Air Caraibes

Not Verified | I booked my flight with Air Caraibes to flight to Reunion through Paris in November 2019 using the travel agency Travel2Be. My flight was cancelled by the airline in late March. I receive a message saying that I can reschedule my flight for later. Then the situation with covid-19 got really bad and the EU issued a travel ban for all US citizens. I contacted Travel2Be to explain the situation to them and it took them a long time to reply saying that I have one year from the date of original purchase to use my tickets or I would lose them. I then tried to fill out a refund form on Air Caraibes. The site did not work and there was no email or number to contact them. I reply to the cancellation email, once again explaining the situation and asking them if they could extend the ticket to 2021. Their answer was use it by November 2020 or lose them. The airline cancelled the flight and this was out of their control but I also have not control over the travel ban. How are they expecting me to flight if I am banned from entering the EU and there are no end date for the ban? I have tried several emails and have received the same answer: use them by November or your lost. Best wishes. Are you kidding me? They basically took my money, didn’t provide any service and they won’t give it back. Both Travel2BE and Air Caraibes are horrible and dishonest companies. I will never ever use them or any companies associated with them. These companies are taking people’s money and then asking the government to bail them out. Who is going to bail the customer’s out? The customers who lost their money and probably have been affected greatly by the pandemic.

✅ Trip Verified | Our flight was canceled due to the Covid-19 issues, but from Air Caraïbes we never received mails concerning our canceled flight. Once we figured out ourselves, we were offered (by text on the website) to change date. So in fact only the date that was affected was changeable, meaning our holiday was shortened by several weeks! Almost never did a new search for a reservation work. It was not available or simply not possible. No reason was given. You receive error messages in code (no text, but numbers with no explanation whatsoever) for whatever you try to do. They offer no help at all. The chat on the website is a robot that is not even capable of understanding what your question is and responded with answers we never asked for. Asking for help by phone is impossible and not even free. I already had to rebook my flight 4 times and every time the same mess again. Eventually since July they offer a refund in cash (to your credit card). Although I was legit for a full refund by reading the needed conditions on their site, once I submitted for the refund, I got a message saying that in my 'specific' situation I need to call Air Carraïbes for further assistance and predictable as I had read in many other reviews. No one is responding my call. In no way is it possible to get decent help or assistance and figuring out if everything is still in the running is all up to you to follow up your booking. For 2 of the rebookings I was going to receive a small refund of €21. Even today no refund was given. But in the cases where I had to pay a supplement, before realizing it, it was already taken from my credit card. As soon as you receive your new tickets with new dates, you receive a message in your account that dates are canceled or will not be available (again). It's terrible how they treat their customers. Never flown with them and never intend to in the future. To be clear, we have a ticket and booked a flight, but we were so far not able to fly, change dates or receive a refund or a better date to fly in the future. So our choice never to fly them in the future is because of the lack of a respectful customer service.

✅ Trip Verified | I had to fly with Air Caraïbes to Paris to connect back to Canada, as due to COVID there are no Canadian directs. I initially chose Air Caraïbes because the flight was ridiculously cheap, only €150 for a transatlantic flight! The airport and gate were typical for a mid-sized Caribbean airport - it had what I needed, but nothing more. When I first saw the plane, I realized how brand new it looked - it was an A350-1000. Getting on board, the modern feel of the cabin was obvious. I had a seat in the very back row, but still the seat was comfortable and it had above-average legroom. It came with your usual screen equipped with a good number of entertainment options. What really caught my eye with the screens, though, was the exterior cameras. I had a middle row, so it was amazing to still be able to watch the takeoff from a tailfin-mounted camera, and now I wish every plane had that! The food was excellent, there was only one option as far as I could tell but I did really enjoy the food, yet it was simple enough that most people would like at least some portion of it. Communicating with staff went fine with the basic amount of French I know as a Canadian, and anyone who complains about them not speaking English is obviously a little self-centred and doesn't realize that this is a local Caribbean airline serving only French locations, they shouldn't have to learn English to help out the 1 American traveller on a flight. Even with all of that, all of the gate announcements and in-flight announcements were also said in English, so I don't really get how this could be much of a problem. I will say that it was unfortunate that their main website had an English page but the booking screen was only in French, but again, I don't really hold it against them and got it booked with a little help from Google Translate. If you can't handle that, just book it from Expedia or something. All in all, this Air Caraïbes flight might just have been the best Economy experience that I've ever had, and I would definitely fly with them again, especially if the price stays that amazing!

✅ Trip Verified | Pointe A Pitre to Paris. We bought our Business Class tickets, but actually we got only Premium Economy seats. I think the reasonable way to deal with it is to return the price difference to us.

