Emirates Skywards - Cairo transfer (Turnaround)

Has anyone done a turnaround at Cairo airport, i.e. flown on EK (or any other airline) to CAI and returned back on the same flight?
How easy is the transfer / transit?
Would an hour be enough? Do I need a visa (canadian passport)?

Thanks in advance.

Canadians need a visa, which you buy upon arrival just before you reach passport control (it cost me $15 last year). The terminal EK uses there is a bit of a mess, so not sure if you could exit and re-enter and reach your gate in time. In most MENA airports, the EK check-in desk closes one hour before scheduled departure.

Canadians need a visa, which you buy upon arrival just before you reach passport control (it cost me $15 last year). The terminal EK uses there is a bit of a mess, so not sure if you could exit and re-enter and reach your gate in time. In most MENA airports, the EK check-in desk closes one hour before scheduled departure.

I would be just doing a transfer. I doubt if I would need to go thru immigration.
I would have already printed our my BP for the return flight.
Would I have enough time to go thru transfer, or is transferring / transit a hassle at CAI?

To be honest, I am not sure. I do not recall any transfer signs, but there must be some, since I assume there are people connecting to internal Egyptian flights. I think one has to exit the terminal and then enter through the departure front. If you have printed your CAI-DXB return BP, then you might be okay.

If you are in Y, it takes quite a while to get off the plane. The terminal used by EK does not have air bridges. F and J deplane first through the front door, board the bus, then get driven to the terminal. I noticed that it was only after we got off the bus and walked into the terminal that they opened the second door for Y to start deplaning. Since I have only flown into CAI once so far, I cannot say for certain if they do this every time. I was on a two-class 777-300.

Has anyone done a turnaround at Cairo airport, i.e. flown on EK (or any other airline) to CAI and returned back on the same flight?
How easy is the transfer / transit?
Would an hour be enough? Do I need a visa (canadian passport)?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Mate what ur looking for will not work out. You have bought Ex CAI good EK fares but behold this is a mileage run which needs u to sortie & checkin again. I have not flown Comr but Prvt only recently into CAI so would advise to stick to this plan.

Hope this helps

Safe Flying

EGT

I would strongly caution against this. If there is another airplane full of people in front of you, the immigration hall can be quite full and it can take 1 hour to clear.

There is a door to the right (where you buy the visas) that says 'transfers,' but I don't know how it works. The door seems to open directly to the outside and there is a police guy there, bored at his desk. In five years of weekly Cairo trips, I *never* saw anyone use it.

On days Sat - Wed there are two daily flights into Cairo. You could land at 12:00noon and take the 19:00 departure out. There's a decent restaurant in the airport before check in. It's a long time, but no fear of missing the connection.

Thanks guys...I was afraid of this....

I've never been to Cairo...so may just make an excuse a see the place for a day or so....

I suggest you leave a good 3 hour gap for a chance for this to happen without sweat. Fly with ME/RJ/QR/GF/EY/MS/FZ (take your pick but be warned of some).

Thanks guys...I was afraid of this....

I've never been to Cairo...so may just make an excuse a see the place for a day or so....

It's well worth spending a couple of days there. It's a bit frantic, but a tour of the pyramids etc. is great.

One important note, make sure of have a copy of your itinery when you get to the airport. I was on an EK e-ticket, and turned up at the airport with nothing else. I couldn't even get into the departure hall.

Eventually, one of the guards took my passport and disappeared. I was very nervous, but he returned about 5 minutes later with an Emirates ground official who checked my name on the manifest, and I was eventually let through.

The check in staff then insisted that I needed a Visa to get to NZ. After a while, a supervisor was called, and she let me check in.

I was very relieved when I arrived at DXB :D

The turn-around flight at CAI is on the same plane you are coming on. If you have boarding pass in-hand would EK let you stay on the airplane? If so that would take care of the issue.

If you have boarding pass in-hand would EK let you stay on the airplane?

Never, security risk. Plus the BP needs to be scanned at the gate

Never, security risk. Plus the BP needs to be scanned at the gate

How does the security risk differ from an airplane that makes a stop? I was recently on a Sri Lankan Airways flight from CMB to HKG and it makes a 1-hour stop in BKK. During the stop all passengers on the way to HKG stayed on the plane.

I think it's just that the business of moving large quantities of people around the place with any degree of accuracy demands that airlines think up a fairly foolproof system and then make all the passengers fit into it, without exception.

Take one part of that system: checking BPs at the gate. Computers now check BPs at most gates... humans, even well-paid and intelligent ones who care about their employer make mistakes. Now consider how many mistakes will be made by ground staff at an outstation who are employed through several layers of subcontractors and not paid very much. Achieving 99% process accuracy is easy enough - even 99.9% is a reasonable human success rate. But if you think 99.9% is good, for an airline the size of Emirates that means putting 86 people per day on the wrong plane.

The error rate might be small, but consider the hassle of fixing those mistakes if a passenger has been flown to the wrong destination (possibly without a visa and hence incurring fines for the carrier).

Some of us have seen airline employees notice a passenger (usually one of us) who doesn't fit the system well, and that employee circumvents the system to help us. The sad reality is that airlines don't want this happening, because if you let people use initiative then a minority will make mistakes that cost money to fix.

