Stolen items! & Nightmare between India &. Review on Air France

Note added on 22nd May at bottom:

I have had the misfortune to fly between India and France many times on Air France. On other sectors (ex. Europe and the USA), I found them to have been somewhat better, albeit marginally.

Firstly, if you happen to be connecting via Paris during one of their ''lightning strikes'', your baggages are going to be delayed, and it would all result in Chaos.

Have you ever tried to be next to the captains crew when they board the plane before takeoff? I have, quite a few times. 3 out of 4 times that I had managed to do so, I have smelt alcohol on them.

The way the crew treat the passengers from India is appalling to say the least.

The ground crew at Paris is usually clueless. Often, at Nice, where the runway is right next to the sea, the pilot would land short, and after realising that he doesn't have enough runaway space, would take off again and land next time.

Air France is, in some ways, a true potrayal of the corporate world in France itself: It is an airlines for the staff, by the staff, etc. The customer can go to hell (in the case of Concorde, some did), customer satisfaction is not a priority. Employee satisfaction is.

To end on a positive note, to fly to France from India, this is probably the cheapest after the other nightmare, Air India. Air France is apparently trying to compete with Air India, in providing miserable service, and they are getting there! Between France and the USA, barring strikes, this could be a choice.

In all cases, Air France would be my last choice (after other airlines and ships)

Note added on 22nd May:

After having written the above article, I had requested some of my friends to read it. About 5 of them read it, all travel from France to Delhi at least twice a year through Air France. The company they work for insist on Air France as they have very cheap tickets negotiated with them.

There have been 6 personally known cases of theft so far. When they collect their checked-in baggages, each time the bag had been cut and items removed from the insides. Air France continues to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. They ask for the proof of purchase of the items. This is a typical example of French Callousness

Err... if I had bought a digital camera a couple of months back, why the hell would I carry the receipt with me when I am flying?

If you have to travel through Air France, keep nothing valuable in your check-in baggages. These cases of theft have been reported for routes Delhi-Paris, Paris-Delhi.

Bon Courage, as they say in France