Charles de Gaulle is normally one of my least favorite airports to have a layover in because it’s huge, it’s always crowded, and there are no Priority Pass lounges worth visiting, no matter what terminal you’re in. We’ve had several layovers at CDG over the past year or so, and each one has been mediocre at best—we’d buy some baguette sandwiches and try to find seats at whatever gate in our terminal was the least crowded. But not this time! No, this time was great. Because we had access to the Air France lounge in Terminal 2F.

Who can use the Air France lounge

How’d we get access? We were flying business class! We booked four business-class tickets from LAX to Rome, connecting in Paris, for 68,000 Flying Blue miles and $167.40 in taxes per person. That got us almost 11 hours in lie-flat business class seats on a 777-300ER, Air France lounge access in Paris, OneWorld lounge access back at LAX, and then connecting flights in intra-European business class to Rome. Terminal 2F is the Schengen terminal, earmarked for flights staying within the Schengen Zone, but Air France has other business-class lounges in other terminals throughout the airport.

(Side note: If you’re wondering why we had OneWorld lounge access at LAX, it’s because the SkyTeam lounge at LAX is … lacking. So lacking that Air France specially contracts with a rival alliance’s lounge to make sure its business-class passengers have a good lounge option and don’t have to go to the SkyTeam lounge. Side note to the side note: Air France is actually working on opening its own lounge at LAX soon. But it wasn’t open in time for our visit.)

Anyone who is a Flying Blue elite member (platinum or gold status) or a SkyTeam elite plus member can also access this lounge free of charge when flying Air France. Alternatively, you can buy access in advance (up until check-in) for €75 if there is capacity, and Flying Blue members get a 25% discount.

All about the lounge

The lounge was fairly full, but the open space, huge windows, and sleek architectural design didn’t make it feel overcrowded or stressful. The pretty, open architecture makes the lounge feel luxurious and very spacious.

The lounge had a lot of useful amenities, and some amenities that were just treats. If you needed a shower after a long overnight flight and you had a long-enough layover, you could get one in one of their private shower rooms. There were multiple buffets where you could pick up something to eat, a café counter with meals, at least one bar (possibly more bars I didn’t spot), a place to store your luggage, and some relaxation rooms and nursery rooms if you needed a quiet place to either sleep like a baby or take care of a baby. They had a “detox bar,” which had a selection of healthy and non-alcoholic juices. And then on top of all that, there was a SPA.

I immediately went to check out the Clarins Traveller Spa. The good news is that basic treatments at the spa are free to anyone using the lounge. The bad news is that when I was there, all the spa appointments were filled. (We didn’t have a very long layover anyway, but I sure would have taken a spa treatment if they had had one available. Who cares about being on time for the next plane?)

You can book a spa treatment (a facial or a massage) on the day of your lounge visit at no charge. I made a mental note to try for a longer layover the next time we flew Air France business class. Being able to fit in a shower, a facial or a massage, and then a nice glass of champagne would sure start off a trip on the right foot, n’est-ce pas?

We visited the lounge in the late morning and were able to help ourselves to pastries, breads, yogurts, meats, salads, fruits, soups, and all kinds of beverages. There were some self-service bars along with at least one full-service bar that I saw. And then there were also Air France lounge employees walking around the lounge pouring champagne for anyone who wanted some. I wished it had been later in the day and that I hadn’t been so jet-lagged from our overnight flight, or I would have taken the time to enjoy some. But alas. Next time!

We only had time to grab a quick bite to eat, use the restrooms, and walk around taking in the lounge before it was time to head to our gate for our next flight, so we didn’t get a fully immersive Air France lounge experience, but what I did see was enough to make me look forward to another visit the next time we fly business class to Europe connecting in Paris!

How you can book Air France business class with points

The three greatest things about booking award flights with Air France are:

• It’s easy to book online for up to 8 people in a traveling party (even in business class, if you book far enough ahead!);
• Their taxes and fees on award tickets aren’t astronomical; and
• All four major banks (Chase, Citi, AmEx, and Capital One) are transfer partners with Flying Blue, so you can transfer bank points from any or all of those banks into your Flying Blue account and be able to book award tickets quite easily. This also means you can essentially earn Flying Blue miles with any transferable-points card.

Any of these cards that earn transferable points would be a great way to earn points you can transfer to Flying Blue. And once you find award availability and transfer your miles over, booking online is a snap.

Flying Blue is the easiest way to get a family of four or more to Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East in business class for a not-crazy amount of miles and a not-crazy amount of taxes and fees. And now you know that if you have a layover in Paris on your business-class award ticket, you’ll have a nice lounge to recharge in! (Just make sure you try to book a spa appointment early if you can!)