Howdy,

Here is my report on my last AFKL flight, going from BSL to HKG via CDG:

• Check-in at BSL: Courteous service, standard to AF. ^
• BSL third-party lounge: Nothing to report.
• Boarding at BSL: Nothing to report (boarding through SkyP line).
• BSL to CDG with a third-party airline (WLD): Nothing to report.
• Arrival at CDG 2G: No AF staff in sight (and, of course, no car service ).
• CDG 2E-K lounge: Warm welcome. Illuminating discussion on the Ultimate program with the lounge leader, ^. Bottom line — too many Ultimate's and insufficient staff to handle them (but we knew that already, didn't we?).
• Boarding at CDG: Nothing to report (boarding through SkyP line). No escort proactively offered.
• CDG to HKG: AF old-guard crew. Very impersonal welcome, courteous but bloody cold. Zero recognition (I flew in J) . Bravo to the captain hugging and kissing ostentatiously the four P PAX's before pushing back (I naively thought that these practices from another time had disappeared) .
• Arrival at HKG: No AF staff (or third party working on behalf of AFKL) in sight. No facilitated immigration clearance. Nada. Zilch. Diddly squat. And, icing on the cake, no possibility to see the AFKL supervisor to book ahead of time a DOD upgrade for the return flight (the third-party staff I finally spoke to, after waiting for half an hour at an empty counter, pointed me to my TA, whom she visibly knew about).

Nothing to report=No preferential service, no perk, no particular recognition.

All in all, we see from this isolated (yet very telling) event that there is no advantage whatsoever to be Ultimate, and there is no added value compared to basic Platinum status. We also see a lot of inconsistencies in the services offered to Ultimate's, as has been noted time and time again by many of us.
Is this worth the 360k/2-year threshold — one wonders. It is about time the FB and AFKL higher management gave us something tangible to make up for the frustration with the program, like the long-promised upgrade coupons, so common on most (if not all) other major airlines at this level of loyalty recognition.

Cheers,


Macaron54