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Registered Letter
Mr. Henri Lesieur,General Manager
Air France
[[underlined]] Registered Letter [[/underlined]]  New York 22, N.Y.
685 Fifth Avenue
New York, N.Y.

October 17, 1960

My dear Sir:

Will you be so kind as to excuse the liberty I am taking in sending these lines "registered" - the sole reason being that I do want to feel certain that they will reach you personally.

Upon my return from Europe, last July, I imparted to Mr. Max Hymans in Paris, a certain number of disagreeable experiences I had encountered on several trips on Air France.  In answer to this, Mr. R. Lefèvre wrote to me on July 26th (CL.DL.17647-) that he was asking the Représentant Général en Amérique du Nord to advise me of the result of his inquiries.  With the summer months intervening I assume that you have had little opportunity to look into this matter.

May I thus call your attention to the following: About one month before leaving the U.S. on May 13th 1960, I had taken a return ticket on Air France -Jet Luxury Class for Paris and, in view of some infirmity of my left leg, I had asked to have a seat reserved in the very front row where there is usually more space for stretching out.  At that time I was told that no seats could be reserved, that they were assigned as the travellers arrived at the checking desk.  However, about 2 weeks before leaving, having anew repeated my request, I was finally told that such a seat would be available to me which promise was confirmed two or three times before departing.  When I appeared at the checking desk at the East Air Terminal on May 13th, way ahead of time, I was advised that not only no seat had been reserved for me but that all four front seats had already been given away and thus a seat in the second or third row was indicated.  Later on, when on the plane, I inquired whether these four front seats had been reserved by the French Embassy, a privilege which of course I would have understood, but I was told this was not the case.

This grievance, added to several others I had in Europe and which of course were beyond your scope of control,disappointed me to such an extent that I cancelled my return trip on Air France and came back via Pan-American Jet, on which plane a front row seat was made available to me without further ado.

If I am calling your attention to this matter it is because ever since transatlantic flights have been made possible - 1946 or 1947 - I have regularly given preference to the Air France planes and, thus as an old client, and a frequent one as some years I have gone across at least three times, I thought that some consideration or elementary courtesy I would say, if not good business sense, should allow me a treatment at least equal to the one given other passengers.  I realize fully that in view of the considerable success of Air France the loss of one passenger is a small item.  Nevertheless, I thought that the handling of such matters which per force escapes you should be brught to your attention.

Yours very sincerely,
Germain Seligman
Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur

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[[marginalia]] ^[[Air France]] [[/marginalia]]