I have flown with Air France regularly because it is the only direct flight from South Africa to France where I study. I have always been surprised by how poor the food and service are on the route I take, but my last trip took Air France's utter disregard for passengers to a new level. After the plane was in Johannesburg for a whole day (available to be inspected and to make sure that everything on the plane was working) the flight got cancelled when we were already all boarded and ready to go when the pilot announced an issue with the air conditioning system. Even though I believe this was ridiculous already given all the time they had to check the plane, the worst was yet to come. The pilot gave a very unsympathetic announcement after we were sitting on the plane for two hours already that the flight is cancelled. Nothing else. The cabin crew advised us that the ground crew will assist us. Except that there were no ground crew when we got off the plane. One lady behind an obscure desk had no idea what was going on and a gent with her merely said to all the passengers that they should sort themselves out with accommodation, food and travel to the accommodation and then claim back. If all of this was already ridiculous, the worse was yet to come: trying to process a claim is a nightmare! Air France booked me on another flight 3 days later - without any correspondence with me. If I had taken this flight I would not have been able to graduate this year as I would've missed a key class in my studies. I urgently had to book another flight via Kenya to get to France in time for my classes. The whole process was so badly done that it proofed impossible to cancel the substitute flight without cancelling my return flight as well. There was no way of contacting anybody at Air France to assist in cancelling the replacement flight, but not cancel the return flight. No way to phone or e-mail. Air France doesn't even have an office area in Johannesburg where one can ask for assistance. The website is terrible and the AI used clearly doesn't cope with anything that is not stock standard. I am still struggling to try and process my claim. I have still not managed to connect with anybody at Air France that can assist to sort out the cancelling of the replacement flight. They claim you can connect with them on Messenger or Twitter, but don't be fooled, the AI chat bot doesn't work well and the supposed operators don't contact you as promised by the chat bot. Even the African Airlines are better than Air France. The customer service on Air France is terrible and it is clear they have no intent of actually providing a decent customer experience. Not on the plane, on the ground, on their website or in Charles de Gaulle airport. I would strongly advise passengers to look for alternatives and only take Air France if that is your only option.
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