Spoiler alert: the Air France first class ground experience in Paris is divine.
Continue reading: Review: The World’s Best First Class Ground Experience
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
That's not the right way to use "spoiler alert". You didn't spoil any surprise.
looks fantastic!! I've been looking forward to this review almost more than I looked forward to the Oman Air reports
Do you ever have a choice of car - aka can you say No I want to go in xx Brand car? Here of in LH FCT?
I have flown first class with a few airlines, I would agree AF's experience is the best. However Lufthansa's is also pretty high up there, I would argue it is even slightly better than AF's. LH even have an immigration officer inside the first class lounge taking care of your passport check if you are flying in to EU, which cut down miles of walking since you don't need to go to thru the immigration. Last time I flew with LH First LAX to VIE via MUC, They used Mercedes S-Class and BMW X5 to shuttle me to the connecting flight.
Stunning! Looks and sounds amazing, thanks for going through the pain of trying it for us.
1. Can you please try out the new Air France F. Would be good to know what it's like on board as well now that they have a new product.
2. KLM has a new business product (yet again) on their 787s. Think it's flying between SFO and AMS this summer. Would be interesting if you tried that too.
Great review.
Looks really really nice. But I would not spend 300 euro on it unless I had absolutely no other use for them.
Frankly I think how much you pay affects your judgement of how great the experience was. You would be over the moon if you had to pay 600 euros even if the experience was the same.
I am assuming there is no conflict of interest here. You are not being paid to hype up the lounge. Yes?
One important aspect of a lounge/ground experience is what (if anything) it allows you to avoid. So, for example, the lounges at LAX TBIT are very nice, but the terminal itself is so nice that if you didn't have lounge access and/or an escort it wouldn't be the end of the world. In this case the contrast is enormous - people who have this AF ground experience bypass every other aspect of CDG - an airport worth bypassing if there ever was one.
Having paid 3k for a ticket PRG-SIN,I believe that 300 dollars is an insignificant amount compared with the differential between La Premiere fares and Business fares on AF. If the ground service was more along the lines of a slightly better lounge, I would think twice before paying for it, but in this case, it was definitely worth it.
@credit, If this were a review of lunch at an exclusive Michelin star restaurant and spa treatment would you still think it wasn't worth it? Together alone those would easily cost more than 300 euro.
Frankly, 300 euro seems awfully inexpensive considering what he received. I'd drop 300 euro right now for a "best meal I've ever had" experience.That being said, if you only had a 1 hr layover, it'd be an expensive car service.
This has to be the best airport lounge in the world. OMG those black truffles on your scallops dish, and you didn't even mention it!! Did you know what you were eating???
Little disappointed in their selection of champagnes, but that is forgiven how nice everything else seems to be in this lounge. I even love the decor and furniture. I would definitely not be bummed about having a long layover there.
For Lucky, it was definitely worth 300 euros, as (1) he enjoyed the experience and (2) got the opportunity to write an epic post about it. As for me, I'd opt for whatever lounge my status/class of service provides me and spend the 300 euros on a very, very pleasant dinner elsewhere.
Did you go through immigration at some point? Don't you need to do that when departing the EU?
The experience looks worth it just from the scallop dish - there's got to be 150 euros worth of truffles on it.
If you are traveling with a companion on the same ticket, is it 300 euro for both of you, or 600 for the pair if you wanted to access the lounge?
Thanks, Lucky! Great review!
Lucky,
I asked this in your other post about the AF F lounge experience, but are you sure F lounge access can be purchased only for AF-stock tickets?
I haven't tried it myself, but I heard it doesn't matter which airline issued the ticket as long as you are on an AF operated flight.
However I'm not 100% sure if this is correct, so wanted to ask you about it.
Thanks!
300 is expensive considering that you previously got this AND the 1st class airplane experience for 125,000 Air France FlyingBlue miles plus 370.94EUR in taxes, fees, and fuel surcharges.
Well they've certainly come a long way since the storming of the Bastille in 1789!
Who knew Twinkies were originally Babas with rum in a classy monkey brain clamp?
That wasn't a chardonnay. I mean, that was a grape, but the wine is properly described as a white Burgundy. Specifically, a premier cru Chassagne Montrachet. It's like saying "I had liver for lunch" after eating foie gras on brioche toast.
I was going to scoff at your decision to spend 300 euros to spend some time in a lounge, but after this experience now I know why you thought it was worth it. I don't know if I'd spend 300 euros, but if I had a first class flight on AF, I'd definitely arrive several hours early to take advantage of the fantastic meal!
What are the lounge hours? Can you stay there all day if you arrive early morning and depart late night?
