BA to move to new Terminal 2 at Cairo
Sep 6, 2016, 9:16 pm
#16
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As an aside - the APM is quite unusual in that it contains two separate cars, locked from one another and stopping in different areas of the T2/T1 stations separated by a locked door. I understand that the car that isn't accessible from the public areas is an air-side transfer route. When I took the APM (mid-afternoon on a Saturday) it was running every 30mins. I was quite surprised to see half a dozen other people get on board (I'd rarely seen it running when I was at the airport before and I didn't think anyone used it). I don't think it'd be possible to run it any more frequently with the current design, because it's a single track and end-to-end travel time is ~12mins.
The only downside is that when connecting from T1 to T3 after collecting luggage then the ramps from the APM to the terminal entrance are extremely steep.
It will be nice to no longer have to use the 'British' or 'French' lounges that feel like you're sitting in someone's house.
How very orientalist...
Sep 7, 2016, 1:44 am
#19
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The VISA is a joke anyway, $20 tourist tax. You used to be able to get a 6 month re-entry VISA for Ł3.50 once you were inside.
Sep 7, 2016, 2:14 am
#21
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The visa on arrival is a revenue earner, but not a joke. Similar processes are in place in a number of countries: the idea is to make things easier, more convenient, for visitors from a list of approved countries, without completely losing a revenue stream (in part) funding the immigration service.
The immigration officer has the final say of whether or not you get into the country, visa or no visa.
Turkey used to have a very similar service to the one current in Egypt. But Turkey has moved on to offer the alternative of E-visas, for many nationalities valid for multiple entries over six months. Here's I voice very faint hope that Egppt will one day move in the same direction....
Unless you were privileged, I believe the useful visa extension required a visit to the Mogamma. Always an interesting trip
Sep 7, 2016, 7:38 am
#22
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Sep 7, 2016, 8:53 am
#23
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Sep 8, 2016, 6:22 am
#24
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a little OT mini rant
The sense of entitlement of some travelers who are privileged to hold Western passports never ceases to astound me. Many a third-world citizen would give their left nut to be able to pick up a visa on their way in, on the fly at the airport upon arrival, $25 or not.
An Egyptian citizen, wishing to visit the UK, has to apply for a visa prior to travel. The process is, to say the least, a hassle, sometimes bordering on the humiliating. Amongst other things, they hold your passport hostage for about three weeks while they make up their minds, effectively paralyzing you from being able to undertake any other trips, for business or otherwise, urgent or not, in the interim. And at the end of the day, you pay Ł87 for the privilege.
On another note, I have known of Indian citizens, for example, landing up being locked up in a room for the night at European transit airports (for example, CDG with AF) on their way from the States back home during IRROPS. Their privileged Western co-travelers, meanwhile, just sail through passport control on their way to their airline-supplied hotel accommodation.
As a US citizen, I find myself perversely happy to get hassled by, for instance, the Brazilians, whenever I am travelling there, having to pre-apply for a visa, for which they charge me $100 or $120 "reciprocity fee". Given the aggravation the US puts their citizens wishing to visit the US through, it is the least a self-respecting nation can do.
While it may not be wise for Egypt to insist on having UK citizens pre-apply for visas, given that it is trying to encourage tourism, it would surely be entirely fair at the very least to charge such citizens Ł87 reciprocity fees (plus an extra "convenience fee" on top?
) for the visas they pick up at CAI on arrival, let alone $25.
An Egyptian citizen, wishing to visit the UK, has to apply for a visa prior to travel. The process is, to say the least, a hassle, sometimes bordering on the humiliating. Amongst other things, they hold your passport hostage for about three weeks while they make up their minds, effectively paralyzing you from being able to undertake any other trips, for business or otherwise, urgent or not, in the interim. And at the end of the day, you pay Ł87 for the privilege.
On another note, I have known of Indian citizens, for example, landing up being locked up in a room for the night at European transit airports (for example, CDG with AF) on their way from the States back home during IRROPS. Their privileged Western co-travelers, meanwhile, just sail through passport control on their way to their airline-supplied hotel accommodation.
As a US citizen, I find myself perversely happy to get hassled by, for instance, the Brazilians, whenever I am travelling there, having to pre-apply for a visa, for which they charge me $100 or $120 "reciprocity fee". Given the aggravation the US puts their citizens wishing to visit the US through, it is the least a self-respecting nation can do.
While it may not be wise for Egypt to insist on having UK citizens pre-apply for visas, given that it is trying to encourage tourism, it would surely be entirely fair at the very least to charge such citizens Ł87 reciprocity fees (plus an extra "convenience fee" on top?
) for the visas they pick up at CAI on arrival, let alone $25.
Sep 8, 2016, 6:40 am
#25
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Quite what posts #13-24 (with a few notable exceptions) have to do with the thread title is beyond me.
Sep 8, 2016, 6:52 am
#26
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Turkey used to have a very similar service to the one current in Egypt. But Turkey has moved on to offer the alternative of E-visas, for many nationalities valid for multiple entries over six months. Here's I voice very faint hope that Egppt will one day move in the same direction....
S
Sep 9, 2016, 3:18 am
#27
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T2 is directly adjacent to T3 - the APM station for T3/T2 is actually inside T2 - so I'd expect the T2-T3 transit should be trivial compared to T1-T3 (which are ~2km apart).
Sep 9, 2016, 6:44 am
#28
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Sep 9, 2016, 9:10 am
#29
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The discussion on visas is quite far away from the thread topic. But it's worth pointing out few tourists buy the 25USD visas - most nationalities visiting the main tourist areas around the Red Sea get a free stamp on entry (only valid for that area).
