Alitalia MilleMiglia - Check-in time and lounges at JFK

Hello there, I just booked my first ever Alitalia business class flight and I'm very excited. I just need your help with two questions:

1. The Alitalia website www.alitalia.com/EN_EN/your_travel/check_in/check-in_time_limit/index.aspx says that check-in closes 2 hours prior to departure. Are they kidding me? This isn't Lagos or Mumbai, right?
2. Having run the New York Marathon that day I will be desperate for a good shower. I see on www.skyteam.com that Terminal 1 has three lounges: Air France, Alitalia and Korean. Which one has the best showers? Am I free to chose whichever lounge I want? (I am Skyteam Elite plus if that helps.)

Thank you!

ps

1) I believe cutoff time is 1 hour (but please don't quote me) for check-in. It helps if you don't have baggage to check, etc.

2) AF and KE lounges might be the ones with showers (and by that I mean a single male and a single female shower at AF). I do not recall seeing a shower in the AZ lounge and I don't know if KE is open around your flight time.

I see you have FB Plat - great! AF has tried to give me grief over using their lounge when flying AZ, but a bit of persistence and waving of credentials has managed to allow me in. The food options and seating are better - though I do like the AZ lounge quite well too. Being an FB elite may give you some extra leverage when trying for the AF selon.

btw: DL's lounge finder shows showers at all three lounges! I wonder how i missed the AZ one
https://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/airport_information/delta_sky_club/sky_club_locations/index.jsp

Dear goodandclassy, many thanks for your detailed and extremely helpful reply. I will try Korean, AF and AZ lounges in this order. The shower really is the deal maker or breaker in my case. If those few showers are taken, is there any other place in Terminal 1 where I can have a shower? I'm willing to pay. And what is the general Skyteam lounge access rule? Do I HAVE to use my operating carrier's lounge or am I free to choose? (Oneword explicitly give the passenger the choice, Star Alliance seems not to have a set policy on this but generally I was always allowed to chose, but I've never tried with Skyteam.) Thanks, ps

Anytime!
I do not believe there is a paid-for shower

you can imagine the afternoons for af/az lounges are busy, esp. around the AF7 departure - as you have 60+ premium passengers hanging around...

I am not sure what the rule is on using operating carrier - and my argument was, since i was elite plus and the lounges were listed, i had the choice of all lounges. the entry keeper had to call but i was allowed in :D

bon boyage!

It is definitely the case that some ST lounges will explicitly and firmly not allow you in if the operating carrier uses another lounge. I don't find it illogical they should be allowed to and I don't believe you are 'entitled' to choosing anyone. In my experience, if you ask to go into a lounge which is not the most logical choice, it is largely a question of space. I didn't pay attention to whether there is indeed a showed in the AZ lounge (there is one in the AF lounge but it is often very busy). There is no other place in the terminal that I can think of where you'd be likely to pay for a shower although there are a couple of massage type place which may have a shower facility. The terminal is small and not to great service-wise (but not too bad by US airport standards).

You might want to investigate whether you have access to the land side Oasis lounge in T4. It's excellent and has a nice shower room in the lavatory. Oasis is a sort of SkyTeam lounge, but I'm not sure whether you would be allowed access. I know I am when I fly SkyTeam, as a DL DM (SkyTeam ElitePlus).

Thank you for your replies!