Review: Air France Lounge Montreal Airport (YUL)

During my downgraded adventure to Oman, I had a long layover in Montreal, as I was arriving in Air Canada’s A220 business class from Miami, and connecting to SWISS’ A330 business class to Zurich. While I spent most of my layover in the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, I also checked out the Air France Lounge, which I’ll be reviewing in this installment.

The Air France Lounge Montreal was recently renovated, and it’s accessible with Priority Pass. This is physically a beautiful lounge with great views, and for a Priority Pass lounge, it has a pretty decent food and drink selection as well. Let’s get into the review.

Air France Lounge Montreal location

The Air France Lounge Montreal is located in the international terminal, near gate 57. You’ll only be able to visit this lounge if you’re traveling on an international flight to a destination other than the United States (since transborder flights have their own section of the terminal).

Once you’re in the international terminal, just turn left, and follow the signage in the direction of gate 57.

Once you approach that gate, you’ll see the entrance to the Air France Lounge on the right.

While the lounge’s reception is on the same level as the concourse, the actual lounge is actually up a level, and can be accessed by an elevator or stairs.

Air France Lounge Montreal hours

The Air France Lounge Montreal is open daily from 5AM until 10PM. In the afternoons, the lounge largely caters to passengers on Air France and KLM transatlantic flights. Meanwhile the lounge is open earlier in the day in order to be monetized, through Priority Pass and other access agreements.

Air France Lounge Montreal entry requirements

The Air France Lounge Montreal is primarily intended as a lounge for Air France and KLM passengers traveling to Paris and Amsterdam, respectively. In line with SkyTeam lounge access policies, the lounge can be accessed by SkyTeam business class passengers, as well as SkyTeam Elite Plus members.

On top of that, the lounge is also open to Priority Pass members. There are of course many premium credit cards offering Priority Pass memberships. Priority Pass members are limited to using the lounge for two hours (it sure feels like time constraints on Priority Pass visits are getting pretty extreme). Also note that Priority Pass members may occasionally be turned away due to capacity constraints, particularly in the evenings.

Air France Lounge Montreal seating & layout

The Air France Lounge Montreal isn’t particularly large. It’s 490 square meters (~5,300 square foot), and it has seating for 149 guests. What’s awesome about the lounge is that it has a modern design, tons of natural light, and amazing views, thanks to its floor-to-ceiling windows.

The main part of the lounge is a large rectangular room, set around the buffet and bar. The center of the room has cafe-style tables and booths, some of which seat two people, and some of which are communal. It really is a pretty space, especially with the slanted ceilings.

The bar area has high-top seating, as well as a communal table.

Then along the windows, you’ll find more traditional lounge seating, with leather chairs arranged in rows, facing one another.

The lounge also has some couches, which even have an Air France Concorde model — how cool!

Right near the entrance, there’s also an area with quasi workstations facing outside.

In the very back of the lounge, you’ll find an area with around a dozen dining tables.

Near the entrance to the lounge, there are some lockers for luggage storage. There’s also an area that’s roped off for Flying Blue Ultimate members, which is the top tier status in the Flying Blue program.

That’s the extent of the lounge. As you can see, it’s modern and has lots of natural light, so it’s a good outstation lounge.

Air France Lounge Montreal food & drinks

What’s the food and drink selection like in the Air France Lounge Montreal? Let me note that I visited around 12PM with Priority Pass, so I suspect the food and drink selection was a bit scaled back compared to what’s available prior to the Air France and KLM departures.

There was a self-serve food selection, and cold options included salad, a variety of cold cuts, sliced fruit and veggies, muffins, pastries, bread, and crackers.

Then warm options included beef bourguignon, vegetables, rice pilaf, and french onion soup.

There was also a selection of self-serve drinks, including a soda fountain, water, a Lavazza coffee machine, and a selection of tea.

Lastly, additional drinks were available at the bar. As you can see, the menu specified that this was for options available between 5AM and 2PM, so I suspect better drinks are available after 2PM.

For Air France passengers, I should mention that while the lounge was offering a proper pre-flight dining experience when it reopened in 2021, Air France is no longer offering that at any North American outstations, as far as I know. This has similarly been cut in New York, and replaced by an extensive buffet.

Air France Lounge Montreal bathrooms & showers

The Air France Lounge Montreal has bathrooms and showers located in the back of the lounge behind the bar, along a corridor. There are a total of seven bathrooms, and three of them have showers as well.

I appreciate how each bathroom is its own room, with both a sink and toilet, so that affords a bit more privacy than you get in most airport bathrooms.

The shower rooms are compact but functional, and each has a sink, a walk-in shower with a glass shield, and a toilet.

Toiletries were in unbranded, wall-mounted containers.

Bottom line

The Air France Lounge Montreal was recently renovated, and has beautiful decor and lots of natural light. This lounge is of course open to Air France and KLM passengers, but it’s also open to Priority Pass members, making it a great option in the terminal. I’d say this lounge is worth a visit, if you have access.

What’s your take on the Air France Lounge Montreal?