I arrived a little early at CDG Terminal 2E to file a tax refund claim for some gifts I bought. Then I remembered I needed the merchant to provide a form to claim the refund. Oops. Anyway, I used the extra time to visit the Air France Lounge Paris Terminal 2E, Hall L. The most recently renovated of Air France’s Terminal 2E lounges, this lounge is still fairly nice. However, substantial crowding prevented me from sampling all of the lounge’s features.
Note: this post is part of my trip report series covering my visit to Austria in May, 2022. Click here for the trip report index and introductory post.
Air France Lounge Paris Terminal 2E, Hall L
Location
On the upper level, just past security for the L gates.
Access
The following passengers may access the Air France lounge:
- Air France La Première passengers, plus one guest. (But if flying La Première, you really should use the La Première lounge instead.)
- Air France Business Class passengers (Standard and Flex fares only).
- Flying Blue Platinum or Gold members, plus one guest, regardless of class of service.
- SkyTeam Elite Plus members, plus one guest, regardless of class of service.
- Other passengers may purchase a lounge pass either in advance or at the door. Pricing is 75 euro or 15,000 Flying Blue miles. (Don’t pay in Flying Blue miles, because this represents a terrible redemption rate.) Flying Blue members receive a 25% discount, however.
Hours of operation are 5:30 am to 11:30 pm daily. Note that technically, you can access the Hall L lounge, even if flying from the H or K gates. However, this necessitates clearing security at the L gates, then clearing security again at the proper concourse. CDG security is often a mess, so never assume a quick process.
Date of visit: May 9, 2022.
Review
Air France lounges at Charles de Gaulle now feature automated entry gates. Thus, just scan your boarding pass in the machine to access the lounge. There is an attendant to help if you encounter problems, though.
Once inside, the L Gates lounge is large, airy, and contains some unique features like a sauna. But unfortunately, it was extremely crowded on my visit, which limited what I could experience. The lounge essentially consists of one single large room with different seating options scattered about. Upon walking in, I headed left and found various loungers on the left in circular patterns, and traditional seating on the right by the windows. And a whole lot of people making empty seats a premium.
I found a seat by the window in an area that transitioned from plain lounge chairs to a sort of L-shaped couch. I say sort of, because while it looks like a couch, it isn’t a single seat. Rather, it’s one seat separated by a table. Behind the couch, some modern art doubled as a section divider. Unfortunately, while there are window seats, the view faces essentially nothing. The little bit of sun is nice, though.
Meanwhile, closer to the center of the lounge, more seats with the same design in a generally circular pattern. Splitting up in the seating areas in this manner does make the lounge feel more open and airy. Even with the heavy crowds the day of my visit. Thankfully, as you can see, plugs are plentiful pretty much wherever you decide to sit.
As you head towards the back, there’s a staffed help desk, and additional seating along the window. The agents here an help you if you need assistance with rebooking.
In front of the divider is another small seating area, this one with the traditional red and white Air France look.
Meanwhile, behind the divider is another set of chairs in a circle. This leads to more seating along the wall. I have to say, the haphazard layout, while making an efficient use of space, does feel a little confused and busy.
At the back of the lounge is a chic dining room, “Le Balcon”. While the lounge doesn’t offer a la carte dining here, there is a cocktail bar in the evening. It’s also quite distinctive with its blue velvet couches. And there’s the unique ceiling that doubles as modern art. There were too many people in the dining area to get many photos. However, Matthew from Live and Let’s Fly visited this lounge previously, and has several photos of the empty dining room.
Also at this end of the lounge is one of two food stations. This station consisted of some cold cuts, cheese, and a couple of hot dishes. On this morning, the hot dishes included scrambled eggs and baked beans. If you fancy a European cold breakfast, Air France lounges usually score pretty well in this regard. I typically find their breads and cheeses of high quality. Today, though, the hyenas had pretty well picked everything over.
There was also a chocolate hazlenut drink, yogurt, and some packaged cereal (corn flakes).
A couple of drink refrigerators contained soft drinks and beer.
Meanwhile, looking back towards the other end of the lounge from the central seating area…more scattered seats lead to another kitchen area at the other end. A couple of long couches transitions to a large circular seating area surrounding some dining tables. This area was also just as crowded as the rest of the lounge. If anything, even more so.
If you grab one of the tables outside of the circular seating, there’s actually power outlets built in to the top of the couch.
So the takeaway here is, the overall design is pleasant and stylish, as you’d expect from an Air France lounge. But the crowding on this visit made it hard to enjoy.
As mentioned, at this end of the lounge is a large common kitchen area. For lunch and dinner, you can find a daily special back here. Before lunch, though, there’s just a wine and liquor selection on display, if you really fancy some hair of the dog I guess. Air France provides a decent selection at least, including some local French options. A pair of drinks refrigerators are also stocked with the same selection as the other refrigerators shown earlier.
Perhaps due to lingering pandemic limitations, the overall food selection felt subpar. In one display were some assorted yogurts and yogurt smoothies.
There was also the same selection of cold cuts and cheese as at the other food station.
Finally, there were a few packaged cookies and pastries, chips, and cereal.
Since this trip, I’ve visited two other Air France lounges, one at CDG Terminal 2G, and another in San Francisco. Both had much better food selections, so I chalk this one up to lingering pandemic issues.
Besides the usual lounge stuff, this lounge includes some premium features for a Business Class lounge. Unfortunately, due to the crowding, I couldn’t get a peek at any of these, and so used stock photos instead. The first is a Clarins spa, with free treatments available to lounge guests. Hours are 7:40 am – 1:30 pm and 3:20 – 8:30 pm, daily except Wednesdays. Treatments are first-come, first-served, however, so expect a wait for a treatment.
There’s also a swanky VIP room for La Première guests using this lounge. It certainly looks quite nice, but as mentioned, if flying First Class on Air France, you really should check out the La Première lounge.
Finally, if you like saunas, this lounge has one. That’s a rare find for a Business Class lounge.
Final Thoughts
Though the lounge at Terminal 2E Hall L provides the same stylish design as other Air France lounges, the heavy crowding during my visit made it difficult to enjoy. At the time, the lounge also offered a subpar food selection at breakfast. However, later visits to other lounges at less busy times were certainly much more relaxing. Based on what I’ve seen of the other, older Terminal 2E lounges, this lounge is still noticeably better than those, even when crowded.
