The Air France Lounge at Los Angeles LAX offers excellent food and a lovely decor, but it’s placement in the terminal requires a lengthy walk.

Location of the Air France Lounge LAX

The Air France Lounge LAX is located in Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). Unfortunately, it’s the part of TBIT otherwise known as the Midfield Satellite Concourse (MSC). This means you’ll need to take a lengthy walk from the main terminal to get here.

The position of the lounge is better if you’re going to be departing from TBIT, and ideally from the MSC. Fortunately for us, we had a few hours to spare before our flight to both check out the lounge and also come back to the main terminal for our flight. We normally wouldn’t recommend checking it out if you’d otherwise be flying out of Terminals 2 or 3 like we were.

To show just how long of a walk this is, you’ll first make your way to TBIT. Around the center of the terminal near the shops and restaurants, you’ll find this set of escalators. For future reference, the top of the escalator area is also where the Chase Sapphire Lounge at LAX will be when it opens.

From there, you’ll take a long walk underground. You’ll be walking between the main terminal under the tarmac. There are employees here in buggies that will take you to the other side if you can’t walk. We’ve done that before.

At the end of the hallway, you’ll come across the elevator bank and escalators taking you back up to ground floor. Don’t head up the escalators or stairs. Instead, you’ll want to head to the elevators.

Inside the elevator, the top floor will take you to the “Air France Lounges”. Not sure why it’s plural as there’s only one up here.

After exiting the elevator, you’ll see the lounge entrance across the way. There are signs out to make sure you don’t get lost, but not like there’s much risk of that.

From here, you can check out the terminal below, which wasn’t too bustling for a Thursday night.

Access rules

The Air France Lounge at LAX is open from 9AM to 11:30PM daily. The timing might strike you as a surprise given the last flight to Paris departs at 9PM, but don’t forget the flight to Tahiti that departs around midnight.

The following customers have access to the Air France Lounge LAX:

• La Première first class (for you + 1 guest)
• Business class on a SkyTeam airline (not a business class lite fare)
• SkyTeam Elite Plus status flying in any cabin on a SkyTeam airline (for you + 1 guest)
  • Flying Blue Ultimate members get access for the member + 8 guests
• Anyone flying Air France can pay for access at a price of $95 or 19,000 Flying Blue miles.

Unlike the Chicago ORD location, the LAX location does not permit access via Priority Pass.

Seating at the Air France Lounge LAX

After entering the lounge, there are two sides to choose from. The left has the bar and buffet areas while the right has a small food area, the restrooms and showers, and some wellness areas.

While the lounge has plenty of space, most of the seating is arranged with couples and families in mind. Everything still feels pretty new here, which is good because it opened only about 2 years ago in June 2024. Pretty much all seating here is covered in a black leather and looks good with the overall decor.

Almost hidden in the walls are these cutout seats, which the kids liked to sit at. The design almost looks like you’re sitting in a blank portrait if you look at it straight on.

Don’t expect any views if you’re sitting in the areas immediately around the entrance. You’ll just get a view of the inside of the terminal but there aren’t any passersby up here and thus no peoplewatching.

On the lefthand side of the lounge past the bar is much more seating. I imagine it can get busy here immediately before Air France flights to Paris. At 8:30PM, right after all the Paris customers need to board, there’s hardly anyone here.

If you have a bigger group, there’s also a lengthy table that everyone can sit at.

The spacing in the lounge just makes it feel like everything is a bit more private. Despite it feeling like a large lounge, it doesn’t hold that many customers. I assume it’s because not many people will end up making the walk all the way here to the MSC. I should also note that while I didn’t get pictures of the view from over here, you can see some of the tarmac if you’re near the buffet.

The food in the Air France Lounge LAX

Most of the food in this lounge is served via buffet. There’s just one thing that isn’t and it comes from the center of the lounge. There’s an “action station” where a chef will cook you up the daily special. For lunch and dinner, it’s pan-seared prawns. However, because we were there so late in the day, it didn’t appear open and served more as a hangout for employees just chatting. Thus, I didn’t get a picture of it. I believe the breakfast at the action station is a made-to-order crepe.

We’ll let the pictures mostly speak for themselves. The quality of the food was quite good and despite already eating at the excellent Delta One Lounge immediately before coming here, we did sample a few things. Honestly, if we didn’t already dine, we would have been more than satisfied here. For what it’s worth, I think the food here at the buffet is better than what we had made-to-order at the nearby Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse.

As you would come to expect with France, the desserts are divine. Even if you’re already full, surely you must make room for dessert here. The choices were chocolate profiterole, a brownie, macarons, fruit salad, and a mango coconut mousse.

