Guide to BA at Cairo airport - ex-CAI trips
Jul 11, 2019, 11:37 am
#256
Join Date: Mar 2003
Programs: BA GGL; AA LT Gold; AS 100K; DL MM GM; Hyatt G*list, Hilton Diamond; SQ silver
Posts: 3,806
Just a note to those who are contemplating an overnight in CAI. There is a brand new transit hotel directly in front of the Saudia lounge in T2, just upstairs from the dreadful new MS lounge, airside. It is very nondescript (two weeks ago there was just an A4 sheet of paper that said HOTEL on it on the door). The lobby is basic but the rooms were finished to a surprisingly high standard, with a very comfortable bed, blackout curtains, and triple-pane windows, as well as fast wifi. I paid around 100€ for "up to 8 hours" and noticed that my credit card receipt had the same name as the Saudia lounge on it. It was brilliant and I would absolutely stay there again. I'm so happy I stumbled across it while looking for the MS lounge. It was vastly preferable to spending the night in the lounge.
One bad point: there is a fridge in the room but no minibar.
One bad point: there is a fridge in the room but no minibar.
Jul 11, 2019, 4:54 pm
#257
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: SYD
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Posts: 8,527
Just a note to those who are contemplating an overnight in CAI. There is a brand new transit hotel directly in front of the Saudia lounge in T2, just upstairs from the dreadful new MS lounge, airside. It is very nondescript (two weeks ago there was just an A4 sheet of paper that said HOTEL on it on the door). The lobby is basic but the rooms were finished to a surprisingly high standard, with a very comfortable bed, blackout curtains, and triple-pane windows, as well as fast wifi. I paid around 100€ for "up to 8 hours" and noticed that my credit card receipt had the same name as the Saudia lounge on it. It was brilliant and I would absolutely stay there again. I'm so happy I stumbled across it while looking for the MS lounge. It was vastly preferable to spending the night in the lounge.
One bad point: there is a fridge in the room but no minibar.
One bad point: there is a fridge in the room but no minibar.
Jul 16, 2019, 10:15 am
#258
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: BCN
Programs: BA Gold · A3 Gold · DL Gold · VY apologist
Posts: 8,545
In my case the LeM was 800€/night.
I went to the transfer desk and told them I had a connecting flight. They escorted me through the back entrance, bypassed security, up to check in and then brought me back down again.
I went to the transfer desk and told them I had a connecting flight. They escorted me through the back entrance, bypassed security, up to check in and then brought me back down again.
Jul 17, 2019, 8:49 pm
#259
Join Date: Mar 2003
Programs: BA GGL; AA LT Gold; AS 100K; DL MM GM; Hyatt G*list, Hilton Diamond; SQ silver
Posts: 3,806
Which airline were you flying out? I don't think it would be possible to do that if your outbound flight were BA?
Aug 21, 2019, 11:59 am
#260
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 345
I am curious about this transit hotel. Could you tell me more, specifically, you arrived the evening before your morning BA departure to LHR and told them you wanted to stay at the hotel so they bypassed you through security to the hotel? Who is the "they" who helped you and what did you do the next morning to check-in for your BA flight? Thanks
Aug 21, 2019, 12:55 pm
#261
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: BCN
Programs: BA Gold · A3 Gold · DL Gold · VY apologist
Posts: 8,545
Well, it's complicated. Evidently there was a football something or other the night I was there and everything was sold out. The guy at the transit hotel seemed quite surprised to see me; it's entirely possible they had just opened.
I wasn't on BA at all. I was finishing up a RTW and flew in on RJ, arriving at 12:01AM. I had booked my onward flight back to Barcelona on A3 for 3AM. Unfortunately I had a brainfart when booking that flight, and it was actually for the day before. So I arrived to CAI, went to the transfer desk where there were no A3 employees and had to wait about 90 minutes until they opened up in the checkin area so one of the MS guys at the transfer desk could call and ask him to come down and check me in (OLCI had failed with a generic error). When the employee finally came downstairs they spend about 20 minutes typing before telling me it was a complicated problem with the computer and they couldn't figure it out. Hey went off to ask the station manager; meanwhile, I looked again at my reservation and realized that my flight had been the day before.
