Complaint against Air France

Dear Sir,

I travelled from Mumbai � Paris � Oviedo on 2nd November 2009 and return on the same route on th November 2009 by Air France as per the detailed programme attached.

On my return journey from Paris to Mumbai by flight AF 281 I had a very horrible experience and had to suffer untold misery. The flight was announced and all boarding formalities completed on time. While the flight was on the runway the Pilot detected some technical snag in the aircraft and a check up was ordered. For over 2 hours the aircraft was on the tarmac with the passengers inside and no communication from the staff of Air France. After nearly three hours of sitting in the aircraft we were informed that the technical snag could not be repaired and we would have to change the aircraft and all passengers were requested to disembark.

After disembarking form the aircraft all the passengers were brought to Gate 90 Terminal 2C. However there was no information about the next step. No arrangements were made to provide water, snacks etc. to the passengers many of them who had travelled for over 10 hours in the previous leg of the journey. After many discussions we were informed that boarding for the new aircraft would commence and we were all herded into buses and taken towards the new aircraft. However all the buses were halted mid way without any information or reason given for this. The doors of all the buses were kept closed leading to feeling of suffocation in the passengers a number of them senior citizens. When some passengers objected to this, the doors were opened after some time and all of us were asked to alight from the buses and climb two flights of stairs to enter terminal E without giving any reasons for this merry go round walkathon. Most of the passengers were furious with the lack of response from Air France authorities. Finally with a lot of confusion all the passengers were informed to board a new aircraft after about 5 hours of harassment as well as physical and mental agony. Our woes did not end with the boarding but continued much to our surprise.

When the flight took off I was surprised to be informed that no Vegetarian Food for loaded on the aircraft despite the fact that a number of passengers had informed this while making the booking. My meal preference is shown in the attached E ticket. Did AF expect that all passengers will suddenly turn non vegetarian for the next few hours? Due to this callousness on the part of AF I and a number of passengers had to go through the flight of nearly 9 hours with only a couple of glasses of orange juice and two pieces of bread with butter. To top it all at about 3 am we were informed by the pilot that the water in the toilets had exhausted, this announcement was the last straw to test the patience of the passengers who were already going through a lot of stress duel to missed connections at Mumbai on onward flights, lack of food and support from AF staff. Since my flight landed over 5 hours late in Mumbai I had to cancel my earlier booking for onward journey to Hyderabad and make arrangements for a later flight with great difficulty.

While I agree that technical snags can happen to any aircraft and the new aircraft was provided keeping the safety of all passengers in view, what I do not expect is that an airline of Air France�s stature to handle this situation in such an unprofessional way. I do not expect the airline to treat it�s passengers like animals to be herded from terminal to terminal in sealed buses without any information or communication on the action being taken to solve the problem. Does the airline think that the passengers are illiterate and dumb and will not understand the gravity of the matter? Also I do not see any reason why the water tanks could not be checked / vegetarian food could not be loaded in the aircraft or does AF feel that the passengers do not deserve this basic courtesy and will have to manage with whatever is dished out to them? The callousness and unprofessional attitude of Air France is utterly disgusting.

The harassment and the agony suffered by me on this flight has not only caused my financial losses but also caused medical damage to my system due to lack of sleep, food etc. as I suffer from hypertension and also do not have a gall bladder. I would like to claim compensation of Rs. 1,25,000 from Air France towards Medical fee & medications, Mental agony and harassment and Cost of rebooking to Hyderabad.

I hope you get your early response on action taken for payment of my claim.

Sincerely yours,