Review: Extime Business Lounge Terminal 2B-2D Paris CDG
This review details the Extime Business Lounge in Terminal 2B-2D at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG).
Flying through Paris
On a recent trip to Croatia, I had the opportunity to visit the Extime Business Lounge at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport during my layover en route to Zagreb.
The trip began with an early morning flight from Bucharest to Paris in Air France’s intra-European business class.
I’ve reviewed Air France business class, including the Air France Airbus A220, numerous times before, so feel free to check out these articles if you’d like to learn more.
This flight was rather uneventful, though I enjoyed the lovely views from the window upon take-off from Bucharest in the early morning and the French countryside on arrival.
Paris CDG transit
Paris Charles de Gaulle has a bad reputation as an airport, especially when it comes to the ease of connections and transferring between terminals.
For the most part, this reputation is undeserved, as connections between Terminals 2E, 2F, and 2G at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport — where all Air France flights and those of most SkyTeam partners like Delta and KLM depart — are absolutely straightforward.
It does get trickier if you need to make a less common transfer and your connecting flight departs from a completely different terminal.
In that case, you’ll find that Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport can be quite a nightmare, with long walks or bus rides, confusing signposting, and the need to re-clear security.
This was certainly the case this time, as I was connecting from an Air France flight arriving at Terminal 2E to a Croatia Airlines flight departing from Terminal 2D.
Although it may sound like these two terminals are adjacent and close, they are in fact not close at all, and you will either have to go landside and walk a long way, or take an intra-terminal shuttle bus.
On the plus side, the intra-terminal shuttle bus always offers great planespotting opportunities as you drive around the vast premises of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, and in this case, it was fun spotting some exotic airplanes, such as an Air Senegal Airbus A330neo.
Once the bus dropped me and a few other passengers off at Terminal 2B-2D, I was once again reminded how annoying some connections can be at Paris Charles de Gaulle, as we were now one floor below the landside departures area with seemingly no direct way to get there — unless there was some well-hidden secret path that I overlooked.
I had no choice but to walk through the baggage control area and head landside into the arrivals hall, from where I had to re-clear security to enter the airside departures area of Terminal 2B-2D.
In total, the entire transit process from Terminal 2E to Terminal 2B-2D took me a full hour — and I should add that I generally walk fast and know my way around Charles de Gaulle well — so this could easily take longer if you’re not as mobile or new to the airport.
Paris CDG Terminal 2B-2D and the Extime Lounge
Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2B-2D is essentially a single terminal with two wings: The security checkpoint, main shopping area, and business lounge are in the shared central space, from where you can walk to either the 2B or 2D gates, depending on where your flight departs.
The terminal has undergone quite a big renovation since the last time I passed through here pre-pandemic.
The number of stores and food outlets has significantly increased from what I remember, and the gate areas themselves certainly look much better, with more comfortable seats and plenty of power sockets.
Also the business lounge in Terminal 2B-2D of Paris Charles de Gaulle has been upgraded, with the old Sheltair Lounge now closed and replaced by the Extime Lounge.
The Extime Lounge — named after the airport retail and hospitality brand Groupe ADP (Aéroports de Paris) — is currently the only business lounge in Terminal 2B-2D of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
For what it’s worth, there are also Extime business lounges at Terminal 1 of Paris CDG and Terminal 4 of Paris Orly Airport.
The Extime Lounge is the designated lounge for all airlines departing from Terminal 2B-2D, or at least those that have signed an agreement with them (don’t expect easyJet — the biggest airline at this terminal — to be one of them).
A motley bunch of airlines have contracted Extime as their lounge at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, including Air Austral, Air Baltic, American Airlines, El Al, Air Algérie, Finnair, ITA Airways, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, and Croatia Airlines, which I would be flying today.
The entrance to the Extime Lounge is located in the heart of the duty-free area, next to a Relay store, and is clearly signposted.
You’ll then need to take the lift one floor up and walk to the end of the corridor to find the lounge entrance and reception.
The Extime Lounge is open daily from 6am until 9.30pm.
Note that the Extime Lounge in Terminal 2B-2D is located after security but before passport control, so if you’re flying to a non-Schengen destination, make sure to leave the lounge with plenty of time to spare to pass through passport control.
Extime Lounge entry requirements
The entry requirements for the Extime Lounge depend on the airline you’re flying with, but you can generally expect complimentary access if you’re flying business class or hold a high enough frequent flyer status.
In the case of my Croatia Airlines flight, I was able to access the lounge as I was flying in business class.
Note that the Extime Lounge has a strictly enforced policy only allowing access up to a maximum of three hours before your flight.
This also applies to passengers on connecting flights, as I was, with all my flights booked through Air France and the final leg from Paris to Zagreb operated as a codeshare by Croatia Airlines.
I had a long 9-hour layover at the airport, which I had intentionally booked to get some work done on my laptop in the lounge between flights.
However, I was told they couldn’t let me in that far in advance of my flight, and as a contract lounge, they simply didn’t care that Air France would normally allow unlimited access for connections at their own lounges.
