‘One Night in Paris’: Open Letter to Air France Goes Viral

Jay Harish Shah, an Indian passenger who travelled on Air France, is now demanding a valid explanation for the alleged discrimination against the South Asian passengers who were left stranded at the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Shah preferred writing an open letter to Air France-KLM CEO Alexandre de Juniac in his blog post called "One Night in Paris" to filing a complaint against the airline. Now the open letter has gone viral.

The open letter refers to the timeline of Mr Shah's trip to Mumbai from New York. The complaints emphasised mainly on how South Asian passengers were treated by the staff. The discrimination was apparently evident as the South Asian passengers were not provided with equal accommodation like other passengers when a flight was cancelled.

Air France-KLM has, on the other hand, responded to Mr Shah's complaints and gave a detailed explanation why the airline does not have complete control over the cancellation of a flight. The airline has, however, expressed regret to know that the kind of assistance Mr Shah received at Charles de Gaulle was below his expectations. The letter to Mr Shah also mentions that accommodations could not be provided to the South Asian passengers due to 'border restrictions.' The letter was issued by Customer Care Europe.

Mr Shah was quick to issue another open letter against the response of Air France on Oct 29. He complained that the response only focused on the technicalities of the cancellation of the flight, instead of addressing the treatment the South Asian passengers received. Shah asks the airline to answer a number of issues specifically.

He asked for documental evidence that their visas were rejected at the CDG airport. He mentioned Mr S Mishra, who was apparently travelling to India to conduct the last rites of his father, was not asked to travel in another flight to India unlike those who travelled business class. He also asks explanation why only one wheelchair was provided to accommodate four elderly passengers.

Shah has already found numerous supportive voices who feel equally disgusted with the services of Air France. Read the customers' reactions as well as Shah's detailed blog posts here.