Mohammed, my "La Première concierge/assistant" who picked me up at the aircraft door was also intrigued by my routing and I shared with him that I was doing a round the world trip and that as an AV-geek, I wanted to fly as many different routings as possible in premium cabins and that the AF First class was on top of my trophy list. He took this opportunity to use the scenic route across CDG airport to show me around and brought be afterwards to the "La Première lounge", where after showing my boarding pass to the security agents at the entrance, I was granted to access it airside without the need to clear again the security. Mohammed told me that since I was coming from the USA, this origin was considered as a safe enough for the French authorities so that I would not need to clear security again using the private security checkpoint of the lounge. (I believe this is the case for flights coming from EU, UK, USA and maybe Canada and Singapore I read somewhere per EU rules).
Inside the BMW 7 series
Scenic tour of the airport...
As he understood this was my first time in this lounge, he offered to give me a tour of it after informing his colleague from the front desk to have my luggage placed on hold at the luggage services of AF. "You can stay as much as you would like to, and just let us know when you would like to leave to pickup your baggage" he added. After a short tour of the facilities, I decided to sit down and enjoy a refreshing beverage.
The lounge was not very busy with maybe only 6 or 7 other guests in total there, including a couple at the restaurant. This was 2019, when the travel was as it's peak and where AF was dealing with maybe only 200 passengers a day maximum in First class. Nowadays, this lounge is not in service and a part of the business lounge in T2E is used for this purpose.
The lounge is nice, although maybe not as impressive as the LH First Class Terminal in FRA. I had to say that during my 2 visits of this lounge the same day, it was impeccable with the staff working as soon as a guest in done eating or drinking something. The decors, especially at the entrance were nice and seasonal.
The "Salon La Première" features different areas besides the usual lounge configuration which we are all aware of : A bar, which I felt looked like a fancy 1900's saloon is in front of the restaurant section, where a small buffet (well, more a selection of sweets and appetizers) is located. The restaurant also has a water bar with several different mineral waters available in self-service. But obviously, if you are interested to eat something, seating on one of the restaurant tables with the full service from the Plaza-Athenee chefs is the option to go. At the back of the lounge are located the individual restrooms, a couple shower suites, the spa and a quiet area to have a nap. I did use all those spaces besides the spa during this experience.
One more thing I noticed before adding some pictures : The staff is very polite and very professional, and at the same time very discrete. I guess they have cameras everywhere in the lounge where they immediately notice if you are looking for something specific. I guess some VIPs are frequently using this lounge, hence the need of discretion (I did not get to see any VIP that day, but one of the staff told me that a famous football player from the PSG visited the lounge the day before).
The "rouge" bar
Restroom suites
Quiet area with some nap corners
Nap corners
Totally deserved !
Lounge main entrance from the terminal - I got to enter it from the other side as I was coming with the airside limo transfer
La Première lounge
Restaurant buffet. Given the low amount of daily visitors, I guess they have a relatively scarce buffet to avoid excessive food waste. The real deal is anyway the restaurant menu, not so much the buffet in case you really want to eat
Water selection
I opted to stay here to begin with and catch up with some emails using the free wifi
After taking a seat on one of the numerous couches, my concierge came to me to offer me a drink and provided me with the food menu. I was addressed by my last name everytime I was interacting with the staff, I guess those people must have very good memory!
Ducasse menu
Food menu back in February 2019
Sparkling water to start with
After 20 min or so I relocated to the restaurant and was excited to try at least one of their dishes for lunch. I was not that hungry so I opted for something relatively light : The scallops with endive and truffle...
Buffet
Endive with scallops and truffle. Still dreaming about it 2 years later.
Paris Brest for dessert, one of my favourites !
Around 12:30 I asked to get escorted to the luggage arrival and a friendly agent came immediately and escorted me through immigration and luggage claim.
The idea behind getting my luggage in CDG was to use the services of the airport postoffice to ship some stuff to my parents in Lyon (with the added benefit to offload some of my luggage).
My luggage was stored safely behind the AF luggage claim counter and after escorting me through customs she said goodbye and I wished her a pleasant day and weekend (she indicated where the postoffice was and offered to bring me there, but I was already aware of its location)
Immigration was not very crowded
Dedicated pathway for First class
Luggage was safely stored behind the luggage claim counters
You could certainly rely on the First class services from AF. You can however not rely on the opening hours of the CDG post office, as I discovered a few minutes later. After discussing with some other members of the staff, the saturday afternoon exceptional closure seems to be a consistent exception from this post office, so traveller beware ! (but I am glad I could enjoy scallops with truffle :-)
"La Poste, on n'a vraiment rien à y gagner !" - The post office closed 30 min before I arrived !
