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SkyTeam Alliance Passenger Reviews and SkyTeam Alliance Customer Trip Reports
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YOU CAN VOTE » HERE FOR THE BEST AIRLINE ALLIANCE AWARD |
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SkyTeam Alliance member review : 7 February 2011 - Farouk Mogheth (Czech Republic)
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Satisfaction : 7/10 |
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Tier Status: | Elite |
Product Consistency: | 4/5 |
Airport facilities: | 5/5 |
Alliances assist you depending on where you live or where you usually travel, so choice of one
of the three main alliances is always forced in some way. As much as I am a frequent flyer, I
have noticed that all alliances are chipping away the benefits so its becoming less and less
interesting. SKyTeam offers the best in my view inter airline rules - or the easiest to
navigate through. Living in South East Asia at the moment, I find SkyTeam to be helpful once
the new members join (China Airlines, Garuda, China Eastern) giving it a serious upper hand on
other alliances. Flights to Europe on the other hand offers less competitive prices mainly by
AF-KL that I haven't used in years due to their extreme prices. I use Czech Aairlines in my
intra European flights as well as to the near East or North Africa. Usually Aeroflot offers
decent rates to Asia as well.
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 25 January 2011 - J Quad (Netherlands)
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Member Satisfaction : |  |
Tier Status: |
Elite |
Product Consistency: | 1/5 |
Airport facilities: | 2/5 |
I used to be a platinum Flying Blue cardholder for years. Started in the good old KLM Flying
Dutchman program and now ending up as a British Airways Goldcard holder. Why? Like most
previous comments here stated: Air France/KLM are not happy with premium customers of their
loyalty programm. BA has many benefits to offer and way less blackout dates during the school
vacation. KLM reserves too many seats for their own staff instead for their most loyal
clients. They made me leave to become in one year a perfect happy BA goldcard member!
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 22 February 2010 - Thomas Kiegerl (Austria)
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Member Satisfaction : | |
Tier Status: |
Elite Plus |
Product Consistency: | 3/5 |
Airport facilities: | 2/5 |
FI'm a Platinum member of Frequence Plus for several years now but consider
dropping the loyalty program for following reasons. There are no free flight any
more, Air France is charging a hell lot of money for what they call ground fees.
Example: Flight cost return 100 Euro to London, Vienna, Rome, Madrid or most
European cities .Cost using Miles: 113 Euro "Airport Charges" + 20 000 Miles.
Service - although Platinum Status, my luggage never comes out first, most of
time actually it arrives last (irony !), The Helpdesk for Platinum members is
helpless, normally you are pushed to file an on-line form. Also Air France has
stopped service meals for Eco Class passengers, being now on par with LH and KLM
in the sandwich league! :) On top of that I made a mistake in award booking
recently paying 12000 miles too much on what I was supposed -Air France was
categorically refusing to return them. Seems that they have trained all Customer
Service agents to become excellent Accountants defending the money pot! Over the
18 last month I have witnessed that the price gap on most business routes
between Air France and any other European Airline exceeds 20-30% (ie London,
Frankfurt, Zurich, Moscow) which makes it pretty difficult for me to justify the
selection of AF as carrier. Whats the alternative? If you still have to fly
inside Europe/France, change to a different sky team member (maybe avoid
Alitalia as it is worse then Air France) or dump the them in favour of an other
Alliance program .
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 8 July
2008 - J Touzet (Spain)
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Member Satisfaction : |  |
Tier
Status: |
Elite Plus |
Product Consistency: |
3/5 |
Airport facilities: |
5/5 |
Flyingblue Gold Member for quite a few years now, I am a frequent traveller on
the AGP-CDG route. AF does not have any direct flight on this route. So I have
to fly with their partner : Air Europa - they do not even give you a glass of
water on a 2 hours flight, condition of comfort equivalent to a low cost
airline. AF should pay more attention when choosing their partner. Not only you
don't get the standard of service you expect when buying an AF ticket but you
also never get your miles credited. I always have to send a letter to be able to
get them. Why am I the one who has to prove that I was on that plane? Member of
Iberia Plus, I never get that problem with them.
