Originally Posted by xliioper

You are allowed to access lounges that are actually operated by AF (including outside of CDG) if you are a DL Skyteam Elite+ on an international flight. It's just the contract lounges utilized by AF that are not accessible when you are on a DL flight back to US as STE+. Although the airport check-in staff can sometimes be lax in following the rules. I unexpectedly received an invitation for the contract lounge in NCE when flying a NCE-JFK DL flight in coach based on DL status a few years back even though new DL policy had already been in place for several years.