Casimir

Never flown La Premiere, big fan of AF. I tried researching this but didn't find an answer. Apologies if I missed it.

I'm just looking for what to expect. Specifically, is there any La Premiere ground service in Atlanta? No club other than DL Skyclub, right?

Or, does the La Premiere service only begin once I'm on the AF plane.

No need to bemoan the fact that I'm on the A380, I've read all about it. Nevertheless, this is a treat for me and I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks!

caliform

I think the A380 experience is still fantastic. I don't know about the ground experience; you could possibly ring them up to ask.

Goldorak

Some recent info in this thread in posts 702, 703 and 705.
Constructive Criticism of La Premiere

ATLCDG

I know there is ground service originating from Atlanta. I do not know if they meet you at an arriving flight to escort you to your TATL flight. You have the Sky
Club, and if you want you can have dinner in the restaurant ECCO at AF expense, if you like.

Casimir

Thanks so much for these helpful responses! I've never eaten at ECCO, so that might be fun. I apologize for having missed the TR at 702..

Since there is some ground service at ATL, I wonder if they'll meet my MEM-ATL flight. It would be a very nice touch to be driven to the F concourse.

Goldorak

I think they should, likely using the DL Porsche service which is available at ATL. Please report here and enjoy your flights

Casimir

Thanks Goldorak, for the info and the good wishes!

Casimir

The first part of the trip MEM-ATL complete, and I'm very disappointed. I was not met. I stood around like a fool for several minutes, then I schlepped from A concourse to F concourse on the crowded underground people mover. No recognition at F club, which is packed. Just waived in.

I hadn't eaten so I as hungry and had the standard Sky Club grub from the small buffet, which also.was crowded.

About 30-40 minutes after I arrived at the lounge a very nice young lady had me paged and asked if I wanted to go to ECCO, which I very much did a half hour before. I politely said that as I hadn't been met, I thought I was on my own, so I'd already eaten, though I would have very much preferred dinner at ECCO. No apology or any explanation. Just asked if I wished to preboard and promised to come back.

Not first class service IMO. I wonder if Delta handles the ground portion in ATL. If so, that's a huge mistake by AF.

I'm guessing that once on board and in Paris all will be well. I'll report.

MSPeconomist

Did you try to ask the F SC dragon about AF La Premiere arrangements, including the ECCO dinner? Alternatively, why not eat just a bit at first, in hopes of AF offering the ECCO dinner before your flight?

Casimir

Thanks for your suggestions MSPEconomist.

No, I didn't ask about LP at the Sky Club counter. Since I wasn't met at my first flight, I assumed there were no ground services here.

I guess it didn't occur to me that I had to be proactive and insist on La Premiere service. That seems contrary to the idea of premiere service.

Besides, if the DL SkyClub agents know about LP services, why wouldn't they mention them when I arrived at the SC? LP costs a true premium price which I gladly paid -- shouldn't the service be better than I received?

As to your other point -- Why not just eat a little in hopes I would be offered ECCO later? Same answer. No service or recognition through checking into the club, and for 30-40 minutes thereafter. It didn't occur to me that they might show up later.

It's three hours til my flight where I know the food will be excellent. I decided to eat because I was hungry -- anticipating with excitement LP ground services, I had skipped lunch.

Again, not premiere service IMO.

I repeat that if AF is relying on Delta for the ground portion of LP in ATL, it's a huge mistake. Why should DL personnel provide excellent service to passengers who by definition are exclusively AF customers?

If it's AF personnel in charge, they didn't meet the high standards of AF for LP in other places IMO.

I'd be interested if regular LP flyers disagree with me. I'm willing to admit I'm being too critical if you'all tell me so.

Goldorak

This is indeed unacceptable IMO. You should have been escorted from domestic flight to F lounge/arrangements.
And about asking the DL lounge dragon at F concourse about La Premičre arrangements ?? the only first class they heard about is their domestic one
To come back on topic now, make sure you file a complaint at the end of your trip and you should also talk to the P agents at the lounge in CDG.
I hope the rest of your trip will be better. Let us know.

MSPeconomist

Of course the OP shouldn't have to ask for LP services, but if I had a LP ticket and was aware of the dinner at ECCO being standard for LP passengers at ATL, I would have asked before filling up on SC food. I also would have asked whether I should be getting a comped drink of my choice from the "luxury" bar in the F SC.

OTOH with perhaps about ten LP passengers passing through ATL in each direction every day, maybe the "LP "team" doesn't begin to look for inbound connecting flights and information about their LP passengers for the evening until a couple hours before scheduled departure times. In fact, I wonder how common it is for LP passengers to arrive into ATL on a connecting flight and whether such passengers would typically arrive three hours before AF's scheduled departure time. The cities that I would assume are major sources of LP passengers (NYC, LAX, etc.) already are served by nonstop AF flights with LP cabins, so there's no need to connect. Once the AF team missed you at your connecting flight into ATL, they wouldn't have known how or where to find you, although the F SC would clearly seem to us to be the obvious place to look first.

Casimir

Thanks to both Goldorak and MSPeconomist for once again taking time to leave detailed comments.

As I suspected would be the case, the rest of the trip was simply outstanding. The nice young woman came and got me and escorted me to my flight in Atlanta. She told me that her employer is a contractor who handles this sort of thing for a number of different airlines. Interesting information, fwiw.

From the moment I was handed over to Air France, I was coddled in every way. The service, the food, the escorts through CDG, and of course the La Premiere lounge in Paris were all outstanding.

While I'm still a bit disappointed about the situation in Atlanta, there is no question that La Premiere is every bit an outstanding first class flight experience. I need to start saving my pennies for my next La Premiere flight.

Again, thanks to everybody for replying and giving constructive suggestions.

Casimir

Often1

It would have been a pity if OP had no idea what to expect. But, he did.

I can't imagine passing up something interesting or helpful by standing on form.

1. If there was nobody to escort at the ATL arrival, why not ask the GA to check?
2. If there was no offer of ECCO, why not ask at the SC (presuming that the escort had not by then offered it)?

brunos

I agree that the OP should have stopped by the AF counter about LP arrangements; or proactively inquired at the lounge (even an inexperienced dragon could give a call to AF) I don't think that there is ever a promise that a LP pax will be met at arrival of a connecting flight in an outstation, especially a huge airport like ATL.

BTW, there cannot be "about ten LP passengers passing through ATL in each direction every day", but at most 9 and usually much less given the low P loads. One major problem is that the A380 arrives in ATL exactly 3 hours before it departs again from ATL. Hence, the staff would be busy meeting arriving pax.at the time the OP landed. Maybe they would have met him if he landed 2 hours before flight time.

Anyway, there won't be anymore P to ATL in a few days.