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 30
April 2008 - R Earhardt (France)
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Member Satisfaction : |
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Tier
Status: |
Elite |
Product Consistency: |
2/5 |
Airport facilities: |
4/5 |
All in all, I have been pleased with the SkyTeam Alliance but there are some
glaring details that diminish the experience. There is a huge difference in
product quality between member airlines. Air France and Czech Airlines are both
excellent. I have always had a good experience, especially Air France's long
haul to North America and Asia, and CityJet services to the UK. KLM seems to be
a low-cost model product. On a flight from CDG-AMS-BKK, the KLM flight AMS-BKK
starved us with a tiny meal for a 10-hour flight. Northwest Domestic in the US
is simply awful, frequently delayed and uncomfortable. Another problem is the
ability to book Around-the-World tickets. Other alliances allow you to book and
price these online. SkyTeam requires you to go to a ticket office, which often
costs and extra 100 Euros for the service fee. Another problem is that they
often short you on miles with partner airlines, especially with the Northwest
operated legs of the itinerary. I did two RTW trips last year, and several short
hops and RT long-hauls, and almost did not keep elite status because I kept
getting shorted miles on Northwest. Finally, there is a huge hole in their
southern hemisphere services. I had to book a trip to Perth and went with the
SkyTeam Alliance, instead, because with SkyTeam I could not get any reasonable
connections that did not involve a 23 hour layover in Kuala Lampur.
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 29 March 2008 - S Lawrence
(UK)
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Member Satisfaction : |
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Tier
Status: |
Ivory |
Product Consistency: |
3/5 |
Airport facilities: |
4/5 |
As as humble Ivory-level member of Flying Blue, it has taken me some time to
accumulate sufficient miles for a business-class award ticket to the far east,
but... how does one go about booking such a thing? First of all, I was
interested to know how many miles I need to go from the UK to my destination -
it seems the KLM site has a website tool for the job, but when selected via the
suggested link it takes you to the wrong page - oh dear. The Air France site
also has a not-so- easy-to-reach page which lists the required details in
table-form, and it seems I have more than enough miles in my pocket - hooray!
But if I mosey on over to the booking page and chuck in the flight details, it
offers economy flights only. Why? Also, in the past, I've tried going for an
upgrade with FB over the phone using my wealth of miles (their site has no
facility for obtaining upgrades, unlike the British Airways site which is a
doddle) and was told "You're already upgraded sir"; "I am? Are you sure?"; "Yes
sir"; "Great!" Would you be too surprised to hear I ended up in an economy class
seat at check-in? Also, the recently added snazzy tool that explains how to use
the Flying Blue web site, a very nice lady merrily states that award tickets can
be booked with partner airlines. If I go over to the Korean Air site and
login there, there's a handy page that gives me a breakdown of my accumulated
miles with other Skyteam Partners - pity it says 'zero'. Should say considerably
more than that! I am beginning to think they don't really want to allow business
class (or first class) tickets to be booked 'freely' as award tickets either
with the primary partners or any of the others, come to that. Got no problem
with their flights - always been very good and efficient over the years I've
been travelling. Still, can't help wondering if other un-posh, non-elite FB
members (like wot I am) have hit brick walls in the same manner with intangible
awards? I was Gold or Platinum I expect things might be rather different.
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 27 March 2008 - L Wiesenfeld
(France)
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Customer Satisfaction : |
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Tier
Status: |
ElitePlus |
Product Consistency: |
3/5 |
Airport facilities: |
4/5 |
I always fly Skyteam, entry point usually KLM (leaving from LYS, we have the
choice of the intercontinental hub and AMS is the easiest). While KLM and Air
France are usually very good at providing due care for ElitePlus members and an
excellent continuity of services, including transit and possible rerouting if
needed, the same is not at all true for Delta and Continental. Their ground
staff seem to always forget that some customers are from another airline or
continent, even if from the same alliance. In some airports, some even look at
the FB card suspiciously (BUR, even LAX with DL). Also, is seems to me
impossible to book on a set of Skyteam airlines at once on their sites. In order
to do so, it is best to resort to some internet travel agents.
