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KLM/Air France Lounge San Francisco Review
The KLM/Air France Lounge San Francisco review is part of the weekend wedding in London trip report. In case you haven’t been following this trip report it was a super fun, yet hectic, trip to London. I left on a Thursday to fly to SFO, stayed overnight at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, flew on Friday night through Dusseldorf on Air Berlin, and finally made it to London on Saturday night. The wedding was the following day and then on Monday morning we routed through Dublin so that we could nab a great business class deal and fly on American’s 777-200. All in all, it was awesome!!! While in San Fran I made use of my time at the airport to lounge shop: I made it to the Cathay Pacific Business/First lounge, the Amex Centurion Lounge, and then finally the KLM/Air France Business Class lounge.
The deets:
- When: July 2016
- Where: SFO, San Francisco International Terminal A
- Who can get in:
- Sky Team business/first class passengers
- Sky Team elite with international tickets
- Flying Blue Platinum and Gold
- Priority Pass members
- Air Berlin business class passengers
The interesting thing about this lounge is that Air Berlin is shuttling their passengers to a SkyTeam lounge. When I checked in for for my flight they told me that I could access this lounge and I asked about the One World lounges and the desk agent kind of mumbled something like give it a try. They’ve obviously struck a deal with KLM/AirFrance, but it’s kind of annoying that One World business, First, Sapphires, and Emeralds can’t access the BA lounge or the Japan Airlines lounge. I walked to both so that I could check them out and do a review, and was REJECTED hard by both.
Check In:
The lounge has a really cool view of some wide bodies just hanging out. That was probably the best aspect of this lounge. In fact I think if you squinted hard enough you could even see the Hyatt Regency I stayed in the night before.
Initial impressions – DANG THIS SPOT IS PACKED
I think that in the short term this arrangement is going to have to suffice, but it’s really crowded. If I were flying on KLM/Air France I’d be a little annoyed that SOOOOOO many people were in this lounge. As I walked through the lounge there was one table to sit at in the back area of the second room – which happens to be the main food room.
The second room was where the bulk of the snacks and food were located
As you can see, this room is crazy crowded as well. What I really love is that there is a monkey taking pics alllllll over this lounge and you can’t even find a single person looking up at what’s going on. HAHA – usually I get farrrrr more looks from people.
The service
The staff was nice, but they just couldn’t keep up with the volume of people that were kickin’ it inside. Things were dirty, dishes were laying here and there, and the food needed to be refilled. I don’t so much blame the staff as the fact that there just weren’t enough people working. Everyone was working hard, but from what I could tell there just weren’t enough of them. It would be interesting to see what the lounge is like when there isn’t an Air Berlin flight shuttling people to it as well. I would think that, due to it’s size, it would still be crowded with SkyTeam Elites, Flying Blue elites, and Priority Pass holders all wedging themselves in the space. This is when it’s so nice to know that there are other options available…like the Cathay Pacific lounge right upstairs that was so empty I was sure a tumbleweed blew by.
The food
There were treats available and some extra cheese finally made it’s way out, but this is a snacking spread…not an eating spread. Which is fine, but it’s good to know that before coming in here. If you want to have some beer, wine, a little this, a little that, then you’ll be happy. If you’re looking to fill your belly…you will end up a crankfest. Yes…I was a crankfest. Can’t ya tell?
Cold snacks and drinks
Overall
If you are looking for a place to sit down, kick it for a bit, have a beer or glass of wine, some cheese and crackers, a cup of fruit, some coffee, free wifi, no shower, a little snackypoo, and write a sentence with more commas than should be grammatically allowed…this is your lounge. If you’re looking for much more than that, wellllll, you’ll probably be disappointed. For me, it was nice to check out another spot. I sat down, had a juice, some brie, and watched some big birds cruise by. I had a nice time and went back to the Cathay Lounge.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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