airfrance.us

Reviews:

I have been using the reward calendar for booking trips in the past - which is an extremely helpful tool. For about two months that tool is no longer available, which makes the process of booking online very tedious. A user needs to check each day and different airports for what they can afford. If you are booking for two people or more it becomes even more challenging. I have called AF, and have gotten a variety of responses. The last one, Andrea at AF said there was a”glitch” and clients and AF booking agents were never supposed to see the calendar of reward travel … rather both groups are supposed to search for flights day by day. The calendar only works for cash purchases. I said “WHAT?” I have been searching this way for a couple of years, and now the “glitch” was fixed by not allowing such a helpful tool to be removed?? Once I hung up, I checked award travel with my husband’s account and “Voila” it worked! However, after checking award travel a few times, it disappeared again. I have recommended people sign up for the AF flying blue program (2 people signed up for your credit card as a result) in the last year. I think you have a good program, however I am not understanding the contradictory responses from your employees and the removal of a very practical and useful trip planning tool, that has no downsides that I can see. Other airlines use such similar tools. It also frees up the phone lines if people can plan their trips online. I suggest you rethink this or fix the new “glitch” if it was unintended.

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.