I'm back

[doug]

Will report on holiday later. Have just got back - well a couple of hours ago but getting the washing on etc. takes a bit of time. Wonderful time with the family but will need a couple of days to get up-todate. Don't think we will be using Air France or travel anywhere via Charles de Gaulle airport again. Things were so bad this morning that I think I had an Angina attack because I was so angry the way my wife was treated. I thought the French were kind and sympathetic to disabled people. They finished up putting me in a wheelchair until I recovered. Going out via CDG was also a nightmare. More later. Weather very good down in the Vendee region. Looking out at our garden gives me the impression that the weather hasn't been so good here in the UK! Now to catch up on any shindigs that have been going on here on the Forum,

[AlanHo]

Sorry to read of your troubles at CDG airport - it's not too surprising though - the French have never got over Agincourt and you were clearly British.

I long ago decided never ever, ever, ever to buy anything French. It was a wise decision - I then discovered that there were better wines in the World.

Looking forward to your tales (of woe).

[Gandalph]

Not to mention the Battle of Waterloo of course. :D

[catgate]

I think the last time I was in CDG airport part of it had just collapsed (it's some years ago). Have they managed to get it finished yet?

Oh! Yes! Welcome back.

[-pops-]

I used to work for a French company. Few of the staff would use Air France when flying.

My own experience of the airline is that their planes are dirty and scruffy. The seats seem to have been recovered from some ancient WW1 biplane or similar and devoid of springs and comfort. Food abysmal. Staff surly and rude.

Once, flying Nice to Heathrow, the pilot's dog was on the aircraft. The cabin crew paid more attention to that than to the passengers.

Even worse, though is Air Inter (the internal flight division of AF) scruffier, dirtier, surlier and ruder than the international division. Dogs on those flights are the norm. Dogs with bowel incontinence seem to be the norm as well. Sitting in an enclosed space, Paris to Nice, with dog poo deposits is not nice.

[Watchful]

Welcome back doug. Nice to know someone had decent weather :D

[doug]

Looking back over our experiences I don't think they were due to AF but all seemed to be due to the Airport people at CDG. In summary it all started on the trip out. Newcastle to Paris where Anne was being Portered? (pushed by one of the ground people in their wheelchair as they refused to allow us to use ours - a good NHS one made in France - but insisted on us using their services. We were being moved from one terminal to another and at virtually every stage our ticket dockets were taken by the porter and handed over to relevant authority checked and sometimes handed back and at others retained for the stage. There seemed to be a lot of those. At one point it was found that one of the items had gone missing. Great consternation but eventually a duplicate was printed out so was well, we thought. When we got to Nantes and collected our luggage we found that the battery pack for the powered part of her wheelchair - the PowerTrike some of you may remember - was missing. Reported this at the missing luggage desk who checked all of our baggage receipts against what luggage we had recovered - a total of 17 items and they located the appropriate chitty. Checked it out on their terminal to find that it was still somewhere in CDG but would be on the 6 am flight due in on the following day - Saturday 4th. We had booked into the Campanile in Reze and had made arrangements for the keys for our rooms to be left behind an opened window. So we got 3 taxis and all piled in - bags and all, got to the Campanile and kipped down for the night.

Following morning we got taxis back to the Airport to collect out 2 rental cars from Avis and while there checked on the battery to be told that it had missed the flight but would be on the 6:30 pm flight and they would courier it out to us. So crammed into to 2 cars and set off. Sunday mid-day rang AF to be told that not to worry and the battery would be delivered to us. ETC. Waited in for the rest of Sunday and all of Monday. Cutting this part of the saga short it finally arrived at mid-day on the Tuesday. The family did get Anne to the Supermarket on the Monday using it as a manual chair but I was house bound all that time. I really was sweating about the battery because it was a new one costing £715 and only arrived 2 days before we set off leaving just enough time to give it it's first charge and connect up to the PowerTrike to make sure all was tickety boo. The good part of the vacation I'll save for another thread.

