Vol annulé

Well, today I was quite excited as I was supposed to fly back to NYC.

I had booked a Delta ticket on an AF codeshare - being that I am a member of the Flying Blue program, and have managed to jump up to Elite status, I always try to purchase tickets from airlines in the SkyTeam alliance. I figured I'd try Delta, as the tickets were slightly cheaper, though I was a bit apprehensive about Air France. I have been a loyal AF customer since my student years (1998-2000 ish) and had never had any major problems until the Fréquence Plus program became Flying Blue. In fact, 2 years ago, my AF flight NYC-CDG was delayed. By 6 freaking hours! And they didn't even call me to let me know. The flight left JFk at 3:30 AM and they did NOT have my special gluten free meal onboard either.

Anyway, so tonight my flight was for 18h50, the last CDG-JFK flight and one that I have been taking for years now. I had to shell out 52 euros for a taxi to the airport as I had some heavy luggage. I got to the airport just fine, in fact, I got there a little early, and proceeded to Economy class check-in, where they promptly told me to go to the L'Espace Affairs check-in since I am Flying Blue elite.

Check-in was weird because the lady checking me in asked if I had already checked in online. I said no, and then she was all confused, saying that someone had checked in online with my name and had declared one piece of luggage. Her colleague at the next counter over turned to me and said jokingly, "Ooh. Someone stole your identity!". Then she laughed hysterically. I did not happen to think her joke was funny, so I said very seriously, "You know, that actually does happen to people." Then she said, "Oh, well, it's quite rare for airlines, because we have a lot of information already on all the passengers." Anyway, the attendant working on my case ended up calling people for 30 minutes before declaring the problem was solved, handed me my boarding pass, and apologized for the delay. As I was walking away, I heard her ask her colleague, "So, the luggage will go through to JFK, right?" What a way to inspire confidence...

The flight was leaving out of 2E, which has been completely redone, and even has a mini train thingy that takes you from the terminal to the gates. Then you go through security and there are lots of duty free shops, then there are all these free Playstation 3 areas where you can play while you wait for your flight! There is also Wi-Fi and new computer stations where you can surf the internet (for a fee). I really wanted to try the PS3, but there were all these little kids at them, and there wasn't one near my gate, so I read a magazine while waiting for boarding.

At 18h05, boarding started, with one side being for regular Econ pax and the other side being for all business and SkyTeam elite pax. I happened to be standing right by the SkyTeam side, so I was one of the first in line, and one of the first to pass through the ticket counter. I was walking down the ramp when a cabin crew member came running out of the plane, shrieking, "Arrêtez! Y a un problème! On bloque tout!" I was perhaps 5th in line to actually get on the plane but we ended up waiting for 15 minutes when the ground staff invited us to wait back at the gate. Another 20 minutes went by, with those of us already checked in waiting in front of the ramp, and the other passengers still in line to go through. That was when the screen flashed "AF 008 Flight Cancelled/Vol annulé".

COMPLETE MAYHEM broke out. People started shrieking. Business men whipped out Blackberrys and barked orders like, "What's the next flight out? Can you book me a hotel?" Only 2 counters were available for rebooking, and there was absolutely no semblance of a line - insted everyone just crushed together, pushing and shoving tickets at the clerk.

I was one of the first ones at the desk, but waited patiently while the clerk rerouted all the business class passengers. The earliest flight they could put them on was for 1 pm, so all the business people were really mad, as most of them had meetings for the next day at like, 9 AM and realized they wouldn't be in NYC until 3:30 PM! I waited and waited and waited. There was a Eurotrashy Italian couple trying to cram in and a woman who spoke English, French, and Italian - I think she was a dual French/US citizen. These were the pushiest and most difficult people. The woman (I think her ticket said her name was Muriel) kept shrieking every time the clerk took a business class passenger ahead of her. As each business class passenger passed before her, Muriel would sigh exaggeratedly and say rudely, "Another business class person?!?!"

Finally the clerk had checked in nearly all the business pax, so I showed him my ticket which was marked econ class, but had my FB elite number written on it. I also showed him my FB elite card, and he promptly took my ticket next. Muriel and the Italians freaked out, with the Eurotrash guy hurling insults at me in Italian, and pointing at me. Muriel was all, "She's economy class and I was here first!" I said in French, "Sorry, but I was here before you - I was actually waiting at the plane door" and Muriel said, "Yeah, whatever," and the Italian guy shouted, "Ha!" and then a string of Italian curse words at me, all the while giving me the evil eye. Muriel started yelling at the AF clerk, insisting she was next. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he said, "but she has an AF elite card." "I HAVE A CARD TOO, YOU KNOW" screamed Muriel. "I HAVE A CARD I'M NEXT". "Uh, okay, if you have your AF Flying Blue card, you can show it to me and I will process you after madame." "I don't have this Flying Blue card" said Muriel. "Well, what card to you have?" asked the clerk. "Well, I have lots of cards. Lots and lots. I have an American Airlines card. Continental. Delta. United. American Express," she said haughtily. "Er, yes, but you do not have an Air France card. Madame here has an Air France Flying Blue elite card." "Phhhhhwwwwww!" shouted Muriel. "That's bullshit!" Eurotrash italian asked her what was going on, and she explained in Italian that I had a "stupid worthless Flying Blue card" so they were letting me skip ahead. Eurotrash, his girlfriend, and Muriel stared at me with the evil eye and started whispering and pointing at me, occasionally laughing hysterically, while still pointing at me. It was all very terrorizing, but at the same time, I do actually PAY for the elite card by taking uncheap flights with Sky Team, so I should think I would get special benefits. Anyway, Muriel and her Italians were really scaring me - you know how there's always that customer who is really difficult, yet is the customer that paid for the cheapest ticket on like, priceline.com and gets mad when s/he is not treated like a first class passenger? That's pretty much what it was there, and I had a feeling they were about to have a case of air rage, so I grabbed my boarding pass (for the 15h55 flight the next day) and fled.

To be continued...