Does it include in and out privileges?
I agree 300euros is expensive but its worth it if you can get a couple meals out of it.
@ Ever -- I think it's open from the first to last flight, and I don't think there's a limit to how long you can spend there, as long as it's same day. I think you can probably leave the lounge and go into the terminal if you want to.
I have had two bentley continentals escort me to my LH flight from frankfurt to los angelas in first.
One car for mwah and one for luggage. I wasnt happy as i insisted on an individual bentley for each piece of luggage which they couldnt do.
Fun read, thanks!
You are an expert on lounges; have you had other 200 euro plus meals?
Next time you are in Paris, have lunch at Arpege. If you think the lounge is in the same league; I'll pay for the AF lounge!
If you are at the airport for that long, it could be a good choice. If you are skipping a leisurely lunch in Paris, then that's what the experience should be compared against. I'd bet that it's not up to Arpege, Le Cinq, Astrance etc.
When I first saw that the cost was 300 Euro, my reaction was: "No Way!" I'd rather spend it on a high end dinner. However I changed my mind when I did the following calculation:
1. The value of being picked up and delivered by a private chauffeur and luxury car = 100 Euro.
This service is not available at any price to anyone else.
2. 200 Euros to stay at a truly 5 star star facility for 4 hours and enjoy unlimited Michelin quality food and beverages? Absolutely worth it.
The cost is for a high end luxury experience, not a routine lay over or meal. So it would be worth it for a once in a lifetime trip, but of course not for a routine trip. The more I think about it, the better of a deal it seems to me if you wanted to splurge on an exclusive high end luxury experience. It's too bad that I will probably never be in a position to take advantage of it. 🙁
Jason, why do you say "It’s too bad that I will probably never be in a position to take advantage of it"?
Some of those spa prices are insane. At least they don't charge for the meal experience. How many calories was that--a couple thousand? Who would have room for eating after that?
OMG you guys are the most over privileged bunch of jack*%#* I've ever seen...It is a Chardonnay, just like a Ferrari is an automobile.
I thank Lucky for the inspiration/aspiration, well written 'escape' and for doing a lot of pleasant legwork for all of us so we can have good information when choosing flights, routings and perks.
Thanks to you Lucky I will be flying BKK-HKG-BOS in Cathay First Class next week with my lovely wife pre AA devaluation.
As far as most of the comments (not all of course) on this blog. You are a better man than I to have to read these chumps' comments.
Cheerful thanks and safe travels.
A might thanks and job well done
A chardonnay? Dude that was a Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru!
That meal alone was probably worth close to 300 euro.
Wow, great review! It looks totally worth the 300 bucks!
I'm flying from Europe to India on AF/KLM biz class connecting through CDG later this month. My flight into CDG is on KLM and all tickets were issued by KLM. Any idea if I'll still be eligible to pay for this service?
@Modesassion - LOL I consider myself to be a wine snob and even I thought that comment was super douchey.
It really is amazing how much criticism Lucky takes on his own blog.
if I was using that lounge, I think I would arrive there about 5 days before my flight was due to take off
I agree that AF gives the best 1st class lounge experience, but the overall best 1st class experience both on the ground as well as in the air is definitely with GA. Both GA and AF rank quite a bit higher than any of other airlines I have flewn 1st, including EK, SQ, LH and CX, in terms of 'leaving an impression'.
@Lucky the RUM you choose was Diplomatico-Reserva, the best rum from Venezuela.
I can only find it in Hakasan-St Regis here in Doha.
It is really good!
Now that's a real lounge--unlike the joke us lounges with packaged salty junk and some corn syrup carbonation, and skuzzy beer. americans--please learn what real quality is--it's not about hustling and the love of more.
Cappuccino at the end of a meal? My dear, it has to be an espresso. The French and Italians will scratch their head in amazement everytime you do this. Try it, you'll like it I bet.
I'm curious to know how you would compare the Qatar Airways lounge in LHR and the Qatar Airways AlSafwa lounge in Doha HIA with your AF CDG lounge experience.
If youre on a First class ticket do you also get driven to the plane? Every passenger?
I am totally in disagreement and would have to bump the LH First Class Terminal in Frankfurt to the number one position. I used it over 50 times between 2011 and 2015 and it gets higher marks on all levels except that they do not offer a free spa treatment. But the bar offerings , restaurant, and bathrooms with bathtubs more than make up for it. The sleeping rooms are private, the buffet four times as extensive, and the ala carte menu far more interesting. Nonetheless, I would likely pay the €300 if given the opportunity as this ranking is between two superstar products!