During last month's world-wide snowpocalypse, I had a bit of a situation with Air France. The experience was awful, so bad that it inspired me to write about the way they handled customer service and lost luggage. I did get my luggage two weeks later, but several articles were missing, including chocolates and an Hermes fragrance. I was so over Air France by that point and so glad to have reunited with my luggage that I didn't even report it. That, and the fact that I knew from experience that Air France wouldn't do much about the theft. Anyway, I received several supportive emails from readers and friends who had similar stories to share. Everyone agreed travelers don't really have a voice in the world of flying. Airlines can basically get away with anything. Now, thanks to TripAdvisor, that's no longer the case.

So you've heard about the snowstorm disaster that downed thousands of travelers at Charles De Gaulle and Orly airports - not to mention London, Frankfurt, and scores of other European travel hubs - leaving them/me stranded for hours, others for days. It was apparently the worst snowstorm recorded in Paris in 25 years. I survived and am safely back in the US, but it happened and it was awful and I was witness to some pretty gnarly airport behavior. Air France, in particular, was woefully unprepared, especially considering they had some time in between last week's drama and this past weekend to get it together.

Air France is auctioning seats on their inaugural flights between New York and Paris on the giant Airbus A380. The seats up for grabs are set for November 20 (Paris to New York) and November 21 (New York to Paris). Passengers will fly out on the Airbus and return on another commercial flight. The auction itself will take place on the Air France website, though details on just how this auction will work have not yet been released. Proceeds from the auction will be split between three charities that Air France champions, all of whom help out distressed children.

Air France announced that they will be offering free stopovers in Paris on any flight to Europe, India, the Middle East, and Africa. China Eastern, KLM, Korean Air, and Icelandair already have such incentives in place, all of which have proven profitable for tourism. The stopover in Paris is free regardless of direction traveling or type of ticket purchased and has no minimum or maximum for length of stay.