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 23 December 2007 - Joel Costi
(France)
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Customer Satisfaction : |
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Tier
Status: |
ElitePlus |
Product Consistency: |
3/5 |
Airport facilities: |
4/5 |
I am Flying Blue Gold (air France) for 3 years already, and I must say in the
whole I appreciate check in priority lane, access to lounges, but the bad thing
about flying blue is when you try to call then. From France, you have to pay
0,34cts of euro per minute, which means it comes very expensive. You don't find
any seats in business previous months before departure, I booked in march for a
departure in November to New York and I got only seats through Detroit. In fact
I found direct flights a week before. Right now I try to book online to Mexico,
impossible because Flying Blue told me they a computer bug. Another point, be
careful when you travel with a partner airlines, I had to fight to get my miles
last may between DCA and Lax. I was booked on an Alaska Airlines flight under a
Delta number. They did not want at the beginning to credit my account with the
status miles because it was not a 100% Delta. I had to fight, find out in the
FAQ, speak to a supervisor after 2 letters to get my redeem. Crazy. but beside
that, I don't complain too much
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 17 October 2007 - Arsen Sahak
(Armenia)
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Customer Satisfaction : |
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Tier
Status: |
Elite |
Product Consistency: |
3/5 |
Airport facilities: |
4/5 |
I have been with OK Plus (Czech Airlines) already for a year and I have to say
that I am satisfied. I live in Yerevan and I am usually operated by Czech
Airlines, Air France or Aeroflot during my frequent trips to Europe. I can
declare that the mentioned airlines always offer good connections and reasonable
prices. As for the service, air hostess on Aeroflot sometimes are being rude and
unfriendly ( for example, if you ask for an extra glass of juice). Air France
and Czech Airlines' service is good. I cannot complain at all. In general I
think SkyTeam offers a service corresponding to its ranking and fares.
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 17 September 2007 - N Clark
(USA)
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Customer Satisfaction : |
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Tier
Status: |
ElitePlus |
Product Consistency: |
3/5 |
Airport facilities: |
5/5 |
My "home" SkyTeam airline is Delta and Delta is usually my "entry point" into
SkyTeam. About one- fourth of my annual travel is on non-Delta SkyTeam flights.
In my experience, the only weak links in SkyTeam are with reservations and
product consistency. SkyTeam reservations apparently can't be booked online, as
with American Airlines and the OneWorld Alliance. (At least I have never figured
out how to do it.) Delta reservations representatives often do not know how to
do multiple SkyTeam carrier itineraries that are not Delta code shares. Booking
award travel across the SkyTeam network also usually involves two or three tries
with Delta reservations, trying to find someone who knows how to do it. The
other problem is onboard product consistency. SkyTeam's U.S.-flag members
(especially Northwest and Delta) are sometimes noticeably below standards on
non-U.S. carriers like Air France for long- haul flights. If there is any
attempt to provide a consistent in-flight experience across SkyTeam, it is
invisible to the public. These two problems are the only things that prevent me
from saying that I am "very satisfied" with SkyTeam.
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 16 September 2007 - S Gialarakis
(UK)
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Customer Satisfaction : |
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Tier
Status: |
ElitePlus |
Product Consistency: |
3/5 |
Airport facilities: |
3/5 |
I have been with KLM FD for a few years and now with FB and I have to say that
the KLM product is inferior compared to AF. The only reason I stay with Skyteam
is the convenience of their network otherwise for the amount of money spent on
AF-KLM I would expect a much better service and customer care, especially for
Elite Plus members. The KLM cabin crew seem to have company shares and they are
not happy at all when you ask for extra drinks and snacks on intercontinental
flights.
SkyTeam Alliance member review : 5 September 2007 - F Choong
(UK)
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Customer Satisfaction : |
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Tier
Status: |
ElitePlus |
Product Consistency: |
4/5 |
Airport facilities: |
3/5 |
I have been with Air France Frequence Plus since it was launched, now part of
Flying Blue, and therefore Skyteam. As I fly twice a year to RUN, only AF flies
there amongst all the other airlines, and hence my choice. Also, as I live in UK
and make many long-haul trips abroad, doing a stop over is far cheaper than a
direct flight and being part of Skyteam fulfills both my needs using either
Paris CDG or Amsterdam hub, both very practical. In fact, it's more because of
constraints that I'm with this alliance but if the sky to RUN opens one day to
other airlines, I'm happy to try something else.
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