Review: the new Extime (British Airways) lounge at Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2B

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• Dominic says:

  8 Feb8 February 06:01

  EUR 110 for that food offering is appalling value. Lounge itself looks nice, but you’ve got to offer more for that sort of money (and, I’d they don’t want paying guests… just don’t offer it for payment)

  • TGLoyalty says:

    8 Feb8 February 07:30

    Sounds like it’s priced to keep demand low rather than because the offering is so good.

  • Rhys says:

    8 Feb8 February 09:18

    It is, and I imagine it’s that high because they don’t actually want to deal with paying customers.

• Andrew J says:

  8 Feb8 February 06:12

  A very nice lounge, and in addition to the Champagne and spirits, there is a good selection of soft-drinks in single use plastic, including Badoit or Pellegrino water, depending on your preference for Italian or French sparkling water – somewhat more premium than the cost-cutting filtered tap water they now offer in Galleries First.

  • Dominic says:

    8 Feb8 February 06:56

    Guessing you’re a ‘boomer’ to be celebrating single use plastic….?

    No issues with them giving premium offerings, but why does it have to be plastic?

    • Dominic says:

      8 Feb8 February 06:59

      (And sorry, feels harsh lumping all such views in with a ‘boomer’ term – willing to retract that, but the overall point stands)

    • Andrew J says:

      8 Feb8 February 07:08

      No, I’m much younger than the generation you are referring to, I just think plastic bottles are a practical solution.

      • lumma says:

        8 Feb8 February 07:20

        Filtered water is so good these days, there’s literally no reason for lorries/vans/trains to be shipping bottled water around. Even more so to be importing water from an entirely other country.

        • Ben W says:

          8 Feb8 February 07:39

          But I’d want the filtered water to taste like Vichy Catalan …

    • Peter says:

      8 Feb8 February 07:28

      Jumping to conclusions much?
      Please don’t throw around insults.
      Everyone is allowed an opinion, You may not agree, that is fine. But please no insults.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        8 Feb8 February 07:32

        What insult?

      • Dominic says:

        8 Feb8 February 08:45

        If you’re suggesting my comment (re ‘boomer’ suggestion) – please see my comment immediately below.

        It was a generalisation/heuristic, in any case, not an insult (but, still, see my comment immediately after).

        • MichealA says:

          8 Feb8 February 19:51

          It’s a poor and probably hasty generalisation at best.
          Personally from a hygiene point of view, I would use single use plastic if I feel it is safer. Some lounges don’t seem to wash the glasses that well.
          Its all about choice

      • Rui N. says:

        8 Feb8 February 10:28

        You think being born in specific years is an insult?!

    • Charles Martel says:

      8 Feb8 February 07:29

      What’s the problem with plastic as long as its not disposed of in water courses (and preferably recycled)?

      • John says:

        8 Feb8 February 10:22

        Why make it in the first place?

      • ken says:

        8 Feb8 February 11:07

        Its delusional to think plastic is recycled in any meaningful way.

        Even in the best circumstances and it gets into recycling, uncontaminated, it has to be mixed with virgin PET.

        It can be recycled about twice or thrice at best.
        Its main advantage is that its light so transport costs are less.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    8 Feb8 February 07:32

    My two pence

    I’m more than fine with filtered tap but should have an option for bottled too.

    Re single use plastics as long as it’s properly recycled then agree not terrible but in reality so many of these bottles aren’t recycled properly

    • Jon says:

      8 Feb8 February 08:30

      Recycling is preferable to disposal, of course, but considering the energy involved in recycling (and initial production), reducing use in the first place would be even better. Strikes me as a shame that we still produce so many single use plastic bottles (and other things) when surely the vast vast majority of them are simply unnecessary. No reason surely why premium drinks couldn’t be available from dispensers – probably cheaper for the lounge operator too.

      • Charles Martel says:

        8 Feb8 February 10:10

        I agree reusable glasses and cutlery (for example) are preferable to disposable, apart from anything else I think plastic feels cheap, but that said plastic has a lower carbon intensity than alternatives like paper bags or glass bottles. People are reflexively anti plastic and don’t seem to understand the alternatives are in many ways worse.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        8 Feb8 February 21:09

        “No reason surely why premium drinks couldn’t be available from dispensers”

        I’m now imagining hand-pulling a pint of Krug.

• Jonathon says:

  8 Feb8 February 06:40

  It looks nice, though it is new and isn’t exactly full there, though looking at the food and drink options I’m not sure I’d prefer it over the Club lounges in Heathrow still…

• Willmo says:

  8 Feb8 February 06:49

  Just looks like your standard above-average Priority Pass lounge in my view.
  Nothing special – although my expectations were high given the Extime blog post earlier this week.

  • Rob says:

    8 Feb8 February 07:11

    I think the images don’t really show the quality of the fixtures and fittings.

    • Andrew J says:

      8 Feb8 February 07:16

      Yes it is very nice in reality – I’m very hard to impress and I was. Even the toilets are stylish with black metalwork fixtures etc.

