I live in SE Florida and flew out of Miami with Air France. My flight left on Wednesday around 4pm and we landed in Mallorca on Thursday around noon after a short layover in Paris.
Traveling to Mallorca:
Air France Check-in
I've been traveling annually for a dive trip. My gear always comes in a few pounds below the allowable. On this trip, I hand carried my flashlights, mask, and regulator. I threw some clothes in the suitcase, like rash guard shirts, athletic shorts, and spandex like underwear since I'll be wet all week. I used my scale at home and was under the 50lb limit with room to spare. I show up at check-in and they are weighing in kilograms, and the limit is 23 kilos. They tell me that I'm 4 kilos overweight. That's 59 lbs! I said let me move some stuff to my carry-on and now he wants to weigh my carry-on. My carry-on was 3kg below the allowable, a deficit of 1kg, and he tells me no, I have to pay $45. I was fuming pissed and paid it. I didn't want him to start measuring carry-on size and really make my problems worse. On the way back home, I said screw it, and put all my dive gear, clothes, and 4 bottles of alcohol in my suitcase and I was only over by a few kilograms and was not charged. This confirmed my belief that they screwed me on my flight out of Miami. Shame on you Air France.
Air France Boarding
I was in zone 3. I had an exit row which meant I couldn't put anything in the seat in front of me, so I wanted to make sure I had overhead bin space for my carry-on and personal item and got in line. They had a facial scanner that would turn green or red. If green, you continued to the plane. There's a lady standing there watching, except for when it was my turn, she decided to start socializing with a co-worker. The screen goes green and I start walking. She stops me and tells me to scan. I told her it went green and she said she didn't see it. So I scan again and now it's red. She tells me I have to get out of line and go to the counter. I argued that it went green and she didn't did care. I told her it wouldn't be a problem if she did her job. I got to the counter and explained what happened and they quickly ushered me past the scanners after a quick verification.
At this point, AF isn't doing great, and I haven't even left Miami.
The Paris Airport
I found it interesting that we had to clear immigration in Paris and not Mallorca, so I never got a Spanish stamp in my passport. After clearing immigration, which was a facial scanner followed by a person stamping passports, I was on my way to figure out where my connecting flight was. We landed in the main section of the airport, but the flight to Mallorca was in a completely different building which required a shuttle ride. I feared we left a secure area and would have to clear security again, but this was not the case. We only had 1hr 15min to get to our connecting flight and they had boards which said it would take approximately 38 minutes to get to the other building based on the shuttle schedule. We eventually found the shuttle which felt like a back-room exit of the building with multiple shuttle options splitting at the door but then going through the same door. Fortunately, the airport personnel used the split to ensure you went the right way to the correct shuttle bus. The shuttle was full, standing room only. The road was super windy, with lots of 90 and 180 degree turns. Everyone standing was struggling to stay up and hold their carry-on. It was almost comical. The straps hanging from the bar would slide around on each turn. I eventually reached up to the bar and held on to it. We eventually got to the correct building and walked down to the gate wing where our flight was to board. There were no facilities, and we had approximately 15 minutes until boarding starts. We had to walk back to the main area to find restrooms. Upon returning to the departure gate, we learned our flight was delayed due to inclement weather in Mallorca and an update would be provided in 30 minutes. This gate area was not designed to host a flight of passengers. Seating was extremely limited and again, there were not facilities. 30 minutes later we boarded and departed.
National Car Rental in Mallorca
We land, get our bags, and follow the signs to the car rental area, except there's no National desk. It's a little confusing because there's still a sign saying car rentals which points outside. Upon exiting the building, there was no obvious location for where National was. I used National because I have an upgraded corporate account with deep discounts. My cousin and I wandered around looking for the shuttle. After trying another exit which also had car rental sign, I asked a hotel shuttle where we could find car rental shuttles. He pointed 100 yards down the way to another area to the side of a multi-level parking garage. We walked through it to the left and found what looked like a makeshift waiting area with various car rental shuttles. A minute later, a National shuttle pulled up. At this point, my brother had landed, but he had to clear immigration in Mallorca since he flew through London. I'm guessing it's an EU thing. We walk back near the baggage pickup to wait for him since we'll never be able to explain to him how to get to the National shuttle. I fall asleep on a chair waiting, awoken by my little brother pretending to steal my carry-on.
The shuttle was still there waiting for anyone to come along. After a 5-10min drive, we arrived. They asked how easy was to find the shuttle. They were surprised I didn't receive clear instructions and started apologizing by offering free upgrades. They seemed really concerned about that my experience wasn't perfect and I had elevated status membership. So, we got an upgraded vehicle at no charge. The bill didn't match the quoted price, so they updated the return terms that we only had to return the vehicle with 1/2 a tank. Then there was a computer issue with my cousin and brother as additional drivers, so they updated the terms to we could return it with an empty tank. They were so accommodating and friendly that it was hard to be upset, so we just started loading our bags while they worked out the computer glitches. After about 20 min, we were finally all set and we hit the road.
