The transborder Salon Odyssée Desjardins – Plaza Premium Lounge at YUL Montreal Trudeau International Airport opened its doors to U.S. bound passengers on March 1st. This lounge has been many years in the making as they had originally planned to have it open in late 2020 but the pandemic quickly changed that. A big thank you to Francis G. who alerted us to the lounge opening!
Here is what ADMTL told us just a month or so before travel came to a virtual halt four years ago:
We are looking to have our own lounge open in the transborder jetty by November or December 2020. Presently, we do not have any space to open a lounge in the domestic jetty because of the works. If a space becomes available, we will likely open a lounge in the domestic jetty.
Opening update (March 2 12:00pm ET) – The lounge is currently only open to Desjardins cardholders at this time
Thanks to our long time follower Jay T who just DMed me with the following details:
I tried to access the new Desjardins lounge 2 hours ago (on March 2) and they are only open to Desjardins customers for now. Their system to connect to Dragon pass and Visa Airport Companion is not connected. I was so excited, then disappointed.
The attendant said it could take a couple of weeks but she wasn’t sure. Looks nice though! It is open to the main hall like the neighboring restaurants and shops.
Jay was also kind enough to share a photo of it from the outside from this morning:
The new Salon Odyssée Desjardins lounge
The lounge is located near gate 76 in the transborder extension of the airport. It serves all U.S. bound passengers departing from gates 72 to 80. It is open daily from 4:30am to 9pm and is operated Plaza Premium. This is the second lounge at YUL for Plaza Premium as they also operate the Air France KLM lounge in the international departures area.
There are not a lot of details available on the lounge yet outside of an information page on the YUL website. The lounge isn’t even listed on Plaza Premium website yet! ADMTL provides the following details on their site as to what it offers
- Wines, beers and spirits
- Refreshments and appetizers
- WIFI service
- USB charging ports
We’ll provide an update for additional lounge details once they become available.
Click here to learn more about this lounge (ADMTL website)
Accessing the lounge
Being branded a Desjardins lounge means select Desjardins Odyssey credit cardholders can access the lounge at no charge or receive a discount on the entrance fee:
- Odyssey Visa Infinite Privilege: Get 12 free passes a year for all the cards on the account
- Odyssey World Elite Mastercard: Get 8 free passes a year to the Desjardins Odyssey Lounges for all the cards on the account.
- Odyssey Gold Visa: Get 50% off the regular entrance fee
Additionally since it is a Plaza Premium lounge there will be numerous other ways to access the lounge. You can pre-pay single lounge entrances on the Plaza Premium website (once the lounge is added to the site), walk up to the lounge and pay or for many use DragonPass or Priority Pass to enter. You can purchase memberships directly from Priority Pass or DragonPass or receive free membership from numerous Canadian credit cards, some of which also provide annual free lounge visit passes. You can find out more in our Guide to Business Lounge Access. Here are highlights of some the cards that can provide to access this lounge:
- The Platinum Card from American Express – Unlimited free visits
- American Express Gold Rewards Card – Four free visits annually
- Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card – Six free visits annually
- CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card: Four free visits annually
- BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard – Four free visits annually
Images via ADMTL