There are other reasons too, like a cabin crew change where the new crew don't arrive before the old crew leave - who would evacuate you in event of emergency? Who would notice you ducking into the lav, putting on a reflective vest, then exiting the aircraft via a rear stairs used for cleaners and wandering around the ramp?

It's not true that this is always required. I've been on separate tickets SIN- CMB- MLE and didn't disembark at CMB. The ground staff came onboard and scanned our boarding passes, though I suspect being in F might have made a difference.

Yes but in this case you are transiting and not staying on for the return leg of that flight

How does a transit vs return differ in security if you state it is a security risk?

The SIN-CMB-DXB on separate PNRs is different, because it's a via point on a single flight number and hence having some pax remain on the plane (those travelling SIN-DXB) at CMB is planned for - so you weren't thrown off. However, as far as EK's computer knew, ung1(Y) disembarked and ung1(F) boarded, those being separate people. Hence why the ground staff needed to come on and see the new BP, so they could tell the computer that ung1(F) had arrived.

However, EK don't sell seats from DXB to DXB via CAI (or anywhere else), and as such there is no procedure in place to take care of pax on the plane while they wait for the return flight.

The procedure is for all the pax to disembark at CAI, and that's what the staff will have been told to do with you. I don't know CAI well - but just as illustration of potential issues, in many airports there are rules where departing pax must have their BP stamped by various departments - immigration and security screening are common. Gate staff are then instructed not to board pax without these stamps on their BP. How will you obtain them? The gate staff probably do need to see your BP at some point so that the computer knows you're on the plane (for your own benefit if nobody else's - otherwise your subsequent sectors could be cancelled)...

In short, there are two bridges that have to be crossed:
1) Not being required to leave the aircraft (a larger problem IMO)
2) Not falling foul of pedantic box-tickers when getting yourself 'boarded' onto the return flight.

Best of luck though!

Has anyone done a turnaround at Cairo airport, i.e. flown on EK (or any other airline) to CAI and returned back on the same flight?
How easy is the transfer / transit?
Would an hour be enough? Do I need a visa (canadian passport)?

Thanks in advance.

I don't know wich terminal is using EK but transfer/transit at Terminal 3 is easy : arriving from FRA with LH, just before immigration I showed the BP for my next flight, it has been stamped 'Transit', then I passed a security control and I've been allowed to take a lift to the departure level.

There is a door to the right (where you buy the visas) that says 'transfers,' but I don't know how it works. The door seems to open directly to the outside and there is a police guy there, bored at his desk. In five years of weekly Cairo trips, I *never* saw anyone use it.

I've used that door. The police guy stamped my boarding passes. Another guy screened my hand baggage and wanded me. Then you go up some stairs and come to another door. Which is locked. And nobody knows where the key is. So you wait while the first police guy calls someone. Then someone comes with a big ring of keys. That he tries one by one. None work. Then another guy passes on the other side of the door so you bang on it. He turns the knob and it opens and you make your flight (barely).

Not for the faint of heart. I've transited via Cairo 3 times in the last few years and missed connections twice (faults lie with MS and TK though, not EK!).

I've used that door. The police guy stamped my boarding passes. Another guy screened my hand baggage and wanded me. Then you go up some stairs and come to another door. Which is locked. And nobody knows where the key is. So you wait while the first police guy calls someone. Then someone comes with a big ring of keys. That he tries one by one. None work. Then another guy passes on the other side of the door so you bang on it. He turns the knob and it opens and you make your flight (barely).

Not for the faint of heart. I've transited via Cairo 3 times in the last few years and missed connections twice (faults lie with MS and TK though, not EK!).

Was this in Terminal 1 or 3? MS and TK use terminal 3, but EK uses terminal 1 which is much older, and perhaps more difficult not being set up for transfers.

Also, the transit passenger would need a boarding pass, and EK does not allow on-line check in for credit card purchases for itineraries originating in Cairo. You must present the credit card used for purchase at check in to obtain the boarding pass.

Does EK have a transit desk where you can pick up your boarding pass or do you need to clear immigration and go to the Emirates check-in counter?

Does EK have a transit desk where you can pick up your boarding pass or do you need to clear immigration and go to the Emirates check-in counter?

There's no transit desks in T3 (which EK uses). Only the aforementioned transit door guarded by a policeman which, I assume, you need a boarding pass to access.

Does EK have a transit desk where you can pick up your boarding pass or do you need to clear immigration and go to the Emirates check-in counter?

There's no transit desks in T3 (which EK uses). Only the aforementioned transit door guarded by a policeman which, I assume, you need a boarding pass to access.

Is EK in terminal 1 or 3? You last post states they are in 3, your post before that states they are in 1.

For those that have used to "transit door", how did you obtain your boarding pass?

Is EK in terminal 1 or 3? You last post states they are in 3, your post before that states they are in 1.

For those that have used to "transit door", how did you obtain your boarding pass?

EK is in terminal 1. The transfer door exists in terminal 1, but there are no desks. I don't know how to get the boarding pass before hand, except by OLCI.

Sorry to confuse you! I was trying to provide clear information. The situation itself is rather confusing (in terminal 1), which is why I'm very interested to hear your report of how it goes.

Terminal 3 has transfer desks and full capacity to transfer without passing immigration. But this is used by Star Alliance carriers.