French Bee

Not Verified | San Francisco to Paris Orly. This was my first experience flying a low cost carrier internationally and I wish I had been better prepared. The flight to Orly was fine except the seats were extremely uncomfortable - they are molded resin and my body did not match the mold they used! The food was almost inedible and you have to pay for wine! The return trip was a nightmare - somehow they had reversed the names of my granddaughter and the check in person refused to issue a boarding pass! From then on the nightmare got worse as I was referred from counter to counter - after two hours of this they finally issued a boarding pass with the original name reversal!The Orly French Bee staff were poorly trained or nor trained at all and the counters were dramatically understaffed. If you are going to fly French Bee, take your own food,make sure you have pillows etc. as these are not provided and accept there are no freebies at all!

✅ Trip Verified | San Francisco to Paris Orly. Due to having to make a last minute trip, I decided to try French Bee for my first time. I went through the registration on the site and accidentally put my last name as first name and vice-versa as they requested last name first (European style). When I received my confirmation letter, which I carefully checked, it showed my name "correct" though as they used a European style they actually showed last name, first name. Thinking all was good (i.e. no change fee in the first 24 hrs) I only discovered the error when I was checking in and found out to fix the error it was $200 (half the cost of the ticket). I wrote a letter to their customer service explaining that their confirmation did not indicate first name last name and thus I couldn't detect it was wrong. They denied my request and basically explained it was my fault and didn't acknowledge their error in creating a confirmation that considers that the sequence of first name, last name can vary by country. On top of that it took an hour for the bags to arrive in the bag pickup area because the plane was late.

✅ Trip Verified | I don't understand why everyone hates on this airline. I flew from Paris to San Francisco and back in May 2019. The plane was new, enough space, great service, perfect entertainment program, relaxed bag rules (if you read the booking rules carefully and purchase the extras), courteous stewards, safe feeling inside, good food, unlimited supply of water, clean, punctual. The only problem is the booking process, which is a bit counter-intuitive, but this has nothing to do with the flight itself. I'd really recommend French Bee. The prices are super cheap also, so it's good value for money.

✅ Trip Verified | I planed for my family vacation in Paris and booked tickets through their website in January. After booking and paid with my CC, I received the confirmation # and E-Ticket #. I paid in full When I saw the correct amount was charged in my CC statement. In April when I went to the SFO airport for check-in, CSR at the ticket counter said my tickets were never issued. The CSR went inside the office and talked to her boss in France and said that only way she could get us on board is to pay the full price at the gate. I showed my E-ticket/confirmation number and credit card statement to her but no use. CSR said she believed me and my documents, but there is nothing she could do but charging again. I argued until 15 minutes before the boarding time, but I really had to pay not to ruin our vacation. I even visited French bee office in France, but the response was the same - There was nothing they could do but claim through their website. After coming back from France, I filed the complaint through their website and called 800 number, but I have not heard from them for 2 weeks. Luckily there were available seats, and we were managed to make our trip (although x2 the ticket price), but we were not be able to fly if it was a fully booked flight.

Not Verified | Paris to Saint Denis Reunion. Paid for seats with extra space but got refused when check in in because we don't speak French well enough. When filing a complaint and asking for money thay agreed ans they would refund the extra money we paid. This was promised more then 8 months ago and we still did not receive. (Reminder from our side on a monthly base). Worst company ever experienced

✅ Trip Verified | San . Francisco to TahitiUnbelievable. Showed up to the airport and after waiting in a long line they informed me on of the pilots was “sick” and they were cancelling the flight. The told us they would call us and give us details about a new flight, i had to drive back to the airport several hours later to try and find out some information. They scheduled the flight for 9am, but then at 8:55 they pushed the departure back another hour. As a result I will lose 2 days of my vacation. We landed after the last ferry I needed to take to another island, so I had to stay in a horrible hotel and wait. I have never had a worse experience with this airline. I should have listened to the other reviews detailing similar cancelled flights. No food, jammed airline, barely any water. I cannot express how disappointed I am with this airline.

