After having bought their ticket on the website of the company, 7 passengers of an Air France flight have not been able, for various reasons, get to the airport at the departure time. They then took advantage of other means of locomotions to reach the destination. But a few minutes before making their return flight, they explain, the airline shall inform them of the cancellation of their return ticket: access to the aircraft is denied. Except to take back a ticket more expensive..
This is not the first time that customers of Air France are faced with such a situation. A few years ago and in the same conditions, Stella Bisseuil, a lawyer by profession, has seen his return ticket cancelled. The company accused him of failing to honour its flight. Air France had then been convicted, in may of 2017, by the court of first instance of Auch to refund the price of the tickets and to pay damages, for “the poor application of commercial policy”
on the strength of this decision of justice, master Bisseuil ensures the defence of the seven passengers brought an action against Air France before the court of first instance of Toulouse.
Contacted by Le Figaro, master Pradon, lawyer for Air France, says his side that there has been no cancellation of tickets but only a readjustment of the rate of the general sales conditions.
In fact, the fee schedules of the airlines suffer from a paradox: for the same company, the same date and the same schedule, a trip may well be more expensive than a round-trip. For a Air France flight, for example, the price of a ticket can double compared to a return trip. Consequently, some passengers take the opportunity to make only journeys to go to the fare less expensive than a round-trip ticket. Faced with this situation, the airlines have responded by changing their terms and conditions of sales. These now provide that “the tariff applied on the date of issuance of the ticket is only valid for a ticket used fully in the order and dates of the course booked”. In other words, the passenger may not, for any purpose, be present on all flights of its route, will be penalised financially for 125 euros for short-haul flights and up to 3,000 euros for the long-haul in first class.
Master Pradon insists in these terms and conditions on the obligation for all customers to read the consciousness of the general conditions of sales. “Everything is on the internet,” he explains. He regretted that these clauses, whose reading is compulsory, are the most frequently accepted as a formality by the customer. In addition, master Pradon said that in fact, some customers have resorted to “tour operators”, which have the legal obligation to present them with the most transparency possible.
But the lawyer for the passengers, Air France “plays on words”. The company would of cancellations under the guise of a rate increase. “They don’t want to call it “cancellation” but it is the same practice,” said the lawyer. In fact, according to the expert in indemnification , the penalty inflicted by Air France to its customers is two-fold: the general conditions of sales, adds up to the price of a new ticket in “rate of the day”. The penalty can reach a certain amount of “abusive”. Some of his clients have had to pay several hundreds of euros to be able to take their aircraft. The court of Toulouse will make its decision on May 14.
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