Why Air France and other airlines deserve to go out of business
Being a frequent traveler- both internationally and domestically- gives me a perspective on which airlines are making the most of a poor situation and which ones are doing badly. This posting is just to get some of my common complants and positive comments off my chest.
Missing the chance to delight customers
Air France does not get it. I just completed a flight with them between Detroit and Paris. Myticket was a split ticket between 3 airlines, all partner airlines, Northwest, KLM and Air France. The concept of "partner airlines" is a good one, allowing more desitinations and supposedly less hasle. Air France does not seem to get that part- less hassle.
Prior to departure, I called Northwest Airlines, with whom I am a silver elite traveler. My goal was to upgrade using my frequent traveler miles. Northwest was able to upgrade me on some segments of my travel, but the agents explained that they are unable to do anything on the Air France segments because Air France does not let them. Odd...but there is nothing I can do about their partner agreement, so I accepted it as it was. I was never able to contact an Air France rep with my question- maybe that was my mistake.
When it came time for my return flight, I went online to check in and found that the I could choose a seat assignment on the Air France flights from the NWA web-site. That was an improvement, I thought. I could also see the business class section and see that there were plenty of seats available. I called to see if an upgrade was possible. The Air France agent said "So sorry, but you must make this request at least 3 days prior to travel." I was only 24 hours out (the time frame during which one can check in online) and so I was out of luck. I was told to check with the gate agent, and see if they could help me.
When I arrived at the gate in Detroit, the flight was already boarding (thanks to a tight connection from MSP). I asked the gate agent if I could upgrade. He said (despite the fact that there were three agents standing there), that the agent who could help me had not yet arrived for the flight, but that I could wait. I waited and waited while they boarded many of the passengers. Finally, with still no sign of this mythical agent, I boarded the plane. I walked through the completely empty rear business class section (NOT ONE SEAT HAD A PERSON IN IT!) and took my seat. Happily the flight was not full and I had two seats to myself. Comfortable, but still not the same as the lay flat seats in business class. I was about to ask one of the flight attendants about moving up to the empty business class section, when one of the other passengers approached her about this same thing. I overheard her saying that there was no way they could shift any of the coomy passengers into business class seats uness they had paid for them. The other passenger said he was willing to use his miles to upgrade, but she explained back that they had no way to process the request onboard. Thus, our flight took off...30 empty business class seats, 75% of the economy seats full and some unhappy passengers who are accustomed to airlines who upgrade as many people as possible in order to improve their happiness.
I don't understand how/why Air France would not just automatically move people into business class. There is a minor incremental cost (better food, drinks) but it would seem to me that the increase in customer happiness and perception of the airline would offset the very minor incremental costs. In addition, they could have simply moved us into the empty section and given us the same food and drinks as economy. Mainly we just wanted the extra legroom and comfort. I just don't understand it. Another mystery in airline travel...right up there with the various rate codes...
Airline SeatsI was listening to a radio program about new aircraft technology, and the guest speaker made a great point about the seats. Airline seats, perhaps the one piece of the aircraft that makes passengers happy, or not, have the oldest technology in an aircraft. The speaker commented on how many improvements have been made to vehicle seats, but none had been adopted by economy flight seats. A few of my own observations...
1- Women have hips. Obviously the designers of aircraft seats have ignored this fact. I am not a small person, and that is something I am working on, but I am also not unusually shaped for a woman, having wider hips than a man. Why do the seats ignore this reality?
2- Why are the controls in the seat handles? See item #1 about hips, and my frustration of having my hips change the controls of the various entertainment systems simply because of dumb placement.
3- The armrests not going all the way up. If a traveler can benefit from having empty seats on either side of him/her, it would be so much more comfortable if the armrest could be flush with the seat, giving more stretch out space.
Aircraft engineers...help us!
A visit of surprises
I just completed a fabulous visit home, and I am sitting in the airport in Paris, dreading going back to Baghdad because it was such a great trip.
The trip started as a complete surprise for my family. I needed to take an R&R trip, and the best time to go was sooner rather than later. So I packed my suitcase, made my travel arrangements and the whole time managed to keep my family and friends in the dark about my visit.