The Return journey! It was an 06:30 out. We booked into the Campanile again and arrived back at Avis with 10 mins to spare on Saturday, just avoiding an extra day's hire for the 2 cars. Taxied to the hotel and had a superb last evening meal, it being Susan's birthday today. Anyway we were all up at 03:30 taxis arrived at 04:30 and were at the airport by 05:15. The check-in wasn't due to open until 06:00! This was annoying because we had deliberately intended to be early because of all the security delays. We were first in the queue for the only desk to find we had the slowest operator available. She kept messing up the tickets and was having to tear them up and reprint them. By this time the queue behind us was very long with much sotto muttering, but we finally got on the plane. At CDG things did go belly up. We were ported again we me making absolutely certain that we had our chitties at each stage. Whe we got the the security check desk I stripped down to me under pants as before - i.e. had to take off my belt again - and went through including the pusher leaving Anne the other side. After a while I asked why she wasn't being brought through to be told that they were waiting for a lady copper to check her out. So we waited. After a whole hour of this I lost my rag because I could see able bodied ladies triggering off the metal detector loop and a normal security lady just waving a hand detector at them and waving them on. I asked a lot of progessively heated questions seeing Anne stuck in the wheelchair in solitary isolation and there had been an hour of this. I then went into what I think was an Angina attack and was really spaced out. I tried squirting the nitroglycerine under my tongue but to no avail. I collapsed onto one of those low table things and just had to sweat it out and wait for my temperature to drop and stop shivering. At this point I saw Anne being hand walked through this loop and she must have lurched against the side because all the bells and whistles started going off. A lady security boddess then waived her wand at Anne and waived her on. By this time time was running out. So they whistled up a portered wheelchair for me as well.

We then briefly met up with the family again and then taken off for the disabled access route. I had recovered and was able to walk at a near normal pace without bouncing off things. We were wheeled onto an Ambulift and our escort departed. The driver arrived and checked us to see if we were going to Tunisia. No went there a few years back we're going to Newcastle - whoops! A new lady porter came and took us off. The next step nearly gave me heart failure on the spot. She got Anne onto the pavement and went to lower off it down onto the road. She went forward tilted the chair onto the back wheels and bang straight down onto the road a drop of about 7 inches. I could see the shock go straight up Anne's back. We hadn't been allowed to even use Anne's special cushion support I was carrying it! We had been told it was not designed to fit their chair a health and safety issue - be dammed to them at CDG!

Edit his was one of those special narrow chairs that are used to moved people down aircraft aisles. Consequently it had very small diameter inboard wheels not the normal large outboard ones. Now you see women pushing children long in the child buggies. Imagine one of those being pushed straight off the pavement with the weight of an adult on board. The girl did apologise and said it would be OK. It's a good job I'm taking Anne to the Neuro hospital this morning hopefully they'll check her spine out.

[catgate]

It nice to know you had such good fun. You'll be going again I suppose???

[andsome]

Very sorry to hear about your problems Doug. I hope that the rest of the holiday made up for it. We have been to France several times, the last time was last year, when I took 'Er indoors to see Monet's garden, a long time ambition of hers. That is definitely the very last time that we will visit there. Although we found many nice people, in the main they are a surly bunch. Like Alan, we never buy anything French, and much prefer new world wines. I won't bore you with any more details, but needless to say, we have MANY reasons for disliking them as a nation. There are of course, as with all races, individual exceptions, but in the main, that country is a thumbs down for us. :(

Welcome back to a decent country.

[doug]

Forget to add the final problem. This was at Newcastle on our return. We waited on the plane as usual to let everyone else get off. Up trundled the Ambulift which raised itself up to the correct height. The driver then extended the platform towards the aircraft door but it wouldn't go all the way - there was a 4 foot gap. So she placed an 2 foot wide aluminium plank across the gap. She then walked out to the end of the platform held onto the rail with one hand, lent out and offered the other hand to Anne saying "come on, I'll help you"! Well Anne baulked at this. The AF crew were shouting J'talors or similar. So that was abandoned and the Ambulift driver went off in a huff. They brought a normal car up to the aircraft steps and I walked Anne down them. They are quite steep. Should have added this last night but was a bit bushed as it had been a very long day.

Now I always look on minor travel inconveniences as part and parcel of the holiday adventure but I don't think I'll be grading that journey as a pleasant dream, just a total nightmare.

[-pops-]

Thought about going on a cruise ship, doug?

[andsome]

Thought about going on a cruise ship, doug?

I wonder just how much of this country you haven't seen yet. Since 'ER indoors got more and more scared of flying, we have discovered more and more just what we have been missing here. :D