Air France Denver-Paris inaugural

The most amazing La Première Lounge experience... ever!

Pulling into our gate.

Our La Première Personal Assistant Anya greeted us in the jet bridge at the 1L door and escorted down to our BMW.

For the very short drive to the La Première Lounge.

After a brief doc check, we were waived thru the Lounge's private security and escorted up the elevator to the best airport lounge on the planet.  Looking even better with its refresh last year.

The  newly remodeled bar area.  Gorgeous.

Time to check out the shower, spa and rest area.  Whoa, WTF?  One of the LP guest's woof-woof decided to explore on his own.  LOL.

Enough of the tour, now for the 9 hours of sheer decadence.  A glass of the Bruno Paillard Rosé pour commencer.

While we plotted today's gastro journey with Alain Ducasse.

Showtime, Round 1.   My croque-volaille was out of this world, with comté and truffe noir.  

O-M-G.

For my main, the John Dory was exquisite... Saint-pierre au naturel, Swiss chard and grenobloise garnish.

DFW-CK enjoyed the iconic Coquillettes.

For dessert, he loved his Glace vanille "noyée". Vanilla ice cream flood with coffee and praline.

My Baba au Rhum was delicious.

After we relaxed a bit and edited some trip pics, I headed off to explore and shower.

A little later,  more Bruno Paillard and a mid afternoon snack.

The cheese selections from Marie-Anne Cantin were amazing.

As was the delicious Laurent Laborie charcuterie plate.

By this time, it was approaching 4pm and mom, daughter and woof-woof were gone from the sleeping "rooms" so we power napped for 90 minutes or so.

Now with a 2nd wind, time to head for the bar and try the Grey Goose Ducasse Martini.

Pre-dinner apéritif with nuts.

And Showtime, Round 3.

I started with the incredible pâté en croûte, chicken and duck foie gras, with Sauternes.

DFW-CK went with the John Dory while I chose the Filet de bouef aux poivres with pomme purée.

This was outstanding.  Perfectly prepared and so delicious.

Both of our desserts were fabulous... the Cookpot de fraises with pistachio and diplomate cream.

And my Palet "La Première" au chocolate with bleu, blanc and rouge garnish.  Simply marvelous.

By this time, it was just after 8pm and 45 minutes from our CDG-ATH departure.  Sadly, our nearly 9 hours of La Première decadence was coming to an end.  We enjoyed every moment of it and quite frankly could have spent a few more hours here.

And back home... our day witth Lufthansa First Class

Not wanting an extended stay in Athens, we both set multiple alarms and then called each other at 4:15am.  Then met in the lobby at 4:45am and headed across to check-in.

Oh my, TMI at this or any hour of the day.

Off to Lufthansa counter to check-in.  The main reason for choosing Athens as our turnaround point was that it is one of the best EU gateways for attractive LH and LX First Class fares to the US.  Roundtrip fares are in the US$4,500 range (or 300,000 Amex MR points) for ATH-FRA-ORD-DEN/DFW-SFO-ZRH-ATH.  And with the current LH/LX double EQM promotion, the roundtrip will get me Miles & More SEN (Star Alliance Gold) status for more then two years and the ability to book LX First award seats.

After check-in, off to security where there was no wait.

After a long walk thru Duty Free and by other shops, our First stop was the Lufthansa Business Lounge.

Small but attractive.

With a nice selection of food and beverage.

Star Alliance partner Aegean has a more spacious lounge next door.  After checking it out, we moved over.

One more goodie bag from yesterday.

Our gate B29 which was pretty much below the lounge, so we headed down the nearby escalator around 6:20am, some 40 minutes before departure,

Like AF, LH has separate bus for Business Class pax which pulled away at 6:30am.

Great idea in theory, except the crew wasn't ready for us to board.  That and our driver parked our bus by the back door.

While we waited and waited.  And waited so long that the 2nd bus with Economy pax arrived and parked behind us... by the front door.  But of course.

Once the all clear was given, predictable chaos as both bus doors opened at the same time.

Since we were in bulkhead seats and other Business Class pax had boarded, nearby overhead space was impossible, especially with a crew bag on the A/C side.

And another crew bag on our D/F side, with crew stupid enough to have their baggage tag showing.

Gorgeous morning along the coast.

Once in the air, our "we're taking your overhead bin space" cabin crew provided excellent service.  

Once unwrapped, a substantial and delicious breakfast. 

Nice view of Frankfurt on approach, with an Emirates A380 landing on another runway.

