We had a chance to stop by the gorgeous new Air France Lounge ORD (not as a Priority Pass guest) and came away impressed with the design.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Cheese and Chocolate in Western Europe
• United Club LAX: Better Than Your Average United Lounge
• A Great Stay Outside the City Center: The Thompson Chicago
• The Beautiful Air France Lounge ORD (this post)
• The Best Inflight Service: KLM 787-10 World Business Class ORD-AMS
• Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht: A Great Stay But Now Pricey
• Perfect Dutch Comfort Food at The Pantry Amsterdam
• Smelt It and Loved It: Restaurant Smelt Amsterdam
• Amsterdam with Kids: Plenty of History, Cheese, and Sweets
• Zaanse Schans: You Must See This Idyllic Spot Near Amsterdam
• NS Lounge Amsterdam Centraal: Sadly, Not Much Here
• Eurostar Premier: Better Than Economy But Still Pretty Basic
• Winter Wonders: The Wonderful Brussels Christmas Market

Location of the Air France Lounge ORD

The Air France Lounge at Chicago O’Hare (ORD) is located in Terminal 5, the international terminal. This terminal is not connected airside to other terminals at Chicago O’Hare, making it tough to access unless you’re departing here. Most international airlines depart from here along with Avelo, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, and Sun Country.

Once you clear security at Terminal 5, head to your left and you’ll see the sign along the right near Gate M17.

Turn into the hallway immediately before the LOT Polish Lounge and you’ll see a lengthy hallway. At the end of this hallway is where the Air France Lounge sits.

Access rules

The Air France Lounge ORD is open from 5:30AM to 11:30PM daily, which more than covers the flights going out for SkyTeam members. That said, there is a distinction between guests who are here based on elite status or cabin flown, and those here from Priority Pass.

Access via SkyTeam qualifications

The following guests have access to the Air France Lounge ORD:

• 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
• Priority Pass members (more on that in the next section)

Air France doesn’t list a price to purchase entry on their site for the Chicago lounge, but that could just be from how new it is. If an offer is available, you’ll find it in your reservation up to 24 hours prior to departure.

Access via Priority Pass

If you’re trying to access this lounge via Priority Pass, you will not be admitted between the hours of noon and 5PM. Interestingly, Priority Pass claims that children will not be admitted. That’s certainly not the case if accessing with SkyTeam qualifications.

This is currently the only lounge that has a contract with Priority Pass, so you’re out of luck during these hours. If you’re planning to use this lounge with your Priority Pass membership, you’ll need to access it between the hours of 5:30AM and noon, or between 5PM and 11:30PM.

Seating at the Air France Lounge ORD

This lounge is 470 square meters (5,060 square feet) in size, making it on the smaller side. It would be interesting to see exactly how crowded it is during Priority Pass hours. Thankfully, it was fairly empty at 2PM in the afternoon.

There is a section with individual seating in the center of the lounge. It’s physically a very beautiful setup, which impressed us from the moment we stepped inside.

One thing that’s nice about the lounge is the large windows with views of the apron. It’s always wonderful getting plenty of natural lighting.

Next to the buffet is also a longer table if you have a large party and some dining tables set up for groups of two.

If you need to work while in the lounge, there are individual workstations near the entrance to the lounge in the “working area”.

There are a few luggage storage lockers, but not many. We only counted six, which might not be enough depending on the time of day.

La Première guests have a separate section of the lounge. It wasn’t occupied the day we were there.

As mentioned above, there are nice views of the apron. In our case, we saw an American plane parked nearby. While American normally serves Terminal 3, international arrivals are directed to Terminal 5 for passport control.

The food

All food is at the back of the lounge in the buffet display. There isn’t too much selection, but overall the quality was good and they never ran out of food. What isn’t clear to us is if the selection or quality changes when the Priority Pass guests fill the lounge. I can only provide commentary on the hours exclusive to SkyTeam guests. I’ll need to return during Priority Pass hours to get more perspective.

Anyways, we’ll have the pictures mostly speak for themselves.

Drinks

Next to the buffet station is a drink display with some Coca-Cola soft drinks, water, and coffee machines.

There are also a few carafes of juice and a bucket of ice.

Closer to the entrance is the bar, which also has a TV in case you want to watch a game. The bar is beautiful with an interesting selection of hanging lights.

One thing that surprised me was that the lounge didn’t serve champagne. Instead they serve Avissi, a prosecco, a cheap $13 bottle of sparkling wine.

Showers

If you’re in the mood for a shower, you just need to flag down an employee so they can unlock the room. That’s right–there’s only one shower in here. But with a lounge as small as this one is, I don’t think that’s a problem.

Naturally, I wanted to take a shower for educational purposes, and didn’t end up waiting in line to get in. Just inside is a large mirror and a sink.

Further in is a toilet and a small seat with some towels on it. It would have been nice if they had a little more seating or a place to put my stuff.

And then the shower itself is behind the wall. The controls are right under the spout, which makes it challenging not to get doused with cold water when turning it on. But once the shower warms up, it’s good.

Toiletries are unbranded. I’ll say I wasn’t impressed by them, but at least they provide soap?

Recommendation: It’s worth a visit

I have to qualify the recommendation because we’ve only been when Priority Pass guests do not have access. That said, we enjoyed the lounge. Everyone we interacted with had a smile on their face and tried their best to meet our needs. The lounge itself is beautiful and the food is good quality. Really the worst part of the lounge might be the sparkling wine, so choose something else.

Between this and the nearby Delta Sky Club, go with this one.

Have you been to the Air France Lounge ORD yet?

Suggested reading:

• Good to See: SkyTeam Expands Elite Lounge Access
• Comfort in the Sky: Air France A350-900 Business Class PPT-LAX
• Why You Need to Collect Air France Miles