French Bee

Not Verified | We were arriving in San Francisco from Cleveland when our flight was delayed. We still arrived an 1 hour and 45 minutes before our scheduled flight with French Bee. United let us off the plane before anyone else to catch our flight with French Bee. I immediately started trying to check us in online (I was unable to previously because the website was not working), when I found out I was still unable to check us in due to the website. I then started making phone calls to the check in desk at the airport. I called nine times while waiting for my bags. No one ever answered at the French Bee desk. I grabbed my bags and ran as fast as I could to the French Bee counter (still with 1 hour and 30 minutes left before my flight). When I arrived, the counters were shut down and there was no one there. I inquired with AeroMexico where they had gone, and they only could tell me they shut the counters down. We arrived with plenty of time to catch our flight but there was no one to check is in. I begged and pleaded with anyone who could help me find a French Bee attendant and couldn't find help. Security told me that I would have to rebook my flight even though I was on time. French Bee only flies to Tahiti every couple of days. So, I had to purchase an Uber and a hotel room in San Francisco for the night. I then had to buy a whole new ticket with United for the next day or I would have missed three days of my trip versus one. I called customer service with French Bee multiple times and didn't get an answer until the next day. Customer Service told me they couldn't help me and I could only file a complaint by email. I had never heard of this! Not even customer service to help me? Fast forward to the end of my trip. I had tickets to fly home to San Francisco with French Bee again. Once again, I tried to check in online ahead of time but the website was down. Arrived at the French Bee counter in Tahiti and I was told I would have to pay $330 for three bags because I didn't check in ahead of time. The lady at the counter who worked for French Bee was so terrible to us, we couldn't actually believe that someone could treat us so horribly. I have traveled to over 40 countries with the same exact bags and never been charged that amount of money for bags. When I asked why, she said because I didn't check in online. She didn't want to hear it when I told her that the website wasn't working. She didn't believe me.

✅ Trip Verified | The ground crew had the worse customer service ever. Even I have my boarding pass and seat confirmed, they required us to be at the airport 4 hrs prior in order to check in our luggage. We arrived slightly before the 2 hrs prior of our boarding time, they refused us checking in our luggage because the window for check in luggage has closed. The crew kept pointing us to the long line and wasted our time instead of helping us to get the luggage checked in. Finally we were at their customer service counter and we realized the long line has the same issue like us - denied of checking in the luggage. They gave us 2 ridiculous option: 1) Fly without our luggage (since we had our boarding pass and ready to go) or 2) change to the next flight by paying a fee (our initial flight is still in the airport and boarding time is still 1 hr later). We are forced to pay an additional fee to get the next flight so we can fly home with our luggage. They refused to waive the fee. I understand if we came late where boarding is going on but we are talking about 2 hrs prior. I felt being scammed by this airline.

Not Verified | Awful airline. Do not fly with them unless you want a train wreck of an experience! They cancelled an entire return flight without telling anyone. No message, no email, they just let everyone arrive at the airport so that they could tell people one by one that the flight is cancelled and to come back the same time 24 hours later. Absolutely awful customer service.

Not Verified | Everyone was very nice, the food was good, the seats were not very comfortable it felt small. Both trips were an hour late which was hard. The second trip they kept us standing in a really warm room for an hour. I think that really did it for me. My fare was not really cheaper than other fares…being in that hot room was very uncomfortable. I feel like they charge too much for the dinners and breakfasts. There was no WiFi.

✅ Trip Verified | The plane was more than two hours late and the communication for what we could have expected as passengers would have been appreciated. We bought the second tier of Wi-Fi (the social package) and it stopped working for both of us within 20 minutes of the flight. The first meal is provided but anything other than water (juice, coffee, snacks etc) you have to pay for. I expected to have to pay if you wanted alcohol or specialty items, but juice and coffee? That seemed ridiculous to us. Speaking of which, we did try to order champagne but the card reader couldn’t connect to the Wi-Fi so we couldn’t buy anything anyways. The plane also ran out of water which is unacceptable for an 11 hour flight. I would never fly this airline again. If it was the only option, I’d find literally any other way. My husband said he’d rather take a boat from America to Europe before flying French Bee again. I will say the flight attendants were very nice, but that doesn’t really count for much with everything else the airline is lacking.

