MARIGOT--Air France has been severely criticised by a St. Martiner for its ‘very poor’ follow-up over a claim for a lost bag which has still not been found, and the airline’s inability to provide a wheelchair in Paris that was paid for in advance.
Alex Pierre told The Daily Herald that his mother, brother and three daughters were returning from the UK, arriving back in St. Maarten on Air France on July 30.
A wheelchair had been requested and paid for his 71-year-old mother, who recently had a back operation. In Paris, however, Air France staff regretted that no wheel chair was available leaving the elderly lady to walk through the terminals, the consequence of which has left her with swollen feet.
On arrival in St. Maarten, a bag belonging to Pierre’s brother never came off the plane. A claim for the missing bag was duly made at the airport at 6:30pm after waiting in vain for it to appear on the conveyor belt, but as of August 11, this bag has never been found, Pierre says.
Adding insult to injury was an email and a follow-up phone call to the family to say that the bag had been found and could someone come to the airport to collect it. But airport staff had to back track and apologise after admitting it was not the missing bag after all.
Pierre is fuming about the “unacceptable” standard of customer service in not keeping him informed regularly and not providing any solutions or offering compensation.
“We have been through all the normal avenues when you have a complaint without any results,” he said. “I even left my complaint on the Air France Facebook page. I did get a reply, but after that I have had no more contact.
“My brother is having to use my clothes and frankly he can’t wait to leave on August 20. I could accept this from a lesser airline, but this is Air France and not what you would expect from a major international carrier that prides itself on service and efficiency. It’s not the reality. It’s not normal.
“It’s almost two weeks that we can’t get the bag. Air France needs to propose something, propose compensation at least to show us you care.”
No one from Air France management could be reached Thursday to respond to this complaint.
