The Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at Paris – Charles De Gaulle Airport is located airside in terminal 2A near gate 37. Open to Star Alliance premium class passengers, Star Alliance Gold card holders, Maple Leaf Club members and Priority Pass users, the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at CDG is small but offers a decent place to relax and be productive before your flight. There are no set hours for the lounge as they are based on flight schedules but it is generally open from 7:30 AM to 1:30 PM daily. Because this is the only Star Alliance Lounge in all of terminal 2A, it can get crowded, loud and busy at peak times. And by “peak times,” I mean all the time.
The other Star Alliance Lounges (Lufthansa, SAS and Star Alliance) are all located in terminal 1. If you are arriving in terminal 1 and want to use the other lounges before heading over to terminal 2A, make sure to leave with plenty of time to catch the train, clear security and immigration twice (once leaving terminal 1 and again arriving into terminal 2A). If you are already in terminal 2A, I don’t recommend you leaving unless you have at least five hours to spare.
The basement style lounge is located at the far end of terminal 2A. The boarding gates are located on the second floor and the lounge and public restrooms are located on the first floor. There are no restrooms inside the lounge so you will need to exit the lounge to use the restrooms across the way.
There is no separate area for first class passengers but I don’t think there are any flights with first class cabins departing from terminal 2A. The lounge is a little dated in décor and maintenance, has no natural lighting and like I said earlier, can get very crowded. Because there are no windows, there are no views of the tarmac or runways.
The main seating area is located in the center of the lounge. There are comfortable leather chairs if you want to relax, a workstation bar with four computers if you need to stay productive and a dining area if you are hungry (or can’t find any other seats). WiFi is provided throughout the lounge and there are plenty of power outlets to keep your devices charged. However, you will need a European adaptor to charge your standard American AC power plugs.
In addition to the main seating area, there are three separate rooms with additional seating. One room is designated as a kid’s play room and helped to keep the screaming (er I mean the joyful sounds of a kid’s laughter) down to a minimum. There are no sleeping rooms so you will have to make do with whatever chair you find.
There’s a food station with a small offering of sandwiches, cold cuts, fruits, cheese/crackers, cookies and pastries. There’s also a fridge with sodas and juices, coffee/cappuccino machine and a self-serve bar with a decent selection of alcohol.
Coming off of an 11 hour flight from Bangkok, I was glad to see there were shower facilities available and I quickly signed up for one of them when I checked in. But there are only two shower rooms and I had to wait about an hour before one became available.
The shower rooms are pretty standard and similar to what you will find at your local gym. Towels are provided and an unbranded shampoo/body wash dispenser is installed in the walk-in shower for your use. There was definitely a mildew smell inside the shower room but considering how bad my BO must have been after a day and a half of traveling, I couldn’t complain.
Flight information boards were displayed to the front of the lounge and you had to monitor them yourselves. The lone desk agent did not make any gate or boarding announcements. Other amenities included a printer/fax, copier, newspaper and magazines for you to browse (but not take from the lounge). The lounge was kept clean and there were employees constantly cleaning, busing dishes and refilling the food counter.
Overall, this lounge was decent. It was definitely better than any domestic US based airline lounge but kind of sub-par for an international lounge. It was small, crowded and is in need of a renovation. For such a busy airport, I really was expecting a tad bit more space and substance.
Have you visited the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at CDG? If so, let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Other trip reports in this series:
- The new Star Alliance Lounge at LAX
- The new Korean Airlines Skyteam Lounge at LAX
- Turkish Airlines business class from Los Angeles to Istanbul
- Hilton Istanbul
- Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge at Istanbul
- Turkish Airlines business class from Istanbul to Frankfurt
- Lufthansa Senator Lounges at Frankfurt
- Asiana Airlines first class from Frankfurt to Seoul
- Asiana Airlines first class lounge at Seoul
- Asiana Airlines business class from Seoul to Shanghai
- Westin Bund Center Shanghai
- VIP lounges at Shanghai Pudung International Airport
- Thai Airways business class from Shanghai to Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal First Spa and Lounge
- Thai Airways first class from Bangkok to Paris
- Star Alliance Lounge at CDG
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at CDG
- Air Canada business class (Executive First) from Paris to Montreal
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at Montreal
- Air Canada business class (Executive First) from Montreal to Los Angeles
