Air France Baggage Issues

[AmericanFlyer]

Like many other customers, I'm certainly not the only one who has experienced baggage issues. However, I'm normally a very calm person who follows all of the procedures and takes things in stride. However, I have about reached the end of my rope concerning a flight my son was on. It left Dulles Airport last Thursday on Air France for Paris, and then to Istanbul. From there, he changed airlines to Turkish Airlines and flew to Antalya to play in World Youth Chess Championships for the next two weeks. The baggage was checked in Dulles all the way to Antalya by Air France personnel. When he arrived in Antalya on Friday, baggage was not there, and he filed a baggage claim at the airport.

Ever since then, Air France has not been helpful in the least. They have been rude, arrogant, have lied to us repeatedly (many conflicting stories about what happened to our baggage, all of which cannot be true). Now, our file must be red-flagged (like George's bathroom book in Seinfeld), because they refuse to even discuss it. I have always been polite, never raised my voice, just trying to get our baggage delivered.

Is this a common experience with Air France? I have had my baggage lost three times domestically in the US, but it was always delivered in a couple of days. Not the best thing to happen, but at least it was resolved. It's almost like Air France baggage is running some sort of criminal enterprise. I'm sure many fine people work for Air France, but something is seriously wrong here.

Any suggestions?

[answer=42]

Excuse me, I've never been to Turkey. Perhaps they do things differently there.

However, in most other countries, you must collect your luggage at the first landing point in the country, where you will pass customs. If I've understood your posting correctly, this would have occurred in Istanbul.

Note that this holds even if the luggage is tagged through to the final destination. The tagging just avoids re-tagging and helps identification.
I have seen many cases where this situation is not explained correctly at check-in.

Finally, I believe that the legal responsibility rests with the carrier on the final sector. In this case, this should be Turkish Airlines, although obviously the baggage, if not stolen, is most likely considered as 'unclaimed' with Air France at Istanbul.

Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news. I stand to be corrected on all of the above.

[SXB]

However, in most other countries, you must collect your luggage at the first landing point in the country, where you will pass customs. If I've understood your posting correctly, this would have occurred in Istanbul.

Answer
Actually, that's incorrect. I now normally enter France, from outside Schengen, at CDG and my baggage is checked all the way through to SXB. I pass through customs in CDG with my hand luggage and when I arrive in SXB I have to enter a separate customs area to collect my hold luggage and I then clear customs.

However, I did travel from Strasbourg to Ankara last year (or maybe the year before, I forget) and I flew from Strasbourg to Istanbul and then onto Ankara, Turkish Airlines all the way. I specifically remember that my luggage was checked only as far as Istanbul and I had to collect it and checkin again for the internal journey to Ankara, so I would hazard a guess and say that's where AmericanFlyer's problem started.

As for our friends comments about AF I use them a lot and I'd say they are no worse than any other global airline (and there aren't a lot of those) when delayed with delayed luggage, in fact they are a lot better than BA for example, though not as good as Lufthansa. If you do have a problem with a specific case (pardon the pun) then try and speak to someone in authority.

Delayed luggage can be an emotional issue, but when taking multi-sector flights it can and will happen.

I write this sat in a hotel room in Tirana while Alitalia have left my bag in either Strasbourg or Milan. Hopefully it will turn up tomorrow....

[AmericanFlyer]

Even though my son's baggage was checked through to Antalya, he was required to claim it in Istanbul, and that is where the trouble started...the bags never showed up from Air France and that is where the claim was filed (I mistakenly stated that the claim was filed in Antalya). Air France said that the bags were misplaced in Paris. From this point on, each time I called Air France, I got different stories about where the bags were and when they would be delivered. In retrospect, it seems like they were just telling any story to get me off the phone.

Finally, later today, after Air France baggage in Florida would no longer talk to me about this baggage, I was able to contact a customer service woman in Instanbul for Air France who made a huge personal effort, staying late after her normal working hours, to finally track down the baggage and get it on an aircraft to Antalya, where it was finally delivered to the hotel about 11:30 PM today. She was the only person I talked to at Air France who was in the slightest way helpful.

I'm sure this is a common story, but for airlines which are having expense issues, surely it must have occurred to them that it is much more expensive to have "mishandled baggage" than it is to get it right the first time. I'm sure a number of times it is the air traveler's fault, with baggage that it not up to standards, or luggage tags that come off, and I'm also certain that many times there are legitimate reasons, such as weight, when luggage cannot be placed on he proper aircraft, or tight connections. I also know that a lot of time and effort has been spent by some airlines and airports to attempt to reduce the "mishandled baggage". According to most sources, the primary errors occur when there are multiple legs in the trip and the baggage must be transferred from one flight to another. None of this is new news, and misplaced baggage stories are as old as the hills. Just the same, and in the same category or keeping passengers and crew stranded on an aircraft, airlines will need to deal with this issue in a more aggressive and effective manner to bring loss rates down to remove legitimate passenger aggravation. It's all about money, and mishandled baggage is a very expensive issue for airlines. Airline management needs to re-think their priorities on this and soon.

[answer=42]

SXB

I am sure that your observation in Strasbourg is correct. I recall another similar situation (I forget where) and I can imagine that there are a number of situations where customs can be passed at an 'inland' airport.

However, I stated what I believe to be the usual case, which appears to have been the situation this time.

American Flyer

Air France computer systems suck. I read an interview with their boss who said that a few years ago their systems were terrible. Which translated means that they are aware of the problem. This explains your experience (including the good bits).

I was in CDG the other day at a peak time and I happened to walk past one of Air France's 'baggage complaints' offices. There were very few people waiting...

[old,not bold]

Is this a common experience with Air France?

In a word, yes!

Not only is it common for them to lose your baggage, it's a common experience to find that when they do, they are

rude, arrogant, ... lie .... repeatedly

Transfers at CDG are where they lose most.

They seem able to train local agents to be as rude and arrogant as their own staff are. This is quite an achievement.

It is a huge error to check bags on to Air France.

[radeng]

My worst experience was with American, who lost a bag for 13 weeks. But they were genuinely trying to help. BA are dreadful. AF had a bag of mine that didn't make a transfer to BA at CDG, but it arrived within 24 hours. If you are going to lose a bag, the best place seems to be the US - the carriers there seem to generally have systems that work - except for the long gone but unlamented Empire Airlines.

[SA Nancy]

CDG is one of the worst airports to transfer through! Bags go in but seem to never come back out again! When rushing short shipped bags, the golden rule is to never ever use CDG or LHR as hub stations!!
But it isnt just AF who lose bags, every airline has missing bags and if a flight goes through without one then its happy days. That doesnt happen often enough though!
Ski season soon and the occurance of overweight aircrafts and the offload of dozens of skis awaits! :ugh: