Bad adventure. Frenchbee canceled my flight, abandoned me in Polynesia and now (it seems) won't refund me

We are back in Italy: it was a really crazy vacation and I look forward to posting reviews of the hotels we visited, the flights we took, and, by popular demand, the Comparison of actual and hypothetical spending Of our journey.

I have already started to publish something, but obviously the bulk will come in the next few weeks.

Today, however, I want to focus on the unpleasant service offered by Frenchbee, the French low-cost airline that, overnight, canceled our return flight from Tahiti to San Francisco. I say "overnight" because the cancellation occurred while it was late at night in Polynesia, about 20 hours before the scheduled boarding time.

However, when it had been evident for hours that the plane bound for Papeete, via San Francisco, had not departed.

The facts

Around 2 a.m. on Monday, December 8, my alarm clock rings.. As is well known, when I am traveling I always try to keep to the Italian time zone; however, when I am on vacation I loosen the routine, especially after 10 days spent in a time zone with 11 hours difference from Italy.

I turn on the PC and get to work when, bling, an email arrives from Frenchbee. The first thought was, "Let's hope they accepted my offer to upgrade." I quickly realize from the negative tone of the email that it was not so And I think, whatever, I didn't win the auction.

I read on and discovered the nasty surprise: flight cancelled and rescheduled for the next day, Friday, Dec. 9 at 11 p.m. local time. A situation that would have caused us to miss the next flight from SFO to MXP via Paris.

In the email no contact to call, no indication of how the company intended to provide assistance. ZERO.

PS: The notification of the nonaward of the auction, that one, yes, arrived regularly.

My reaction

If we had been anywhere else in the world it would not have been a problem, but Very few flights depart from Tahiti to the "mainland," and not every day.
Just so we understand: on December 9, the only flight available (other than Frenchbee's) was Air Tahiti Nui's evening flight to Los Angeles.

BIG BIT OF FUNDOSCHIENA: I find three available seats aboard flight AF29 to Los Angeles. I wake up Marika, explain to her what is going on, and immediately book with Flying Blue miles three economy seats to LA.

I could also have spent just under 1,600€ to buy the same tickets cash, but that's exactly what the points are for: to be used. In certain situations you don't think at all about the conversion rate, only about the end result. Moreover, the risk that other passengers in the same situation as me would move in the same way prompted me to close everything down as soon as possible.

Immediately after that I looked for a flight to get to San Francisco and finally a hotel to spend the night before boarding home.

Frenchbee completely absent

I had decided to try this airline because it offers the possibility of flying from Paris to Polynesia (and beyond), often at very attractive fares and most importantly because it is the only carrier in the world with an A350 fleet configured exclusively with economy and premium economy.

From a practical point of view, however, I must say that at the moment I am very, VERY disappointed.

No transparency. In the email notifying of the flight time change-a 23-hour and 30-minute delay-there was no contact channel other than a link to the reservation management to accept or change the change. No reference to legislation protecting passengers.

Needless to say, there is no company ticket office at the Tahiti airport and on the website one is prompted to contact support only through social media.

Like an idiot I even chatted with the bot on WhatsApp., in the hope that sooner or later a human being with intellect would appear. Obviously, vain hope.

The main problem was that I couldn't even access my reservation: I was only displaying a screen that said "flight canceled," with no way to edit, cancel, or access the restricted area to get information about any rebookings or assistance.
And this is despite the fact that Frenchbee is a European company and Tahiti, as well as all of Polynesia, is for all intents and purposes French territory.

In any case, in situations such as these, carriers are required to provide assistance to passengers, including accommodation and reimbursement of expenses incurred.

Just yesterday morning San Francisco local time, I was finally able to cancel the reservation, but this is where I noticed a "small" problem.

Frenchbee's fake refund

Three one-way tickets from PPT to SFO had cost us €303.63 each, to which I had also added checked baggage.

The first strange thing I noticed, once I was finally able to view the reservation, was the total cost listed: €1,545.15, a far cry from the just under €1,000 actually spent.

The twist comes after clicking "cancel": in the final summary, the refund magically becomes 156.30€, or just over 52.10€ per passenger.

Obviously, concerned about the consequences of a possible no-show, I decided to go ahead with the cancellation anyway And I received confirmation of the initiation of the 156€ refund file.

In conclusion

I am an "experienced" traveler, I don't panic and I know my way around complex situations. But not everyone has this peace of mind, and not everyone is able to untangle themselves independently.
Companies, especially in such critical settings-Polynesia is literally one of the most isolated places in the world-must be able to assist passengers, not leave them adrift.

Here ends the first part of my misadventure with Frenchbee., a company that has no GSA in Italy, no phone number accessible from Italy, and which, at the moment, would appear to be one of the worst companies in Europe. Obviously, a second part will follow if there are any developments or a development of the story.