Part 28: Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2D and the Sheltair Lounge
With my flight to Baku departing at 10:20am, I left my hotel at six to make sure I would be in the airport on time and to enjoy some breakfast in the lounge. It first involved a short metro ride from Blanche to La Chapelle on the metro. Annoyingly, somehow my metro/RER return ticket which I bought beforehand at CDG somehow got damaged and I could not open the barriers at Blanche. Mercifully, the woman behind the ticket counter spoke a tiny bit of English, so coupled with my limited knowledge of the French language I could explain the situation. Magnanimously, she gave me a new metro/RER ticket for free. I have to say that so far every Parisian I've encountered on the short stopover was really helpful and kind, so perhaps I should adjust my long-held negative opinions about Paris and its citizens.
The iconic metro sign of Blanche metro station.
Blanche metro station
La Chapelle metro is connected by a long underground passage to Garde du Nord, Paris' busiest train station where also a couple RER lines halt underground. I easily managed to find the departure platform of my RER to Charles de Gaulle and was happy to see the train half empty at this early hour.
It being French, the train unfortunately decided to have a spontaneous strike halfway the line to Charles de Gaulle and the driver announced that everyone had to go off due to a malfunction. We were all left in the cold drizzle at a dreary platform in the Parisian banlieus waiting for the next train to arrive, which only came after half an hour. Ugh, not a good start of the day.
Waiting at an RER station somewhere on the outskirts of Paris.
From the RER station at Charles de Gaulle it was fortunately a short walk to Terminal 2D, from where my flight with Azerbaijan Airlines would depart. Lines at security were short and within minutes I was airside.
The Charles de Gaulle RER station
Terminal 2D airside.
Terminal 2D is quite long and narrow, both landside and airside. It mostly handles short to midhaul flights in Europe on airlines such as CSA, Austrian, Air Malta, Air Baltic, Croatian Airlines and Finnair. Carriers such as Ukrainian International Airlines, Air Serbia, Belavia and Azerbaijan Airlines fly to destinations outside of the EU.
The Sheltair Lounge is the single lounge in the terminal, and is located upstairs shortly before passport control to the extra Schengen part of the terminal. I was seemingly the first to arrive today in the lounge and first impressions were good: a diverse array of seats, a good layout and aesthetically it was even rather beautifully designed.
The way some walls and cabinets were placed creates many private areas, and even when the lounge filled up in the next hour it never felt crowded. Plenty of plugs and fast internet also made a good working environment.
Some stairs down led to some toilets, which were spotlessly clean. There are no showers though.
Food selection for breakfast was adequate, but nothing to write home about. Some cold cuts, jams, butter, and some French pastries such as croissants and pain au chocolat. They were however very flaky and fresh, so no complaints there. There were a couple of wines available, fresh orange juice, soft drinks and beer in the fridge, and a small selection of booze. There was also some French cheese available.
I settled just for a croissant, a delicious pain au chocolat, and a coffee and orange juice. After breakfast, I spent some time working on my laptop.
After an hour or so, I decided to leave for the gate a bit earlier as I still had to go through passport control. As there were no lines whatsoever, I was at the gate within five minutes. The extra Schengen part of the terminal feels a lot more spacious than the narrow concourse where the intra Schengen flights depart.
In short: Much like other terminals at CDG, terminal 2D can be described as functional at best. The Sheltair Lounge, which is also accessible for Priority Pass holders, is not something to go out of the way for and food and booze is rather limited. That said, it is a nicely designed and quiet lounge, and makes a pleasant space to wait for your flight in quietness.
Next up:: Flying from Paris to Baku with Azerbaijan Airlines in business class.