Air France – KLM’s Flying Blue program had two award flash sales in July; one from Europe to Hanoi (read more here) and another from North America (read more here).
There was one peculiarity in this award sale; flights from Europe to Hanoi were booked under Air France’s code but operated by Vietnam Airlines (usually, awards are only booked on the operating airline’s code).
You can access Air France here.
Air France – KLM Flying Blue Hanoi Specials:
Air France – KLM Flying Blue Europe – Hanoi Award Flash Sale (15K Economy & 55K Business)
Air France – KLM Flying Blue North America – Hanoi Specials!
Something is wrong with these tickets, as Air France has sent readers emails that flights operated by Vietnam Airlines between Europe and Hanoi have been canceled with a note that the passenger should request a refund.
The email just simply said “OUR FLIGHT FROM PARIS – HANOI, HAS BEEN CANCELED. We recommend that you request a refund directly via My Bookings. Please do not hesitate to Contact Us should you encounter any difficulty.”
As we are dealing with a community carrier when it comes to EC 261/2004 legislation, the passenger has two choices:
1. Full Refund
2. Rebooking by Air France
Passengers can choose between these options what is the most suitable for them.
Comment from a reader:
Has anyone got a cancellation of tickets for these tickets?
I got an email today from Air France that Paris to Hanoi flight (operated by Vietnam Airlines) has been cancelled and recommending to request a refund! I booked JFK-CDG-HAN for 59.5K miles one way. I’ll see if they can rebook me to another flight.
But was rebooked after calling the airline:
I called AF and an agent has rebooked me JFK-CDG-SGN-HAN. It’s AF metal all the way to SGN and VN for the last leg. There is a direct VN flight from CDG-HAN but it’s weird AF is no longer selling this connection and hence cancelled my flight instead.
Conclusion
If you participated in this excellent award sale from Air France and one of the flights has been canceled, contact the ticketing airline (either Air France or KLM) and request them to rebook you, or if you no longer want to take the trip, ask them to process a refund.
I guess that the sale was more successful than they had hoped, and Vietnam Airlines wasn’t happy with all the inventory that Air France had sold its code and decided to remove it.
The EC 261/2004 law is great and also covers award flights. You do have to know your rights, though.
