[NiranjanRajaghatta]

I flew from Montreal to Paris on May 19th and by return flight on July 3rd, from Paris to Montreal. On both these flights, I was not served a special meal, even though I had requested the same in advance and paid for it. Both on my onward journey and return journey, I was not given the previously confirmed vegetarian meal.
Upon demanding an explanation, I was offered none, except "we are sorry", we made a mistake. The stewards were polite, but were of no help.
This has happened not once, but twice and I would like to hold Air France accountable for the same.

CDG/Paris airport is a mess for transit passengers. People are ferried around in buses back and forth between terminals with no consideration for pregnant women, children, seniors etc., No proper seating is provided in the buses as well.
People are herded into these buses until they are full and women, children and seniors are not seated. The buses will not leave until the passengers are packed !
The terminals at CDG/Paris resemble a railway station than an airport.
Never travel by Air France and via Paris/CDG if you can help it.

[Corbel]

CDG is the worst airport, then all the new york airports took us 2 hours to get from one gate to another. this food thing happens ALOT i was on KLM and they didn't have the special meal for the woman in front of me. of course your 35,000 ft in the air so there isn't much they can do at that time. somewhere down the line something got messed up. did the flight attendant offer you at least the setup that comes with the meal if it was a hot meal??

[ChrisH]

CDG may be a bad airport, but it isn't Air France's fault. The airlines do not own, and operate the airports. That complaint should be taken up the airport administration, and possibly the local government there.

[Jetliner]

With regard to the meal, Air France dropped the ball twice. Have you contacted them?

With regard to the shuttle busses, this is rather normal in Europe. They don't do this in every airport, but you will find it. In fact if you are flying on KLM's intra-European airline, City Hopper, you WILL take a bus, since all of those aircraft sit at a remote hardstand. Frankfurt Germany is another.

[NiranjanRajaghatta]

I do understand that the airlines have little control over the status of the airport (Paris/CDG). Iam just warning other consumers/passengers like me, so that they can try to avoid this airport. What about small children, pregnant women, seniors ? They better avoid this airport.
The airport also collects fees from transit passengers, so consumers should get a better deal.

Air France - contacted them and all I got was a reply 'sorry - it maybe a mistake'.
On my onward journey (Montreal-Paris), which was 6 weeks before, I made sure that the special meal was confirmed again at Montreal. Six weeks later, Iam travelling from Paris to Montreal and once again the same 'mistake' is repeated. I understand that at 30,000 feet, the stewards are able to do little, except say 'sorry'. My complaint is with the Air France system, which does not have any accountability towards its consumers. Their website has no customer relations phone numbers, no email addresses, nothing. Which demonstrates that they care very little about their customers.
I strongly recommend that my fellow consumers avoid Air France as much as possible.

[Jetliner]

OK, but then they need to avoild pretty much every major airport in Europe for the same reasons.

[NiranjanRajaghatta]

Jetliner - I disagree with you.
I have been travelling for the last 15 years via Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam etc., and have never had to face any problem. I would rate Frankfurt as the best transit experience I have had.
Compared to Paris/CDG, Frankfurt and London are 'heaven'. I would strongly advise my fellow passengers to avoid Paris/CDG and Air France.

[Jetliner]

I have been through these airports too. What I was refering to was the shuttle of passengers on busses - it's very common over there. Frankfurt hardstands half the planes that come through, even when there are gates wtih jetways available. In Amsterdam you will ride a bus if you are on KLM Cityhopper.

