I was in such a rush when I took the train to Paris that I forgot to check which terminal La Compagnie departs from. My flight wasn't listed on the departures board, so I went to the information desk to ask. The following conversation ensued: “Excuse me, from which terminal does La Compagnie fly?” “Sir,…
Continue reading: Review: ICARE Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle
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That lounge (I swear!) is the old United Red Carpet Club . . . Can anyone else please confirm or correct this haunting feeling of mine?
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Bad memories of CDG are flooding back to me. What a depressing, horribly outdated airport. What a depressing, horribly ghastly pre-flight experience. Thank you, we shall consider ourselves warned....
@ Lantean -- Ouch, in doing some research it does indeed seem that they use that lounge at CDG. For an A380 no less -- eek!
@ Justin -- Hmmm, they used to use the Star Alliance lounge, but I'm not sure if they've moved terminals since switching alliances.
Ha!! The ICARE lounge actually looks grand compared to HA's "First Class" lounges in LAX and HNL. Basically, they are the airport equivalent of Mexican bus stations. Ben, have you ever gone to either HA lounge? If not, you really ought to on some trip to HI/HNL.
One of my least favorite lounges, second only to the one in Beijing, which at least had more space. I walked in and walked right out.
I spent a couple of hours there a couple of years ago. All of CDG is a disaster, but T1 is a special kind of hell. Anyplace that makes the C1-C7 gate area at IAD look plush and modern is a special place. Was there a flight to the Middle East or Asia leaving around that same time? I ask because when I was there it was from about 12:30-2:30pm, and it was much less crowded.
@JK-SFO No it's not the old UA Red Carpet Club. Same general area, a floor below if memory serves, and virtually identical sad space, but definitely not in the same place.
I've always wondered how crappy this lounge was... Everything about it feels ghetto even from outside. Thanks for confirming my suspicions!
I see at least 3 open seats in your pics where you could have sat down. Overcrowded is when its standing room only. Clearly you have a warped sense of entitled space.
I was in the care lounge this past February and thought it was relatively small but was overall decent. Granted when I went, there were only a handful of passengers in the lounge and they had fresh croissants, muffins, and orange juice in addition to all of the pre packed food that you mentioned and pictured. If I am not mistaken, the coffee machine also made cappuccinos as well. Granted, I was at the lounge relatively early in the morning probably around 7:00 am so that may very well be why it had maybe only a half dozen people in it. It appeared that the lounge had seating for maybe 60-75 people at most.
The iCare lounge is part of Airport Angel as well, which is how I accessed it back in February, but I can imagine that all of la Compagnie's customers alone could not fit in the lounge making for an extremely crowded lounge when customers from other airlines and programs like airport angel also have access.
That was a very "special" experience, in the French sense of the word. T1 is the old part of CDG. Back in 1974 CDG was wildly futuristic, with its satellites and rolling passageways and outer-space-like announcement chimes. Today it's just dated.
As an AA/OneWorld flyer I spend more time in T2A-C, which finally has been renovated. The new Admiral's Club isn't bad; the CX lounge is better. Both have plenty of light and nice runway views; Cathay has better champagne and a made-to-order noodle bar. Haven't tried the Emirates lounge.
BTW iCare isn't "eye care" but "ee-carr" or Icarus, in Greek mythology the son of the craftsman Daedalus. To enable their escape from Crete, Deadalus crafted wings from feathers and wax so they could fly away. Icarus flew too close to the sun, melting the wax and dumping Icarus into the sea. You have to wonder what marketing genius came up with that name for an airport lounge. Kinda like naming a car Nova.
A section of T2E collapsed about 10 years ago; I thought I heard of another collapse recently but can't find anything.
@Pat+ - Thanks for the info! It was the "virtually identical sad space" look that had me wondering!
CDG T1 is what the planners thought the future would be. Oh how it all went such a different direction!
I flew MH J from CDG recently and can confirm they use the ICARE lounge. It is, in a word, HIDEOUS. I went in, helped myself to a can of Sprite, sat down for all of 5 minutes, and promptly left for the gate area.
The only positive thing I would say about the Icare lounge is that they do have excellent Ruinart champagne there
@ Nick -- Don't actually know what other flight was using the lounge and leaving around the same time. Don't think so, though.
Apparently you didn't follow La Compagnie's logic. Why would you waste time in the lounge when you could spend it more productively somewhere else (shopping in a Juicy Couture boutique?), then arrive at the airport 20 minutes before departure to checkin/board your flight? 🙂
In their defense, it does seem like you could have gotten there 20 minutes before scheduled departure time and still made the flight.
ICARE sounds like an urban juvenile delinquency reduction program.
Honestly even AF domestic lounges can't match up to how bad the ICARE lounge is. But i generally try to avoid T1 as much as possible and use 2C/E/F/G who aren't bad terminals at all.
Admittedly a trivial question, but is their IATA ticketing number really 002 (based on your BP)? If not, which airline is that? I hadn't thought that they had any ticketing agreements in place.
The thought of returning to CDG makes me feel somewhat nausious. Long, complex, confusing, and feels like it should have had an upgrade many years ago. I visited the ICARE lounge back in August, when our Air France flight was delayed (which resulted in 600EUR compensation which was lovely). It was great - there were few other people in there, and staff were happy to ply us with unlimited champagne.
ICARE = good memories. Air France + CDG = bad memories. Delay = profit on flight 🙂
About those dipping walkways, if you take the Tube to T2 at LHR, you'll encounter them as well.
Looking at a long layover at CDG, waiting for a 9pm flight. I have access to the Admirals Club in Terminal 2, but everything I read says it closes at 5:30pm. Can that be true! Yikes!
so ... I will be at CDG for a bit of time in October, waiting for a flight. What is the best lounge to purchase access to? for those that can be purchased for a one shot deal. Thanks in advance for any info you can share!
don't be an ass, many of the smaller airlines only open up 1-2 hours prior to departure. what's with your picture taking etiquette in the lounge too? at least have the courtesy to blur out people's faces
CDG Terminal 1 is awful, generally. UA flies out of Terminal 1, and at least the Star Alliance lounge there is nicer than the iCare, but still not as nice as the AF Affaires lounges in Terminal 2. I don't think the iCare lounge would be that bad if it were not so crowded. Oddly, I understand that Terminal 1 was designed by the same architect that did Terminal 2, just at different times.