When the A3 employee came back, still confused, I told him what had happened. He said, oooooooh. I said I have a full-flex business class ticket, just put me on the flight that's leaving in an hour. Looooong time on the phone and he informed me that since I no-showed the ticket was lost and all he could do is sell me another one for 1200€. Cue lots of livid discussion, demanding to see the station manager who couldn't see me until after the plane had departed, and the large gaggle of MS employees what had gathered by now watching the entire thing.
I should point out that I just been doing short-haul segments around the region for 14 hours and was exhausted, and had been standing at that transit desk for more than two hours by this time. I looked at an MS guy and asked him when their next flight was to BCN. In the morning. How much? 800€ Sold. This is the guy who took me behind the transit counter, up some stairs, through the bowels of the airport, past two different internal security checkpoints, over to the next terminal to the MS sales counter where they happily ran my credit card and gave me my ticket. Then we followed the reverse route and the guy left me at the transit desk again.
I had tried, while waiting for the A3 guy, to book a room at the LeM through the app and the only option was a suite for 835€.
So now I was resigned to spending the night in a lounge. I had heard about a new MS lounge so figured I could manage. Asking the transit staff how to get to the lounge, I got a complex set of directions about up, then down, then go, then up, and off I went. And went, and went, never finding the lounge, asking a different airport employee for directions and nobody spoke English but all tried to help with pointing, etc. Finally at the end of a corridor I saw what looked like a nice lounge. I headed that way. It was a beautiful new lounge, very high-end looking, with a big sign announcing the Al-Somethingorother Lounge. Unfortunately it was for Saudia and they wouldn't let me in. Back into the terminal, back the way I came, still no luck finding the lounge. I was hungry, tired, and mentally...done. Found the same guy who had pointed me to the Saudia lounge and told him no, I want the EgyptAir lounge. He insisted it was right before the Saudia lounge in the same corridor (spoiler alert: it was not). BUT! When I arrived back to the door of the Saudia lounge I sat down on the floor, ready to cry, and right smack in front of the lounge entrance were several windows in front of a generic lobby looking space. There was a sheet of paper taped to the door. I got up, went over, and it said in 18-point type TRANSIT HOTEL. No other signage.
I walked in, and five minutes later I was konked out on top of the bed in a very nice room.
The punchline to all of this is that the next morning I realized the MS lounge was right where he said it was, but one floor down. And it was, despite being a "brand new" lounge, one of the worst lounges I've ever been in, maybe even worse than the old T3 one. There would have been no place to get any sleep, just a couple rows of cheap chairs arranged around a large empty room.
A3 have agreed to refund my ticket (though not done so yet), and I'm still working my way through their customer service to get my EU compensation and reimbursed for the transit hotel.
Now you have the full story.
I wasn't on BA at all. I was finishing up a RTW and flew in on RJ, arriving at 12:01AM. I had booked my onward flight back to Barcelona on A3 for 3AM. Unfortunately I had a brainfart when booking that flight, and it was actually for the day before. So I arrived to CAI, went to the transfer desk where there were no A3 employees and had to wait about 90 minutes until they opened up in the checkin area so one of the MS guys at the transfer desk could call and ask him to come down and check me in (OLCI had failed with a generic error). When the employee finally came downstairs they spend about 20 minutes typing before telling me it was a complicated problem with the computer and they couldn't figure it out. Hey went off to ask the station manager; meanwhile, I looked again at my reservation and realized that my flight had been the day before.
When the A3 employee came back, still confused, I told him what had happened. He said, oooooooh. I said I have a full-flex business class ticket, just put me on the flight that's leaving in an hour. Looooong time on the phone and he informed me that since I no-showed the ticket was lost and all he could do is sell me another one for 1200€. Cue lots of livid discussion, demanding to see the station manager who couldn't see me until after the plane had departed, and the large gaggle of MS employees what had gathered by now watching the entire thing.
I should point out that I just been doing short-haul segments around the region for 14 hours and was exhausted, and had been standing at that transit desk for more than two hours by this time. I looked at an MS guy and asked him when their next flight was to BCN. In the morning. How much? 800€ Sold. This is the guy who took me behind the transit counter, up some stairs, through the bowels of the airport, past two different internal security checkpoints, over to the next terminal to the MS sales counter where they happily ran my credit card and gave me my ticket. Then we followed the reverse route and the guy left me at the transit desk again.