Traveling to Mallorca:
Air France Check-in
I've been traveling annually for a dive trip. My gear always comes in a few pounds below the allowable. On this trip, I hand carried my flashlights, mask, and regulator. I threw some clothes in the suitcase, like rash guard shirts, athletic shorts, and spandex like underwear since I'll be wet all week. I used my scale at home and was under the 50lb limit with room to spare. I show up at check-in and they are weighing in kilograms, and the limit is 23 kilos. They tell me that I'm 4 kilos overweight. That's 59 lbs! I said let me move some stuff to my carry-on and now he wants to weigh my carry-on. My carry-on was 3kg below the allowable, a deficit of 1kg, and he tells me no, I have to pay $45. I was fuming pissed and paid it. I didn't want him to start measuring carry-on size and really make my problems worse. On the way back home, I said screw it, and put all my dive gear, clothes, and 4 bottles of alcohol in my suitcase and I was only over by a few kilograms and was not charged. This confirmed my belief that they screwed me on my flight out of Miami. Shame on you Air France.
Air France Boarding
I was in zone 3. I had an exit row which meant I couldn't put anything in the seat in front of me, so I wanted to make sure I had overhead bin space for my carry-on and personal item and got in line. They had a facial scanner that would turn green or red. If green, you continued to the plane. There's a lady standing there watching, except for when it was my turn, she decided to start socializing with a co-worker. The screen goes green and I start walking. She stops me and tells me to scan. I told her it went green and she said she didn't see it. So I scan again and now it's red. She tells me I have to get out of line and go to the counter. I argued that it went green and she didn't did care. I told her it wouldn't be a problem if she did her job. I got to the counter and explained what happened and they quickly ushered me past the scanners after a quick verification.
At this point, AF isn't doing great, and I haven't even left Miami.
The Paris Airport
I found it interesting that we had to clear immigration in Paris and not Mallorca, so I never got a Spanish stamp in my passport. After clearing immigration, which was a facial scanner followed by a person stamping passports, I was on my way to figure out where my connecting flight was. We landed in the main section of the airport, but the flight to Mallorca was in a completely different building which required a shuttle ride. I feared we left a secure area and would have to clear security again, but this was not the case. We only had 1hr 15min to get to our connecting flight and they had boards which said it would take approximately 38 minutes to get to the other building based on the shuttle schedule. We eventually found the shuttle which felt like a back-room exit of the building with multiple shuttle options splitting at the door but then going through the same door. Fortunately, the airport personnel used the split to ensure you went the right way to the correct shuttle bus. The shuttle was full, standing room only. The road was super windy, with lots of 90 and 180 degree turns. Everyone standing was struggling to stay up and hold their carry-on. It was almost comical. The straps hanging from the bar would slide around on each turn. I eventually reached up to the bar and held on to it. We eventually got to the correct building and walked down to the gate wing where our flight was to board. There were no facilities, and we had approximately 15 minutes until boarding starts. We had to walk back to the main area to find restrooms. Upon returning to the departure gate, we learned our flight was delayed due to inclement weather in Mallorca and an update would be provided in 30 minutes. This gate area was not designed to host a flight of passengers. Seating was extremely limited and again, there were not facilities. 30 minutes later we boarded and departed.
National Car Rental in Mallorca
We land, get our bags, and follow the signs to the car rental area, except there's no National desk. It's a little confusing because there's still a sign saying car rentals which points outside. Upon exiting the building, there was no obvious location for where National was. I used National because I have an upgraded corporate account with deep discounts. My cousin and I wandered around looking for the shuttle. After trying another exit which also had car rental sign, I asked a hotel shuttle where we could find car rental shuttles. He pointed 100 yards down the way to another area to the side of a multi-level parking garage. We walked through it to the left and found what looked like a makeshift waiting area with various car rental shuttles. A minute later, a National shuttle pulled up. At this point, my brother had landed, but he had to clear immigration in Mallorca since he flew through London. I'm guessing it's an EU thing. We walk back near the baggage pickup to wait for him since we'll never be able to explain to him how to get to the National shuttle. I fall asleep on a chair waiting, awoken by my little brother pretending to steal my carry-on.
The shuttle was still there waiting for anyone to come along. After a 5-10min drive, we arrived. They asked how easy was to find the shuttle. They were surprised I didn't receive clear instructions and started apologizing by offering free upgrades. They seemed really concerned about that my experience wasn't perfect and I had elevated status membership. So, we got an upgraded vehicle at no charge. The bill didn't match the quoted price, so they updated the return terms that we only had to return the vehicle with 1/2 a tank. Then there was a computer issue with my cousin and brother as additional drivers, so they updated the terms to we could return it with an empty tank. They were so accommodating and friendly that it was hard to be upset, so we just started loading our bags while they worked out the computer glitches. After about 20 min, we were finally all set and we hit the road.