[NiranjanRajaghatta]

Jetliner,
I have been through these airports and everytime I have passed via Frankfurt, London etc., it has been hassle free. There are no long lines and if at all there are shuttles, people are not huddled like cattle. The airports are clean, spacious and more space is devoted to passengers. Unlike Paris/CDG, more space is devoted to the shopping areas. The signs that direct people are very confusing and direct you to places where one started ! The staff are not very helpful either.
The bathrooms are not cleaned properly and there are not enough bathrooms to handle the passenger traffic. Above all this, the security and other staff go on strike, making it even worse !!
The terminals and gates do not have adequate seating for passengers because the space is taken up by commercial establishments selling liquour, perfumes and the like. Infact the total space allocated to passengers and seating is far less than the space allocated to shopping establishments.
Paris/CDG is nothing but a cash grab, when compared Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Singapore etc.,
The terminals are more like railway platforms - the airport fees collected by the Paris airport authorities are one of the highest.
On top of this, they have christened this airport as 'CDG' - Charlie must be writhing in his grave.
I strongly advise fellow passengers, especially seniors, women with children to avoid Paris/CDG at all times. Pass through Paris/CDG as a last resort.
Sorry Jetliner, I disagree with you that somehow Paris airport is comparable to Frankfurt or London or Amsterdam. No way.

[NiranjanRajaghatta]

Tens of reports are streaming in about the bad treatment of passengers at PARIS/CDG by Air France

http://content.usatoday.com/topics/a...75a5Pmejx3Ka/1

Indian passengers flying Air France allege racial bias Mumbai, PTI: Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 12:00 [IST]
Over 50 Indian passengers flying Air France had a ''harrowing'' time at Paris airport after their aircraft developed a technical problem and complained on reaching here that they were victims of ''racial'' profiling.
Over 50 Indian passengers flying Air France had a "harrowing" time "with hardly any water and food" at Paris airport after their aircraft developed a technical problem and complained that they were victims of "racial" profiling.
The tired passengers, who arrived here late last night after being stranded for 28 hours at Paris, said they were confined to a "small" lounge at the airport from 10 pm on Sunday till 7 am the next morning.
"We were kept in a small room (lounge) with hardly food or water and we were told we could not leave the airport. We spent a whole night over there in that condition," a passenger, who travelled on aboard the flight-AF 218, said.
The passengers, on their way to Mumbai from the US via Paris, said while other foreigners were taken to hotels shortly after their plane returned to the airport due to a technical problem following a four-hour flight, the Indians were taken to the lounge and just given a bottle of water and a sandwich.
Giving details of their "harrowing" time, one of the travellers, Vineeta Sengupta said, "No foreigner would have been treated like the way we were treated. People were lying down on the floor over there (at a place at the airport) where immigration takes place."
Accusing Air France of "racial" profiling, a girl passenger said the officials there even had threatened that they would be handed over to the police if they did not stop protesting.
No reason has officially been given for the delay.

The girl alleged, "When we said we will complain, one of the officials looked at me, up and down, and then said that we can complain if we wanted to."
Sengupta said the 53 to 54 Indian passengers were later "huddled out" of the airport on a "group visa", which the authorities could have provided "much earlier", and taken to a hotel.
The passengers, who were in transit and did not have a visa for Paris, said the plane took off from the French capital with 169 passengers and 12 crew on board but returned to the airport after just about four hours in flight.
"The sandwich was so bad that one could not eat it," complained one of the travellers. "We had to beg for water. There was no information, no facility to even ring up."
Sengupta said the pilot had initially aborted take off at Paris airport due to some "switch" trouble.
After a two-hour wait, the plane took off but only to return to the airport after four hours of flying, she said, adding the captain announced that the aircraft was returning to Paris due to operational reasons. The plane landed with fire tenders standing by, she said.
On going back to the airport, the officials claimed that the police was not giving visa to the Indian group although the other foreigners left for the hotels within half-an-hour of reaching there, the passengers said.

[donaldbane]

I am due to return to NY soon via CDG airport in the care of Air France and I am dreading it - God help me! The experience I had there on my outward journey nearly a month ago still resonates. I had planned to just forget the return part of my ticket and buy another with a proper airline - I make the journey regularly and so I could still use a new return ticket - but have decided not to be further intimidated by these morons and will "bite the bullet" and head into the unknown. I travel on June 3rd so think of me on that day and maybe say a little prayer for me!

[azstar]

While most French people are very nice, Air France employees treat everyone like garbage. So, don't feel that you are unique.