I had tried, while waiting for the A3 guy, to book a room at the LeM through the app and the only option was a suite for 835€.
So now I was resigned to spending the night in a lounge. I had heard about a new MS lounge so figured I could manage. Asking the transit staff how to get to the lounge, I got a complex set of directions about up, then down, then go, then up, and off I went. And went, and went, never finding the lounge, asking a different airport employee for directions and nobody spoke English but all tried to help with pointing, etc. Finally at the end of a corridor I saw what looked like a nice lounge. I headed that way. It was a beautiful new lounge, very high-end looking, with a big sign announcing the Al-Somethingorother Lounge. Unfortunately it was for Saudia and they wouldn't let me in. Back into the terminal, back the way I came, still no luck finding the lounge. I was hungry, tired, and mentally...done. Found the same guy who had pointed me to the Saudia lounge and told him no, I want the EgyptAir lounge. He insisted it was right before the Saudia lounge in the same corridor (spoiler alert: it was not). BUT! When I arrived back to the door of the Saudia lounge I sat down on the floor, ready to cry, and right smack in front of the lounge entrance were several windows in front of a generic lobby looking space. There was a sheet of paper taped to the door. I got up, went over, and it said in 18-point type TRANSIT HOTEL. No other signage.
I walked in, and five minutes later I was konked out on top of the bed in a very nice room.
The punchline to all of this is that the next morning I realized the MS lounge was right where he said it was, but one floor down. And it was, despite being a "brand new" lounge, one of the worst lounges I've ever been in, maybe even worse than the old T3 one. There would have been no place to get any sleep, just a couple rows of cheap chairs arranged around a large empty room.
A3 have agreed to refund my ticket (though not done so yet), and I'm still working my way through their customer service to get my EU compensation and reimbursed for the transit hotel.
Now you have the full story.
Aug 21, 2019, 3:15 pm
#262
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
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Posts: 17,008
Very generous of them 
Why should they do that ?
or that?
or that?
Aug 21, 2019, 4:27 pm
#263
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: ±38,000 feet
Programs: LH HON, BA GGL, AF Plat, EK Plat
Posts: 6,428
Presumably because he had a fully flex ticket and there were space but Egyptair staff wrongly applied rules and didnt let him travel on his fully flex ticket. I dont think EU261 is due as the passenger wasnt ticketed for the flight hence wasnt denied boarding. Incompetence of the staff aside...
Aug 21, 2019, 8:50 pm
#264
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 345
Well, it's complicated. Evidently there was a football something or other the night I was there and everything was sold out. The guy at the transit hotel seemed quite surprised to see me; it's entirely possible they had just opened.
I wasn't on BA at all. I was finishing up a RTW and flew in on RJ, arriving at 12:01AM. I had booked my onward flight back to Barcelona on A3 for 3AM. Unfortunately I had a brainfart when booking that flight, and it was actually for the day before. So I arrived to CAI, went to the transfer desk where there were no A3 employees and had to wait about 90 minutes until they opened up in the checkin area so one of the MS guys at the transfer desk could call and ask him to come down and check me in (OLCI had failed with a generic error). When the employee finally came downstairs they spend about 20 minutes typing before telling me it was a complicated problem with the computer and they couldn't figure it out. Hey went off to ask the station manager; meanwhile, I looked again at my reservation and realized that my flight had been the day before.
When the A3 employee came back, still confused, I told him what had happened. He said, oooooooh. I said I have a full-flex business class ticket, just put me on the flight that's leaving in an hour. Looooong time on the phone and he informed me that since I no-showed the ticket was lost and all he could do is sell me another one for 1200€. Cue lots of livid discussion, demanding to see the station manager who couldn't see me until after the plane had departed, and the large gaggle of MS employees what had gathered by now watching the entire thing.
I should point out that I just been doing short-haul segments around the region for 14 hours and was exhausted, and had been standing at that transit desk for more than two hours by this time. I looked at an MS guy and asked him when their next flight was to BCN. In the morning. How much? 800€ Sold. This is the guy who took me behind the transit counter, up some stairs, through the bowels of the airport, past two different internal security checkpoints, over to the next terminal to the MS sales counter where they happily ran my credit card and gave me my ticket. Then we followed the reverse route and the guy left me at the transit desk again.
