What’s up with Air France? They send you an email to check in online, but then they won’t let you check in online?

That’s what happened to me this afternoon. I got an email so I clicked on the link to check in. It told me my seat assignments, but there was no seat map so I could see where I was going to be sitting. I always do this when I fly ContinenUnited. It makes things much less stressful to have all that settled before you get to the airport.

I wanted to make sure I got an aisle seat. I HATE being stuck in the middle on a long flight like that (10 hrs to Paris and another 8 to Luanda).

So, since it told me that seat assignments weren’t available online, I continued on with the checking-in process. Instead of giving me a boarding pass like usual, it only gave me a “provisional check-in document”. WTF?

Since I have baggage to check (lots- but cutting down), I have to go to the desk to check in anyway, but I really don’t understand this whole episode. If I’m not going to be allowed to choose a seat or get a boarding pass, then what’s the point of going online at all?

I even called Air France, to try and get a heads up on my seat. The lady on the phone also told me there was nothing that I could do until I got to the gate. She didn’t have access to the seat maps either and so could not help me. Why not, is it so hard to allow a choice of seats before getting to the plane? None of the other airlines seem to have this issue.

By then, it’s usually too late. All that’s left is middle seats. 🙁

I DID put down on the company travel profile that I prefer aisle seats. So far, they have been about half/half with seating me in them. Who knows if it’s because they buy the tickets at the last minute or if the flights are just that full or if they just never even consider the things you filled in on their form?

Does anybody else have this problem? Does it tick you off/frustrate you or am I just being a whiner?

I hope Air France is going to be better in the air than they are online! It looks like I’ll probably be flying them a lot with this job. I DID say I preferred KLM, mostly because I REALLY prefer Amsterdam over Charles De Gaulle airports. If you’ve been to both of them, I’m sure you know what I mean.

So far, they haven’t sent me through Amsterdam even once yet. 🙁