While I was very excited to fly on my first business class flight from Newark (EWR) to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) on Air France, I was possibly more excited to see the Air France Flagship Lounge in Charles de Gaulle! A business or first class flight typically includes pre-departure and layover lounge access at the airport. I have been to a few lounges included in my Priority Pass membership, but I had yet to visit an airline’s flagship lounge.

On departure from Newark (EWR), the Air France lounge was closed for construction. They gave us food vouchers to use in the airport instead. The food options in the Air France terminal were awful. There were two restaurants to choose from after security, and neither of them were appealing. We chose a Belgian sit down restaurant with beer and french fries. There was one waitress for the entire place. I felt really bad for her and she was working very hard. But, the food was terrible and took forever, as would be expected with one server for the entire restaurant.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to a much better lounge experience at CDG. Because CDG is the home airport for Air France, they have multiple lounges. We arrived into terminal 2E and were pushed directly through arrival customs. Once through customs we headed to our departure terminal, 2F. In terminal 2F, it was easy to follow the signs to the Air France lounge. The signs were in English and French. The airport was big and very busy, but the lounge was a peaceful oasis amongst the hustle and bustle.

The Terminal 2F lounge is open from 5:30am to 10pm daily. Our flight arrived almost 20 minutes late, a little after 6am. We made it into the lounge before 7am.  We scanned our business class boarding passes to enter the lounge with zero problems.

My main goal in the lounge was to take advantage of the complimentary facials at the Clarins spa! Sign-ups for the spa and use of showers starts at 7am. There was a line formed near the spa to be able to sign up upon opening. Most of the line that had formed was waiting to sign up for a shower and I was able to snag a facial during the first time slot – 7:40am. 

While I waited for my facial appointment, I helped myself to a latte and a small breakfast. My kids were in heaven with the endless supply of snacks and drinks and definitely made themselves at home on the couches in the lounge. We had a little less than two hours to spend at the lounge. It felt like the perfect amount of time to freshen up, eat breakfast, relax, and get to our next flight. 

Once the Clarins spa opened I was excited for my complimentary facial. There were three facial options. 1) Anti-aging 2) Dry skin 3) Glowing. I went with the glowing facial option. It felt great after a long flight. It was quick, about 15 minutes, but I have zero complaints since It was free. The esthetician did accept tips, and was fine with American dollars since I didn’t have any Euros yet!

After my facial, I explored the entire lounge and I was impressed with how large it was. There were several sectioned off areas including a bar, tables with chairs, comfortable lounge chairs, a dark/quiet area for napping, and an upstairs area with multiple sections of seating. The spa and shower areas are located upstairs. 

We arrived at the lounge early in the morning. They were serving mostly breakfast foods. Yogurt, granola, breads, muffins, and a selection of cold cuts and cheeses were all available. There were also plenty of options for drinks. They had a full service bar as well as self serve wine and liquor. My favorite drink was the automatic espresso machine offering cappuccinos, lattes, americanos, and espresso shots. The latte was fabulous. 

Overall, the Air France lounge at CDG in Terminal 2F was a wonderful area of respite during our journey from EWR to MXP. While I love a direct flight, I really enjoyed our layover at CDG just so that I could experience the Air France Lounge. I will happily layover at CDG in the future on an Air France business class itinerary. 

Access to the Air France lounge can be obtained:

• For you and a guest if traveling in the La Premiere cabin. 
• For yourself if you are traveling in the Business Class cabin.
• For yourself and a guest if you have Flying Blue Platinum status.
• For yourself and a guest if you have Flying Blue Gold status.
• For yourself and a guest if you have Sky Team Elite Plus status.