I stopped by the Air France Lounge during my last connection in Houston. While not a bad place for a quick snack, the Priority Pass lounge felt a bit like a dungeon.
The lounge is located in the far corner of Terminal D, near gate D12, and is open from 12:00PM – 5:00PM daily.
Although the flight to Paris was not for several hours and the nicer KLM Lounge was nearby, the lounge was surprisingly crowded. For that reason, my pictures of the seating area below are limited so as not to invade the privacy of other guests.
The lounge is Air France’s old style, nearly identical to the Frankfurt lounge, but nothing like the remodeled lounges in Paris or at outstations like Washington Dulles or New York.
In the back is a roped off area for La Premiere members, hardly like the La Premiere Lounge in Paris.
While I didn’t try any, the food selection was decent, with cheeses, fruit, salads, sandwiches, soup, chips, and cookies. Not very French, but pretty nice for a snack or light meal. Drinks included a self-serve bar with wine and spirits plus a refrigerator with water, beer, and soft drinks. There’s also a coffee machine.
The lounge not only has no showers, but not even a bathroom.
Internet worked atrociously. I had planned to work there for a bit, but left after a few minutes due to non-functioning wi-fi.
CONCLUSION
This is a very “meh” lounge. I’d say the strongest amenity is the food and drinks, but this is not a lounge I plan to return to.
While this is a meh lounge – it is still better than the KLM lounge down the hall. That is a dungeon (with better hours).
Can’t imagine how it makes sense for AF and KLM to operate lounges in Houston for one flight / day each.
DITO
By renting the space out to every other sky team carrier. The mile long list by the door. Part of there lounge strategy is make small lounges and make money from them by renting them out to others. Often people like the idea of being in an airline lounge more then in a PP lounge
I’d be happy with any lounge now. Just an Admirals Club in Phoenix would be fine. Something to make me feel I have legs again.
Honestly seems like a trend for AF domestic lounges to be dungeon-esque, the BOS one is horrendous and basically a basement, and Chicago is pretty terrible.
@BSW never understood why AF and KLM both have their own separate lounge in IAH, it’s not like there’s any significant SkyTeam presence there that would merit it either. KLM’s Crown Lounge at IAH is pretty superb for a priority pass lounge though, so at least there’s some redeeming value there.
Just remembered that KLM has had historically strong ties with the oil/gas industry, including their own loyalty program for them, which is probably why they think it’s worth the investment at IAH.
https://www.flyingblue.com/en/petroleum
Well the execs for the Royal Dutch shell have to visit there partners or check there investment in the states quite often
Don’t forget that KLM and Air France are basically run separately, despite being part of the same parent company. The lounge catering contracts are completely different. For example, most of the lounges have decent wine, even out-stations. The only bad Air France lounge that I’ve been to is Toronto, where they don’t even serve French wine. KLM, by contrast, generally has pretty bad lounges. Even Amsterdam’s new flagship lounge feels like a factory with very cheap wine, not even real champagne. By contrast, the Air France lounges in Paris serve champagne that costs about $40-$50 a bottle in the US. The lounge at Dulles serves $20-$30 champagne. I’m very curious what wine the Houston lounge served? Especially the champagne/sparkling wine.