IAN-UK

Insha'allah is a near automatic invocation mandated by the Quoran when future activity in referred to. It is the equivalent to "God willing". In essence it formally recognises our submission to God's will, but it carries a superstitious element where affirming what WILL happen might be seen as tempting fate. If you know Spanish or Portuguese, ojalá / oxalá are derived from the Arabic.

It is not used to divert, or escape from, responsibility. Translating it as "it's out of my hands" is misleading.

rdmmsmsfo

Long time FT lurker. My wife and I will be traveling to Egypt next month. In and out of CAI on LX J. Traveling domestically on EgyptAir (all separate tickets). We are considering a flight from Marsa Alam to Cairo on the same day as our international departure to ZRH. Based on the published schedule, we would have about 2.5 hours to make the connection (arrive 11:20, depart 13:55). Would this be advisable? Presume we will need to claim bags and then re-check them for the onward LX flight, but all within T3. The only other option would be a 3 hour drive from Marsa Alam to Hurghada to catch a flight from there the day prior, coupled with an overnight in CAI (ugh!)

IAN-UK

I don't want to seem glib, but who knows? is the answer. 150minutes should be plenty enough time, but things can go wrong and you are on separate tickets.

For peace of mind I'd overnight at the airport: the Meridien (right outside T3) is far from being an ugh! place to stay. The Novotel is cheaper, pefectly OK, and a shuttle ride from the airport. There's a Holiday Inn and an Intercontinental attached to the upmarket CityStars shopping and entertainment centre in Nasr City, just 15 minutes from the airport.

Alternatively, you might consider a taxi from Marsa to CAI.
http://www.marsaalam.com/Taxi_Trips_and_Prices.html

johnsw1988

Hi,

Thank you so much for the info. I know it's been a year, but I was wondering if the same procedure is still currently implemented. I have similar upcoming trips and would like any input from folks who have done it. Please note that I will be doing TWOV - I am holding an Indonesian passport, so visa on arrival is not an option for me.

I will be flying IST-CAI on MS, and continuing on a separate ticket CAI-DOH-CGK on QR. I have 3 hours 50 mins in CAI to transfer and not check any luggage. Note that I may NOT have my BP printed at time of arrival in CAI (as many thread suggested that I can do OLCI, but not print the BP if the itinerary is ex-CAI). Based on your experience, it seems like the treansfer desk at T3 is staffed by MS personnel and you don't need the BP to proceed the transfer, instead you can just hand in your passport and print out Itinerary (e-ticket), and they will transfer you by bus to T1. When you arrive at T1, the security/police will call QR staff to deliver the BP, is that correct? Is anything that I need to be aware of?

My biggest concern now is NOT having QR boarding pass in hand, but based on your experience, it should be okay even though the entire process is not seamless.

Any suggestion will be appreciated.

IAN-UK

You've got it. Relax - airside transfers between terminals happen in significant numbers every day. You probably won't have to press things, but if you do politeness and good humour go a long way. The enquiries/transfer desk is in the central, hub, part of T3, before you get to the immigration area.

Just don't try the antics of this idiot: http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...inal-transfer/

johnsw1988

Thank you so much IAN-UK for the clarification. Now I feel a lot more confident doing this. I've transferred numerous times at airports around the world, it's just all the horror I heard from people.

So thanks once again!!

John

jpdx

I have a connection in CAI coming up, arriving Egyptair from MUC at 19.35, departing Saudia at 22.55. I believe I have to change terminals. Based on what I've read, a transfer within 3 hours should be doable if the MUC-CAI flight is on time, but certainly risky given separate tickets. I am thus considering spending a night at the LM. What would you guys advise?

Markie

My experience connecting was horrible too - left for hours in a room until I finally found a number for Qatar to call to come rescue me. I now plan to

(a) Stay overnight the night before when possible
(b) Don't do any connections at CAI except in the same terminal, and then only if there are really no other choices
(c) Get my boarding card if at all possible in advance.

It may be that I had a bad experience but it does seem that many other have had the same experiences.

IAN-UK

There are two risk areas.

The first, the ability to secure a transfer within x hours, is addressed in the posts above. Three hours should be plenty time.

The other risk is a narrowing in the transfer window because of late arrival from MUC or a Saudia schedule change. It happens.

Clearly an overnight will remove the first risk and reduce very significantly the second one. If you have the time, then the visa+hotel cost might represent sensible self-insurance against a missed connection.

Appetite for risk. Since a Lufthansa delay screwed up a four-hour transit at Oslo, I've become over-cautious. Once bitten .....