✅ Trip Verified | The worst airline ever! They don't speak English and rarely do they ever reply to you (and even if they do, that will be in French of course). Online check-in is fake - it doesn't work before the flight and they refuse to help you with that over the phone or email. Their employees at the airport are very unfriendly and completely unhelpful when met in person - you see that you are a burden for them when you need help at the airport. Besides, the airline lost my baggage and it can't be traced any more at all. Conclusion: if possible, try to avoid this terrible airline, it's the worst French airline for sure, low-costs show you more respect and understanding than this horrible airline. Don't fly them if you want a pleasant flight and good pre-/post-flight experience.

✅ Trip Verified | Paris to San Francisco. Extremely sketchy airline. They cancelled our flight back from Paris due to "operational difficulties" and said they could only book us on a flight 2 days later. They would not refund us the money for the flight even though they could not offer anything even close to what we booked. Their customer service just sent us in circles: call this number, call back tomorrow, submit a ticket here, email this address, call this other number. The company hides behind their phone reps, having them continuously say "The company has issued a statement saying they will not refund anyone's money for the flight". If you cancel a flight and can only replace it with a flight two days later you better give customers the opportunity to take a refund.

✅ Trip Verified | Pointe-à-Pitre to Paris Orly. Good service on this route in Classe Madras (business class). Flight took off and arrived on time. A good dinner was served shortly after take-off and a breakfast shortly before landing. The cabin crew were friendly and professional. However I have to say that I prefer the layout in the business class on their A330. The layout on this newer aircraft certainly has more functions but it looked quite cumbersome and crowded to me. Incredibly the selection of French songs was also very limited. Lounge in Pointe-à-Pitre was also quite small and very limited food ( good if you are on a diet as they were very slow to replenish the food supply ). Overall I think Air Caraïbes is good for this route but a few improvements can be made.

✅ Trip Verified | Saint Martin to Paris Orly via Pointe à Pitre. Not an experience I'd like to repeat. First, my French isn't great so I had to find out at Pointe a Pitre that I needed to check in but I didn't need to pick up my hold baggage. So that meant I had 2 hours of queuing to check in, go through customs and security leaving it very fine to get my flight. Luckily, the flight was delayed by 1 hour 30 so there was no rush. The boarding process was confusing and disorganised with continual announcements apologising for delays, calling babies, children, rows and a reminder that seats EFGH boarded through gate A, seats ABCD boarded through gate B. The FAS were ok. Apart from when they left our food on our trays for 40 minutes, I took our trays up in the end and they said they forgot. They also left a full cup of coffee in the holder for landing despite us trying to ask them to take it away. Food was not great especially the tub of apple puré/ baby food and a bread roll for breakfast. The in flight entertainment was limited for English speakers and we arrived late so I missed my connecting flight. They also left baggage from everyone who connected from Saint Martin in Point a Pitre. Which was weird considering we were delayed. I called customer service to try and upgrade my flight in the hope an upgrade would make the return journey less unpleasant. My french isn't great which I explained but the customer service girl lost patience and cut me off. I will never fly Air Caraïbes again.

✅ Verified Review | On the 24th September 2017 I had a Premium Economy flight booked from Paris Orly to Pointe a Pitre which we booked 9 months beforehand. However a couple weeks before we received a schedule change which meant that we had a return from Pointe a Pitre 1 day earlier and then because we had a flight back to the UK on our original return date we had to spend alot of money of a hotel in Paris Orly as we we returning one day early. Air Caraibes refused to provide us with a hotel or a refund and instead mentioned that we should make a claim after our travel. I made a claim to Air Caraibes at the beginning of October 2017 however they have not replied. I have sent another email for compensation so fingers cross I will get a response. Terrible

✅ Verified Review | Paris to Pointe a Pitre. I booked a flight Premium Class flight through Opodo and I am due to flight out with Air Caraibes near the end of September 2017. I recently contacted my travel agent who mentioned that Air Caraibes had cancelled my return flight from Pointe a Pitre to Paris Orly and rebooked me for another flight 1 day later. I explained to Opodo that I booked this ticket 9 months ago and I also booked a connecting flight from Paris Orly to London on the same day that my flight has been now changed to which means that I will miss my Connection. Opodo mentioned that they could not do anything and I would have to speak with Air Caraibes. I transferred to Air Caraibes and the staff did not even give me a chance to speak, she was very rude and told me to go speak to Opodo and did not want to listen, I was speaking to her for about 1 minute. This service was very disgusting as I had booked 2 premium class tickets and I was expecting some sort of understand. I called back Opodo and explained what had happened and they didnt really care, I have asked Opodo to give me a full refund as my return flight has been changed for a different day and they are unable to give me an alternative flight for the day I booked to leave. It was even more upsetting as I check Skyscanner and found many other carriers offering flights however Opodo mentioned that the airline does not have alliance with these carriers. That said they still refused to refund my money. I asked Opodo to find me an alternative flight to leave 1 day earlier so I can make my connecting flight however I have not yet heard back from them and it has been 4 days now.