bodory

Congratulations to our moderator for this milestone !

Now on the original topic, I would certainly not pay 800 EUR to spend some hours in a lounge that is less than 20 km from my parisian home.

Indeed, the P lounge experience consists in :
- separate lounge, less crowded than regular AF lounges in CDG -> as these are always full, I tend to spend more time at home rather than at the aiport ; on this point, my home will always be be more comfortable than an airline lounge.
- great food -> strong point there ; but how much is a lunch at a Ducasse restaurant downtown Paris?
- hassle-free security / passport controls -> again a strong plus for the AF lounge ; but with free Parafes and an Elite Plus card, the price difference is not justified.
- limo service -> except for a few destinations, most long haul aircrafts are connected with jetways rather than with buses ; and no one knows in advance where the aircraft will stand (again, except from n°1 destinations such as NRT, JFK, etc... where aircrafts always are au contact) ; limo service seems more or less an ego thing to me

Paying with miles might be an option only if I have some hundreds of thousands miles to burn because going to P solo does not seems very attractive to me.

All in, this new service from AF inspires me two things :
- that is another improvement to make some cash with service rather than by simply flying their aircrafts ; the new thing is that it now concerns premium class services (I do not know if that is a good sign for the future)
- the price in cash seems horribly expensive for the improvement compared to regular J / Elite Plus service ; and that is consistent with the current AF P princing.

Thus, who might be the clients of this new service? The same who already pay (not necessarily from their pocket) for AF P i.e. show business, French and African corporate leaders / politicians plus some rich AF fans.

Mokshu

I think the "catering" costs are not the biggest part : rent for the space, customs procedures with authorities, limo, etc.

vincentb89

You gotta have a boatload of miles to find this offer attractive (unless it's a "splurge of the moment" thing, where cost is usually not a factor) ...
For 57 K miles, i'd rather find a promo award in J to the US (though taxes are high), costing 50 K for select routes .

I actually find it difficult to understand who AF is trying to target concerning this offer :
. people flying in J , by giving them a preview of the P service ? Then why limit it to ONLY long haul flights without a P cabin ? Most people I know who fly AF in J frequently, including my father, do that on a small number of routes. If these routes have a P product, they won't be eligible for this offer. On the contrary, if these routes don't have a P product, they won't be able, after experiencing the airport P offering, to book the full service (on ground and on air).
. people having a boatload of miles without any use whatsoever ?

After asking my father, a long time C2000 on AF flying exclusively on J full fare or P for really long flights (CDG-NRT or CDG LAX), and seeing that even he doesn't understand the logic of it, i fail to understand the rationality behind this offer...

florin

You're asking the wrong question. You're talking about someone who would normally be willing to pay for P, but since P is not available they can have J in flight + P on the ground in CDG. For such a person €800 is not a lot of money, not nearly what €800 means to you.

Here's what I find funny about this: someone pays for J and then the P ground services in CDG... and connects to/from an intra-EU AF C (where one can enjoy the fine wines of Y, or perhaps a Heineken, in a Y seat). Hahahahaha!

hugolover

Congratulations on the 10k!

AF P is clearly a terrible failure and in a desperate attempt to bring in some cash they are selling their premium product in this way. Can you imagine paid for access to the FCT? Granted it can be gained by status but even so I think that its unimaginable.

I wish KL could dump AF and get on with making some money with a fairly decent, fairly priced product with pleasant crew and no where near the risks of strikes and disruption from a functional airport like AMS with easy connections.

I was recently thinking about going for Plat for life but I am actually really worried that in 7 years time AFKL might not exist anymore.

brunos

AF will survive, as many National airlines, through indirect State subsidies. Whether it will sell KL (while retaining extensive cooperation) to get needed cash is another question.

Pauillac

I really don't feel targeted by this offer but I can understand the logic behind it. For a very limited amount of pax exclusively travelling in longhaul P it is giving them the option to keep the same ground service at CDG and not to be mixed with the crowd in standard lounge with all J pax (when P is not available). Some premium service for VIP for whom 800€ doesn't have the same value as for most of us out here.

In the past with AF everything was very unflexible. Impossible to enter the standard lounge with an additional guest as an example. Now for all of those extra services they are giving the option to get them with an additionnal fee 35€ for standard lounge and 800 for first class). I think it is interesting as it is at least letting the choice to the pax.

I don't think this new offer will generate lots of additional revenue for AF but at least the frequent P travelers will be able to get some kind of intermediate flying experience when they are going to a destination without P and therefore keep a more positive idea on AF overall flying experience.

Also I think some large company could use this as an incentives when they are inviting VIP customers.

PS I was told that there is for AF only 150 pax regularly flying P

MSPeconomist

For passengers who normally fly P but cannot on their route, the ability to confirm P ground services at time of ticket purchase would be important.

For me personally, if I could do this with DL miles, especially on a BE TATL ticket on DL connecting to AF in J/C intraEurope, I would do it at least once for the experience.

vincentb89

It seems to be bookable only a week before departure...

JOUY31

You can book it two weeks before the flight through a travel agent.

MSPeconomist

I know. This is why I made the comment that it would be more appealing if it could be confirmed when booking the flight.

I find the travel agent rule strange as most airlines seem to be discouraging the use of travel agents and want to encourage everyone to book from their own websites.

Mokshu

Air France is entitled to provide the same features they offer online to travel agents. That's why such paid options are always available through TA's as long as your TA knows the procedure.

Hagbard Viking

Just to put it in perspective...

For 85,000 LH miles I can get access to the Lufthansa First Class Terminal in FRA, but that then includes an intra-European flight in Business Class and a transatlantic flight in First Class. Paying 2/3 of that, 57,000 miles, just for the ground experience is utterly ridiculous...

(85,000 LH miles is what is needed for a one-way transatlantic F class award ticket)

ajs123

You are comparing apples with oranges. The F one-way award ticket for a TATL is 125k FB miles, so 57k it's not even half of it. I guess I am one of the few here on FT who thinks that 57k miles is a reasonable amount...

JOUY31

You need to add the fuel surcharge on each segment, intra-European + TATL.