Egypt Air

We are off to Cairo next September and are using up our old NatWest Airmiles airmiles (if you get me). The only direct flight that allows me to do this is Egypt Air. We have enough to go Business Class, I think rather luckily.

Since the website is very poor and contains little info, has anyone here tried them - what are they like, food, entertainment, comfort, service etc.? I'm not holding my breath but would be interested if anyone has flown with them before with any experiences.

The other option is to fly with someone like Lufthansa or Air France and change locally, but airport taxes run into £400+ and I do begrudge paying that amount, esp. when not direct.

Cheers.

Dragonbaby flew with them a few years ago (international and internal domestic) albeit in economy when travelling with her grandparents. She wasn't too impressed- said service wasn't great, seats like rock, archaic entertainment system etc but there again she's been spoilt.Granny's main gripe however was that it was a dry flight...
I'd hope Business would be better.
Julie

[HighFlyer]

Oh boy! My last flight with Egypt Air resulted in an Emergency landing where we came to such an abrupt halt that the overhead luggage compartments all opened (many throwing their baggage out) and with several portions of what i can only describe as 'ceiling tile' landing on some of the passengers sat in the centre rows.

Business class with Air Egypt resembles something out of the early 80's. Don't expect too much and you'll be pleasantly surprised. From what i recall, the food was rather bland to suit a multitude of palates but not actually that bad. (i.e; Breakfast is often something plain like cakes and muffins with tea, as it is acceptable to the majority). The FA's were good though, and they had lovely Turkish tea for some reason. Entertainment varies dependant on aircraft, do you know what you have? Most of the Air Egypt planes i have been on consist of the 'large screen up-front' form of IFE and they also seem to enjoy showing 15 year old re-runs of Mr Bean, but this may have changed in recent years.

Cairo is only a short flight though. BA fly direct to Cairo, at least they used to anyway. Can you utilise them with your miles?

Thanks,
Sarah

If you can, I'd go with BA;)

VS.

We flew with them back in 1999, leaving LHR on the 1st November. Surprisingly the plane was almost empty!

We were on a package and so flew economy LHR - Cairo - Sharm el Sheik - Luxor - LHR.

The outbound leg was on a 777 with landing gear camera - first and only time I have seen that view. On board service was OK - I have had far worse on charter flights to the Canaries. Biggest drawback is the fact they were dry.

Cairo to Sharm was on a 747, rather large for a 50min flight. The seat in front of me was broken and was in full recline however without prompting the crew offered to move me to emergency exit row in the rear, which was empty. Loads of space.

On the Sharm to Luxor leg the plane, Airbus derivative, went tech just before take off and we were deplaned and within an hour bussed to a hotel for the day, and provided with food at no charge, as there was no spare a/c. Eventually arrived in Luxor some 12 hours late.

Luxor to LHR was a 747 but we took crisps and extra soft drinks on board to supplement the service. We were experienced by then.

According to the rep they used to say "if you have time to spare, fly Egyptair".

However all in all for a short flight they are fine - having said that I would baulk at flying long haul with them. Entertainment wise as already mentioned was just a screen at the fron of the cabin, with nothing special to watch.

Hope that helps.

Rob

Originally posted by HighFlyer
Oh boy! My last flight with Egypt Air resulted in an Emergency landing where we came to such an abrupt halt that the overhead luggage compartments all opened (many throwing their baggage out) and with several portions of what i can only describe as 'ceiling tile' landing on some of the passengers sat in the centre rows.

Business class with Air Egypt resembles something out of the early 80's. Don't expect too much and you'll be pleasantly surprised. From what i recall, the food was rather bland to suit a multitude of palates but not actually that bad. (i.e; Breakfast is often something plain like cakes and muffins with tea, as it is acceptable to the majority). The FA's were good though, and they had lovely Turkish tea for some reason. Entertainment varies dependant on aircraft, do you know what you have? Most of the Air Egypt planes i have been on consist of the 'large screen up-front' form of IFE and they also seem to enjoy showing 15 year old re-runs of Mr Bean, but this may have changed in recent years.

Cairo is only a short flight though. BA fly direct to Cairo, at least they used to anyway. Can you utilise them with your miles?

Thanks,
Sarah

Thanks everyone for managing my expectations!!

The Airmiles I have are not a FF programm collection, just as a result of spending on my NatWest credit card over the years. BA don't subscribe to miles/cash (you need about 20k miles to do a full mile flight and thats like £400k of spending - I only have 6000 miles therefore are relegated to the cash/miles element).

As said I had the choice of going direct with Egyptair or using another carrier but changing in Europe and paying up to £400 in taxes, so I guess for a 5 hour flight, door to door, Egyptair seemed the most convenient. I am used to UCS or Club/First with BA, so from what you tell me, this will be an eye opener...

...good job i can remember Y class days, perhaps hope for that, and be surprised if I get any extra's!!

Thanks for replies.