More Stupid Airline Tricks - When is a Boarding Pass Not Really a Boarding Pass? When It's From Air France.

OK - so I have to go to a Funeral in France. Sad all round but I managed to get a seat courtesy of my German Travel Agent (Thanks Evi!!!)

So she produced the right documentation for me and I have an Air France Record Locator. So after getting the same error and waiting for several hours on the phone with AF (I gave up after 1 hour the first time - the second I was rewarded after a 90 minute wait) - I managed to speak to an agent. I would like to thank her but didn't catch her name - she was very helpful!

So she guided me through the process of issuing a BP online.

Here are the last 2 screens (of 10 that I had to go through BTW). the left one is the final confirmation - the right hand one is the actual print out of my document. So look at the circled items.

I just love the breadcrumb indicator - It says "BOARDING PASS."

Also on the page on the left it says:

Thank you for checking in online
"Your confirmation print is being opened in a PDF file."

The small print reads as follows:

Departure information

* Upon arrival at the airport, follow the instructions on your boarding pass.
* If you wish to print out or reprint your boarding pass later, you can do so before the Check-in Deadline for your flight:
- by entering your electronic ticket number on the Internet check-in log-in screen,
- or directly at the airport, either at a Self-Service Kiosk or by going to the appropriate check-in counter.
* If you have baggage to check, please go to the ""baggage drop-off"" counter before the check-in deadline. Otherwise you can make your way directly to the boarding gate.
* Thank you for using our Internet check-in. Air France KLM wishes you a pleasant trip.

OK so there are three references two of them say "Boarding Pass" and one says "Confirmation". So I guess I would go with the majority. FOOLISH ME!!!

So you hit the print button, and print the formal document but there is a small disclaimer...(the right image) that says:

CONFIRMATION TO BE GIVEN TO THE DESK
Reminder, this is not a boarding pass.

OK so AF which is it. Do I have a BP or not? Well we know the answer - its a Gallic Shrug....

Oh yes - a couple of other stupid AF pet tricks...

1. The premium seats are available for $65 each. (See my post from yesterday on BA's new insane pricing).
2. AF's seat maps on DL don't correspond to the real ones.
3. Amadeus does not give you the real AF record locator. It is yet another fake one from the Erding based host.Fortunately the AF agent gave me the correct one.
4. The AF error gave no indication of the problem - just told me that there was a web site error and that they were going to fix it in the "shortest terms" I don't make this stuff up.

Need I go on....

Dear AF+KL+DL+NW - can you get this working a little better for my next time on your new Transatlantic Alliance flight.

Thanks!

Gotta love these guys.... where do they find the people to create these things? I really want to go and learn at these airline schools of disinformation. It would make any propaganda ministry proud.

Cheers