Grand Elite Lounge, Mexico City: Attentive staff but lousy layout

So many emotions for this return to London!

While we were visiting the magnificent site of Xochimilco, my wife received a rather unpleasant e-mail from KLM, inviting us to postpone our trip because of the bad weather forecasted at Schiphol on the 21st, and indicating that no assistance would be provided… Well, that’s it.

In 15 years of frequent travel, I have never received an email with such a punishing tone from an airline… If we’ re bothering you, just say so!

After a lot of research and catastrophic calls to the AF Platinum line, we managed to secure two seats on the flight to London leaving just after ours in economy class.

We leave for the airport at the scheduled time, 7pm, as if our flight to Amsterdam was leaving normally.

As a reminder

Check-in and ground experience

We arrive at the airport about 2 hours before the original departure time of our flight to Amsterdam.

When we arrive at the check-in counters, they are almost deserted, and we proceed to the formalities without waiting. Without any mention of the delay or the possible missed connection, our luggage is checked to Londonwith priority tags.

We then proceed to thesecurity formalities which will be passed in the blink of an eye, even if I did not see any particular Fast Track.

Location

Air France and KLM provide access to the Grand Elite Lounge, located near Gate 19 in Terminal 1. Or should I say “Lounges”… Since there are in fact several, which they “dedicate” to airlines: Lufthansa, Iberia… and Air France-KLM.

The procedure is quite complex, since the invitation, the boarding pass and an identity document must be handed in for each passenger. A bit tedious. But everything is done with great professionalism. One last thing: you are “sprayed” with hydroalcoholic gel by an attendant before entering the lounge.