There is also a small display along the righthand side of the lounge with other options for you. This is near the front desk, immediately on your left when you enter this side of the lounge.

This is where you’ll find the yogurt, chia pudding, berry shooters, and fruit purees. Maybe since this is closer to the wellness area, they need healthier food here?

Then again, perhaps not. Immediately outside the doors to the wellness area are some cookies. I take back what I immediately said.

Drinks

In the main buffer area, there are two large cases full of soda. If you’re not a fan of sparkling drinks, you might feel the lounge is a bit limited in drink options. But if you are a fan of bubbles, you’re in luck here.

Scattered throughout the lounge are several coffee machines. For those wondering, this can also dispense hot chocolate.

Near the desserts is a wine fridge with chilled glasses. Taittinger that you can pour yourself? Yes, please!

And, of course, don’t forget the bar, which houses the beer and hard liquor. If your kids are looking for something else (like orange juice), you can find it here. The bartender was nice enough to have a small chat with the kids about how he’s ordering orange juice and not a screwdriver.

And then in the back of the lounge near the restrooms (and the cookies) is where you’ll find the orange juice. If you’re feeling anti-social and don’t want to chat with the bartender, you’ll need to make a long walk to get something non-bubbly that’s not water.

Showers

Next to the restrooms (naturally) are the shower stalls. When I was here, making a reservation for the shower wasn’t necessary. All I needed to do was chat with the shower attendant who was hanging around the restroom area and he invited me inside.

There are only two shower stalls here. You might think that’s not enough. However, that seemed like an appropriate number for how many seats were in this lounge.

Visually, the shower had a nice theme. I liked the color contrast between the floor and the walls, but unfortunately, the shower has no door. That, combined with a shower that just didn’t get hot enough, made for a rather unsatisfying experience. On top of that, the shower lacked water pressure.

On the plus side, the shower should work well for the disabled.

The bathroom vanity was nice with a backlit mirror. Still, it seemed to be lacking lotion, which would be nice to have after taking a shower here. You also don’t get any extra amenities like a comb. All you get is a toothbrush, toothpaste, and an uncomfortable disposable razor.

Shower amenities are from Clarins, which has a relationship with Air France. I should also mention that the body soap was empty. It happens sometimes with these soap dispensers.

The wellness area

Right outside the restrooms is the wellness area. This area includes

• A napping room
• The area for La Première guests
• A Clarins facial treatment room

Since I wasn’t a La Première customer, I didn’t check out that area. And I didn’t get a chance to take a picture inside the napping room because someone else was in there. The room has a bunch of chairs and curtains to add some privacy but of course that’s only if you use them. Normally the curtains are drawn back when not in use.

The Clarins facial treatment is only open from 11AM to 8.30PM. Since I was here after 8:30PM, it was unfortunately too late to get a service. Perhaps if we come back during operation, I’ll update this post accordingly. Every customer can get a free 15 minute treatment, which would have been nice before our flight. Oh well.

Apparently La Première guests get a special “Destination Détente” treatment. With as much money as those guests are spending for first class, they should get something extra.

Recommendation: Yes, if flying out of the MSC

The Air France Lounge at Los Angeles LAX is nice, with good food and friendly service. Stopping in to potentially get a free facial treatment is also an added bonus if you come during the hours of operation. That being said, it’s not perfect–the lounge lacked non-alcoholic, non-sparkling beverages and the shower wasn’t great. But it still makes for a good option if you happen to be departing from the Midfield Satellite Concourse at TBIT.

That said, if you have access to this lounge, there’s a good chance you’re also eligible for the Delta One Lounge. And there’s also the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in the main part of TBIT. So how do you handle this?

• If you’re flying in business class, the food at the Delta One Lounge is the best option for you. You might as well stop in here if you are also taking advantage of the Delta One Check-In Facility.
• Departing from the MSC (Gates 200+)? You’re going to want to leave plenty of time to walk over here. This is probably the best lounge for you.
• If you’re departing from TBIT but not the MSC (so, Gates 100-199), depending on how much time you have, I might still recommend this lounge over the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. You don’t want to be there during the Priority Pass hours because of how many people are willing to pay to enter that lounge.
• And lastly, if you’re departing from Terminals 2 or 3, don’t bother coming all the way out here. Unless you’re looking to get a lot of exercise before your flight, it’s not worth it.

Which SkyTeam lounge do you prefer out of LAX?

View other posts in this series:

• A Brief Programming Note: Secret Trip 2.0 Is Here
• Trip Introduction: Secret Trip 2.0 is Back with New Players
• Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #1
  • Air France Lounge LAX Review: Great Food, Poor Location (this post)
• Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #2
• Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #3
• Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #4
• Secret Trip 2.0 Destination #5