[dualmilitarycouple]

My husband and I are both in the Air Force serving overseas in the UK. We both received short notice deployment orders to Iraq for 6 months. We have a baby daughter that we needed to get back to the states to stay with family. I had purchased 2 tickets through Expedia.com w/Air France. My husband's report date was then changed to an earlier date.

I tried to call Air France (the world's worst airline) to change the ticket to arrive back in the UK 12 hours earlier than the original time. They were not helpful and tried to charge us about $800 to change the ticket. This and the customer service rep interrupted me every other word and then told me to be patient since he was new and was still in training. Expedia also called to try to get them to waive the fee since we were on military obligation. They refused again.

I then talked it over with my husband and we tried to cancel the ticket and get our money back. Expedia contacted Air France to plead our case. We genuinely believed that we would get about 75% of the $2300 back for the tickets as we understood that there would be some penalties.

Air France refused a refund...even a partial refund. They informed Expedia that it was a "use or lose ticket" and would not even issue a credit with the airline. Expedia again tried to get them to waive the fee to change the return portion of the ticket and they refused. We ended up buying a one way ticket back here from an US based airline.

Shame on you Air France for your terrible customer service and patriotism. You are non-empathetic. I have written Expedia to have you removed as a carrier with that company as you are only reducing the credibility of the company. Thanks for nothing.

If you would like to complain to Air France, they have a website with a contact us link. You probably won't hear anything back from them.

Expedia, thanks for everything even though we didn't get what we wanted. They really went the extra mile and it was appreciated.

If you are reading this, please support our troops in Iraq. Even if you don't agree with the war, we volunteer to do this for the United States. We are proud to serve.

[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

Full refunds are only given when you pay full-fare coach ("Y" class,) or are traveling with most, but not all, business and first class tickets. Thus, with Air France, you're talking about a fare of around $8,000 to $10,000 round trip, per person, from the east coast to Paris, before you're in the running for a refund. The equivalent fares, on Continental Air, tend to be about $2,000 less.

For, perhaps, another $1,000, per person, you might have been able to get a coach fare (on Air France) that would have allowed you to make changes (but still not receive any refund) in return for payment (in addition to that $1,000) of $200 to $300 per person.

If you're traveling on anything resembling an emergency, or "short-notice" travel, NOT purchasing directly from the airline you will be traveling with is usually not worth any savings you might realize by going through Expedia, or any other on-line, or off-line, travel agency. Air France was, actually, doing you a favor by even talking to you. Most, if not all, US-based airlines would have told you to contact Expedia then hung-up on you if you asked any more questions--I'm not suggesting this is right. It's just the way major US-based airlines feel they can treat their customers.

One of the cheapest, regularly available, refundable trans-Atlantic fares can be had from Icelandic Air business class (one change of planes in Iceland) which has service to Glasgow, London (at $6700 round-trip, per person) and limited service to some cities on the Continent.

[Silent Bob]

I'm actually quite surprised that Air France had anything to do with a refund since you brought it through expedia. What's even more surprising is that Expedia goes out there way to try to get a refund from air france. Seriously, they should have been the one to refund that money, true you would only get so much back, but you would get back something. Expedia, Orbitz, Air Gorilla, Travelocity, if you book through them, its them you need to go through for any changes or refunds (Personally I find Air Gorilla and Orbitz most helpful)

[ChrisH]

Exactly. When purchasing through Expedia, and other low fare websites, you should go through them to make the changes, and for refunds. They are third party companies, and are not associated with the airlines. Air France, for example, does not ask to be on Expedia. Expedia just has a search engine that searches a fare database that returns to the user, the cheapest fares. Airlines can request not to be on these websites, such as SouthWest does not want to be on any low fare websites, but it isn't as though Air France asked to be on Expedia, and would be upset of they were removed, which will not happen anyway.

Always buy directly from the airline, and always be aware of the "fare rules" that apply to the ticket you are purchasing. The ticket you purchased was obviously non-refundable. Just like buying an item from the store that you cannot return. This means it will cost to make changes, and if you have to cancel, there are no refunds .. in other words, a use or lose ticket. Airlines usually do not take into consideration the reasons for changes, whether it be military, etc. If you buy a ticket with certain fare rules, those rules apply, no matter what. As Butch Cassidy mentioned, always buy a full fare, "Y" class ticket. You may spend more, but you'll not run into the problem you did, if the need arises to make changes, or cancel the ticket.

[jimworcs]

Shame on you Air France for your terrible customer service and patriotism

Agree with other comments, but surprised that you question Air France's PATRIOTISM. As far as I am aware, France is a sovereign state, and would not "patriotically" support a war by another nation surely? In fact, I think you will find that France did not support the war in Iraq

[Leatherboy2006]

Have to agree with jimworcs, unless you are with the French Military why would their patriotism question. Their military is not involved (to my knowledge) in Iraq and France is a sovereign country (not just a "state). Who if we go back to our revolution against England in 1776, was a big supporter of the colonies in the fight for freedom against England, providing both man power, moneys and ships to help against British blockade.

[jimworcs]

Dictionary.com A state is defined as "a politically unified people occupying a definite territory; nation." France is a nation!!