Air France forced an international traveler to pay a $583 surcharge at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on May 26, 2026, after its reservation system mistakenly flagged him as a no-show on an outbound connection.
Alexander Nabavi-Noori, an appellate litigator at O'Melveny & Myers, publicly challenged the airline after his partner was denied boarding on a return flight to New York's JFK airport.
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Dispute Over Missed Segment
The issue arose when Air France claimed the passenger failed to use the first part of his itinerary: KLM Flight 646 from New York to Amsterdam on May 18.
Under Article 3.4(b) of Air France's General Conditions of Carriage, the airline imposes a mandatory €500 surcharge for intercontinental economy tickets if coupons are used out of sequence.
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The passenger provided extensive evidence to staff, including timestamped aircraft photographs, Verizon mobile data logs from the Netherlands, airport receipts, and a delay apology email from KLM.
Despite the documentation, airline personnel refused to waive the charge.
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Nabavi-Noori then filed formal complaints with the Department of Transportation and requested regulatory audits of the departure control logs.
