Air France is known for its La Premiere first class, which offers the world’s best first class ground experience, and also one of the world’s best inflight experiences (my updated rankings in both categories are coming soon). Central to the carrier’s amazing ground experience is the La Premiere Lounge.
Earlier this year, we saw the airline partially close this lounge, so that it could undergo a renovation. As I covered over a week ago, that work wrapped up in early July, so we had a sense of what the changes entail. Air France has now formally announced these updates, so has also shared some renderings of the new space.
While this is definitely evolutionary rather than revolutionary, I’m impressed by the updates, both in terms of design and added amenities.
The Air France La Premiere Lounge has undergone a renovation
At the beginning of 2026, Air France announced that its La Premiere Lounge Paris (CDG) would be undergoing a renovation. Work started in early February, and wrapped up in early July, so the lounge is once again fully operational.
The airline took an unconventional approach to this work, in a positive way. Rather than fully closing the lounge, the airline instead kept it open from early in the morning until 2PM, covering peak hours for La Premiere traffic. While many sections of the lounge were blocked off, the idea was that customers would get most of the standard experience.
After 2PM (except on Sundays), passengers flying in La Premiere were accommodated at the arrivals and departures vestibule, which is basically where check-in takes place. The catch is that this is located in the Schengen area, so those La Premiere passengers who didn’t have a visa for the Schengen area would have to be accommodated elsewhere.
This isn’t a big space, but then again, it’s not like there are many La Premiere passengers in the evenings anyway.
Fortunately things are now back to normal, as that work has been completed.
What’s new at the Air France La Premiere Lounge Paris
I’m delighted to see that Air France has invested in the La Premiere ground experience even more. What makes the La Premiere ground experience so special isn’t necessarily the “frills,” but rather how seamless it is. It’s equivalent to private aviation, and perhaps even better, by most metrics.
From the moment you arrive at the airport until the second you get on the plane, it just couldn’t be smoother. Heck, on arrival, you can even clear passport control from the car that picks you up at the plane.
Air France’s food in the La Premiere Lounge is also stellar, the best you’ll find in any airport lounge, in my opinion.
All that being said, prior to these latest updates, the La Premiere Lounge could definitely use a bit of an aesthetics update, as it did feel a little outdated compared to the rest of the experience. I had speculated that the arrivals and departures vestibule, plus the La Premiere Suites, would give us a good sense of what the updated interiors would look like.
FlyerTalk member miles4CDG shares some pictures of the new lounge facility, and the updates are exactly what I was expecting. Here’s what has changed, among other things:
- The overall aesthetics have been modernized to match Air France’s style updates in other facilities, which isn’t at all a surprise
- The lounge has significantly more seating, and more effort has been put into offering privacy between various seating areas
- The dining area is much larger than before, as that was the one part of the lounge that got a bit busy during peak hours
- There are now six proper nap rooms; while they don’t have real beds with mattresses, they have daybeds with bedding, and actually look quite comfortable, especially with the privacy they offer (as they have doors)
- The Sisley Spa has been expanded from one treatment room to two
- There’s now a phone booth, so that guests can make phone calls with privacy, and without disturbing others
All these changes look great. Ultimately Air France didn’t need to reinvent the wheel with this amazing ground experience, but instead, just needed some minor updates, given that the core lounge largely hadn’t been substantially touched since the first time I flew La Premiere around 15 years ago.
Bottom line
The Air France La Premiere Lounge has undergone a renovation over the past several months — it started in early February, and wrapped up in early July. Air France has opened new facilities for first class passengers in recent times, including the new arrivals and departures area, plus the new (paid) suites.
Not surprisingly, the design aesthetics chosen there match what we’re seeing with the updated lounge. Beyond that, there are now proper nap areas, a greatly expanded dining area, additional spa treatment room, a phone booth, and more.
What do you make of the updates to the La Premiere Lounge Paris?
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