world how great Air France is?
What would be the right thing to do ?