- Introduction: A Downgraded Adventure To Oman
- Review: Turkish Airlines Lounge Miami Airport (MIA)
- Review: Air Canada Business Class Airbus A220 (MIA-YUL)
- Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Montreal Airport (YUL)
- Review: Air France Lounge Montreal Airport (YUL)
- Review: SWISS Business Class Airbus A330 (YUL-ZRH)
- Review: SWISS Arrivals Lounge Zurich Airport (ZRH)
- Review: SWISS Business Lounge Zurich Airport (ZRH)
- Review: SWISS Helvetic Business Class Embraer E190-E2 (ZRH-MXP)
- Review: Oman Air Business Class Boeing 787 (MXP-MCT)
- Review: Oman Air Business Lounge Muscat Airport (MCT)
- Review: Oman Air First Lounge Muscat Airport (MCT)
- Review: Oman Air Business Class Airbus A330 (MCT-FRA)
- Review: Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
- Review: Singapore Airlines Business Class Boeing 777 (FRA-JFK)
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.
In this post:
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?
I was curious if AF ever actually flew the Concorde to Montreal, and it appears it would show up occasionally, but never had regularly scheduled service.
https://www.airporthistory.org/airports-sst-2.html#:~:text=The%20opening%20ceremony%20of%20Montr%C3%A9al,Concorde%20service%20was%20never%20established.
OK. This is a real review from a Montreal resident and platinum member: The lounge is completely crowded every evening before the AF and KL flights. You can barely find a seat. There is no space. I wonder where Ben found his pictures. The food is not good. the most depressing thing is the wine is very average. I do not believe they serve real Champagne (I may be wrong but in any case please...
OK. This is a real review from a Montreal resident and platinum member: The lounge is completely crowded every evening before the AF and KL flights. You can barely find a seat. There is no space. I wonder where Ben found his pictures. The food is not good. the most depressing thing is the wine is very average. I do not believe they serve real Champagne (I may be wrong but in any case please do not expect Veuve Clicquot or Laurent Perrier. The staff is completely bored and most of them do not even speak French. And the thing I find amazing, which I have not seen anywhere on the globe, is they stop serving wine 1 hour before boarding (even if the flight is delayed). Everything to save money. You should avoid this lounge.
TK has started using this lounge instead of the AC (*alliance) lounge. This lounge is slightly better than the AC lounge. But to be fair, there are no good lounges at YUL.
Really, I find both the AF lounge and the int. AC MLL in Montréal to be the best lounges in Canada, if not counting the signature suite in Toronto and Vancouver.
TK used both the AC MLL and the National bank mastercard lounge before, due to TK's late beparture and the fact that the MLL closes long before the TK IST flight.
Now they use the AC MLL and the AF lounge.
The AF lounge is a huge upgrade compared to the mastercard lounge!
Well when I tried using the AF lounge using priority access, I was put on a waitlist ,I was asked what time was my boarding and the lounge call me 40 minutes before boarding to offer me the lounge ,the second attemp ,I tried using the lounge ,I was put on a waitlist and I was never called. Why does AF just cancel the Dragon pass access if they cant provide the service.I understand that...
Well when I tried using the AF lounge using priority access, I was put on a waitlist ,I was asked what time was my boarding and the lounge call me 40 minutes before boarding to offer me the lounge ,the second attemp ,I tried using the lounge ,I was put on a waitlist and I was never called. Why does AF just cancel the Dragon pass access if they cant provide the service.I understand that AF and KLM passengers are given priority however the service is not privided to dragon pass holders
Hey Ben, any updates on the Air France lounge at LAX that is scheduled to open sometime this year?
Is it me, or are the toiletries in the bathroom unlabeled? The 2 white ones and the 1 pink one, what are each of them???
Love the review. I wish I could try a Canadian lounge - I imagine they'd be far more interesting than some domestic USA lounges sprayed around the place.
Most lounges (sans MNL) are a pleasant experience. I think MNL PAGUS lounge or whatever TF it's called is probably in my terrible ranks. The TG lounge in MNL is also bollocks. Why is PHL so far behind their regional competitors in this regard? And so...
Love the review. I wish I could try a Canadian lounge - I imagine they'd be far more interesting than some domestic USA lounges sprayed around the place.
Most lounges (sans MNL) are a pleasant experience. I think MNL PAGUS lounge or whatever TF it's called is probably in my terrible ranks. The TG lounge in MNL is also bollocks. Why is PHL so far behind their regional competitors in this regard? And so many others. What a horrible experience MNL is. And not just the airport!!
'and then' count: 0!!
('then' count: 2)
I'm just joshing with you ;) #"AVGEEK"
They really cut the preflight dining at JFK? That's sad. It was great. Although it was only for a couple flights. Would have been nice to have it on the early and later departures. It was usually just the same courses as were served on the plane so switching to buffet seems like not much of a savings. Is the buffet available to all folks in the lounge incl priority pass? In the past preflight dining was not available to priority pass folks.
@ ben -- Yep, they did indeed cut it at JFK for the late night flights, as I recently found out. However, I have to say, the buffet was still excellent. I believe the top floor is still restricted to Air France passengers.
For what it’s worth, in the evening, the offer (real) champagne at the bar.