Of course, Extime is fully within their rights to do so, but this detail caught me off-guard and certainly caused a significant inconvenience.
Especially passengers connecting from an Air France flight to a SAS Scandinavian Airlines flight at Terminal 2B-2D (a common connection now that SAS has joined SkyTeam) should be mindful of the 3-hour lounge visit limit.
The Extime Lounge at Terminal 2B-2D of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport cannot be accessed through lounge membership programmes or credit cards such as Priority Pass, but you can pre-book access online or pay on the spot, with prices starting at a hefty €95.
A look around the Extime Lounge
The Extime Lounge consists of several smaller interconnected rooms, with the buffet located about halfway through the lounge and the largest seating area at the far end.
The Extime Lounge has a beautiful décor that can best be described as French elegance, with a big number of Asian design elements incorporated into the mix.
It’s a pleasant space, and the fact that the lounge consists of multiple rooms rather than one large room adds to the serene atmosphere.
The Extime Lounge offers a good variety of seating options, including comfortable leather chairs — some placed in cubicle-like structures for added privacy — as well as high-top chairs and tables.
Some seats in the lounge offer a good view through large windows overlooking the airport premises and apron, providing decent planespotting opportunities.
Most seats have a power socket nearby, so finding a good spot to sit while charging your laptop or phone shouldn’t be too difficult.
Throughout the entire lounge, the Wi-Fi signal was strong, and the speeds were good.
Extime Lounge buffet
In the centre of the Extime Lounge, you can find a self-serve buffet arranged around a large central counter, with additional side counters placed against the wall.
When I visited in the afternoon, lunch was being served in the Extime Lounge, featuring a selection of hot dishes such as buttered chicken, meatballs, roast potatoes, vegetable ratatouille, pasta, and rice.
The buffet also featured a small salad bar, cold cuts, three types of French cheeses, a selection of cakes, brownies, and other desserts, along with some bread options.
I tried a couple of food items from the buffet and was pleasantly surprised by their quality, so it’s definitely possible to enjoy a good meal before your flight in the Extime Lounge.
Halal and kosher food items are also available, which isn’t surprising given that several North African airlines, as well as El Al, use the Extime Lounge.
Drinks
At the lounge buffet, you’ll find several coffee machines that make a decent cup of coffee, glass bottles and jars with various juices, fridges stocked with soft drinks, bottled water, and beer, as well as large glass containers filled with infused water.
The Extime Lounge also offers one type of French white and red wine, along with kosher wine from Israel.
I was pleased to see that the drinks selection at the Extime Lounge also included champagne (Lucien Lalardier), which is quite rare for a contract lounge but certainly a welcome addition.
The selection of strong alcohol and liqueurs was also decent, featuring Johnny Walker Black Label whiskey, Bombay Sapphire gin, Stolichnaya vodka, Martini, pastis, and tequila.
Shower facilities
The Extime Lounge has clean toilets within the premises and also offers shower rooms to its guests.
However, it will cost you a €20 fee to use a shower room at the Extime Lounge, which I find not only expensive but also rather tacky for any business lounge to charge its guests separately for.
Needless to say, I didn’t pay for it and therefore can’t comment much on the quality of the actual showers.
Other comments
Three other aspects of the Extime Lounge that pleasantly surprised me were the service, cleanliness, and quietness.
Empty plates and glasses were quickly cleared away, the lounge was spotless, and everyone I interacted with was friendly.
For most of my time in the Extime Lounge, it was delightfully quiet, with only a quarter or a third of the seats occupied, and even when the lounge filled up a bit, it still maintained a serene vibe.
Heading to the gate
After a pleasant time in the lounge, it was time to catch my onward flight to Zagreb.
If you’re curious about what Croatia Airlines business class is like, click the link to read my review of the flight from Paris to Zagreb.
Conclusion
The Extime Lounge in Terminal 2B-2D of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport pleasantly surprised me, being a beautifully appointed space with quiet surroundings, a good-quality buffet, and a very decent drinks selection, including champagne.
Of course, as a contract lounge, the Extime Lounge can’t compare to the better Air France business lounges at Paris Charles de Gaulle, as they offer more facilities and a higher quality range of food and drinks.
That said, for a contract lounge, which are often average or even poor-quality facilities, the Extime Lounge is a surprisingly nice business lounge.
The only real negative aspect of the Extime Lounge is that the showers are paid-only, which I find a bit tacky for a supposedly premium lounge.
If you don’t get complimentary access through your frequent flyer status or business class ticket, I also think the entrance fee (minimum €95) is very steep and frankly not worth the money, especially considering that lounge access is limited to a maximum of three hours.
Despite these negative aspects, I do recommend visiting the Extime Lounge if you have complimentary access to it.
I went in with low expectations, given how poor the old Sheltair Lounge was in the terminal, but the new Extime Lounge in Terminal 2B-2D of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport really is a pleasant space where you’ll be happy spending time — and I certainly did so before my flight!
