Originally Posted by alect
If I was F+ rouge and teavelling within US on DL/CO/NW could i not gain access to a lounge based on being a Skyteam elite?
No. You need a same-day international flight for lounge access. AFAIK, the only ST airline FFP that will grant you access to lounges on domestic US flights is KL, and that is only for NW worldclubs. This is likely to disappear when F+ and FD merge.
With your flight pattern, it might be in your interest in any event to go for FD rather than F+, as the elite bonus is much better (50,100 and 125% for Silver, Gold and Plat respectively) and the (elite-qualifying) CoS bonus is 100% for C.. If you can't get a comp, one LAX-FCO return in C would get you to SE; two to GE and three to PE.
In any event, you will end up in the merged FD/AF program whenever this happens.
I am a bit puzzled, though, as to why you don't stick to OW for this if you fly mostly in premium classes. BA is bound to be more comfortable in J than AF and timings are more or less the same. Culturally, you are also likely to find service on BA more familiar than on AF.
Moreover, on LAX-FCO, AA would probably have the best timings.