✅ Trip Verified | To call it “bad customer service,” would be the understatement of the century. This was not to be believed. The SNCF train, which took me from mid-France to Paris, was delayed. I still ran like the devil to get to the airport in good time. Went to check in at 1:30PM, exactly 1hr & 20 mins before the scheduled 2:50PM departure. I was in utter disbelief when I was told they were not going to give me a boarding pass because they close for boarding passes 1hr 30 mins before departure. That is only a 10 minute difference! They didn’t care that there was plenty of time to get to the gate. When I asked if there was any recourse, I was told that I could go to a customer service line. When I got there, I found dozens of other people in the same situation. The recourse was to buy a new ticket. Forget basic customer service. What happened to the days when they would actually rush you through to get you on that plane? I paid extra to get on the flight the next day, and I also had to pay for a hotel that night.

✅ Trip Verified | Terrible experience altogether. We have a small child who was sleeping in his stroller and the RUDE lady at the bag check had an extremely poor attitude. She said we had to check our stroller then and couldn’t check at the gate. Never heard of such a thing and was certainly not the case flying to Paris. She became quite nasty and was screaming at my wife. In the end, we woke our child, checked stroller and carried him through the numerous check, long lined check points. I paid for priority boarding, but that doesn’t matter because once they open the gate, everyone runs to board the plane. French Bee did not board first class, priority, etc., prior. It’s a free for all. You’d think that on an 11 hour flight you’d be offered some sort of beverage, ie., soda, juice, coffee… NOPE, you have to pay for all drinks… ALL. Same for anything to eat.. no snacks offered. It also seemed they needed to make an announcement regarding no smoking quite often… very strange. Would I ever consider flying French bee again? Absolutely not.

✅ Trip Verified | Family of 5 (2 small children + parents and grand mum) Los Angeles to paris return. Check in was easy Boarding was easy. Great service even though we were late to the Gate. In flight service was attentive, courteous and helpful. Reasonably priced and food was tasty. The aisles are slightly narrower but good leg room. Plenty of overhead storage on both flights. Plane had new entertainment equipment and felt new, great value for money. Pro tip: make booking with hot meal it’s worth being included or bring ample snacks, drinks, and meal/ cup of noodles from airport/home.

✅ Trip Verified | Shortly After Flight BF 730 took off, the pilot announced that there was a “mechanical issue” and therefore the plane had to return to Orly. There was no elaboration of the nature nor the impact of the issue on the flight. Once on the ground, we were instructed to claim our luggage. It then became obvious that the flight was not leaving at all when the staff began handing out vouchers for a nearby Marriott. The staff was not sure we would be on a flight the next day because they had no information about crew or aircraft availability. They went on to say there would be a bus to transfer us to the Marriott, but they had no idea when it would be available, so we took a taxi. The remaining passengers arrived at the Marriott by bus between 10:30 and 11:00pm, not having had food or water since before boarding the flight. We were treated like merchandise, not as paying customers. At 5:00am the room phone rang and we were told to be in the lobby by 6:00am for a bus to take us to the airport. When we got downstairs at 6:00, there was no bus; it finally showed up at 6:30. Frank has mobility issues and we were told that there would be plenty of help for us. That help never materialized, either at the hotel or at the airport. We checked in and were informed that flight BF 5731would leave at 10:30am. There was no help available to get Frank all the way to the aircraft; we were taken to an area one level up from the gate, but the elevator to the next floor down was out of service. Eventually the operator of the lift truck showed up and put us in his vehicle. The flight was further delayed because the catering had not been delivered. We finally boarded and the flight left around 12:30. Unlike on our outbound flight, we were seated in the seats we paid for. The flight crew was OUTSTANDING. They were efficient, friendly and very helpful, one of the best cabin staff we have experienced in many years of air travel. They deserve better management than they currently have with French Bee. The theme that comes up repeatedly in the above fiasco is the abysmal level of management communication. It is ironic if not ridiculous that, in a company which relies on precise communication to ensure passenger safety in the air, that there can be such poor communication. It is highly unlikely that we will ever book a French Bee flight. By the same token it is very likely that we will warn others to avoid your airline at all costs.

✅ Trip Verified | Never got to take the flight. We had booked the flight for 29 August 2023. French Bee did a schedule change, which cancelled the flight-- then things went poorly. We had booked the tickets through AMEX. When we called AMEX to see what we could do once the flight cancelled, they called French Bee to get the flight moved to a day earlier. Somewhere in that process French Bee took over the reservation. Our plans changed late last week and I called AMEX to get the flight changed. AMEX has no access to the record now, since French Bee 'owns' it. They told me to call French Bee. I called them, after a 30 minute hold a very stressed and unhappy agent was going to process the refund, then abruptly told me since it was an agency booked ticket AMEX would have to do it and then she just hung up. That fast. I'll try AMEX one more time, then I guess I'll have to dispute the charges. French Bee isn't a company you want to work with. At least we didn't have to get on the plane and deal with the non-service attitude. Do not recommend.