The Air France flight attendant union claims conditions onboard flights are becoming ‘cataclysmic’ because of the rising number of daily issues affecting passengers and cabin crew.
“For several weeks, discontent has been rising among the cabin crew members who find themselves confronted with numerous irritants and spend a large part of their mission apologizing to customers,” the SN-PNC union told its members last week.
“While disconnected management prides itself on a new customer ambition, the reality of the job consists in the art and way of apologizing to them for the poor quality of the service offered.”
“Once in the air, good magicians as we are, we are not miracle workers,” the union slammed.
The problems faced by passengers and cabin crew are said to be happening just as Air France launches a major marketing campaign to promote its “move upmarket” with a new Business Class seat and improved catering.
Those improvements haven’t, however, seemingly found themselves onboard Air France flights just yet. The union says catering problems have become a big issue in recent months, while the number of broken seats and other faulty onboard equipment has ‘exploded’.
The union says working conditions have become ‘deplorable’ and warns that these issues might become a major sticking point when their collective bargaining agreement comes up for renegotiation soon.
The situation could, though, get worse before it gets better. On Saturday, Air France sent out a company-wide text message calling on flight attendants to delay any holidays they had booked in July and August due to a shortage of available staff.
Many of the issues affecting Air France are being felt across the global airline industry with most problems connected with the ramp-up of operations as travel demand bounced back after the ending of pandemic-era travel restrictions.
As the industry emerges from the pandemic, workers are becoming increasingly eager to claw back sacrifices that the industry said were necessary to survive the crisis. Strike action has already been threatened at British Airways, while disquiet is rising at a number of airlines including Ryanair and Lufthansa.
In 2018, Air France was hit by a wave of strike action in a row over pay and working conditions. The estimated cost of the walkouts exceeded €500 million before a long-term agreement was reached.
Air France has such a pathetic business product i actually choose to fly economy.
I travel long haul with them monthly for work and i would rather keep my money after pervious business flights being aweful and air france having an awful attitude towards complaints.
The worst airline in Europe by a long way AVOID!
Cataclysmic and deplorable.
Notes problems with catering but no details. Broken seats and faulty on board equipment but no details.
Besides this article, there’s but a couple on the internet from other sources which essentially mirror it.
I call bullcrap.
Hi Christopher,
The issues are as reported by the flight attendant union. I am directly quoting the union so can’t provide details for legal reasons.
You just paraphrased a press release. Nothing you wrote informed anyone. These types of articles are a waste of time for everyone and dumb us down as a society. There is no critical thinking involved here.
I disagree,
I recently was on AF business as per my previous comment, had no meal choice with an plain pasta dish as the only food offered, The cabin AC was stuck on low and it was far too cold even with blankets. I travel with them monthly, the seats are often broken in various ways. I’m unsure the reasoning behind this, I guess maintenance costs or spare part issues.
Their economy product doesn’t seem to suffer the same issues which is why I now choose to fly in the back. My route to Africa is very expensive due to no competition and its rarely full in the back meaning I can get a row to myself and save around 3000 Euro.
The crew however are beyond excellent and have always gone above and beyond.
CDG is a disaster but delays have been minimal and I’ve never encountered any major issues with the aircraft itself.
I just flew Air France TransAtlantic three weeks ago and while the A350 is much more basic than a 787, I saw no issues with the cabin. Everything was clean and in good working condition. This appears to be a press release by a union posturing for negotiations. “Cataclysmic and Deplorable” definitely do not describe my experience.