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THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT
This stylish lounge is incredibly crowded, and food options are limited albeit high-quality. It's definitely not worth arriving for unless you want a complimentary 20-minute spa treatment |
3.0
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As part of my intra-European extravaganza, I visited the Air France lounge at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport’s Terminal 2F, their business class lounge for intra-Schengen flights. I visited the lounge prior to an Air France business class flight from Paris to Amsterdam.
Air France’s lounges are definitely as chic as the brand, though it’s hard to recommend spending a ton of time there, given that there’s no star element to the lounge (such as a bar, barista coffee, or anything particularly made-to-order apart from a plated food station), and the lounge is also extremely crowded without a particularly wide range of seating. Air France does have a few other lounges at different terminals, though, and you may have a different experience at some of the other airline lounges.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG 2F Access and Opening Hours
The Air France Lounge at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport is open from 5:30 AM to 10 PM, and open to:
- Air France La Première and business class passengers – La Première passengers can bring a guest (in theory – no flights with La Première depart from Terminal 2F, and those departing from Terminal 2E have access to the much better Air France first class lounge)
- Business Lite passengers do not get lounge access
- Flying Blue Ultimate status passengers, plus up to 8 guests
- Flying Blue Platinum and Gold passengers, plus one guest
- SkyTeam Elite Plus members, plus one guest
Alternatively, you can buy a pass to the lounge for around €65 (£56.36/HK$593).
Air France Lounge Paris CDG 2F Location
After getting to CDG’s terminal 2F, I made it past fast track security in a matter of minutes. After passing security, there was clear signage to the Air France Business Class lounge, in the corridor connecting the two main piers of the terminal.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Entrance
From there, I either could approach a lounge staff member to enter, or I could simply scan my boarding pass by one of the gates.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Entrance
Air France Lounge Paris CDG 2F Seating and Atmosphere
The Air France Lounge at Paris’ CDG Terminal 2F spans two floors, and covers approximately 3,000 sq. m. The lower floor features a food spread by the entrance, a separate bistro area, and some more armchair seating under a sweeping staircase.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Lower Level
There’s then an upper level, featuring more varied seating including a mix of armchairs, bench seating, and table seating.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Upstairs Area
Apologies for the lack of super detailed pictures, though this is as good as I could do given that the lounge was packed at this hour. I visited at 1:15 PM, which isn’t one of Air France’s peak times for intra-Schengen departures – I can’t imagine how packed this lounge would be in the mornings and late afternoons.
Fortunately the lounge did feature WiFi, which despite the crowding was free, fast, and easy to connect to.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG 2F Food and Beverage
There’s a not a ton in the way of food options at the Air France lounge, though I will say that the quality was very good across the board. Downstairs you could find a cold food spread, which featured salad, sandwiches and cold cuts, as well as some delicious sweet treats such as berry pie and lemon meringue pie.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Food Spread
The hot options are more limited, and there’s a bistro (Le Comptoir bar) that will plate a daily special to order. On the day of my visit this was a creamy mushroom pasta of sorts, and I could ask for fried onions on top. There were also madeleines available here, which I believe are baked in-house.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Bistro Area and Food
Since I wasn’t in Paris for very long, I appreciated the opportunity to grab a croissant from within the lounge, as there’s quite a strong pastry section.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Croissant
In terms of drinks, as you’d expect there’s Duval-Leroy champagne on offer, as well as a selection of red and white wines. All alcohol is self-serve at this lounge – there isn’t a bar or anything.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Wine Selection
Then upstairs there’s a detox bar, featuring pastries, granola and flavoured water.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Detox Bar
I’m a big fan of a high quality “less is more” food spread, though I did wonder whether this was too few hot options even for my liking. I think that Qantas lounges feature a marginally wider selection of hot options at a similar quality, and those hot options make quite a big difference. It’s difficult to make things super French as a business class lounge probably won’t have the budget for proper haute cuisine, though I wouldn’t have minded a vat of beef bourguignon, coq au vin, and other mass-producable French classics.
I’d also expect an Air France business class lounge in Paris to have a cocktail bar and barista coffee, though neither are featured at this lounge.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG 2F Shower Rooms
This lounge features 10 shower suites located on the top floor, and there was no wait to use one despite how crowded the lounge was during my stay.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Shower Suites
The shower suites are very well-appointed, with a toilet included, Clarins toiletries, and a rainforest shower (unlike a traditional shower, you simply press a button to turn the shower on, and press the button again to turn it off). While the water pressure was fine, I felt like the room could’ve been slightly better ventilated, though.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Shower Room
Air France Lounge Paris CDG 2F Nap Rooms
This Air France lounge also features several nap rooms, which feature loungers (not full beds) with drawn curtains for privacy.
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Nap Room entrance
These were all occupied at the time of my visit, though my friend Matthew from Live and Let’s Fly took a picture of one of the nap rooms in his review, which I’ve attached below. These pods are all equipped with charging ports as well, which is handy (though they’re not universal).
Air France Lounge Paris CDG Terminal 2F Nap Room (credit: Live and Let’s Fly)
Air France Lounge Paris CDG 2F Clarins Spa
While I didn’t have the chance to check this out, the Air France lounge at Paris’ CDG Terminal 2F features a Clarins spa. Passengers can book a complimentary 20-minute treatment (facial or massage) using a tablet at the spa, which is quite a fun feature to have at a business class lounge. These treatments are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Conclusion: Air France Lounge Paris CDG 2F
This Air France lounge is chic and well-designed, though I’m struggling to recommend spending much time here, despite the stylish design and good facilities. The food and drinks selections are incredibly limited (despite being high-quality), and I can’t believe there’s no barista coffee or even a limited cocktail bar at Air France’s hub lounge in Paris. Moreover, the lounge is extremely crowded, and I wasn’t even there over peak time.
I suppose it could be worth arriving early to receive a complimentary spa treatment, though otherwise I really wouldn’t spend too much time here. I suppose there’s not much Air France can really do about this, since expanding a lounge isn’t the easiest thing to do in the world.
Have you visited the Air France lounge at Paris’ CDG before? Are any of Air France’s other lounges at CDG any better (including their non-Schengen ones?)
