Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:28:57 +0200
From: Ralf Flaxa <rf@suse.de>
To: talk@suse.de
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Subject: [talk] Protocol of my nightmare trip - never Air France again!
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[ Due to multiple requests now also sent to talk. Enjoy! It wasn't joy for me ]

Protocol of my 63h nightmare trip to Salt Lake City with Air France.

Fri, March 19th 04:00	Got up in Erlangen to be in time at the airport
			for my 06:30 flight. Took a cab because public
			transportation would take me more than an hour
			and don't want my wife to wake up the kids that
			early to bring me to the airport.

Fri, March 19th 05:30	Arrival at the airport. Want to get all boarding passes
			but Air France can't get into the Delta system, so I
			only get the first two boarding passes. I ask them
			whether they can print out the ETIX ticket for me
			so that I have some official proof but they say
			they can't because it's a Delta ETIX ticket, not
			an Air France one. But I shouldn't worry, it's all
			electronic and I will get a printout from Delta.

Fri, March 19th 06:25	Left the Terminal with the bus to get to the
			mini-plane of "Air Regional" (Air France partner)
			to bring me to Paris. Waited 15 minutes in the bus in
			front of the plane because it needed to take additional
			fuel due to "risk of circling around Paris due to bad
			waether (fog)".

Fri, March 19th 06:50	Finally took off to Paris. Very small plane, one seat
			on the left and 2 seats on the right. Not enough space
			to even open the laptop to work during the flight.

Fri, March 19th 08:00	Almost at Paris the captain said he is sorry but we
			are not allowed to land in Paris due to heavy fog
			(for the real reason see later below) and have to fly
			back to Strasbourg (close to German border, half-way
			back to Nuremberg), but Air France ground staff would
			be informed and take care of us and our connection
			flights.

Fri, March 19th 09:00	Landed in Strasbourg, nobody there waiting for us.
			I figured I had to pick up my luggage but nobody
			told us. As I know french very well I captured the
			following conversation between ground staff: "What
			flight is this?" "I don't know" "Why did they land
			here? "No idea, call the boss" "The boss doesn't
			know anything about it either" "Ah, we shall have
			them go and wait at checkin 11". I quickly took my
			bag and went there to be the first in line. After
			probably 30 minutes waiting (without any info of
			course) they started processing the passengers.
			In my case: "We will book you on the next flight
			to Paris at 10:30", "When will we arrive?" "Around
			1 hour later" "But what about my connection flight to
			the US which is supposed to leave at 11:10 from Paris"
			"Don't worry, all flights were delayed due to fog,
			contact the transfer desk of Air France in Paris,
			they will take care of your connection". At that
			point it was clear to me that nobody would prepare
			anything and that I would miss my connection. So
			I went to another Air France counter and tried
			several things in best and polite french, but
			there was nothing they could do because the
			computer showed my being in Paris, not in
			Strasbourg. I ask them to give me at least
			a confirmation of the delay and reroute to be
			able to proof it later. First dramas and tears
			emongst the passengers started, some were on their
			honeymoon, several families with kids, some not
			speaking french at all. I helped several people
			in translating.

Fri, March 19th 11:10	With 40 minutes delay we finally take off from
			Strabourg to Paris, this time with an Airbus 320.

