Review: To London and Paris – Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle

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Introduction
The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific The Wing Business Class Lounge Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific 239 777-300ER Business Class Hong Kong to London Heathrow
Hotel Indigo London Kensington
Eurostar 9018 E300/British Rail Class 373 Standard Premier London St. Pancras to Paris Gares du Nord
L’Empire Paris
Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle
Cathay Pacific 260 777-300ER Business Class Paris Charles de Gaulle to Hong Kong


After a few days in Paris, the L’Empire arranged transport for us from the hotel straight to the airport, and shook our hands at the airport and thanked us for our stay. Being my first time at Charles de Gaulle Airport, it definitely sucked that we had to de-tax and all that, especially given how amazing the airport morale is. 😉

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Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport Exterior

The terminal of the airport isn’t airy by any means, but isn’t dark or retro or any of that – it’s like a big cargo terminal.

We finished de-tax in about half an hour, and checked in, where a very friendly agent brought us from the end of the line to the front of the line (wow!), and we checked in at the first class area.

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Paris Charles de Gaulle Cathay Pacific Check-in Desks

Immigration was a quick clear with No. 1 tags, and we were over soon. I followed the directory to the American Airlines lounge, which didn’t allow under-18s without parents, so I just hopped to the Cathay Pacific lounge to stay.

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Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport Lounge Area

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Entrance

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Entrance

The lounge attendant let me in, and she was very nice, explaining the benefits I was getting to fourteen-year-old me and smiling at me every time I re-entered the lounge, even after long periods of time (buying last minute marshmallows at the candy store below…wow!).

Given there could be a language barrier that could further the awkwardness, I didn’t visit the shower rooms this time – but the lounge was to the left, and a hole in the wall to the right led to the showers and the bathrooms.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Toilet Area

The marble toilets were very nicely designed.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Toilet Sinks

To the left of the hallway was a business center encased in glass. PCs and Macs were both available.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Business Center

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Business Center

The lounge, while just a large room, was decorated rather nicely. It featured brown and grey tones, but was rather airy, so for some reason didn’t feel dull and boring.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Magazine Rack

The lounge featured Solus chairs, though there were only a few of them. They’re comfy for working, but I didn’t have to work over the summer, so I just sat and relaxed in one of the airside chairs.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Solus Chairs

There are many chairs equipped with French power ports, which I used while I was having my breakfast.

Both the sofas and the chairs near the window (I don’t know where those pictures went) were really comfortable, contrary to my expectations.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Sofas

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Sofas

There was also bar seating – but it wasn’t long bar seating, nor was there an actual bar.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Bar Seating

Then there was restaurant seating, near the buffet.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Restaurant Seating

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Restaurant Seating

So overall, it was just a long room, much like The Cabin, one of their hub lounges in Hong Kong, which I found underwhelming. This wasn’t a hub lounge, so my expectations were much lower, and were somewhat exceeded.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle

The buffet featured rather tasty hot and cold items, and included a noodle bar which served delicious noodles.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Food Spread

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Food Spread

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Food Spread

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Food Spread

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Food Spread

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Food Spread

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Noodle Bar

I ordered dandan moodles, which had more of a peanut broth than a spicy chili and sesame peanut broth, but I can’t take food with over 100,000 Scoville units, so this was fine by me.

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Best of all were the chairs near the side, with awesome tarmac views, so I settled at one of those. In that time, an Etihad 777-300ER taxiied out. It was a stunning taxi view.

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Tarmac Views

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Tarmac Views

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Tarmac Views

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Tarmac Views

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Tarmac Views

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Tarmac Views

Shortly our plane to Hong Kong did a quick taxi in, and in hopes of being one of the first few aboard, I ran to the gate before boarding time. Man, these 777-300ERs are beautiful!

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Tarmac Views of Our Plane

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Cathay Pacific Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Tarmac Views Of Our Plane

I rushed to gate A50 at about 12:45, in hopes of being the first onboard, and was about third or fourth in line (that said, the ones before me, save one, were all aviation geeks, so I don’t mind them going first).

Sadly, our gate had problems trying to get boarding organized, so I was standing there in queue for about fifteen minutes before they opened the gates for us.

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Paris Charles de Gaulle Boarding Gate

Boarding was called shortly.

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Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER Paris Charles de Gaulle

BOTTOM LINE ON CATHAY PACIFIC LOUNGE PARIS CDG

Cathay Pacific’s lounge in Paris isn’t a hub lounge. Sure, it’s not the Air France First Class lounge in Paris (I haven’t visited and don’t plan to, but I may get business class in the future when I join in the adult world of miles and points), but I don’t find it a bad lounge by any means. It’s suitable as one of the “hub outstation” lounges that Cathay has, and along with San Francisco, it is, so the lounge fits pretty perfectly in what it’s supposed to fit in.

Would I spend a bit of time in the lounge? Yes, given how crap the terminal is. But this lounge isn’t worth going to Charles de Gaulle early for in any means, so staying home/in your hotel for an extra few hours would make the deal.

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