I then decided to store my carry on back for the afternoon at the "Voyageurs du monde" next to the post office and then went back to the Terminal 2E to register again my luggage at the La Première check-in for the continuation of the trip the same day to Sao Paolo and was welcomed there by Sala, a very elegant and friendly lady to whom I explained the situation that I was only flying in the evening but wanted to leave the airport for the afternoon and wanted to check my bag in.
I also asked if this bag could be interlined with my domestic flight to Foz de Iguacu on GOL, booked with Flying Blue miles (so with a 074 ticket number) and after inquiring with her manager, she apologized and told me this was not possible as GOL was not a SkyTeam partner. So my bag got registered only to GRU...
The check-in lounge for La Première passengers is as elegant as the real lounge and refreshments are offered while you wait for your bags to be registered. Private restrooms are also available within this area.
Exclusive checkin area for La Première passengers in CDG
Check-in lounge
From a world of luxury which was this mini-lounge, I then went two floors down (and many levels of luxury down too !) to ride the dreadful RER B which brought me to Le Bourget, about 15 min south of CDG. At least that thing operated well that day...
A short bus ride later, I was in front of the Air and Space museum of le Bourget.
I would recommend this place to visit for any AV-geek or not. As good as the Smitsonian Air and Space museum in DC (+ the great Hudvar-Hazy center next to IAD) in my opinion, with the added benefit that you can actually get inside some former aircrafts !
Air and Space museum Paris Le Bourget
This museum is adjacent to Paris Le Bourget airport, mostly known for private jet traffic and the bi-annual Aerospace trade show of the same name.
Which means that they have lots of outdoor space to show plenty of nice stuff, including a former Boeing 747-100, an Airbus A380 and an Ariane 5 space rocket...
Air France donated this 747-100 to the museum years ago
Unlike at the Smithsonian, you can actually get very close to the aircrafts...
... and even get inside !
First class seats back then were not as good, but you have to say that the onboard lounge could have been pleasant !
Cockpit, note the flight controls for the onboard engineer on the right... It was a 3-person job to fly this aircraft back then !
You could fit a Renault Twigo in the cargo hold!
It reminds me my first time across the Atlantic (and outside of Europe), at the last row on board a 747-400 !
You cannot get on board that one
Air France Caravelle
Ariane 5 + B747-100
Wide angle versions
B747-100 cockpit
Cargo hold of a 747-100, if operated in combi mode.
The museum also has plenty of indoors exhibition halls, featuring different aircrafts from different periods of history and purposes (there is a section about military aircrafts for instance).
But the highlight of this museum is certainly the Concorde exhibition hall, where one of the prototypes and an actual former Air France concorde are on exhibit.
Thanks to this, I finally managed to partly fulfill an old dream and get onboard Concorde !
Concorde hall, with a former prototype and AF versions
Aerodynamics is clearly a must here...
I am sure you guys were aware that the nose of Concorde could bent because otherwise, the pilots could not properly see the runway when taking off and landing due to the incline of the aircraft
You first enter in the former prototype where the history of this French/British project is explained. Historical sounds of radio communications are broadcasted inside this first aircraft
Cockpit of the prototype Concorde
After this, the path continues to the Air France Concorde. Looking at the skyteam logo on it, I wonder how many miles I would have needed to fly between Paris and NY back then !
I certainly prefer my La Première seat ! I can confirm that the legroom was tight, as it was explained to me by a former AF flight attendant I spoke with a while ago...
AF Concorde cockpit
Now you can see how come a piece of metal from a Continental DC10 got under the tires of concorde and thrown into the reactors causing the last deadly accident in 2003 (I think)
Oppossum was also excited by this !
I finished my tour right before closing time with the historical aircrafts and space sections. I have to say that I spent most of my 2.5 hours in the museum in the civil aviation and concorde sections as it's more my interest, but next time I would like to spend more time in the space exhibition areas.
There is also a section about space which I unfortunately visited too fast, as the museum was closing
Next stop : The La Première lounge in CDG !
Very nice museum, would highly recommend it. I also would love to see the air and space trade show every 2 years in June. After it closed for that day, I took back the bus and RER B to get back to the airport for another visit of the great La Première lounge before my flight to Sao Paolo in the evening...