Fri, March 19th 12:05	Arrival in Paris. All gates were occupied, we
			taxied for many minutes with the plane and then
			finally arrived at Terminal 2D. All connection
			flights would leave from Terminal 2C, I first
			wanted to go their on my own but then figured
			that only Air France would give me the vouchers
			for rebooking or hotel, so I lined up in the
			more than 50 people long line at the transfer desk.
			During my wait several observations were made.
			Many people (mostly french and business people)
			tried to sneak in from the side but everyone
			in the waiting line was pushing them back to
			go to the end of the line. Needless to say that
			the agents of Air France wouldn't care and just
			process whoever was pushy enough to show up in
			front of their nose. There were 7 positions
			at the transfer desk counter and only 5 were
			opne. The mood amongst the Air France counter
			agents was dropping from minute to minute
			because they realized that all connection flights
			were either gone or fully booked. When telling
			the customers that they had to stay in Paris and
			only get a place the next day or two days later
			they were faced with really angry comments. But
			the real reason of the agent's bad modd was that
			it was meanwhile way after noon and they wanted
			to take their lunch break. I captured the following
			conversation: "Boss, I am here since 6 AM and I
			haven't had my lunch break yet" "I know" "I really
			need a break now" "ok". So 2 of the 5 agents went
			for their lunch break while there were still more
			than 50 people waiting in line. Unbelievable.

Fri, March 19th 14:00	Finally it's my turn. Fortunately I had meanwhile
			visited the Air France ticket counter and amazingly
			enough they were able to print my ETIX ticket. This
			was making the agent at the transfer desk very happy
			because now she should use the paper tickets as
			a receipt to route me to another flight or airline
			by just adding a sticker to it. She was very happy
			to speak to a customer who was friendly and able to
			speak fluent french, so she was friendly as well and
			tried hard to get me a flight, but only could get
			me on a flight the next day via Chicago. Oh well,
			too bad but still early enough for being in time
			for giving my presentation. I got a hotel voucher
			for the cheapest hotel around (IBIS), no internet
			connectivity of course. I was tired anyways, helped
			some people in translating, called and met friends
			of mine in Paris and went to bed early. Fortunately
			I was clever enough to have my luggage only checked
			to Paris, so I was able to change clothes but that
			also meant I had to be early at the airport the next
			day to check in my luggage again.

Sun, March 20th 10:45	Took the shuttle bus to the airport, asked the driver
			whether he would stop at Terminal 2C, he said yes.
			Bus stopped at the very end of Terminal 2A. I saw
			Terminal 2C around 200m further, but he had said he
			would stop there so I stayed on the bus. Driver went
			on and passed Terminal 2C without stopping at high
			speed and went to Terminal 2E next. Had to walk
			back from there and then figured out that there
			was a block in between Terminal 2A and 2C and his
			stop was at the end of 2A but also at the beginning
			of this block. Anyway. Lesson learned.

Sun, March 20th 11:00	Arrived at the checkin for Air France, 2h15min
			prior to departure at got a shock when I saw the
			probably 150 people waiting there in line already.
			This time all counters opened, what an improvement.
			But processing was VERY slow. When getting closer
			to the counter I was able to capture the reasons.
			There was 2 days in a row heavy fog in Paris and
			many people got rerouted or missed their connection
			flights. Depending on how long they were already
			stranded in Paris (1 or 2 days) and how expensive
			their ticket was they got points on the waiting list
			and even able to kick out regular passengers. So
			some passangers wanting to fly that day, having
			arrived in time, but having bought a cheap ticket
			were bumped out of the flight, sometimes with a
			new target departure of up to 2 days later only.
			One can imagine the scenes that were going on there.
			The standard phrases of Air France were "other
			passengers with higher priority got your seat"
			or "all flights are full until March so-and-so"
			and "no we can not book you on another airline,
			just within Air France or Delta". People started
			screaming and yelling at each other.

Sun, March 20th 12:30	After waiting 90 minutes in line and at the time
			my flight was supposed to start boarding it was
			finally my turn. Surprisingly enough my reservation
			was still valid (so delay and ticket price were
			giving me enough credits) and I got my boarding
			pass and my luggage checked in to Chicago and
			then further to Salt Lake. Schedules arrival
			in Salt Lake now 19:19 localtime this evening.

Sun, March 20th 13:30	With just 15 minutes delay I am on my flight
			to Chicago and finally sensing that things
			are turning to the better.

