[MRK66]

I have about 180,000 flying blue miles which were scheduled to expire in June 2011. In December 2010 I decided to take a trip to the UK from the US. I took a US airways flight from Philadelphia to Paris and then to avoid loosing my miles I decided to take an Air France flight from Paris to Birmingham - big mistake.
First of all I got stuck at CDG airport in a snow storm - some people had been their five days. The Air France ground staff were rude and unhelpful, there were often 8 hour queues for information with only one person serving. After about 12 hours we eventually got out of Paris on an Air France flight to Birmingham - we were the lucky ones.
Secondly, when we arrived in Birmingham both my baggage and my girlfriends baggage were lost. The day before we returned (10 days later) my baggage finally turned up - only after many unanswered phone calls to the baggage help lines and a visit to the Air France counter at Birmingham airport.
My girlfriends baggage eventually showed up in the UK after a couple of months and we had to Fedex it back. Air France did eventually compensate us fairly for the lost baggage.

Finally, when I got back, Air France did not credit the milage to my account, despite my frequent flier number being on the boarding pass. I tried to correct this by contacting them. They told me they could only do it if I sent the boarding pass to Flying Blue in France. I did this to no effect. The miles were not credited and as a result I then lost my 180,000 miles. When I phoned them in the US, they said they had not received the boarding pass and could do nothing about it and told me to phone Flying Blue in France.
I offered to give them the eticket number, seat number and copy of the correspondence with Air France over the settled baggage dispute for the flight, but they were not interested.
At this stage I do not have the miles for the flight and have still not had the 180,000 miles added back to my account. My plan was to use the miles this summer for a European vacation - it does not look like that will be happening.

Between the chaotic and rude Air France ground staff at CDG, their terrible baggage handling and the unbelievable frequent flier rewards program, I don't plan on using Air France again if at all possible.

[Pearljhonson]

Hello guys!!
Thanks for making us aware such kind of new concepts. I liked to read about flying blue complaints. For getting information about travel and cheap flights you can click on the following links.

[adrin]

yeah me too im interested in it. i would love to come here again as i get some time.

[Jen2869]

Hi mrk66 - did you ever get your air miles back? If so, got any tips? I've found myself in the same situation re losing my miles despite having flown with them recently.
cheers

[aonghas]

I have 80,000 KLM / AIR FRANCE Airmiles – which they say they are going to ZERO – if I don’t make a booking before 30th Sept 2012.
You can book up to 10 months in advance for air mile tickets (so they say!)
2 days ago I did some research on how I could get a married couple I know from Aberdeen to Paris in Oct or Dec or Mar 2013 – and I found 4 options for them (40,000 for the 2 + 130 Euros tax) – sounded good.

Tonight I went to book their chosen option – and NONE of the 5 options that were available for DIRECT flights from ABZ-CDG-ABZ were available from Oct 2012 – July 2013 !!!

Of course plenty air-miles seats on the 10 hour (return)BZ-AMS-CDG-AMS-ABZ – ALL DIRECT FLIGHT AWARDS FOR 10 MONTHS GONE IN 48 HOURS – I DO NOT BELIEVE IT.!!!

CLEARLY WHAT KLM/AF FLYING BLUE HAVE DONE (I CHECK BOTH WEBSITES) IS “BLOCK” AWARD TICKETS ON THE DIRECT ABZ-CDG-ABZ ROUTE (2 hours) AND RESHUFFLED THEM TO THE “STOPOVER” AT AMS (5 houes each way).

I USED THEM A LOT IN THE LAST 9 YEARS FLYING ON BUSINESS TO JAPAN, CHINA, MALYASIA, SINGAPORE and HOUSTON.

THEY MUST THINK PEOPLE ARE STUPID THAT THEY CANNOT DETECT THESE UNETHICAL BLOCK “MOVES” OF ELIGIBLE ROUTES – LEAVINF FB AT THE BACK OF THE Q – WHEN IN FACT THOSE DIRECT FLIGHT SEATS ARE SUPPOSED ALLOCATED ON A % BASIS FOR FB CUSTOMERS.
ONCE I SPEND THESE 80,000 AIR MILES – I AM NEVER TRAVELLING WITH THEM AGAIN - UNLESS THEY IMPROVE

[Katy]

Flying Blue miles can be used to book reward tickets - maybe only, and only if you do it 9 months out and are willing to take 2 or 3 connecting flights each way with 7-8 hour layovers. what a deal, eh?

Then if you try to use your miles to upgrade a ticket, forget that too. they say you can only do it internationally, though never seats available when you need to go, and their partner airlines like Delta don't honor them intranationally.

Why not just give extra free peanuts and have done with with the lies - racking up hundreds of thousands of mileages isn't paying off in any other way.

Just spent hour on phone with them - an hour of my life wasted and I can never get back. Boooo to Flying Blue.

[aonghas]

i can now report that the 80,000 air miles I had earlier this year (2012) have been eroded by klm/af to 13,000 even though I booked a flight for 2 to Paris on 23rd Dec 2012.................I used to fly with KLM every 3 months to the Far East for 7 years...........mostly business class.............now because of a heart bypass operation I have not travelled for over 20 months they deduct so much per month until it is ZERO.

20 months is a very short life eligibility. My companies have spent approx £70,000 on flights with KLM/AF because of easy access to Far East...............but no more.............apart from the Amsterdam-Beijing aircraft being archaic and the dutch stewards thinking they are part of the "master race" - no wonder they are called the UNDUTCHABLES............I will not be using them again ...........I would rather endure the clutter of Heathrow and fly Singapore Airlines - which i have done on the new A380 air bus - smooth flight - and attentive civilised stewards........

[mikeeuk]

Ignoring the fact that the points you collect are worth so very little now, my complaint is now that you collect so few unless you travel business class.
I admit I have always used AF & KLM because they fly from a convenient local airport but will now just go for the flight that is most convenient and best value.
The rules have become amazingly complicated involving which flights count for what and which airlines are involved. I flew to Australia (return) with Malaysian Airlines who are supposed to be in the alliance but got no credit on Flying Blue whatsoever. I also realise that unless you book via the AF or KLM sites then you are almost certainly faced with making a retro claim for any credit. When the credits arrive they are worthless as the flight was of one particular class or another. With two almost identically priced flights with Vietnam Airlines, one received 50% of the miles and the other received nothing as it was the wrong class.
I know the whole airmiles system is really geared to those flying regularly in business or first class and probably do not pay for their own tickets. If I am going to face reality in the future then I hope AF & KLM do the same and don't promote Flying Blue as some amazing benefit.