San Gottardo

rosensfole

Please tell us of your experiences when your journey is done. I'm sure you'll have a blast

stimpy

Yes it is the airline and ultimately the captain who decides. In the case of BA it is strictly forbidden while in the air no matter the destination. To the point where the captain could lose his job. But on the ground BA can and often do allow guests in the cockpit. UA is the same. LH and LX are more relaxed about this. I've never asked on AF.

SFO777

Most likely depends on the crew. Last year, a friend flew SFO-CDG in La Premičre connecting to another EU city. He was driven to his connecting flight before the rest of the pax had boarded and was invited to sit in the cockpit jump seat for the entire flight, both take off and landing. My friend's note to me... "The LP agent got us there before any other passengers and the captain was super friendly chatting with us. One thing led to another and he said I’m welcome to sit in the jumpseat for takeoff and/or landing. Obviously I said both and ended up just staying there the whole flight since it was short."

San Gottardo

Err... no. The local authorities' rules and regulations are the minimum. There are countries where the regulator or lawmaker prohibits people other than the flight crew in the cockpit during the flight. Every airline then has to abide by it. The UK is such a country: no airline operating to a UK airport (or maybe it's even in UK airspace, but how would they check?) can have a person other than crew members in the cockpit. Air France, despite allowing cockpit visits, is not allowed to allow them when flying to the UK:

Then there are airlines, who may have rules that are stricter or less strict than what the regulator imposes. BA, the US carriers, and many others have a rule: nobody other than crew members in the cockpit. And they abide by it, even when operating into a country where the local regulation does not prohibit it. For instance, British Airways flying to Germany: no visit in the cockpit. That's because it's a BA rule, not a German rule.

Thus,to have cockpit visits allowed, both the country and the airline must allow it.

Lufthansa is not relaxed about this at all. Strictly no cockpit visits during the flight, despite this being allowed in Germany. AF and LX are two airlines that I know allow cockpit visits.

stimpy

Sorry, but I have been invited into the LH cockpit, on flights to the US. And I am not the only one.

San Gottardo

So have I, but that was before 2002. So you say you have been invited to a Lufthansa cockpit, during the flight, after 2002? Sounds incredible for a number of reasons, but well, if you say so...

stimpy

It was a while ago for me, but I doubt before 2002. However if you know about a 2002 rule change you could just say that.

San Gottardo

Huh? The "2002 rule change" refers the fact that all those airlines that made accessing the cockpit impossible did so after 9/11 (=September 11, 2001). Given that we are in 2019, 18 years since the "rule change" that not only Lufthansa, but almost every other airline has put in place, plus that you yourself referred to BA as being strict, I just assumed that we are talking the current or very recent state of things. I did not see a need to point out that we are discussing how things work in 2019, with the exception of Lufthansa, where we go back more than 18 years.

breton1fr

Aldo spent 2 hours in 777 cockpit 5 years ago on AF

ijgordon

Haha, yes, they know what you want before you want it - the sign of good service!
When I misconnected and couldn't be rebooked until 24 hours later, they totally gave me my itinerary for that evening and the next day:
Have dinner while we book your hotel and re-book your flight, and make sure your luggage transfers, then we'll send a car to pick you up (at the Sheraton in the terminal mind you!) at 12pm, you'll have lunch here and then a spa service, and then you will have some cocktails or you can shop before we drive you to your gate.
I was like - "Oui madame!"

duluthDL

I flew ATL-CDG-FCO and return in La Premiere. Since I hadn't read anything about ATL LP service, here's what happened.

Greeted by two AF agents and checked in by DL agent at ticket counter check in. One of the AF agents accompanied us through the crew/handicapped lane of TSA which saved some time. Precheck is closed at this time of day (after 5:30) so TSA line can be long. I was curious to see if there would be some special setup in the DL Skyclub for AF LP; to my delight, the offer was unlimited free food and drink at Ecco, which is my favorite restaurant in E and F. Had excellent mussels with crusty toasted bread. Greeted by more people at restaurant, such as Food and Beverage manager (HMS Host) and another AF agent. Offered early or late boarding. We selected late boarding onto the A380.

Besides my wife and I, there were two other passengers; one was a day of departure paid upgrade (we spoke to him at the lounge). The seats were not in as bad shape as I had feared. The IFE is ancient, but I was able to make it work by using the wired controller arrows and buttons. Service was excellent with one and a half flight attendants for the 4 passengers.

Lounge: had a long layover, so we could take advantage of massage and facial at the spa. My wife received some free samples with her facial. I had the veal special and baba au rhum (Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva) which were both great. Unusually, I observed several people at the bar. It was a busy time with about 15 people in the lounge.

On the way back: We had only 30 minutes in the CDG lounge but this was enough time for me to get the fish and my wife to get the foie gras. Upon boarding, we found that we were the only passengers in LP!! Caviar served upon boarding with mother of pearl spoon, and Veuve Cliquot 2006. Had langoustine and then beef. For the second meal/snack, I asked for the custom salad from the lunch course.

In ATL, two airport agents greeted us at the plane and they walked us all the way to the Parking shuttle. I don't know if there was really any time savings by being accompanied. We used Mobile Passport since my wife doesn't have Global Entry; fortunately, there was no line whatsoever at immigration. The luggage for LP does not come out with the regular luggage but goes onto a small linear conveyor belt for crew. A slight problem was that the belt was quickly filled with crew baggage which then stopped the belt. The accompanying agents couldn't touch luggage so they had to find somebody who could move the crew bags off the belt. We lost a few minutes in this process. Between pulling up to the jetway and reaching the street curb took no more than 30 minutes.

Goldorak

Yahtzee

Back from my (hopefully) annual trip through the La Premiere lounge. A few comments:

1. Agree with San Gottardo on the shower flooding situation - and glad I had recently read his post. Not sure what I did wrong but the entire floor was swamped.
2. Wandered around for probably 5 minutes on arrival in the lounge (and asked two personnel) to be served a first glass of champagne.
3. After two solo passenger in 777 trips, this was back to the A380. Went from 2 passengers 48 hours before the flight to completely full. I delayed dinner for 2.5 hours and the food did not really hold up. Langoustines were a bit dried out and fish was very dried out.
4. A couple of years ago I scoffed at SFO777's affection for the coquilletes dish in the lounge - I was very wrong. This was again delicious and the veal roast was as good a French meal as you'll get anywhere in the world.
5. No Paris-Brest - an epic dessert fail.

A couple of photos:

The veal:




A tale of two airport lounges. It was the best of times (CDG); it was the worst of times (JFK):

duluthDL

You are free to use the F SkyClub but there's no special arrangements (such as seating for LP, exclusive canapes for LP passengers). AF encourages you to go to Ecco where you have free choice of anything on restaurant or bar menus; you can sit at table, booth or bar; there's no lounge aspect to Ecco. I prefer the Ecco idea to the LP implementation in SIN where you have some exclusive AF canapes in the (general high-end) lounge, but it's no big deal.