Sun, March 20th 17:00	While watching a movie somewhere over the mid
			of the Atlantic Ocean I hear the captain saying
			something in french I can't believe, so I listened
			very carefully what he repeated in english.
			Nightmare continues. "Due to technical problems
			with the aircraft we can not continue our travel
			as planned. As it can only be repaired in Paris
			we have to return there. This is for your safety
			but there is nothing to worry around. We are expected
			to land in Paris in about 3 hours from now. We will
			inform you later how to proceed from there."
			All kinds of rumours are floating through the aircraft:
			"I heard a big boom on the engine. One engine seems
			to have stopped." Later the captain said that we
			should not worry if we see black fluid coming out
			of the wings. This is normal as they have to get
			rid of some fuel before landing. At around 12000 feet
			the landing gear (wheels) were already put out.
			Normally they are just put out a few seconds before
			the landing at a much lower altitude. The captain
			explaining that this is a normal procedure because
			we have to slow down the aircraft. Anyways, many
			things were not normal, we were flying very weired
			circles towards the runway and as there were many
			firetrucks with flashing blue light coming and
			surrounding our aircraft after we had landed it
			was clear to everyone that this was an emergency
			landing. I later talked to an Air France employee
			and he was willing to confirm that we had problems
			with the landing gear, but he was unwilling to
			comment on the engine problems. Anyway, strange
			feeling in my stomache. First thing I did was
			calling my wife to tell her that I safely landed,
			in case something was coming up in the news.
			Prior to landing they announced that they will
			have another aircraft ready for us to board
			at 9 PM and that Air France groundstaff had
			already taken care of our connections and was
			waiting for us. Needless to say that nobody
			believed them and we were right.

Sun, March 20th 21:00	After waiting in line again for probably 1 hour
			(2 people processing the connection flight needs
			of an A340 full of passengers) I had to learn
			that there are no connection flights that day
			anymore when we would land in Chicago (no wonder!).
			Meanwhile the agents had the right though to book
			us on whatever airline at the same Ticket Class.
			I tried to stay friendly but made it clear to the
			agent that I had to be in Salt Lake no later than
			Monday 2 PM because I was giving a presentation
			in front of 400 people. After taling to msrex
			I even told her that my boss had approved any
			expense needed to make that happen. She tried
			her best but could only get me to Salt Lake
			by 19:19 on Monday evening, but I should try
			again when landed in Chicago. I made her book
			me on the replacement flight to Chicago and
			confirm that reservation for Salt Lake for now.
			She was really friendly and tried her best.
			Nothing to complain here. But many other passengers
			and agents were starting to shout very load at
			each other. Unbelievable scenes. People acting
			like wild animals. Some of them rerouted for the
			3rd time, without luggage and with more than 2 days
			of waiting at airports and in planes.
			I start on plan B and call Meike and Oli to look
			for a replacement speaker for me, just in case.

Sun, March 20th 21:30	Official anouncement that the plane is not ready yet,
			but will be ready for boarding at 22:15. I had captured
			in French before that they had no crew yet. What a
			surprise that you need a crew to fly an airplane.
			They had only known that for 4 1/2 hours now. Of
			course it is hard to get a crew on a Sunday, especially
			in France. In talking to one of the Air France
			security people in French I learned that the pilots
			were on strike for more than a week now, more or less
			officially, and that they took any chance like a little
			bit of fog or snow to cancel their flight or being late.
			Now things become clear, why many non-Air France
			flights had landed and started in Paris without
			a problem while ours were delayed, rerouted or
			cancelled. Here I made my decision that this was
			my last trip with Air France. So all other things
			like not being able to print the ticket IMHO were
			also only excuses because Air France would have
			to pay for all these passengers being rerouted.
			Needless to say that the ground crew in Paris
			only said that they could not tell us what will
			happen in Chicago to us or not, "because we are
			Paris and not Chicago, we don't know".

Sun, March 20th 22:50	Boarding really started. Just again 35 minutes
			later than promised. But nobody complains, probably
			because everyone knew by that time how much we can
			"trust" Air France.