I had tried, while waiting for the A3 guy, to book a room at the LeM through the app and the only option was a suite for 835€.
So now I was resigned to spending the night in a lounge. I had heard about a new MS lounge so figured I could manage. Asking the transit staff how to get to the lounge, I got a complex set of directions about up, then down, then go, then up, and off I went. And went, and went, never finding the lounge, asking a different airport employee for directions and nobody spoke English but all tried to help with pointing, etc. Finally at the end of a corridor I saw what looked like a nice lounge. I headed that way. It was a beautiful new lounge, very high-end looking, with a big sign announcing the Al-Somethingorother Lounge. Unfortunately it was for Saudia and they wouldn't let me in. Back into the terminal, back the way I came, still no luck finding the lounge. I was hungry, tired, and mentally...done. Found the same guy who had pointed me to the Saudia lounge and told him no, I want the EgyptAir lounge. He insisted it was right before the Saudia lounge in the same corridor (spoiler alert: it was not). BUT! When I arrived back to the door of the Saudia lounge I sat down on the floor, ready to cry, and right smack in front of the lounge entrance were several windows in front of a generic lobby looking space. There was a sheet of paper taped to the door. I got up, went over, and it said in 18-point type TRANSIT HOTEL. No other signage.
I walked in, and five minutes later I was konked out on top of the bed in a very nice room.
The punchline to all of this is that the next morning I realized the MS lounge was right where he said it was, but one floor down. And it was, despite being a "brand new" lounge, one of the worst lounges I've ever been in, maybe even worse than the old T3 one. There would have been no place to get any sleep, just a couple rows of cheap chairs arranged around a large empty room.
A3 have agreed to refund my ticket (though not done so yet), and I'm still working my way through their customer service to get my EU compensation and reimbursed for the transit hotel.
Now you have the full story.
I wasn't on BA at all. I was finishing up a RTW and flew in on RJ, arriving at 12:01AM. I had booked my onward flight back to Barcelona on A3 for 3AM. Unfortunately I had a brainfart when booking that flight, and it was actually for the day before. So I arrived to CAI, went to the transfer desk where there were no A3 employees and had to wait about 90 minutes until they opened up in the checkin area so one of the MS guys at the transfer desk could call and ask him to come down and check me in (OLCI had failed with a generic error). When the employee finally came downstairs they spend about 20 minutes typing before telling me it was a complicated problem with the computer and they couldn't figure it out. Hey went off to ask the station manager; meanwhile, I looked again at my reservation and realized that my flight had been the day before.
When the A3 employee came back, still confused, I told him what had happened. He said, oooooooh. I said I have a full-flex business class ticket, just put me on the flight that's leaving in an hour. Looooong time on the phone and he informed me that since I no-showed the ticket was lost and all he could do is sell me another one for 1200€. Cue lots of livid discussion, demanding to see the station manager who couldn't see me until after the plane had departed, and the large gaggle of MS employees what had gathered by now watching the entire thing.
I should point out that I just been doing short-haul segments around the region for 14 hours and was exhausted, and had been standing at that transit desk for more than two hours by this time. I looked at an MS guy and asked him when their next flight was to BCN. In the morning. How much? 800€ Sold. This is the guy who took me behind the transit counter, up some stairs, through the bowels of the airport, past two different internal security checkpoints, over to the next terminal to the MS sales counter where they happily ran my credit card and gave me my ticket. Then we followed the reverse route and the guy left me at the transit desk again.
I had tried, while waiting for the A3 guy, to book a room at the LeM through the app and the only option was a suite for 835€.
