m0hamed

The signs say Business and First Class Lounges in the next room. Are they not the same style?

IAN-UK

Hand on heart, never waited longer than a couple of minutes to buy a visa at Cairo. You can change money at the same time / in the same transaction.

If you wanted to save those few minutes, you could stock up on visa stickers on your next visit.

Until the e-visa application becomes less cumbersome, less of an almighty faff, I'll stick to the stickers. You can get two to a page if you manage the stamping efficiently

And Brexit is likely to invalidate my passport before Egypt fills it with stickers ....

IAN-UK

I don't recognise your description of the lounge. The old T1 lounges were a bit odd, but though there's been no seismic improvement in F&B, the new lounges seem fine in terms of comfort. Not too sure about the additional security check-point: perhaps I just go through on auto-pilot


All gates have enhanced security checks: Egypt is going through difficult times. Very early arrival or later arrival both minimise queueing: the latter option might not suit the anxious, but the flight is NOT going to depart while passengers are waiting their turn for security inspection.

JFX1764

Looking forward to hearing about your arrival experience with an e-visa!

Not that it has taken long to get the stickers before, but if i can cut one step out prior to arrival, then it seems good to me.

nh1980

If you're lucky to have stayed in the Meridien (I did last weekend thanks to a bargain rate with Travelrepublic) just feed yourself well there and then don't bother with the stale and off-smelling food in the lounge, they didn't even open the room with the cream sofas (the ones with weird saddlebags hanging off every corner) last weekend. This meant all crammed and standing around a few tables in the forlorn "buffet" room which although unappetising still looked like feeding time on a farm.

The security check to get back out is quick (xray and passport check), the main energy drains are the post immigration security and the boarding gate security. Concur its best to be there an hour before so 7 ish. Sadly this weekend I'm at the Novotel so will have to wait until on plane to eat. Buying the sticker visa and queuing to get out isn't that time consuming but aware I have a few taking up page space now!

Dselvan

That is the correct one. There are some fake websites around. We will be going through next week for a ex-CAI to HNL trip and was planning to do visa on arrival sticker on the way back to compare evisa to visa on arrival. Will let you know how it goes.

Frequent flyer 101

There are always multiple counters open and even from WTP half way back of the plane, I've never seen a line to get the visa stamp. You give the cash, they give the sticker. It takes 5 seconds, so any line would move really fast. I would only do it if space in your passport is a real issue.

m0hamed

Agreed. There is an X-ray machine and checkpoint immediately outside the lounge area into the terminal. Personally, we've never had more than 1 or 2 people in front of us, though we're generally on EY.

Dselvan

nldogbert

Hi all,

I did this flight yesterday from CAI in CW. Felt slightly disappointed from service point and the quality of food was questionable. First cabin was sadly not opened due to CW being wide open (they did have to upgrade a few pax from WT+ and WT due to overbooking - as informed by check-in agent).

In general catering was in my opinion (first time flying this route in CW) was rather poor. I understand the constrains of catering from a cultural point of view, but I would have expected that BA should adjust the menu to reflect that. Don't understand why they would call it an "English Breakfast" when there was nothing "English" about it. I would have just termed it "Full Hot Breakfast" and description that it came with (chicken?) sausages, steak and scrambled egg.
- The steak was the only good thing about it, scrambled egg was too salty, the (chicken) sausage was well questionable.
- smoothie listed on the menu was again questionable - was watery and did not really tasted as described on the menu, it was more like some flavoured milk

Crew - I am not sure if this is MixFleet or normal crew - not sure how to identify. But I found the senior crew members (at least from age point) much better. I had one younger FA serving my side of the aisle and I don't remember seeing any smile from her even when communicating and not really a response after saying thank you.

However basically after the breakfast service - you did not see any crew at all checking on pax if they wanted anything from time to time or even after breakfast - additional drink round. Everyone was busy in the galley except along the aisle and this was with quite a number of pax not sleeping. This was the situation until landing which I find strange, as this is the attitude which I expect from IB, TP or AZ, but not from BA. I am not one who likes to push the attendant call if I can get up without disturbing, so went to get some drinks and snack myself.

I was also surprised that the amenity kit on this flight was still the old washbag and the blanket was a thin brown one (never had such a blanket before in CW)

I used the First toilet, and the CSM (a rather younger chap), did come and discreetly tell me that since First cabin was not in used, I could not use the First toilet. [Pro: he did it discreetly; Cons:Why can't pax use the First toilet if the cabin is not in used?]

As for the electronics ban - indeed they are checked before boarding and you can still check in your cabin bag during the process if needed. (So for those that still need to work on your laptop in the lounge, you are can, but I suspect they don't really encourage this).
I did not use the lounge as I knew it was nothing, so I arrived about 1h15m before the flight (was staying at the LeM). - though you should take care that immigration can get crowded due to the AF flight leaving an hour + later. However boarding started only about 40 mins before departure (but I guess this is depending on the flight pax load).

Cheers!

m0hamed

1) For the same reason you can't use the First seats if the cabin is not in use; and
2) If inoperational it doesn't have to be stocked or cleaned.

I'm afraid one of the realities of global travel is the airline catering is at the mercy of the local contractor. You eventually learn where to expect good meals and where you might eat prior to the flight.

onobond

There is your answer . In Mixed Fleet the Chef de Cabine is a CSM, in Legacy Fleet a CSD.

Dselvan

nldogbert

It was in fact stocked, and I am sure that the crew are using it, so really still don't see why they don't let pax to use it as during "rush" time, the toilets in J had some wait time.

Ahh... good to know.. no wonder I was like did I hear the normal CSD to be CSM...

Haha.. indeed, we were on the same flight and I was on the A/B side in the smaller fwd cabin. Yes, your side was served by the CSM and the (larger) older gentleman who indeed was much friendlier (the same on my side, the older (smaller) gentleman was also the more friendly one. I however broke my trip to return to AMS (mainly to avoid the possible questioning upon arrival in the US and to use the LCY service to JFK).

Cheers!

anabolism

Was this a 787 plane? I checked EF for the next couple of days, and I see it operated by a 787 that perhaps is configured with a first cabin but both forward cabins are sold as J. Seat map for tomorrow shows a number of what I guess are F seats occupied:


My flight next year is an A321 in what I think is standard mid-haul configuration (staggered 1-2/2-1). I've flown that to TLV in the past.

Seems to me it should be permitted. As you say, J lavatories get busy.

Very good to know, thanks.


Good to know, thanks.