Last January, over the Martin Luther King long weekend, my husband and I went on a quick trip to Paris. Not for any particular reason besides the fact that we love Paris, and since the flight isn’t too long (that is, it’s only a bit longer than flying to e.g. California, for instance), a quick weekend getaway over a long weekend was a lovely way to get out of the city and relax… in a different city! I did not announce this trip beforehand because, in terms of the trip experience, this wasn’t going to be something particularly worth reporting on. That said, I did get to visit the second of three Air France lounges in the non-Shengen Terminal 2E at Paris’s CDG Airport. Here I will report on what that lounge was like.

Briefly, the Air France Lounge at CDG’s Terminal 2E, Hall L, is nice space with plenty of seating and tasty food. The layout is pretty simple, with the lounge consisting of one large space with some corridors leading to a variety of subspaces. The design overall made use of Air France signature style and color palette, and while it had some beautiful and unique design features, I didn’t think it was as nicely appointed at the Air France Lounge in CDG’s Shengen Terminal 2F, or the Lounge in Terminal 2E’s Hall M. However, it was still a pleasant lounge overall and I’d be happy to return.

1. What got me into this lounge?
2. Hours and Location
3. Access Requirements
4. Seating and Design
5. Food and Drinks
6. Restrooms and Showers
7. Summary

What got me into this lounge?

Since we booked basic economy tickets, I was able to enter this lounge because of my Flying Blue Gold elite status with Air France-KLM (I also get other benefits, including free preferred seat selection, priority checkin, security and boarding, and a free checked bag, and these perks transfer to SkyTeam partner airlines). At Gold level, I’m also able to bring in one guest with me into any Air France-KLM or SkyTeam partner lounge, as long as I’m able to to enter myself. So in this case I was able to bring my husband into the lounge as well.

Paris CDG divides its flights into Terminal 2F for Shengen destinations, and Terminal 2E for non-Shengen destinations. Destinations to the Americas therefor depart from Terminal 2E. Now, Terminal 2E has three ‘Halls’, named K, L and M, and each one has its own dedicated Air France Lounge, because you pass through security in check points dedicated to each Hall. My prior flight from CDG to JFK back in September departed from Hall M, and so that time I was able to review the Air France Lounge at CDG’s Terminal 2E, Hall M, this time we were departing from Hall L, and so I was able to visit Air France Lounge at CDG’s Terminal 2E, Hall L this time around. I very much enjoyed the Hall M Air France Lounge, so I was curious to check out the Hall L lounge as well (and hopefully in the future I’ll have the opportunity to visit the Hall K Lounge as well).

Hours and Location

The lounge is open daily from 5:30AM until 11:30PM.

To get to the lounge, you’ll have to pass through the Terminal 2E, Hall L security checkpoint first. As you come out you should see overhead signage for the ‘Salon -Lounge’ to the left. Following the sign you’ll see more overhead signage down the corridor.

Ultimately the arrow will direct you to turn left, where you’ll see a pair of elevators with ‘Air France’ overhead. This is the entrance to the lounge, which is above the main concourse.

As you come out of the elevator you’ll go down a hallway and enetr the lounge proper, where you’ll find a lobby area of sorts, with several automatic entrance gates and reception desks. Sicne I wanted to head in with my husband, I asked for him to be admitted as part of my Flying Blue Gold benefit, and they directed me to the console over to the right, opposite of the gates. Here I was able to register him for entry by linking his boarding pass to mine, after which we both scanned our boarding passes at the gates to be let in.

Note that the entrance to the lounge is just that – the entrance: the exit is further into the lounge, along the right wall. You’ll see exit gates there, which will lead down an intriguing silver, mirror-y hallway to another pair of elevators, and out the lounge.

Access Requirements

Air France Lounges can generally be accessed in a variety of ways:

• Complimentary access is provided to all passengers flying on a same-day flight with Air France-KLM or a SkyTeam partner in business class.
• Complimentary access is also provided to any Flying Blue member at Gold level or higher, regardless of the cabin in which the passenger flies.
• Access is also provided to SkyTeam Elite Plus members, as long as they are transferring between a domestic and International flight that are within 24 hours of each other.
• Finally, a lounge pass can be purchased by anybody for varying amounts on a space-available basis. Last I checked the price I was quoted for entry to this lounge was about 100 Euros.

Seating and Design

As soona s you enter through the gates you’ll find yourself in the one main area of the lounge. Essentially, the lounge is one giant rectangular room, with a set of hallways sprouting off to the right from where you can get to the restrooms, showers, Clarins spa and a few other amenities. The lounge is somewhat broken up into zones through the strategic placement of dividers and different kinds of seating. By the entrance yu’ll see a variety of seating, including banquettes with tables for two, and lounge chairs of various kinds with side tables.

