Review: The Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates Feel Like a Futuristic Ocean Liner (with Photos)
At its home airport, Air France transformed 34,000 square feet of lounge area into a collection of zones and moods, creating space for everyone. Primarily serving international, non-Schengen passengers, the sprawling Terminal 2E lounge gave writer Dan Latif plenty to explore.
Highs: A vast lounge with plenty of space.
Lows: The cruel absence of magazines and printed newspapers. The proximity-activated faucets and soap dispensers in the bathrooms are impractical and tend to stop responding after a single use. Not open 24 hours. (Hours are 5:30 AM – 11:30 PM daily).
Verdict: The Air France lounge where the quality and variety of the food do little to make you want to take off.
Access: Complimentary for Flying Blue Gold and Platinum members, with one guest traveling on the same SkyTeam-operated flight. Flying Blue Silver members receive a 25% discount on paid lounge access.
Getting in: Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates
Entry to the Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
The Air France lounge at Terminal 2E, L Gates is open to eligible passengers traveling on Air France, KLM and SkyTeam partner flights. Complimentary access to the lounge includes Air France Business Class passengers traveling on Standard or Flex fares, as well as Flying Blue Gold, Platinum and Ultimate members (Flying Blue is Air France’s loyalty program) and eligible SkyTeam Elite Plus passengers. Gold, Platinum and SkyTeam Elite Plus members can generally bring one guest.
Importantly, the lounge does not participate in Priority Pass or the major independent lounge-access programs, so access is largely reserved for eligible Air France, KLM and SkyTeam passengers.
Entry to the Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
While Paris–Charles de Gaulle has Air France lounges in many of its terminals and halls, the Terminal 2E lounges serve much of the airline’s international operation, while separate spaces cater to Europe-bound travelers and La Première passengers.
At the time of writing, you can buy a day pass (single entrance) for the Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Passengers without complimentary access can purchase entry a day before the flight or, subject to availability, at the lounge reception on the day of departure. The price varies by booking.
Layout of Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates
Kitchen and Seating at the Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
The Air France lounge at Terminal 2E, Gate L, has something of a futuristic hotel concept about it. A highly staged contemporary interior that blends the codes of upscale hospitality, residential living rooms and the premium airport lounge.
The architecture relies less on partitions than on a succession of curved forms, sculpted ceilings, reflective materials and built-in furniture. The result feels remarkably fluid: the different areas are clearly defined, without ever giving the impression of moving from one enclosed room to another.
The layout also avoids the repetitive arrangement typical of a waiting room. Instead, the architects have created a succession of micro-lounges, with a wide variety of configurations: large banquettes, seating for two, individual armchairs, Air France signature chairs and smaller, more intimate lounges.
Seating at the Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
The large U-shaped or horseshoe banquettes almost form semi-private alcoves. Once seated, the surrounding partition blocks much of your peripheral view. You remain in a communal space, yet with a genuine sense of privacy. The round table at the centre works equally well for eating or working.
Entry to the Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
Then there are those intriguing illuminated columns, made up of countless vertical translucent rods punctuated with light. They evoke a cascade, a curtain of fibre optics or some kind of digital crystal column. The colours shift from blue to turquoise, green and then white, reinforcing the futuristic feel of the space.
Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
But one of the most striking features is still the ceiling. Designed by Mathieu Lehanneur, it alternates between large oval islands of parallel slats and vast mirrored surfaces with gold and bronze reflections. In places, it almost feels like being in the main room of the Titanic, or inside a particularly theatrical game of Cluedo.
Curiously, this area is called Le Balcon or The Balcony. Perhaps because travellers seem more inclined to curl up here than elsewhere.
The fragmented mirrors multiply the lines of the ceiling, the lighting and the movement of travellers below. They create a sense of height and depth far beyond the actual proportions of the room and, above all, offer unusual, sometimes improbable viewpoints, rather like a detective observing the scene from an armchair.
Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
All this staging is balanced by much warmer materials: pale wood, off-white tables with a stone or marble-like finish, deep blue-green velvet seating and warm indirect lighting.
Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
As for the view, there is a choice: a glimpse of the runway or the cars arriving at the airport.
Food at Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates: German Bread, Hot Dishes, and Desserts
Buffet at Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
One of the most enjoyable morning features comes from the chef, who prepares to order a coconut oatmeal with raspberries and blackberries, topped with chocolate granola. A genuinely healthy alternative to the frozen croissants and pains au chocolat.
A trolley service also circulates among travellers with a selection of savory bites. On this occasion, gougères; on other days, cheese madeleines.
What is a gougère?
With many variants, a gougère is a baked French cheese puff made by mixing grated cheese into a warm choux pastry dough.
Around 4:30 PM to 5:00 PM comes the sweet offering, before a bartender takes over from 6:00 PM to prepare cocktails.
Drinks Selection: Beer on Tap, Custom Coffee, and Aperitif Spirits
Stock of drinks at BER Lounge Tegel at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER). Image: Dan Latif.
From 11:30 AM, Pommery Champagne makes its appearance. The lounge has also made the rather curious choice of presenting cans of Coca-Cola Zero in ice buckets.
The wine selection catches the eye rather more, particularly because of its labels. The Dame de Boüard, Montagne Saint-Émilion 2020, comes with a medallion that almost gives the impression of looking at a painting in a museum. Beside it, Château Lamothe-Bergeron, Cru Bourgeois Supérieur 2018, is hardly outdone, with a photograph of its estate treated in much the same way as a painting.
Teas come from Palais Des Thés, a longtime favorite of The Interior Review.
Amenities and Practical Details at Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates
Kids area at Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
The shower cabins are stocked with Clarins Ginseng shower gel and shampoo. There is also a Clarins treatment area which, as usual, is a victim of its own success. Very frustrating.
One absence is considerably harder to forgive: magazines and printed newspapers (local and international newspapers are on Air France Press app). In a lounge this large, this carefully designed and this generous when it comes to food, their disappearance is keenly felt.
Service at Air France Lounge at Paris CDG Terminal 2E, L Gates. Image: Dan Latif.
Between the made-to-order oatmeal in the morning, the various culinary offerings throughout the day, the Champagne and the evening cocktails, the Air France lounge at Gate L manages something quite simple: making you rather reluctant to take off.
Air France Lounge is located in Terminal 2E, at the L Gates at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, 95700 Roissy-en-France, France. Opening times and more information here.
Splitting a focus on unusual restorative treatments and strong gastronomic offering, the Air France Lounge at JFK is an elegant escape in Terminal 1.