✅ Trip Verified | San Francisco to Paris Orly. Overall pretty good for the money, unless you're in a hurry or have connections. We left 2 hours late from SFO because we were waiting for the passengers from Tahiti to pass customs, check their luggage again etc, etc. I think this is pretty common on this route because it's really a Tahiti-Orly route with a stop in SFO. Being right before the holidays (dec. 15th), the flight was pretty full with families. I had purchased a premium package to be able to choose my seat and have a meal. The meal was pretty good, but for the breakfast you'll have to pay extra. On the way back, our plane boarded two hours late no explained reasons. Staff was very nice and pleasant and flight fast and comfy.

✅ Trip Verified | Paris to San Francisco. Customer service is non existant, they send you from one counter to the other hoping you’ll disappear! I had a reservation on a flight back to San Francisco from Paris and they prevented me to board the flight claiming I refused to pay the penalty fee. I gave the agent my CC on the phone a week prior of flying and if problem there was, they had my cell and was reachable in Paris at all time. I missed X-mas back home and now stuck in France waiting for the next flight, they are asking me close to a full fare to board a last minute flight.

✅ Trip Verified | Paris to San Francisco. I purchased a ticket using someone else’s card, which the site allowed me to do 2-3 weeks before my flight. I was never notified that I needed to update my payment information and upon arriving at the airport I was told my ticket was suspended. I was not notified of this and as a result I missed my flight, the next flight was in 3 days so I had to book a flight for over $900 to make it home, an Uber ride to the other airport in Paris and a hotel in Ireland for an overnight layover. The customer service department is horrible and the service at their information booth at ORLY was horrible too. They had no sense of urgency when I told them about my problem and did nothing to assist me. One of the ladies would not help be because she said I spoke English too fast and that she did not speak English. She asked me in return if a very sarcastic and demeaning way “ do you speak French?” Does it sound like I speak French. Please never fly this airline.

✅ Trip Verified | San Francisco to Paris. On May 21st 2018, My fiancee and I flew with French Bee to Paris. Our first bad experience was the inability to add checked bags on their website. We spoke to their customer service line and were told that they couldn't add it on for us and that we should use the website 24 hours prior to boarding our flight. When we tried to do this, we were met with the same message that said we could not add checked bags on the website. When we got to the terminal to get our boarding passes and add our bags through them, they charged us $95 per bag. Once we got to our gate, we waited far longer than the time that stated when we would take off, which was 8:30 p.m. We did not take off until 11:45 p.m. and were told that it was due to an immigration issue involving other passengers. There was no technical difficulty nor was there any inclement weather preventing an on time take off. According to regulation (EC) 261/2004, any delay over 3 hours at a distance over 3500 km would entitle us to compensation of 300 euro. Two days after we'd arrived in Paris, we received a call saying that our flight back home was rescheduled from the original date of June 6th 2018 to June 8th and that we needed to confirm that we would take that flight or opt for returning 7 days early or 7 days later. Either option would cost hundreds as last minute hotel reservations in paris were not cheap. From May 23rd until June 7th, I was repeatedly calling the customer service line and getting answers like "we can't help with compensation", "We need to speak with our superiors and call you back" (Which they never attempted to call back). We went back and fourth with no answer as to what we would receive in terms of compensation for our two extra days of stay as well as our extreme delay. Finally, I suggested asking their superiors about the possibility of refunding the full value of our ticket and canceling our return flight and I could purchase another ticket through a different airline. I was explicitly clear with them, even asking them to put into their notes and repeat back what they had written, to call me back in order to confirm that this is still something we wanted to do. After receiving no word for 3 days, I called them back and learned that they had canceled our flight without any confirmation from me. I attempted to have them rebook my fiancee and I on the June 8th flight, only to be met with "I'm sorry but we can't rebook your flight". Again, we had to repeatedly call multiple times a day, every day in order to get a straight answer as to what our options were. Finally, on June 7th, we were told that it would be impossible to rebook and that we would need to purchase another ticket back to the United States, even though we had not (AND STILL HAVEN'T) received the refund they told us was released to us for the original ticket that they had mistakenly canceled. Since returning, I had been trying to claim the compensation that had supposedly been approved. However, without a valid booking reference, the sight would not allow me to do so. This was the worst experience we ever had with a company. The representatives did not care to help, were not competent in their own jobs, were blatantly lying to us and doing everything possible to refuse the help we were asking for. I would never fly with them again nor would I ever recommend this terrible airline to anyone. I only give them one star because that is the only option I have.