There are three Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges at Montreal Trudeau Airport (Domestic, Trans-border and International). This review is for the Air Canada Maple Leaf Trans-border Lounge located airside near gate 75.
Open to Star Alliance premium class passengers, Star Alliance Gold card holders and Maple Leaf Club members, the Air Canada Maple Leaf Trans-border Lounge is small but offers a decent place to eat, relax and be productive before your flight. Because these flights arrive into the United States as domestic flights, you must clear through US Customs and Immigration control in order to access the trans-border gates. The lounge is open from 5:00 AM to 7:30 PM daily.
Priority Pass members can only access the National Bank World Lounge located near gate 52 of the international departures area if you are traveling internationally. And because this is the only Star Alliance Lounge in the trans-border area, it can get crowded, loud and busy at peak times.
Like I said earlier, this is a small lounge but it’s actually very clean, beautiful and modern. The focal point of the lounge is this beautiful open-ended fireplace located in the center of the lounge. There is one wall of windows that allows a ton of natural light in. It’s bright, airy and has views of the boarding gates. There is no separate area for first class passengers but I don’t think there are any flights with first class cabins departing from the trans-border gates.
The lounge is long and narrow and the seating area is mainly along the windows facing the boarding gates. There are a variety of seating options but none of them include loungers, recliners or anything that you could sleep on. There is a small work area with individual cubicles if you need to stay productive. WiFi was provided throughout the lounge and there are plenty of power outlets to keep your devices charged.
There’s a food station with a pretty decent offering of soups, salads (kale, pasta, quinoa, etc.), fruits, cheese/crackers, cookies and pastries. There’s also a fridge with beers and juices, soda fountain, coffee/cappuccino machine and a self-serve bar with a sizable selection of alcohol.
Flight information boards were displayed in the front of the lounge and you had to monitor them yourselves because they did not make any gate or boarding announcements. Other amenities included printers, PC workstations, newspaper and magazines. There were no shower rooms here.
The lounge was kept clean and there were employees constantly cleaning, busing dishes and refilling the food counter.
Overall, this lounge was pretty nice. It was small and crowded but definitely better than the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at CDG or any domestic US based airline lounge that I have ever visited.
Have you visited the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at Montreal before? If so, tell me your thoughts in the comments section below.
Other trip reports in this series:
- The new Star Alliance Lounge at LAX
- The new Korean Airlines Skyteam Lounge at LAX
- Turkish Airlines business class from Los Angeles to Istanbul
- Hilton Istanbul
- Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge at Istanbul
- Turkish Airlines business class from Istanbul to Frankfurt
- Lufthansa Senator Lounges at Frankfurt
- Asiana Airlines first class from Frankfurt to Seoul
- Asiana Airlines first class lounge at Seoul
- Asiana Airlines business class from Seoul to Shanghai
- Westin Bund Center Shanghai
- VIP lounges at Shanghai Pudung International Airport
- Thai Airways business class from Shanghai to Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal First Spa and Lounge
- Thai Airways first class from Bangkok to Paris
- Star Alliance Lounge at CDG
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at CDG
- Air Canada business class (Executive First) from Paris to Montreal
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at Montreal
- Air Canada business class (Executive First) from Montreal to Los Angeles