The Star Alliance Lounge in Terminal 1 of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) for non-Schengen flights represents a tranquil and spacious space with excellent amenities and great views.
Star Alliance Lounge Paris Review (CDG)
This is not the only Star Alliance Lounge in Paris or even the only Star Alliance Lounge in Roissy Terminal 1…there’s also one in the Schengen area (a zone consisting of 29 European countries where internal border controls have been abolished). This lounge is the “international” lounge used for longhaul departing passengers in the non-Schengen area (beyond passport control).
Access + Hours + Location
This lounge is intended for flights departing from gates 10 to 38. It is open daily from 6:00 am to 10:30 pm. After proceeding through security, you will find the lounge in the duty-free area near the YSL store (signs clearly point you in the right direction).
Take the elevator upstairs:
Proceed around the smoking area and turn right, where you will walk down a long corridor to reach the lounge.
Access is granted to the following passengers:
- Traveling in Business Class on a Star Alliance flight from CDG (no guests)
- Traveling in First Class on a Star Alliance flight from CDG (+1 guest)
- Star Gold Member traveling in any cabin of service on a same-day Star Alliance flight from CDG (+1 guest)
- United Club “All-Access” or Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge members (+1 guest)
Just scan your boarding pass and you’ll be allowed in (and can even indicate on the touchpad if you have a guest). An agent is on hand to help if you require assistance.
Seating
As you enter the lounge, a self-serve bar is directly in front of you (decorated during my stay for the Olympic Games) and you can turn right for seating and dining or left for seating and restrooms (and the terrace). This is a 1,300 square meter lounge (almost 14,000 square feet) and can comfortably accommodate 300 guests.
Turning left from the entrance:
Turning right from the entrance:
Power outlets (European 220-volt plus USB-A and USB-C) are located throughout the lounge, usually within arm’s reach. There are also wireless chargers available (though not as many).
Wi-Fi worked well.
There are also enclosed cubicle-style workstations ideal for making phone calls without disturbing others in the lounge:
Food + Drink
In addition to a central dining area, the lounge has several beverage stations around the world.
As I mentioned, when you enter the lounge, there is a self-serve bar directly in front of you.
To the right, the wine bar areas, a circular room with a wine closet acting as a partition between the main dining room, offers red, white, and rosé wine.
Further back in the main food area, offering a large breakfast spread while I was there included:
- yogurt
- donuts
- muffins
- croissants
- Danish
- crepes
- fruit
- scrambled eggs
- bacon
- sausage
- mushrooms
- cooked tomatoes
- fried potatoes
- croque monsieur
- meat and cheese slices
Beverage offerings included milk, tea, coffee, water, soft drinks, beer, and juice…the coffee was nothing special.
On the other side of the lounge, there was a tea bar and more coffee machines, along with cookies and whole fruit.
Restrooms + Showers
Large and clean restroom facilites are available.
Shower suites (there are four) are available on request. Ask for a key from the reception (you’ll trade in your passport or boarding pass for a key and get the item back when you are done).
Smoking Terrace
Smokers can delight in a large outdoor terrace intended for cigarette and vape smoking. Everyone is welcome (it was a rainy day when I was there and the furniture was covered), but it may get a bit smoky…
VIP Room
There’s a VIP room in the lounge…it was locked!
CONCLUSION
Charles De Gaulle Airport currently hosts 20 Star Alliance member carriers with operations to 34 destinations in 22 countries, and yet it is not the home of any Star Alliance member. Thus, the lounge makes great sense…and while this lounge did not have high-quality barista-made coffee (my only real gripe), I found it comfortable, spacious, and luxe for an airport lounge (better in fact than some of the Air France lounges at CDG). I look forward to returning to this lounge.
In the section on accessing the lounge, you reference LAX rather than CDG. Probably a copy-paste that missed the location edit. It also mentions United Club All-Access and Air Canada Maple Leaf granting access, is this correct or perhaps something that shouldn’t have been included in a copy-paste?
I’ve been to this Star Alliance lounge twice in the last three months. Both times through Turkish. While beautiful, the wine is lower quality than expected. Specifically, no champagne. All of the other CDG lounges, at least to my knowledge, offer complimentary champagne. The Extime lounge offers champagne that sells for $150: https://viewfromthewing.com/exclusive-entry-sip-150-champagne-at-pariss-extime-lounge-courtesy-of-american-british-airways-and-el-al-roundup/
As a general rule, I try to avoid originating at or making connections at CDG through T1. The passport control and security there is usually very slow with long lines, though Acces No 1 helps. And the odd design (by the same architect that did T2, interestingly) seems pretty inconvenient. That said, the *A lounge is perfectly nice, though not as good as the AF lounges in T2 in my opinion. Like those pancakes in the AM. By the way, I seem to sometimes find champagne there and sometimes not. Too bad CDG has no arrivals lounges since AF closed the one in T2.
They have French sparkling wine (cremant). The Extime lounges are actually quite nicer. Maybe nicer than the Air France lounges if only because the Air France lounges are too overcrowded.
As for Terminal 1. I agree. While CDG has made tremendous strides in improving itself — connecting across Terminal 2 is pretty seamless these days — going from T2 to T1 or vice versa is awful. It’s at least 2 hours.