JOUY31

Located in front of gate C2 and open from 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM, the AF arrivals lounge is accessible to
- Club 2000 or AF Frequence Plus Rouge passengers arriving on a Skyteam long-haul flight
- L'Espace passengers, arriving on an AF long-haul flight.

I haven't had the chance to use it yet but welcome this announcement.

HRGM

Hm. I wonder if it will be made available to other SkyTeam Elite members.

FTraveler

That would be great! Extend it to DL B/E paxs and all SkyTeam Elite Plus members. On my last 9 trips to CDG, I was able to check-in to my hotel before noon on only two occasions.

canard

I'm just curious -- does DL have arrivals lounges in ATL and JFK?

FTraveler

Best as I can tell, no dedicated arrivals lounges anywhere except for LGW, which is located at the Meridien Hotel adjacent to the airport. Since the BusinessElite lounges are available to arriving as well as departing passengers, I assume they also function as arrivals facilities.

canard

Now with heightened 'security' restricting access past checkpoints to ticketed passengers, is it possible for arriving passengers to access the B/E lounges? (Sorry, this should be on the DL forum).

FTraveler

Good point. In ATL, before exiting customs and immigration, you must proceed through a security checkpoint. Been like that for years. I've always connected through ATL, so proceeding to the B/E lounge in Concourse E with my carry-on has never posed a problem for me. If the XXX-ATL international segment terminates at ATL, I'm not sure if you can access it. In addition, with suitcases and all, it would definitely be somehwat cumbersome.

Last time I flew into JFK was in July, pre-9/11; then again, only connecting, so access to the B/E lounge was never a problem either.

In any event, the DL flights inbound from Europe generally land in the afternoons, so there shouldn't be a problem with hotel check-ins, unlike the eastbound flights from the U.S. which land in the early a.m.

[This message has been edited by FTraveler (edited 02-04-2002).]

DFW DL

I am posting this note from the lounge itself. Here are the details:

1. Access only to those pax arriving on an AF-coded Business or First class ticket. Flight can be on other SkyTeam metal, but ticket must be AF. No access for SkyTeam elite/eliteplus members except Frequence Plus Rouge.

2. Lounge is located outide the customs area, which I find rather odd for an arrivals lounge. Upon arriving at Hall 2C, pass through immigration and customs and turn left. Proceed past all of the ticketing counters until you are at the end of the Hall; lounge is located on your left. It does not appear to be marked on any of the terminal maps. The C-2 referred to in the original post refers to check-in area C-2, rather than gate number;

3. Lounge has 14 private shower rooms, including one for the physically limited. There are all of the other usual Salon Air France accoutrements, including the computer I am using. The lounge area per se is not very large; more than 30 guests would feel crowded. Since not many people appear to be aware of it, at the moment (0900 Paris) there are only three guests.

4. Shower facilities have everything that you need - towels, washcloths, soap, and an amenity kit with conditioner, lotion, comb, razor/cream, deoderant, toothbrush, toothpaste. Showers are very nice with multiple heads and a hand-held wand. My only complaint was the flimsy washcloth, which was almost disintegrated when I was finished.

Hope you all find this information useful. This is a nice facility if you can take advantage of it. If only AF would open it up to a wider SkyTean audience...

[This message has been edited by DFW DL (edited 02-16-2002).]

blairvanhorn

DFW DL: Thanks - excellent information.

JOUY31

Thank you for this nice piece of information.

One comment regarding the fact that the lounge is located outside the customs area. There are Skyteam long-haul flights arriving in other terminals (2A and 2F) so it is logical to have it accessible to passengers who have landed and passed through customs in another terminal. With the opening of Terminal 2E next year and the subsequent reorganization of AF operations, this might change in the future.

Regarding the fact that it is not displayed on any terminal map, I think the lounge is a very recent addition (January ?) and that the maps have not been updated accordingly.

Lastly, the C2 gate I was referring to is not the boarding gate but actually the gate for exiting the terminal building.

I am glad you enjoyed this new facility that I should be able to visit next month !

JOUY31

One last comment: the arrivals lounge was opened on January 14th; this explains the lack of update to the ADP terminal 2 maps.

LA2CDG

JOUY31 mentioned that the arrivals lounge is open from 6am to 10am. Could this be a typo, since the earliest AF flight from LAX arrives at 12:30 pm
Any clarification would be helpful.

JOUY31

These were the original opening hours. The lounge is now open from 5:00 AM to 2:00 PM ; I was able to use it at 12:30 after my 11:40 arrival from IAD.

FTraveler

Don't know how to post a link. But this info from UnofficialDLHelper at the DL Board: Effective July 15, DL B/E paxs will be able to access the AF arrivals lounge. Hurray!

UA_Sycophant

The arrivals lounge is located outside the customs area?! That means if I am at CDG in transit, I need to spend as much as 45 minutes clearing customs just to get to the lounge. Does AF happen to have a Fast Track system for premium passengers, just like BA does in Heathrow?

About that comment that said that the lounge should be landside so passengers arriving in 2A or 2F can use it, can't those passengers just use the airside shuttle buses to get to 2C?