a flight cancelled....an adventure unwanted.

my sister just came back from chicago for her summer holidays and in probably the longest flight anyone could ever take...
she flew AIR FRANCE, so the flight was scheduled from chicago to paris-paris to mumbai n then she had a mumbai-cal, JET AIRWAYS flight.
well....the plane reached the runway and stopped. for FOUR hours they sat on the plane without being told what was happening. with the engines shut off, there was no airconditioning; the water supply finished and u know how dirty the french are...so the entire plane was stinking. four hours later, they were told that due to engine trouble, the flight had to go back to the hangar. to be towed back to the hangar it took another TWO hours, moving at the speed of 1 mile/hour... which made it a total of SIX hours of being stuck on a plane.
once they reached the airport, authorities assured them that they would be put up at Hyatt and provided with dinner and breakfast. after waiting for 1 1/2 hours on the foothpaths of Chicago for the hotel bus to arrive, they reached Hyatt only to find out that the airlines had not mentioned anything about a complimentary dinner and breakfast. the restaurants were closed, room service had closed and the cafe only provided chips and coffee. so she had a packet of chips for dinner(for which of course, she had to pay). on complaining the next day, they were given a 10$ food coupon - well after dinner and breakfast time.
She spoke to the airline authorities, and they assured her that they had spoken to Air France Mumbai and she would be adequately compensated for missing her Jet flight and they assured her she would not have to pay anything. But, on reaching Mumbai, airport authorities claimed ignorance and refused to pay for the flight for which she had to ultimately pay an additional Rs 4200 - an unnecessary expense. this was not the price for a new ticket, but the fine payable for not cancelling the ticket on time and re-booking it for the next day. had Air France been a tad bit more organised and in plain simple words not made false claims, cancellation at the right time, would have cost only Rs 500.
She reached, safe and sound, a full 24 hours late...totally disgusted and thoroughly drained.

She's claimed damages from Air France, because their conduct was completely against the travel regulations for cancellation of flights laid down by the Europen Union. Passengers have been compensated in the consumer forum for earlier claims, so we're hoping that this works out too. As per these regulations, she can not only claim for the deficiency in service, the price of her ticket, and other incidental damages; Air France is also liable to refund the cost of the entire airfare of their airline as well.

I'm not writing to create a protest forum or anything but just to say that the next time you think of saying "oh it happens only in india", think again. the french are no better.