Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Montreal (International Departures)

There are three Air Canada lounges at the Montreal airport. The international departures lounge as you would expect is the nicest of the three, but access is only allowed for passengers on international flights.

The lounge was recently renovated in 2017 and is very beautiful and spacious.

Air Canada Montreal Lounge Location & Hours

The lounge is located between gates 52 and 53 in the international departures area of the airport. To get to Gates 52 and beyond you need to pass into the international portion of the terminal. Turn left after security and keep walking until you reach an area where you need to scan your international boarding pass. Then keep walking towards gate 52 and the lounge will be on your right between Gates 52 and 53.

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Access

There are three Air Canada lounges at the Montreal airport. Access is allowed for

1. Air Canada or Star Alliance first or business class – access valid for same day boarding pass
2. Star Alliance Gold members – must be traveling on an Air Canada or Star Alliance flight in any class of service
3. Air Canada Altitude Elite Members, or Maple Leaf Club Members

There are a few other obscure ways for Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge access you can read about as well.

The lounge we visited in the international departures area can only be accessed by those who have a flight departing from this area of the airport. This is because you will need to scan your ticket to enter this area. If you don’t have a flight departing from the international departures area, you will not be able to enter.

Montreal Air Canada Check In

The lounge has a modern grey exterior with the signature Air Canada Maple Leaf symbol by the entrance.

The reception is directly through the main doors on the bottom floor. While the reception area was tiny, it was beautiful with a single white countertop and backlit vertical gold bars in the background.

The check-in process was quick as the agent scanned our boarding passes and welcomed us to the lounge. To get to the main area you can take the stairs on the right or the elevator on the left.

Lounge Area

The lounge consists of a series of connected areas partially separated by walls. The first area is the main lounge area with the bar, the buffet and multiple seating options.

The remainder of the areas contained additional seating and lounging areas as well as a small business center.

The lounge itself was beautiful with greiges, light browns and with red and silver accents. You could easily see that the lounge had recently been renovated. When we arrived, there was maybe a dozen people in the lounge, and it was almost empty. The very last section of the lounge was even roped off since it wasn’t needed. The lounge could easily accommodate 200-300 passengers during peak times though.

The décor of this lounge was similar to other Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges, such as the one we visited the previous day in Los Angeles.

Food & Beverage

We were at the lounge around 7am which is right when breakfast was being served. The breakfast options were fairly limited to soggy scrambled eggs, packaged potatoes and sausages, pastries and a sad looking fruit salad that consisted of mostly unripe honeydew. Can that even be considered a fruit salad?

While the breakfast options were uninspiring, I have heard more positive things about the lunch and dinner options.

Overall Impression

The Air Canada Montreal Maple Leaf Lounge was stunning and offered plenty of space. The breakfast options were very limited, but I have heard previous reports about better food and drink options as the day goes on. If that is true, I would rank it among the top lounges in North America. I guess we’ll have to go back and try it out the other food options for ourselves ????