The entrance to the lounge is on one extreme of the lounge, which is obvious if you look to your left, as that’s where the one end of the lounge is. In this area you’ll also find a children’s play area with some kid-sized furniture but not much in the way of toys or games. Along the wall is also a drink station with sodas and a hot drink machine, as well as restrooms.

As we make our way deeper into the lounge, we pass a variety of seating types. There are lounge chairs arranged in quads, swiveling lounge chairs and elegant-looking ‘corner chairs’ of sorts. You’ll also see these funny little side tables that could be moved around to some extent. Some of these had an array of electrical outlets as well.

As we pass through this first seating ‘zone’, we get to what is the first divider, which is the small buffet. There is a main buffet as well, all the way at the far end of the lounge, but I’ll get there in due course. By the small buffet is a large communal table.

Next up is an elliptical seating area with booths. This probably one of the most artsy parts of the lounge. The mid-height wooden walls that make the outer edges of the booth offer a comfortable level of privacy. Up above is an intriguing ceiling that’s lower than the ceiling of the rest of the lounge, with a mirror finish. Viewed from the outside of the this area it’s almost like stepping into a house of sorts, pretty cool looking! In this area is also a winebar, and every booth has electrical and USB-A plugs. Note that the winebar was empty when we sat down, but later wines and champagne was served, and some snacks.

Exiting the booths, you’ll find yourself in a more generic seating area, similar to what we saw before. There’s more of the swiveling seats, and some non-swiveling ones as well, with side tables that had electrical plugs.

Over to the left from that seating is the Air France customer service desk. Unlike at some of the other Air France lounges I’ve visited, where the customer service desk is in something of a nook, this one is out in the open. It’s demarcated as an area by a set of display cases and shelves to the right, and some drawers with displays on the left. Both show a variety of Air France products that you can buy.

Continuing through the lounge, we encounter a whole lot more seating, and this time there’s also some couches and banquettes, with most of the seating being more of the same lounge chairs, both swiveling and non-swiveling types.

While so far we’ve predominantly encountered lounge furniture, the last part of the main lounge area, at the far end from the entrance, is the dining area. In the center of this area is a circular banquette with tables setup for two persons each, and along the outer rim there are also such dining tables. Then beyond that is a large communal dining table and the main buffet, with most of the food to the left and right, and a bar in the back. I’ll detail the setup and the food later on.

Now as I said, most of the lounge space is simply this large rectangular room. However, I also mentioned there’s a set of hallways that will bring you to all the other amenities. From entering the lounge, turn right and you’ll soon bump into the first of two corridors with signage showing what’s there. The corridor itself has soft couch-like benches with moveable side tables, which ultimately brings you to a circular room. Here you’ll find a circular high table with stools and a pantry with three fridges that contains sodas and infused water on top. From here you go either go straight ahead and to the left. The area straight ahead is reserved room, I suppose primarily for first class passengers and Flying Blue Ultimate members.

Turning left you’ll come by the entrance to the showers, which I’ll review later. Getting to the other end of the corridor there is a beautiful light fixture displaying all sorts of patterns and colors. On the other side of it is the entrance to the Clarins spa, which unfortunately was already booked up by the time we arrived.

From here you cna also turn right, where there is a relaxation area that’s supposed to be extr quiet. In here you’ll find a variety of day beds setup in various ways, including lined up by the wall with partitions, and in a circular area in the center of the space.

If you turn left from that imposing light column, you’ll enter another hallway that ultimately brings you back to the lounge proper. In this hallway you’ll find a nursing room with two childcare tables and a sink, and there will also be restrooms opposite of that room, which I’ll review later.

Overall, the Hall L Air France Lounge is a big space with a lot of seating. I like the elegant designs of the seats, especially the elliptical area with booths at the center of the main lounge space, and the intriguing side corridors with the light column and pantry area. However, given the other lounges, such as the Hall M Lounge and the Terminal 2F Lounge, I do find the Hall L Lounge rather generic in design. I tend to like Air France’s aesthetic language for its elegance, and while that elegance is present in some specific areas and features, the overall space is a little uninspired. Still, it’s a nice place to sit, and I enjoyed the time spent here.

I will say that the lounge was overall quite busy. Even so, there was plenty of seating available, and I thought that it never got particularly loud. I suppose that’s a function of the size of the space and how spread out some of the seating is.

Food and Drinks

There are two buffets in this Air France Lounge. Closer to the entrance is a smaller buffet, and then at the far end of the lounge is the main buffet. When we got in, breakfast was still being served.

Starting with the smaller one, you will still find an excellent selection of foods here. There is an island that has cold and hot options, and then there is a bar of sorts with breads, pastries and drinks.

The hot options included scrambled eggs, sausages and bacon, while the cold options included cold cuts, cheeses, fruit cups, yoghurt, several kinds of juices and a variety of salads and ‘pure’ vegetables as well as hard boiled eggs. Among the breads there were croissants, pain au chocolat and buns. Everything was presented quite nicely and looked quite appetizing.

