[Anonymous]

[business traveller]

I travelled from London Heathrow Terminal 4 to Paris (CDG) in late February 2016 with Air France, with an onward connection to Prague.

SkyTeam check-in is located in Zone H of Terminal 4 Departures. After a member of staff confirmed that I had Skyteam Elite Plus status, we were allowed to use the priority check-in and after a very short wait we were at a desk. There was some confusion because my ElitePlus status was not being shown in the booking (despite it showing on the KLM app and having contacted Air France on Twitter beforehand to ensure it was added) and I was initially asked to pay approximately £23 for my checked bag – after showing my frequent flyer card, confirming my status and speaking with a supervisor my bag was finally checked-in for free. We were also asked to show our hand luggage, which was also weighed and a then an Air France hand baggage tag added.

There was a relatively long queue at security, however, we were brought forward to use the staff line and were through in a couple of minutes. Between the staff immediately before security and the security check itself, I was asked five times if I had any liquids in my bag (I obviously appreciate the reminder and understand the rationale, but it does becomes a bit annoying the fifth time in about 3 minutes!).

After some shopping, we used the Skyteam lounge. There was a very warm welcome and after our boarding passes had been scanned, we were advised to head upstairs if we wanted any breakfast. I was quite surprised how quiet the upper level of the lounge was. There must have been no more than 10 people. There was a good spread of food but it was of variable quality. The food selection included: cold meats, cheeses, bread, yoghurts, jams, pastries and doughnuts, toast, meat and vegetarian sausages, bacon, toast, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, mini hash browns and scrambled egg. Whilst a new bowl of scrambled egg was brought out it was really cold – I had to ask for it to be returned to the kitchen to be heated. There was a bottle of Russian Standard vodka (as well as pepper and Tabasco sauce) at the side of the fruit juices, and I made a Bloody Mary.

In general, the SkyTeam lounge is well maintained and clean. There was a really good selection of newspapers and a few magazines (including copies of Business Traveller!). The Oxygen Bar was broken (as it was when I last passed through this lounge three months prior) but all three massage chairs were vacant and I had plenty of time to try the various functions (with drink in hand, which was a very pleasant experience!). I had a pre departure coffee and was impressed that several types of milk and syrup were available. Whilst I like the SkyTeam lounge, I sometimes think it would be better to reduce the quantity and variety of food and drink and increase the quality/attention to detail (that is, it is better to do less things well).

We left the lounge at just after 9:10 and we were onboard the aircraft in about 5 minutes. Departure was from gate 15 and there was a clear SkyPriority boarding queue in operation. There was only one person infront, who was reminded that they had an emergency exit seat and would be given a special briefing once onboard. The aircraft was an Airbus A321. The immediate welcome onboard was fairly brusque (I showed my boarding pass but was just waved onboard without anything being said) but another member of crew was friendly and engaging. We were sitting in seats 16B and 16C, but thankfully seat 16A was unoccupied. The flight was about 80% full in economy and interestingly there were 10 rows of business class (albeit with only a handful of passengers). The seats were upholstered in navy blue fabric with white polka dots. The seat was comfortable but I assume it was old (the arm rest still had an ash tray in it). At 09:40 (the scheduled time of departure) the pilot made a short announcement to say that we would be departing shortly, the last of the bags were being loaded, it would be a short flight of just 40 minutes and that flying conditions were clear. There was a short manual safety demonstration at 09:50. I always love travelling from Terminal 4 due to the plane spotting opportunities (!): Qatar A330; Qatar A380; Etihad 777, amongst others. Take-off was just before 10:00. There was a quick trolley service shortly after take-off with a decent range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Everyone was also offered a small packet of lemon biscuits. There was a short announcement at about 10:25 to say that we had commenced our descent and regarding transfers. After pressing a call bell a flight attendant very kindly explained our connection in more detail and said that it would be a 20 minute walk between Terminals 2E and 2F (Gate 47). Thankfully, landing was at 10:45 exactly, which was 10 minutes ahead of schedule. It was a long taxi and it was after 11:00 by the time we arrived on stand. We were finally off the aircraft at about 11:05 via an airbridge.

Despite hearing many reports to the contrary, I personally found the transit from Terminal 2E (K Gates) to Terminal 2F to be easy. It was well sign posted. The signage was all in English as well as French. The corridors, escalators and walkways were largely deserted. There was no queue at security, which was polite and efficient, and there was only one person infront of me at passport control. I was through security in a couple of minutes. We went from aircraft to lounge in about 20 minutes. Maybe we just lucky and arrived at a quiet time of day, but this was an easy transit.

Despite only having a 1hr 25 minute transfer time, we had at least 30 minutes between flights to use the lounge. I've never travelled from CDG before so was not sure which lounge to use, although opted for the one below our gate (F47) given the limited time we had. The lounge was fine but I suspect that Air France must have more impressive facilities for its long haul premium passengers. The lounge was very busy on arrival and it was a struggle to find anywhere to sit – after about 20 minutes it became significantly quieter. The trick seems to be head towards the spiral staircase and sitting downstairs, which has the same selection of front and drink but was significantly quieter. There was a reasonable selection of food, including soup, bread, sandwiches, cheese, cold meats etc. I went for carrot soup with grated cheese and bread as well as a smoked salmon roll – all of which were really good. I had some still and sparkling water as well as a couple of small glasses Cotes du Rhone, which was decent. We also tried one of the two reds available, which were fine. We were told that there was no champagne or sparkling wine available in the lounge. There was plenty of spirits, including French brandy, vodka and whisky. At about 12:40 our flight was showing as boarding and it was about 2 minutes from the lounge to the gate. Time permitting, I will review the Paris-Prague sector of this trip separately.

In summary, the lounges were a mixed experience but the inflight experience was as good as one can reasonably expect in economy on a 40- minute flight. The transit was significantly easier than I had expected. Overall this was a good experience and I would travel Air France again, provided the price was right.

Review courtesy of Seatplans.com. Original review by user Aspirational Flyer can be found here

[ViajeroUK]

Aspirational Flyer uou are quite right about the AF/Skyteam lounges at CDG.

Those at either of the terminal 2 F gate piers are quite small and more often than not fairly busy, both serve mainly s/haul flights and there is a frequent turn over of visitors, some come and go within 10 -15 minutes, me included on occasion because the gate waiting areas are also very busy with limited space. Never seen champagne in F gate lounges.

If you are returning from CDG to LHR your flight will probably depart from Terminal 2E, K gates, where the lounge is altogether better, much more space, chilled champagne on offer, a more relaxed seating area. The lounge at 2E L gates is also very good.

Glad you found the transfer from K to L gates easy, with Elite Plus status you can of course use the Sky Priority channels, very useful at busy times.

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