Airport lounges are usually about coffee, champagne, showers and somewhere quiet to wait. Air France’s Business lounge in Terminal 2E, Hall L at Paris Charles de Gaulle once offered something rather less ordinary: two private saunas.
Now the sauna appears to be gone for good — and the explanation doing the rounds among frequent flyers is considerably more colourful than routine maintenance.
One important reality check before things get steamy: Airdelay could not find an official Air France statement saying the sauna was closed because passengers were having sex there. That part of the story remains an unconfirmed rumour, however entertaining it may be.
Yes, Air France really had an airport sauna
When Air France unveiled the redesigned Hall L Business lounge in 2018, its own announcement described a 550-square-metre wellness area with two private saunas. Alongside showers and other relaxation facilities, they were part of the premium lounge experience.
So no, this is not a frequent-flyer myth. Air France really did put saunas in an airport lounge.
So where did the sauna go?
Air France’s current passenger information for the Hall L lounge advertises amenities including showers, relaxation areas and Clarins treatments, but the sauna is conspicuously absent. Curiously, broader Air France corporate material has continued to mention a sauna in Hall L. Even the airline’s own web pages therefore leave a little mystery.
Travellers had noticed something was up. Posts on FlyerTalk described the sauna as unavailable and later reported that its former entrance appeared to be for staff use. That tells us what some passengers encountered, but not why Air France made the change.
And now for the steamy part
This is where an otherwise niche lounge update became much more interesting. Travel reports linked the permanent closure to inappropriate behaviour by some lounge guests, prompting the inevitable internet question: were passengers using the private sauna for sex?
Possibly. But the evidence does not take us that far.
We found no public statement from Air France confirming sexual activity as the reason for the closure. So while the rumour makes for a memorable airport story, it should not be repeated as established fact.
The sauna appears to be closed. The rumours, meanwhile, are very much alive.
A wonderfully strange airport-lounge mystery
There is something wonderfully odd about the whole episode. Airlines spend enormous sums making premium lounges feel less like airports: cocktail bars, restaurant-style dining, spa treatments, nap rooms and, occasionally, a sauna that perhaps became a little too memorable.
For passengers visiting Hall L today, the practical takeaway is simple: do not plan your connection around a sauna session. Air France’s current Hall L passenger information does not advertise one.
As for what really happened behind that sauna door? Unless Air France decides to tell the story itself, that part belongs in the entertaining world of aviation gossip rather than confirmed aviation history.
What do we actually know?
- Confirmed by Air France: Hall L was launched with two private saunas in its wellness area.
- Current official information: Air France’s passenger-facing Hall L page does not currently advertise a sauna.
- Reported by travellers: passengers have described the sauna as closed and its former entrance as unavailable for guest use.
- Not officially confirmed: that passengers were having sex in the sauna, or that sexual activity was the reason it closed.
Airdelay checked Air France’s official lounge material and current passenger information alongside independent traveller reports. Where the story moves from documented fact to rumour, we have said so.
