NikinYOW

Hi, I have an upcoming early morning arrival at CDG (7:05 AM) and it appears from this forum that the AF arrivals lounge has been closed. Wondering if anyone has any alternative suggestions they could share? My check in at the hotel is after 3pm. I know I can leave suitcases at the hotel but would welcome the chance to freshen up with a shower and relax for a short whole before starting the day.Thanks.

JOUY31

I often use the Hilton with a day-use rate, which can be booked like any standard stay, although the price has increased, moving above the 100 EUR level. The Ibis is more affordable, but you can't book it in advance and it sometimes is not available upon arrival.

I suppose there must be day-use rates at the Sheraton, but my guess is that it will be more expensive than with the Hilton.

Goldorak

AF really needs to do something on this. The current situation is not acceptable.

NikinYOW

Thanks for the suggestion. I was able to book the Hilton for day use. Cost was 110 euros and the reservation indicates I can use between 9am and 6pm, although I will be leaving much earlier than that.

Digicola

With the size of CDG you’d think there would be a large enough space to slot in a lounge with 20-30 shower stalls and a small breakfast buffet.

I suppose they’ll continue waving the « passenger numbers under 2019 levels » and « staff shortage » flags for a while still. Let’s hope that when/if a lounge reopens it’s not on the other side of the airport.

I’m sure a deal could be struck with a hotel…. For a price.

Goldorak

Back 5 years ago (even more), AF had a plan to move the arrival lounge to 2E (logical) by 2020-2021, but they made clear that this was not a priority and it would come after all departure lounges refurbishment / new lounges (2F, 2G and the 3 2E ones). Fair enough, as departure lounges are certainly more important than arrival one, and the 2C one was prolonged. But they had financial problems as you all know and the pandemic seems to have killed this project and AF seems to have no more plan for it, and final disaster : they closed definitely the 2C arrival lounge. I said several times to them that it was a mistake. Such service is important for business travelers and most other airline hubs are proposing this service. I also said that in the meantime, they could either make a deal with one of the CDG hotels or allowing pax to go to a departure lounge. But, for the former they don’t want to pay (although I am not sure it would cost more than operating a lounge within ADP infrastructure), and for the latter, they claim it’s not possible because ADP and other blabla (in clear, nobody wants to address the problem because they believe it’s not important).

Digicola

That was less of a problem because there already was an arrivals lounge, it’s fair that fixing up lounges should be a priority and lets be honest there was a lot to be done elsewhere. When AF isn’t washing planes to save money then it’s clear their attention isn’t on an arrivals lounge.

2E-K is in the works, worldwide lounges such as FRA will slowly get some love. The fleet is mostly patched up, new planes are coming in, results are up. If there is a time for them to revisit, its now especially since there isn’t even the subpar 2C lounge anymore.

pfreet

Has anyone on here tried one of the public swimming pools in Paris? After dropping off bags, one could shower there, maybe swim a few laps. Not ideal but an interesting option? https://theculturetrip.com/europe/fr...ools-in-paris/

olivedel

perfect if you like mushrooms (and not in your omelet)

Fabo.sk

You can probably find a decent gym and buy a day pass and still save a lot over the Hilton, but it's a disgrace we are even discussing it.

Not that the situation is much better in AMS.

jkler

The ibis and many other CDG area hotels can be booked for the day on dayuse.com

Artpen100

It was one of the reasons I favored AF over the other carriers for trips to Paris.

Happy Traveling Consultant

Odd exchange with Air France. I was told the lounge was still open when I spoke to a CSR, asked her to confirm that it was in fact the Salon Arrive in 2C and she said it was but with limited access.

I don't think that is accurate. Anyone been there recently to confirm? We arrive a week from today on April 2nd. Was really hoping to hang there for a while because our hotel (Park Hyatt Vendome) will be inaccessible when we land because the Paris Marathon that morning literally runs on the street they are on when we arrive.

Goldorak

As said several times : the 2C arrival lounge is definitely closed (since March 2020).

orbitmic

i guess it might just make sense if you spoke to a ghost

And as others say, it would be good for AF to fix this but I’m not hugely optimistic for two reasons:

- the first is that it has effectively no competitive impact (no other airline offers it on flight into Paris so it’s not as if you could say “heck if they don’t open an arrivals lounge, I’ll fly x instead of AF!”

- the second is that as much as I like them, sometimes AF love asking the wrong question in order to get the wrong answer that suits them. They loved doing that at the time they didn’t want to put fully flat beds in J, are probably doing this now with short haul C catering (they probably ask something like: “do you think a gourmet cold meal is better than bad ready hot meal?” And when people say yes they will interpret that as: “see, our customers say cold meals are better. It’s just the quality they care about”). Similarly, of course having an arrivals lounge at 2C made zero sense and as a result it wasn’t used much, but it doesn’t mean a good arrivals lounge at 2E-K would fail to be a success. However, they probably preferred to focus on closing what made no sense than on opening what did as the latter was not in their interest.

one day, for random reason they will wake up (maybe if an airline attacks them on key tatl routes and use an arrivals hotel partnership as a competitive argument) and when they do it, they will probably do it well but I don’t suppose it will be soon…