    • Jose Marques says:

      8 Feb8 February 11:39

      Can Amex Platinum be used to gain entry

      • Rhys says:

        8 Feb8 February 11:43

        No, as per the article (unless you want to pay the entry fee with your Plat!)

  • TGLoyalty says:

    8 Feb8 February 07:34

    You must be fortunate to have visited some quality lounges because none I use via PP look remotely like this.

• Pete says:

  8 Feb8 February 06:55

  ‘it’s certainly better than the British Airways Galleries Club lounge you’d get at Heathrow!’ … but apart from a few pink roses in a bottle, arguably no better than the Schengen AF lounges in 2F/2G that do have a good food and champagne offering. If you’re based away from LHR , AF/KLM is a compelling offering. Pretty much beats BA in every way.

• Iain says:

  8 Feb8 February 07:02

  I would suggest it’s actually good news, rather than bad, that PP doesn’t provide access and that it’s €110 to pay. Gives the lounge a chance nit to be mobbed and overran.

  • Andrew J says:

    8 Feb8 February 07:10

    I agree, it was a very calm and premium feeling environment due to the limited access – I wish more lounges would adopt this approach.

  • Rob says:

    8 Feb8 February 07:10

    We also know how much airlines have to pay to use it – a shockingly high amount. Hard to believe BA signed.

    • dundj says:

      8 Feb8 February 13:05

      I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave Rhys the standard figures per customer, and on bulk purchase via negotiation the price came down to something more palatable on the contract.

      • Rob says:

        8 Feb8 February 16:53

        It better be, because it is higher than the modal (if not mean) average BA economy one way fare from Paris!

        • dundj says:

          8 Feb8 February 17:52

          I wouldn’t be surprised to see rather large percentage markdowns for any long term contract purchase upwards of say 40% for a 5-7 year minimum with inflation factored in per annum. Any longer than that and likely looking at upwards of 50% and probably more.

          That does take a large assumption that both parties know the initial price is set to begin a hard negotiation where the seller is expecting a much lower price to be agreed from a long-term bulk purchase.

• Andrew J says:

  8 Feb8 February 07:14

  An important point missing from the where is the lounge section is that it is before passport control which is where the BA gates are – possibly why it’s quieter than expected in there, as once you’ve passed passport control you’re then in a different area of shops and cafés where the lounge is not and you can’t return.

  • Michael C says:

    8 Feb8 February 07:43

    How long did passport control take, Andrew? Calculating 5-8 mins is fine, 30+ would be annoying!

    • Andrew J says:

      8 Feb8 February 08:15

      BA provide fast track access called the No1 service at CDG – so you can use fast track security and passport control, so was only a few minutes wait – so if you have lounge access you’ll likely have fast track too. Not knowing that in advance though, and having queued for a long time in the previous terminal where BA didn’t provide fast track, I allowed too much time to get to the gate. It is slightly annoying to have to factor that in after relaxing in the lounge.

      • Alanr says:

        9 Feb9 February 14:58

        I went through that passport control on a recent Sunday morning and the non-EU queue (with only two open desks) was at least an hour long and full of people freaking out because they were going to miss their flight. There was a business class queue that was about 20 minutes long (and still with people freaking out) that I managed to get into and only just made my flight. No indication on the BA boarding pass that I could use the shorter queue other than it was business class ticket. The experience completely wiped out what had been a pleasant interlude in the Extime lounge.

    • Denis says:

      8 Feb8 February 10:16

      Last Sunday at noon it took 10 seconds to pass it as there are about 5 e-gates plus windows.

  • lumma says:

    8 Feb8 February 07:48

    That’s actually a good point, considering 8 of the 11 airlines listen that have access are outside of Schengen (or 7, not sure if Reunion is outside or not)

    • Bagoly says:

      8 Feb8 February 08:27

      Not

• Peter says:

  8 Feb8 February 07:26

  Either you were very lucky with the timing of the review or it is a private tour? I cannot see another customer?

  • Tariq says:

    8 Feb8 February 07:42

    Similar levels of occupancy when I was there in early January. Can’t have been more than half a dozen other guests.

    Would second all the other opinions of those who have visited – I think we are so jaded by the piss poor quality of the Priority Pass lounges elsewhere, but this looks like decadent luxury in comparison.

    I also found cold desserts in the fridge, and there was a box of Macarons in the first lounge area when I visited.

    • Andrew J says:

      8 Feb8 February 08:33

      I was there on Monday afternoon and similarly few people.

  • Rob says:

    8 Feb8 February 08:35

    I was on my own for an hour in the Qatar Airways Heathrow lounge on Monday. Happens more often than you think depending on flight timings.

    • jjoohhnn says:

      8 Feb8 February 12:25

      Have done similar a few years ago when the QR flight had left and we were flying on MAS!

  • Rhys says:

    8 Feb8 February 09:20

    It was quiet when we were there (the whole terminal was) but it wasn’t empty. I do try and avoid taking photos with lots of strangers however!

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