I have a 7+ hour layover at CDG the end of May. I am flying on Delta but will be taking an Air France flight from CDG to BER. As far as I know, Delta does not have any Sky Clubs at CDG.
Will I be able to access the AF lounge? I'm flying premium select on Delta but economy on the AF flight. I don't mind paying for access but would love to have a place to park myself for the long layover. Thanks!
You can certainly stop and have them check, but you very well may be able to (As long as that is a benefit of Premium Select). I have used the KLM lounges, using the benefits provided by my AMEX Delta Skymiles Reserve card. There are reciprocal agreements with partner airlines and their lounges.
Thanks! I have an AMEX Delta SkyMiles card, too - I forgot that it gets benefits as well.
I think the lounge access only comes with the Reserve AMEX delta card but check. I could be wrong about that. Premium economy does not give you access -sadly.
AF has a pretty informative page on its lounges:
Delta Sky Club® & Partner Lounges
"Air France Lounge, 2E – On the left after Passport Control – Downstairs. * For departing flights only.
Operated by partner Air France, access may be limited."
https://www.delta.com/us/en/airports/europe/paris-sky-club-airport-map
I'm just going to say the Air France Lounge at CDG remains my all time favorite. Even if you have to pay, it is one lounge that may well be worth it.
I'm just going to say the Air France Lounge at CDG remains my all time
favorite. Even if you have to pay, it is one lounge that may well be
worth it.
@Carol, evidently there is a new lounge in Terminal 2F that you can pay €35 for access, so hopefully that will work out.
Thanks to you all for your responses.
I have a platinum Delta AMEX skymiles card and don't have automatic access to a Sky Lounge, but sometimes pay for a one day use.
Not sure if you can do that with Air France?
It mostly depends on your class of ticket. There are many fine gradations and they are well aware of all of them. Or buy a daypass. Or check out adjoining lounges to see if you can buy your way in.
FWIW, I had access to Delta lounges at JFK and LAX because I had Amex platinum. I was travelling Comfort Plus/Select but I don't think that would have qualified me.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/air-france-paris-cdg-new-lounge/
Rats, I accidentally deleted my post. Anyway, I was going to say that I used to have a platinum AMEX Delta card, but I got tired of paying the fees when I wasn’t traveling during Covid. At any rate, I did find out that the new Air France lounge in terminal 2F at CDG does allow access to economy passengers, as long as you fork over €60, which I am more than happy to do.
It sounds wonderful. They have complementary facials, relaxation pods where you can catch a nap, showers, lots of food and alcohol, and so on. Here’s an article that describes it. It just opened late last year.
https://paliparan.com/2021/12/28/air-france-business-lounge-paris-cdg-2f-schengen/
I recently booked a flight with Delta, Atlanta to Paris, economy. Was put on Air France metal( tiny seats). I attempted to use my Amex Delta SkyMiles Reserve card to access an Air France lounge at CDG between flights. Was denied. Is this a thing?
I think you have to go through Flying Blue, the AF and KLM FF program. I had booked my flight through Delta but one leg (from CDG to BER) was with AF. I was able to set up an account with them and get a FF number. Then I could pay for access to the AF lounge on their app. But I was not able to use Delta for access - and if you go to the Delta site and look up the AF lounges, you will see a note from Delta after each one that says, "Operated by partner Air France, access may be limited."
Air France has multiple lounges at CDG, they vary in amenities and quality quite a bit, so it's best not to conflate them all. They are also scattered across multiple parts of the airport, and it is not easy (sometimes impossible) to get to some of them. The lounge(s) that will be available to you will depend on what gate your flight(s) use (there are lounges specifically for arriving passengers, others for departing and transit passengers), and of course what exactly qualifies you to use the lounge. It's a complex mix, so best to be specific.
As you might imagine, access to lounges is restricted (the better the lounge, the greater the qualifications to use it). Generally speaking, I believe access is limited to business class passengers and above, or elite level status in Air France's FF program, and some additional options (those who hold one of the premium Air France or partner credit cards). I would not expect that they're open to those traveling in economy or economy plus (whatever it's called), unless you have elite status or some other qualification.
You can usually (not always) pay a fee to use the lounge (depends on the lounge, may also depend on how crowded it is; lounges tend to be on the crowded side lately, as everything is).
You can always just show up and try to get in, but the lounge dragons are quite effective at keeping out those who don't qualify. If you want to arrive armed with a solid understanding of your options (and given the dizzying complexity of CDG, that's a good way to arrive), I'd suggest posting in the Air France forum over at Flyertalk. You'll need to provide your own details, but you'll get complete, up-to-date and accurate info on what you can expect.
Bonne chance!
Good luck. If the lounges are crowded, they may not be selling day passes.
Related story, we were at Denver airport and the United club near our gates was "closed for remodeling" so we consulted a map and saw that way across the airport was another one. So we trekked over there and they said sorry, we're waiting for a Frankfurt flight to depart and we're full. You can try back in an hour or so, but there's another lounge back where you came from. Turned out in fact there was a temp lounge that was poorly marked and was really just some closed off gates with some food/drink.
Lounge access is very complicated. Premium econ doesn't usually cut it, sometimes even business or first class don't work if they are not international.