The original flight schedule had me landing in Minneapolis at noon, so I planned to drive first to Mom and Dad's house to surprise them, and then be at Marlene's house when she got home from work to surprise her family. Of course, the European weather did not cooperate with my plans, and instead of a direct flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, I was instead "weather delayed" onto an Amsterdam to Chicago flight and then connected into Minneapolis.
I arrived about 10 pm Friday into Minneapolis and decided that Mom and Dad were probably already in bed fast asleep, but I assumed that Mars and Rob would still be awake. I got my rental car and by 10:45 I was sitting in their driveway...but all of the lights were off. The exhausted traveler in me panicked...what if they went on vacation? what if they went out for the night? Thankfully I had my cell phone and it was easy to find out what was going on. Rob's sleepy voice answered the phone and explained that he was going hunting the next day at 3 am and they had all had an early night. I asked to talk to Mars while I walked up to the front door and just as she said "Hello?" I rang the doorbell. The next words out of her mouth were "I wonder who is at the door, our doorbell just rang! It is really late for that!" I could hear the dog barking inside the house and Mars asking Rob to "please get the door." Rob was stunned when he got to the door, and but he managed to realize that an even better surprise waited- seeing Mars' face and reaction. He opened their bedroom door and turned on the light. Mars' initial reaction was all about the sudden brightness in the room...until she could focus and realized that the person she was talking to on the phone was actually standing in front of her! Surprise #1 was a success.
I slept on their sofa that night, and Surprise #2 was the reaction of each of my nieces and my nephew. The girls were very excited and ran and jumped right up into my arms. Of course, it was only later that the oldest told me she thought I was Grammy at first. I am going to blame that on her not having her glasses on! My nephew was not thrilled to see me. That I can blame on him being only 18 months old and having seen me only infrequently. It did not take long for him to warm up to me and start happily playing with me.
I woke up to a "winter wonderland Minnesota" landscape. I had mentioned the evening before that I was looking forward to seeing snow while I was home, and Minnesota did not make me wait!
Together with Mars and the girls over breakfast we plotted Surprise #3. Mars called my parents and made arrangements to bring the kids out to see them in the afternoon. Grammy and Papa are always excited to see the grandkids, so that was an easy excuse. The girls had gymnastics until noon, and I got to go along and watch them enjoy tumbling and jumping. They did such a great job!
After gymnastics we ate lunch together and then I stopped for a brief errand at our local Target. Little did I know this would almost ruin Surprise #3. No, I did not see my Mom or Dad while there, but ran right into one of their good friends- Pat. She was on her cell phone and gave me a vague "I think I should know you but I am not completely placing you" wave as we passed each other in the main aisle. I had my oldest niece with me, and a very specific errand that needed to be completed quickly. I thought about turning back to tell Pat about the planned surprise, but decided that she would not see my parents before I did about 10 minutes later.
My niece and I planned my entrance at my parent's house. Mars and the kids were going to go in first, get my parents into the living room and my cue was going to be my niece saying "It would be great if Auntie 'Nina was here." The plan was not great except for 4 key flaws...1) I could not hear my niece through the closed door 2) my dad was in the bathtub warming up after working out in the snow and 3) Pat had already called and mentioned she thought she had seen me at Target and 4) I did not have a jacket and the wind and snow was crazy cold outside while I waited. Thus, it was my Mom who brought up the call from Pat, and not my niece. I barged in at the point when my fingers started turning blue. And my dad heard all of the commotion of my Mom and her happy tears that he figured it all out before he even got out of the bathtub. Surprise #3- a partial success.
(The funny part of the Pat phone call...my mom and Pat had talked about a week earlier and Mom had told her I would not be home until March. Thus, Pat's call really confused my Mom, especially when Pat mentioned that the "Mel at Target" had had a kid with her. Mom commented that "Mel definitely does not have a kid!" In some ways, it made my arrival and even better surprise.)
Throughout the various travel delays and surprises, I had been posting cryptic comments on my Facebook page. When I logged in, my friend Tammi had asked about the meaning of my comments. I told her that it was too long a story to type about (which I am thinking again as I type and re-tye this whole account thanks to a technical glitch). I used the time difference and finding a time to call her as an excuse for finding out her work schedule. Surprise #4 was complete when I showed up at her work place to say hello. There were more happy tears!
The looks on everyone's faces was well worth the effort to kepe my mouth closed in the three weeks leading up to the visit. I don't know that I will ever get to surprise them in the same way, and it was fun.
