Cu..stomer service Air France / Air Mauritius…
Well as the name suggest the article is about not so nice experience with cu..stomer service at Air France and Air Mauritius on my recent flight, what proven that money are not everything and that customer is not always right at least from my prospective since we all have different point of view. I have purchased Economy ticket from Dublin to Mauritius as I was invited to wedding at Mauritius and this is something what does not happen that often so I grab the opportunity and pack backpack and suit to hit the winter in Mauritius “25 degrees Celsia and sunny” what seems like bearable winter for me 😊 However I fell ill prior the trip and therefore was deliberating if I will travel or not since on the medication it is not fun plus give the fact of the air condition germ lab i.e plane is not the best environment for respiratory illness. However as we discussed my trip with friends the idea of upgrade to business class came to light, since there is bed and less people so at least I might get the much needed rest sleeping properly. Spending money is not something that I like to do but sometimes you need a live a little as Lidl promoting in Ireland so I said that I will give it a go and see how much it will cost and hopefully I would not need to sell kidney to pay for it. In my naïve expectation that since I want to spend money the airline will be more than happy to take them I had called the Air France as I could not upgrade the second leg of flight from Paris to Mauritius and when reached the call center I was told that I need to contact Air Mauritius since the ticket was sold by Air France in whole but it is Air Mauritius who is providing the plane for second leg. So here I go on the website of Air Mauritius where surprise, surprise is section specially dedicated to upgrade of class so I input all the data and “computer says NO” which it is funny in little Britain sitcom but when you try to get better deal in short time it is not so funny. Here we go the Call Center, this time Air Mauritius, in naïve believe that what cannot be done by online service will be done by human on the other side of phone line. I think that this is only expectation build on successful contact with call centers in previous times which had proven quite opposite in this case. The agent was polite but short and firm as the booking reference was not giving any result, nor my surname or date of birth “which brings another question, why the heck we need to provide them if they cannot be used in search” but let’s park this question for some other time. However I was able to give it ticket number and hooray I was found in the system but the answer remained the same, please contact Air France as seller of this ticket, which start bringing boil to my veins like slowly simmering coffee what I thanks for some training was able to calm down by breathing. Once more I had explained to the agent “name suggest some superpowers but quite opposite is true, no special powers or willingness to help at all on both call centers” that I already spoken with them and they advised me to contact the Air Mauritius and that is why I have been on call with them now. Eventually the Agent had a moment of some willingness and mentioned that there are six business seats available, upon which my wallet and debit card jump on the table ready to spill the beans, just being stopped short by following sentence “sir you need to go to gate and request the upgrade as I’m not able to do anything over the phone now” and here we go again, the brief moment of hope from my side and willingness from Agent side was cut short probably by some force invisible to customers but operating in agent mind like in Matrix. Well get the fecking blue pill and wake up ! My pleading and persuasion skills were not sufficient to cut through the force of Darth Waider or airline call centers and I was left to hope for gate staff be more helpful and approachable. Paris here I’m and straight to the gate to talk with staff to see what can be done, upon which I was told that there are two seat only available now for € 1080 one way only to Mauritius what is total cost of my return ticket in Economy class so I said that I will think over it, look at my bank balance and offered €860 what was left on my bank account, hopeful that it is a quite sum for one way upgrade, again me naïve customer was told that price is non-negotiable and feck off. Well thank you both airlines for saving me money !
Every story has an end and meaning in this one the end was a t Port Louis Air Mauritius office where I hope to resolve at least upgrade for return trip home to business class face to face with cu..stmer agent, what had proven that I could easily save the trip and talk to the wall at home. No sir I cannot help you you need to contact Air France who sold you the ticket tape played over and over from the mount of agent behind the desk. Looks like early stage of AI where it try to learn human behavior through first stage “piss off” and if this is not successful than the AI might try to get something done, such as “I can contact my supervisor” and hail AI reall human behavior traits in work. After repeating the story that I did that I was directed to Air Mauritius I realized that listening skills were not programmed into this AI “must be AI, otherwise it is really cold female specimen” and gave up the fight as I realized that it is not in my power and the force is against me in this case. Hey on the positive note I have saved money, learn the valuable lesson that money is not everything and that customer is not always right as it is preached. Moral of the story… no idea but probably when the door is closed and window cripple your fingers as you tried to get in, it is time to understand the signs and gave up this futile fight.
P.S. I might avoid eating on return flight in case this blog or the complain email to Air France / Air Mauritius will be read and plane stewardess notified of this asshole bloke who is annoyed with their employer.