We pulled into our A gate (A29) at just after 9am, and headed for the Lufthansa First Class Lounge at Gate A13.

Lufthansa First Class to Chicago

The FCL dragon suggested leaving 45 minutes before departure.  We wisely left at T-65.  Not so much because of passport control or the long walk to Z62, but the Lounge dragon forgot to mention the chaotic and stupid “Medical Check”, where we had to show our PCR test for the 4th e**ing time today.  Making it worse was that First Class passengers were lumped in with Business and Star Alliance Gold in a single slow moving lane manned by an idiot. The only lane that moved was the one for close in departures, which we finally convinced an agent to let us use.

Not that it got any better at the gate, where it was a free-for-all with gate agents boarding the usual nonsensical cadre of those that need more time (dozens and dozens of seminally able body Y pax), pax with children, blah, blah.   Gate agent finally let us board when I complained about First Class having to wait and not getting any priority at all.  

And finally, back in one of the nicest cabins in the sky.

Our First Class flight attendant was surprisingly American (or at least Americanized).... cheerful, indeed bubbly but not very polished.  Definitely the B team.  

Meh.

Ms. Bubbly then asked about a pre departure beverage selection.   I asked for champagne and received an unknown champagne poured in the galley and delivered to my seat.   When I inquired, she couldn't even identify what it was.  She went to the galley to check but "my colleague had put the bottle away".  Seriously?  Typically, the pre-departure spread is placed here in between 2A and 2K. Today? Nothing.  And no standard pre-departure macadamia nuts.

A far cry from the Covid-era spread on our LAX-FRA flight last September.  Lazy or challenged or both?

And the wine list.  Other than the champagnes, this was pretty pathetic.

Very nice on paper, but sadly not even close to what was actually loaded and served.

My unknown champagne.

As is normal prior to departure, the Purser made the rounds of the First Class cabin to greet everyone.  He made the mistake of asking me how I was doing today.  So I told him... happy to be on board and away from the chaos that is FRA.  I recited the litany of Lufthansa’s ground flaws and that Lufthansa should be embarrassed by what it calls First Class on the ground at FRA.  I then compared Lufthansa to spectacular Air France which never cut First Class service, in the air or on the ground.  Also let him know that I knew a number of formerly loyal Lufthansa First passengers that have moved to Air France and are not coming back.   Not sure whether he was more shocked at these failures or that a First Class pax would be so bold as to rip his employer a new one to his face.

Once in the air, pleasant but unpolished service continued.  And at times, comical.  I asked for another glass of champagne, specifically Laurent-Perrier Rosé.   Ms. Bubbly came back a few minutes later to tell me that they don't have any rosé today.  When I pointed to the Laurent Perrier Alexandra Rosé, the lights came on.  Oh, rosé champagne.  Off she went back to the galley only to return to apologize that catering didn't load that today.  She did bring back an unopened  bottle of Lanson to show me.  I asked for the Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle, although I have no idea what I was drinking as she poured it in galley and brought the glass to me.  I'm suspecting that it was not LPGC as it was not what I recall and not very good.

I didn't even finish it and went straight to G&Ts.  The Schoss Gin was quite good.  Major demerits for no lemon or lime slices.  Ms. Bubbly blamed Covid for not allowing LH to serve lemon or lime, although miracuously lemons and limes showed up later.  

Showtime, Lufthansa First style.

Lufthansa's garlic bread and pretzels are always good.

I passed on caviar and went for the starter trio, none of which were very good.  The beef pastrami was the best of a bad lot. 

The Cream of Asparagus Soup was way too salty and I gave up after a couple of spoons.

On the other hand, my Veal Schnitzel was quite good.  Not as good as the First Class Terminal version (when it was open) but enjoyable.  And look, a lemon!

By this time, meal service had dragged on for nearly two hours.  With little sleep last night, I'd hit the wall, and passed on cheese or dessert and opted for bed... and slept great for more than 4 hours.

About 90 minutes out, my Pulled Turkey Burger was excellent, wiith onion balsamic jam and coleslaw.  The Beetroot chips were a little weird though.  And what do you know, a beautiful lime wedge.

Nice views of Chicago on approach.

Wrigley Field.

We pulled into M16 some 45 minutes ahead of schedule, with plenty of time to get over to Terminal 1 and our connecting United flights.

Since only 2L was used, we had a chance to see that Business Class cabin on our way out. Yeah, 2-2-2 J seating is really competitive.