(and if you wanted to reduce the cost, there are other options for on-airport accommodation: not as plush, and not as convenient as the T3 Meridien, but way cheaper.)

jpdx

Thanks for the comments, guys! I have a C&P reservation for the LM with Your24 approved for 8pm-8pm ... 2k points + $35 for the hotel (plus another $25 -?- for VOA) seems like reasonable insurance against missing the first flight of a very cheap RTW.

What would you recommend doing during the 24hr layover? Laze by the hotel pool, or venture out for shopping or sightseeing?

dcphlyer

Went through Transit in CAI Terminal 2 last week and it was a total shitshow. Arrived on Alitalia (positioning flight), departing on QR on a separate reservation.

I walked toward the "Transit" area with another passenger from my flight who was remaining in T2, while I was connecting to T1. First of all in T2, none of the staff know anything. They don't know who to talk to, where you should go, and if you walk toward the Transit signs, they will tell you you're going in the wrong direction and redirect you to the normal immigration exit.

They tell you to wait by this area of seats before Passport control, where you have to find someone and tell them you are in transit. They will call the airline, who has to send a representative to walk you to the correct area of T2 or put you in a van to T1/T3. That process could take literally hours. You will wait. and wait. and wait. If you ask anyone they will say keep waiting. "When will the van arrive?" "I don't know, just sit here and wait". Sat for 2 hours waiting, having the longest panic of my life wondering if I'd ever get on my flight, until a supervisor happened to walk by. I begged him to send a van - apparently none was even coming after asking 3 different people to call one, and they all spoke to someone about it on the phone. A van arrived 5 minutes after the supervisor came. The poor passenger transiting within T2 was still waiting, but I believe they were going take him next.

Got in the van from T2 to T1, first thing he said was a reminder to make sure I tip him, and then repeated the word tip in 3 or 4 different languages and made sure I understood what he was saying. It was maybe a 7-8 minute drive across the airport to T1, he pointed out the plane I would be taking. We got into the terminal and walked to some unmarked desk where a man checked my passport and called some other guy on the walkie talkie. The new man came, took my passport and said he would return with my passport and boarding passes. (This process requires placing a lot of trust in very shady people). Sad in a waiting room for 15 minutes (at this point, my flight was already boarding since I had waited 2 hours for the van, but I was no longer panicking because I was just 30 feet away from my gate). Made it to my gate 2.5 hours after first being told to wait in the "transit area", and I believe I would have missed my flight were it not for good luck at the end.

Takeaways:

1. Almost no one knows anything in this airport. They will either make up an answer or say they don't know.
2. Employees at CAI generally do nothing; for 80% of the employees, the only thing I saw them do was stand and talk to each other. Even in a rush or when you've asked them for something, they will stop and have a 5 minute chat with every person they see. Don't put blind faith in airport employees, they certainly dont deserve it.
3. If you have time, don't even try to transit, just get a visa, leave through immigration, and make your way to the check-in counter on the outside of the airport.
4. Pay for the Ahlan transfer service. It's $50 per person, which I balked at initially, but cannot understate the value. You will save yourself hours or waiting and panic attacks. I watched as a dozen people were successfully and confidently escorted from the arrival gate to the transit area and through to their new terminal. I will be doing that next time I transit CAI next month.
5. Don't even think about checking in luggage when transiting from one reservation to another in CAI.

regtur

That sounds like a pretty frustrating experience.

QR is finally moving to T2, so next time you might be able to stay in the same terminal. I don't know exactly when they are going to move, but my flightdetails for my flight at the end of April changed to T2.

IAN-UK

Hundreds of people manage inter-terminal transfers every day with little or no drama. It's pretty straightforward. Like much in Egypt, what looks like chaos generally works. Sometimes a touch of assertiveness, delivered with politeness, goes a long way if you doubt the chaos is going disperse.

Lord knows why you experienced such a mess in getting transport from T2; perhaps because it's still new and procedures are not bedded in.



Referring to immigration officers as shady characters suggests you were not exactly sympathetic to Egyptian ways. Not that there's any reason you should be, i suppose: but suspicion and mistrust don't attract cooperation.

BangkokTraveler

I'm still in the planning stages but I will want to be traveling JNB (Johannesburg) to SSH (Sharm-el-Sheikh). The schedule is:

JNB-CAI: arrives CAI 5:35am (Egypt Air)
CAI-SSH: departs CAI 7:45am (Egypt Air)

It looks like these arrive and depart in the same terminal. Because of the wonders of airline pricing, it saves me $250 per person to buy these as separate tickets.

Can I assume that I will go through immigration, collect bags then check-in for my domestic flight? Anyone see any issues with this?

GuyverII

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