CDG Air France La Première Lounge

April 2021

La Première Lounge (temporary) at CDG

As door 1L opened, I bid adieu to the wonderful Anne and was met by my PA for the next 90 minutes. We walked down the stairs from the jetbridge to our waltiing BMW 7 series....

And pulled into the lower level of Terminal 2E some five minutes later.

Sadly, there is no private La Première security during Covid and although my PA cut to the front on the line, we got the line seemingly staffed with incompetent blood relatives of Inspector Clouseau. It took 10 minutes for my backback and laptop to finally make it thru the conveyor as these clowns disappeared, then returned, removed bags, rescanned them ahead of mine, disappeared the returned, all the while having trouble getting the conveyor moving again. After this, it was a short walk to current temporary La Première Lounge, located on the mezzanine level of the Business Class Lounge. The mezzanine has its own secret door which and the La Première Lounge agent was waiting for us at the door as we arrived. Not nearly as nice as the regular La Première Lounge, but it worked today for my all too short visit.

Ahh. That's more like it.

Today's Alain Ducasse menu, somewhat abbreviated from the main menu. But still will all the classics.

Oh yeah.

I started with the decadent Pate en croute dde volaille et foie gras de canard. OMG, this was wonderful.

And naturally, my all time fave, Coquillettes jambon/truffe noir aka Mac and cheese Alain Ducasse style. Fabulous as always. With another glass of Champagne.

My PA had given me a 2:45pm departure time which seemed a little rushed considering there were only 44 passengers on the entire flight. Much to her chagrin, I wanted a shower and did convince her that I would be very fast. So we headed downstairs to the Business Class part of the lounge where I rushed and was in and out and dressed in 7 minutes. And off to the races.

December 2019

Monday morning and sadly, it's time to head home. Not much traffic this morning and we were at Terminal 2E by 10:30am, just 40 minutes after we left the apartment. La Première passengers have a separate drop off area at Porte 14...

... where a porter greeted us...

... and escorted us with our bags to the La Première check in lounge.

We gave our passports to our Personal Assistant, who went off to check us in.

A few minutes later, she escorted us to passport control and security using private La Première lanes each step of the way.

And tthe to the La Première Lounge.

Beautifully decorated for Christmas.

We were the only passengers in the lounge since we arrived after the wave of morning flights had departed.

We headed to the dining area at around 11:30am for our date with Alain Ducasse.

We both ordered our favorite coquillettes jambon-comté-truffes, aka mac n cheese.

Which looked and tasted a little different from before... with a lot more veal stock. Still excellent but we prefer the non veal stock version at Champeaux.

For dessert, one more rum baba for the road. :)

July 2019

Air France La Première Lounge Paris CDG

After a short ride from our arriving flight, I was at the lower level of the La Première Lounge where that security officer waived me thru without any further checks. Up the elevator and we were in one of my favorite lounges on the planet. And the only with an Alain Ducasse restaurant.

Great small bar patterned after the old Plaza Athenée bar.

CEO Ben Smith was in the CDG La Première Lounge this morning, taping a 100th anniversary message. Didn't realize who he was until he started speaking... Québecois, just like me. LOL. After, he walked around the Lounge and introduced himself to each pax and thanked us individually for flying AF. Seems like a nice guy.