So now I was resigned to spending the night in a lounge. I had heard about a new MS lounge so figured I could manage. Asking the transit staff how to get to the lounge, I got a complex set of directions about up, then down, then go, then up, and off I went. And went, and went, never finding the lounge, asking a different airport employee for directions and nobody spoke English but all tried to help with pointing, etc. Finally at the end of a corridor I saw what looked like a nice lounge. I headed that way. It was a beautiful new lounge, very high-end looking, with a big sign announcing the Al-Somethingorother Lounge. Unfortunately it was for Saudia and they wouldn't let me in. Back into the terminal, back the way I came, still no luck finding the lounge. I was hungry, tired, and mentally...done. Found the same guy who had pointed me to the Saudia lounge and told him no, I want the EgyptAir lounge. He insisted it was right before the Saudia lounge in the same corridor (spoiler alert: it was not). BUT! When I arrived back to the door of the Saudia lounge I sat down on the floor, ready to cry, and right smack in front of the lounge entrance were several windows in front of a generic lobby looking space. There was a sheet of paper taped to the door. I got up, went over, and it said in 18-point type TRANSIT HOTEL. No other signage.
I walked in, and five minutes later I was konked out on top of the bed in a very nice room.
The punchline to all of this is that the next morning I realized the MS lounge was right where he said it was, but one floor down. And it was, despite being a "brand new" lounge, one of the worst lounges I've ever been in, maybe even worse than the old T3 one. There would have been no place to get any sleep, just a couple rows of cheap chairs arranged around a large empty room.
A3 have agreed to refund my ticket (though not done so yet), and I'm still working my way through their customer service to get my EU compensation and reimbursed for the transit hotel.
Now you have the full story.
Aug 22, 2019, 12:47 am
#265
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,945
Presumably because he had a fully flex ticket and there were space but Egyptair staff wrongly applied rules and didnt let him travel on his fully flex ticket. I dont think EU261 is due as the passenger wasnt ticketed for the flight hence wasnt denied boarding. Incompetence of the staff aside...
Aug 22, 2019, 1:21 am
#266
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Glasgow / London
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 3,457
It very much depends on the rules of the individual ticket. I’ve refunded fully flex BA flights in the past 3 months after no-showing for the flight. I have, of course, also seen cases where a no show cancels the whole ticket, although this is unusual on fully flex.
Aug 22, 2019, 2:26 am
#267
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7,464
Truly fully flex tickets (as in full fare) can be refunded after the selected flight has flown. This is a general rule, but there are some carrier specific nuances, indeed. They are very expensive (of course!) but some times it is the only choice you have.
Aug 22, 2019, 4:30 am
#268
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
Imagine if you miss a flight because your meeting went on too long, it would make the concept of "full flex" completely pointless to any business traveller who required flexibility.
The ticket should still be valid for use on any flight between the ticketed points, subject to fare rules, or for refund, for one year after the original date of the first flight coupon.
Although the meaning of "full flex" has become diluted.
The ticket should still be valid for use on any flight between the ticketed points, subject to fare rules, or for refund, for one year after the original date of the first flight coupon.
Although the meaning of "full flex" has become diluted.
Aug 28, 2019, 4:37 am
#269
Join Date: Mar 2003
Programs: BA GGL; AA LT Gold; AS 100K; DL MM GM; Hyatt G*list, Hilton Diamond; SQ silver
Posts: 3,806
Thanks, alanw, for the details of your story. I guess I will try to see if I can get a BP issued for the BA flight out of Cairo ahead of time next time I have to transit. I kind of doubt it is possible, but I will report. If I am able to get the BP, then for the time after that, I will try the transit hotel. For now, I have a reservation at LM.
Mar 8, 2022, 3:45 am
#270
Join Date: Oct 2017
Programs: BA Gold, Tesco, Nectar
Posts: 313
Really appreciate this thread.
Doing CPT-CAI on QR J arriving 11pm and CAI-LHR on BA Y (BAGold) next day at 6pm. Hoping to somehow get into the supposed sleep rooms in the pearl lounge. Both flights arrive/depart T2 at CAI which should make this possible. Should I get the bribes ready? And who and where do I give bribes to lol?
I am terribly cheap, so want to avoid paying for a hotel, and definitely want to avoid this 3hr rule to get airside nonsense I encountered on my outbound.
Thanks
Doing CPT-CAI on QR J arriving 11pm and CAI-LHR on BA Y (BAGold) next day at 6pm. Hoping to somehow get into the supposed sleep rooms in the pearl lounge. Both flights arrive/depart T2 at CAI which should make this possible. Should I get the bribes ready? And who and where do I give bribes to lol?
I am terribly cheap, so want to avoid paying for a hotel, and definitely want to avoid this 3hr rule to get airside nonsense I encountered on my outbound.
Thanks