Among the drinks were a water tap, a fridge with various kinds of soda, and a hot dirnk station to brew various kinds of coffee or hot water for tea.

Going to the very back of the lounge, that’s where the main buffet is. The selection of food here is more or less the same as at the smaller buffet, plus a few extra options. However, the difference was more pronounced when lunch was served, of which I made some photos a little later, Below you’ll see more of the breakfast offerings. the main buffet was spread over two large islands, one on the left of the lounge, and one on the right. Drinks are at the very back of the wall, on either side of the bar.

The island on the right had most of the food options, including all the cold options, More or less the same cold cuts and cheeses were on offer here, though you can see there’s some extra options and the quantities are quite a bit larger. There were also additional kinds of salads and vegetables, and an extra type of yoghurt. Besides that there was a variety of desserts and pastries, as well as little quiches, as well as juices and fruit cups that were available.

The other island features hot options, and here I found more scrambled eggs and bacon. Here were also the croissants and pain au chocolat, as well as some other breads.

As I said, we were here long enough to see lunch being served, so I thought I’d show some photos of that. Once lunch came around, all the hot breakfast options were replaced by a rather tasty roast pork dish, potatoes dauphinois, and steamed mixed vegetables. The bread selection also changed to become cut pieces of baguette, french toast and several kinds of pastries and muffins. Soup also made its entree. There was also a fish options that unfortunately ran out when I made the photo.

The bar was specific to the main buffet area, though I never saw anybody here at the time we visisted the lounge. I can’t say for sure, but perhaps it’s only in the evening that this space is actively utilized. However, there were glasses and a cooler with wines placed on it that ou could take from. All the other drinks were place don either side of the bar, and included your usual selection. On either side were large fridges with various sodas, as well as hit drink machines for coffee and tea. Liquors and such were most available to the right of the bar, and included a decent but not particularly large selection.

In addition to the buffets there was also a cart being pushed around starting with the lunch service to offer champagne service to guests. The staff proactively went to seated and standing guests alike to offer champagne as well as little hors d’oeuvres. I thought this was a lovely service, even if I didn’t partake in it this time.

I ended up having a round or two of food, to try both the breakfast and lunch, and thought the quality of the food was good, and I enjoyed the hot options and salads I got to try. Air France’s salads tend to be fresh and of different kinds, so that anybody should be able to find something they like. As is probably not surprising, the breads are tasty and fresh as well, but Air France has a reputation to uphold here, being the French flag carrier.

Restrooms and Showers

The lounge has both showers and restrooms. As mentioned before, the showers can be reached by entering the first corridor you’ll find on your right as you come from the entrance, and turn left to find the entrance to the showers about halfway that corridor. Opposite there are some chairs where you can wait for people to be done.

Entering the space you’ll first come across a series of sinks, with a bench across from it and to the right.

Continue into the shower area and turn right to find the shower stalls. These are individual rooms. I managed to sneak some photos from a shower that had probably been recently used and may have not been cleaned, so please excuse the messiness! This is not a reflection of the cleanliness of the showers after cleaning.

Anyway, every shower room has a large sink with a mirror, a trash can and a toilet beyond just the shower stall itself. As you can see, it’s a fully enclosed shoer stall, with glass on one side and a door. I’m glad you can fully close it as I personally hate the latest trend where half the shower is open to the rets of the room, so you just end up flooding everything…

The restrooms can be found in the second corridor that connect back to the lounge proper.

Entering the men’s restroom, you’ll first have a set of sinks on the left. Beyond a half-open partition are three urinals, and the toilet stalls are to the right, within a short corridor. There are several of these, and all were kept clean during our visit to the lounge. The smaller stalls included a toilet only, whereas the larger stall for those with a disability also had a sink.

I thought the shower facilities in the lounge were very nice, with plenty of stalls available. The toilets were nicely designed as well though I thought the capacity was a little lower, given the size of the lounge. An extra urinal or toilet stall or two would have been a good investment, I think. The facilities were all kept clean and tidy, which ultimately is one of the most important things here.

Summary

Overall, I quite enjoyed my time spent in the CDG Terminal 2E, Hall L Air France Lounge. The space is large and despite the crowd, there was plenty of seating available, and the noise level wasn’t too loud. While the design is a little bit more generic in terms of the aesthetics of the space itself, I do like the various kinds of seating that was available. I sat in one of the booths in the central area with the mirror-like ceiling, and thought this was a very nice and private space to relax. The food was good and was constantly being refreshed, and it’s good there were buffets at either end of the lounge, so you don’t need to walk too far to grab a bite. While not the nicest of the Air France Lounges at CDG, I have no qualms coming back here!