Sun, March 20th 23:15	Plane in the air, second try to get to Chicago.
			Same meals and same movies as before of course :-(
			But a new plane and a new crew. Only things they
			say is that they are sorry for the delay. No more
			announcements what will happen to us in Chicago.
			Bad air in the plane, no wonder with many people
			not having seens a shower for more than 24 hours.
			Everyone is silently suffering.

Mon, March 21st 00:25	A miracle happened. I really arrived in Chiago.
			Let's see, Germany is 7 hours ahead, so this
			means it only took me 49 hours to travel from
			Nuremberg to Chicago. Not bad :-(
			Do I have to say anything? No you guess it of course.
			Nothing prepared for us. Two people waiting there
			to process all reroutes and hotel vouchers for
			a full Airbus A340. Would they have prepared the hotel
			vouchers at least in advance? Are you dreaming? This is
			Air France... Ah sorry, I forgot. Just had hoped when
			they know 8 hours in advance that an airplane full of
			stranded people would arrive that they better prepare
			for that. When asking them why they did not prepare the
			vouchers they say that it wasn't clear who would need
			one and their management didn't want them to prepare
			them in advance and then waste the non-needed ones.
			I don't understand because all who need a connection
			need a hotel because there are no connections after
			midnight. But I am tired and give up to argue.
			No news on my flight to Salt Lake. Still only the one
			that makes me arrive too late for my talk.
			When asking whether they could print my Delta ticket
			for the next day they said again they can't, only Delta
			can, but Delta is in Terminal 3 and by the time we
			get there they will be closed.

Mon, March 21st 02:00	I finally get on a totally overcrowded shuttle bus
			to the hotel. I don't even start thinking whether
			could have known how many people would be coming...
			We are probably twice as many people in the bus
			as allowed. Furtunately it's just a 10 minutes
			ride to the hotel. You can imagine the air in the
			bus, stuffed with people...

Mon, March 21st 02:45	After waiting in line to get a room I finally have
			my hotel room. Start calling Delta directly. After
			many minutes in the waiting loop I get told that I
			can be put for 25$ on the waiting list for an earlier
			flight, I say yes, they connect me to another person
			to do the reservation, but he tells me this is only
			possible for available flights and all earlier
			flights are fully booked. After trying to reach
			Air France by phone without success I call the
			office. Renate is on vacation, I explain my problem
			to Jaqueline, she calls our travel agency. After
			maybe 5 minutes they call me back and say they
			have found an American Airlines flight for me that
			would arrive at 12:46 in Salt Lake, but it may
			cost 494 Dollar extra, but I should check with Delta
			because they normally need to pay that. I tell them
			to keep the reservation. Then I call Delta again.
			After trying endless times I finally get them on
			the line and they approve the reroute. What a surprise.
			It is 4 AM now local time, my flight is at 10:18,
			but I still need Delta to issue me a tranfer paper
			and American Airlines to issue the ticket and check
			in my luggage, so I better get up at 7 AM. Will be
			another short night for me.

Mon, March 21st 05:30	I am unable to sleep, no wonder after that experience
			with the emergency landing. So I get up and finish
			this summary.

Mon, March 21st 07:30	I go to the airport. Delta is asking some more
			questions but once they realize my mightmare
			trip they approve the reroute via Amercian
			Airlines at no additional charge. I have to
			wait in line at Delta for a voucher though,
			which I then have to take to American Airlines,
			wait in line again to get a real ticket, then
			wait for the checkin, the security check, but
			I finally make my 10:18 flight as scheduled
			and sleep the whole trip on the plane. Take
			the shuttle bus to the hotel and then
			to Brainshare.

Mon, March 21st 15:45	I make it just in time to Brainshare to give
			my presentation. Everybody there knows about
			my story already: "Oh, you are the guy with
			the horror trip! I heard about that! How
			was it?". Typical american phrase...

So for those who didn't know yet - never fly Air France!

	Ralf