Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - EgyptAir: Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel questions

Hey all...we're flying LXR-ASW-ABS-ASW in November. The usual ABS trip most people do...in on a morning flight, two hours at the temples, out on an afternoon flight.

I called the American EgyptAir office in NYC this morning and they said these flights are all "under airport control". ASW-ABS-ASW is showing sold out pretty much every day, but from other threads here I realize that could be travel agents hoarding inventory.

Questions:

- Can one e-checkin the day before domestic MS flights? (I'll be at the Hilton Luxor, presumably with 'Net access and access to a printer if needed.)

- If I have to check in at LXR, will I be able to use a *G queue and receive all three of my BP's at once? I'm guessing that LXR is a somewhat more peaceful place than CAI, especially checking in for a 7:30AM flight.

- Do they assign seats, or are these flights open seating?

- I could not get Orbitz to sell me C seats, but I notice they are only $10 per person per segment more when I view fares on the MS website, which would not sell me any seats either from their .com or .eg. If any of my flights are on mainline equipment, can I refare to C at LXR if it is available? My tickets are currently in full-Y.

I did ASW-ABS-ASW about 18 months ago. I didn't go into Luxor airport but I'd imagine it's not far different to ASW. That means no significant benefit from status, nowhere entertaining to wait either side of check in, and the biggest hassle will be getting into the airport itself.

Please, make sure you're not being farmed out onto the Air Memphis ASW-ABS-ASW route. That plane (a DC9) is an accident waiting to happen. We were on it and boarding passes were simply handed out to pax who gave a name that matched a list on a clipboard that a man in the main hall was holding. Forget images of the west, it's not like that.

:eek: Thanks for the heads-up on the creepy DC-9!! I would hope that holding a direct MS ticket (as opposed to some sort of all-inclusive package through a tour operator) might give me a bit of an advantage, as would checking in at LXR. I mean, I would think... :o

What about seats and checkin? Did you arrive at ASW and obtain seat assignments from the MS counter? Or was it open seating once onboard? Was there even *G checkin or preboarding? I know there will be no lounge anything...

EDIT: The Air Memphis website returns a 404 error. I'm wondering if this op went out of business, thankfully without a flight accident.

If you have a reservation on MS then my cautions are irrelevant - except that Egypt is different. Rules can be broken if you pay enough bribes to break them. So don't expect orderly priority according to status or class of travel; and don't expect VIP treatment. If you get it it'll be a nice surprise - otherwise just sit back and soak up the experience.

I can get the Air Memphis site to work: http://www.airmemphis.com.eg/index.htm

but they only do charters so you couldn't book on them. If you booked a tour of Abu Simbel including air transfer that's what you could end up on.

Now, this is really funny - I have just been onto the Air Memphis site and found the following pages showing photos of the DC9: http://www.airmemphis.com.eg/fleet_info_4.htm

I thought they looked familiar, so I went to check on my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackwych/sets/72157608355095656/

Spooky, eh?

MS had assigned seating, at least 2 1/2 years ago, for that route (well, at least CAI-ASW-ABS). Equipment was A321s.

I just returned from Egypt and did those exact same flights on Egypt Air.
I did not see any way to check in in advance. Check with your hotel conceirge to double check.
They do assign seats. There is a "First Class" section and I use that term loosely.
We called it "Festival Boarding"... everyone herds on all at once, first class included.

The planes are old... some were delayed a bit. They were always full.