Air France Business Class Lounge Paris CDG Airport: 2E Hall M review

Worth Coming to Airport Early For: YES 

Better Than The Terminal? YES

Introduction

After my overall great flight from NYC (EWR) in Air France’s new A350 business class, it was time to head to the lounge to sleep. This honestly was the part of my journey to Hanoi I was dreading most, mostly because of jet lag.

Air France’s flight from Newark arrived to Paris at ~5:30AM Paris Time, or 11:30PM New York time. I didn’t sleep at all on this flight, and my plan was to sleep for most of my time in this lounge. My layover was ~8 hours at CDG, before my 1PM flight to Hanoi. Needless to say I had plenty of time to check out every bit of this lounge and get some rest. Overall, this was a solid lounge and my favorite of the Air France business class lounges I’ve visited so far at CDG. See my review for the nearby Air France Lounge in terminal 2E Hall L here.

In this post, you’ll find:

How to Navigate Charles De Gaulle Airport

Charles De Gaulle gets a lot of hate for its layout, but to be honest… I think it’s fine. Maybe because we arrived relatively early in the morning, but lines were minimal and I breezed through customs and secondary transfer security in 10 minutes total. Flying in a premium cabin definitely helps, as CDG will separate lines by non-priority (economy) and priority (premium economy and business).

Air France’s long haul flights primarily operate out of terminal 2E, which is then separated into three halls: K, L, M (Skyteam naming coincidence much?). These halls are not connected airside, so it’s generally a pain to get between them because there is separate security between each.

Here’s a map of CDG’s confusing terminal structure:

How To Access This Lounge

There are separate Air France Business Class lounges in halls K, L, and M (and F). Flights will operate interchangeably out of each with little predictability, even for the same routes.

The lounges in hall L, M, F, and K are all nice on their own (K was just renovated – it used to be older / not the greatest). I had already been to the lounge in hall L, so was hoping for any hall except that one. Luckily, my next segment on Vietnam Airlines was departing out of hall M. These are generally assigned day of, so it’s hard to plan to visit a specific lounge.

In order to gain access to the lounge, you must:

• Be traveling in La Premiere (first class)
• Be traveling in business class on a standard or flex fare (my saver award business class ticket on Vietnam Airlines let me in)
• FlyingBlue Gold or Platinum, or Skyteam Elite Plus, regardless of cabin of travel

Lounge access is also available for purchase – prices can vary but will usually go for 75 euros currently. FlyingBlue members receive 25% off. The terminal itself in Hall M is quite nice though, so I’m not sure it’s worth it to purchase unless you’re getting access for free.

Once in Hall M, navigating to the lounge is quite easy:

The lounge is right at the end of the shopping atrium, tucked away in a little hallway. There were signs everywhere making it clear priority pass and Amex cards would not get you in.

Lounge Tour and Amenities

The lounge itself is massive at ~32,000 square feet. The lounge is open daily from 5:30AM to 5:00PM.

Amenities in the lounge include:

• Food (buffet)
• Mixed seating, work spaces and relaxation zones (where I slept)
• Kid’s section / play area
• Wellness facilities (10 showers + Clarins spa treatments, subject to availability)

I arrived early in the morning(~6am), when the lounge was mostly empty:

Here’s the rest area where I slept for a few hours. When the lounge started to get busy around ~8am, it became a bit noisy with people on the phone and talking, but I was still able to sneak in a few hours of half-sleep. I wish they had more separation / more of a dedicated quiet zone, which they have in their other lounge in Hall L.

There are two buffet / drink stations in the lounge. Both feature mostly the same core selection, with the larger one offering a few more options. The stations feature the usual: espresso machines, assorted waters and juices, and a continental breakfast spread.

Here was the spread at the smaller buffet:

In between the two food stations are showers and the Clarins spa. It was apparently open when I visited, but never saw any attendant at the front. If they had free massages I would’ve went for it, but they just offer free 15 minute facials at the moment. Not my thing but definitely a plus if you’re into that.

And here’s the larger (main) buffet. To be honest, the food spread was a bit underwhelming, with not a ton of appealing hot options. It was basically a nice continental breakfast, but that’s about it.

However, they did have some of the best airport lounge croissants (scratch that, probably the best) you’ll find anywhere. To be expected in Paris.

Some more views of the seating options in the lounge:

And some more pictures in the sunlight after my nap:

After spending a fuzzy, half-sleep morning in the lounge, it was time to hop onboard my flight to Hanoi on Vietnam Airline’s A350.

Conclusion

All in all, this lounge is a solid place to kill a few hours. The food spread was decent but nothing impressive. I’d come back just for a chocolate croissant, though.

Sleeping in this lounge can be challenging since there’s no dedicated quiet / rest area. There are lounging chairs where you can lie down, but that’s right next to normal seating where folks are chatting / talking on phones, so it’s hard to get real rest here.

However, this lounge features a lot of good seating, good views of the runway, and a lot of natural light. It’s definitely worth stopping by early ahead of your flight to grab a snack / coffee.

After my morning in this lounge, it was on to my next flight on my Southeast Asia trip: Vietnam Airlines Business Class from Paris to Hanoi.