VC10 Boy

I'm worried too about Smirnoffs lack of climatic knowledge. Can he walk between two terminals. Smirnoff it's a hot country, to get to the otherside of the street you don't walk but get in a taxi that has AC. I tried walking 200yards in Abu Dhabi once to go to the bank. I made it but I took a taxi back and had to change into a new shirt.

And how could Smirnoff not expect you to have staff. One of my friends in Jeddah always parks his car near the bottom of the drive and in the morning he sends his houseboy down to bring it up to the front door, just in case some fundamentalist has planted a bomb under it.

And I love the RX. Finally have it all figured out I think. We'll see anyway as we're heading down to friends for lunch in Brighton shortly.

Phil the Flyer

Smirnoff - Pleasantly surprised (and somewhat shocked) by LRD's favourable experience posted above! I know CAI authorities are making efforts to improve the airport (new T1 now open, new T3 currently under construction, etc) but, as stated above, without any previous transfer experience of my own, I wasn't aware that the transfer bus facility was actually half-decent.

If you need the tourist visa it MUST be purchased with hard currency (GBP10 or US$15 as far as I remember) - again, with a work visa I personally don't have to worry about such details! You will get a small amount of Egyptian Pounds (generally referred to as LE) in your change when you buy the visa - this should cover the cost of a taxi from T1 to T2 if you don't use the bus referred to by LRD. Having said that, if you wave US$s under the nose of a taxi driver he'll bite your hand off.

Not sure of the date of your BA CAI-LHR flight but up to and including 24 March 2007 dep is 0845hrs. If you do OLCI that means you have to be at T2 one hour before, i.e. by 0745hrs. If your LCA flight arrives on time you could do worse than grab a taxi for the 10 minute ride to the Heliopolis Sheraton for a decent cooked breakfast for less than GBP10 (plus decent toilets).

As an aside I note that this hotel is changing ownership:

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=655187

T2 is definitely too far to walk from T1 - and very likely to arouse the interest of the security personnel if you attempt it!

Maybe it's just me, but I'd go with taxis all the way - I have a fundamental mistrust of airport shuttle buses - and if you're feeling bold and have time on your hands definitely try the hotel breakfast option. There are other hotels right on the airport - Movenpick for one; they're not bad but haven't tried any of them in years. Whatever taxi you get - whether from T1 to T2 or from T1 to an airport hotel - it ain't gonna set you back more than US$5.

Smirnoff

Thanks for all the advice. I'll give the shuttle bus a go, otherwise a taxi. It's actually this coming Wednesday (7 Feb), so I'll report back later in the week.

Interesting, that it's the same full J fare to LCA whether you go on the direct flight 662/662 (5 hours in CE, no thanks), or via a nearby hub and onward on CY. So I'm doing LHR-TLV-LCA//LCA-CAI-LHR instead.

Phil the Flyer

Smirnoff - It's currently daylight around 6:15 AM here in CAI, so by the time you're ready for the transfer between terminals it should at least be daylight. If you don't try the hotel option the best offer you're going to get for breakfast is some Sbarro pizza at T2.

Hope the weather's improved by then - it's been raining here this lunchtime!

By the way AJLondon flew BA into / out of CAI only four weeks ago - he might have some T2 advice for you.

The Saint

Well as another regular at CAI, here are my tips:

(1) Have a copy of your e-ticket to show the chaps at security screening when you arrive at the airport. Otherwise you are held up while they check your name off against the e-tix list.
(2) Aim to check-in 1hr before departure (providing you have checked-in online)
(3) Make sure that you have local currency arriving at T2. No matter how many times I go through and how hard I try to avoid it, my luggage always gets captured by a chap with a trolley after the initial X-ray screening (prior to check-in). It works a treat, because my luggage always gets through the scanner before I do, thus giving him the opportunity to pounce on the luggage. He then holds it hostage until I release some EGPs to him. All done with some charm, but irritating none the less.
(4) Make sure you have a pen to fill out the exit card, otherwise you'll be shedding some more EGPs to the ladies with pens prior to immigration.
(5) The CAI Lounge is not the best, but neither is it as bad as some on here report. You can get a croissant and ok coffee whilst waiting. They will tell you when to board. Leave it 5 mins at least from the time they call before going to the gate as there is usually a long queue.
(6) Hand luggage is subject to a strict search before boarding. Some days all pax are subject to a manual search even after the scanning. Show your stamped visa to the guard just before the jet-bridge.

Boddingtons

Is this the same for all Egyptian ports or just CAI?

LRD

Answering a question no one has asked, but just in case others stumble on this thread while researching their grand Egypt tour...

On the way into Egypt (on the late BA flight) I had an overnight at a hotel downtown with a mid-day flight to Luxor the following day. With plenty of time on my hands I decided to take the local bus from downtown to the airport. This turns out to be a piece-o'-cake...

There is a large bus terminal immediately behind the Egyptian Museum - can't miss it. Just go to any dispatcher window and say the magic word that's understood worldwide: "Airport?" You'll be pointed to Bus #356, but some buses (many/all?) don't have any signage in English so I again used the magic word to verify with the bus driver that I was heading the right way. These buses are a little tatty, but it's just another taste of the Cairo experience because this is how Cairenes get to their airport.

As I approached the bus it started to pull away. No problem; another bus immediately pulled up and started to queue passengers.

The bus first swings by T2. (You recall that oft-mentioned "carpark" that many arriving FTers make a beeline for, in order to bypass the "official" airport taxis and their outrageous fees? The T2 stop for the local bus is just beyond this carpark.) The bus then continues on to, and terminates, at T1, so even if you slept through the T2 stop you can double-back on the airport transit bus.

Total trip time was about an hour, and I got to see parts of Cairo that I had never seen before.

Cost: an unbelievable E£2.0 !!

The Saint

(1) and (2) are pretty standard. For (3) and (4), it used to be like this at SSH, but not since they tarted it up.

Phil the Flyer

The Saint - you're a CAI regular, yet you still fall for (3)?

The Saint

How do you get round it? The only option I can think of is demanding my luggage back, but then as a Brit I have a pathological fear of public embarrassment and conflict, so I just end up paying.

Swanhunter

You are obviously much nicer than I - my default reaction is to shout loudly 'give me my bag back' and wrench out of the little tinkers clutches. Works all over the world, much to the embarassment of my much more polite missus.

AJLondon

You called...

Some outstanding advice above from The Saint. ^ I can't really add too much, but here a couple of further points

(7) Change your left over EGPs for hard currency after check-in, but before immigration. There are a couple of currency changers opposite the check-in desks when you walk towards immigration. They did not have either £ or € the day we flew. (Don't know if this is the norm... ) Had to settle for some dodgy Bush pesos instead.

(8) They will start making urgent go to gate / boarding calls over an hour prior to departure, and then hold you in that pen after security! There isn't enough seating in there for anywhere close to a full 747 pax load.

(9) Be patient with the additional security/frisking before the BA flight. My mum found the lady frisking her to be too intrusive and almost ended up in a slanging match with her.

(10) Arrange a meet-greet-and-assist if possible. The agent will guide you all the way. I cannot stress hard enough how helpful this service was to us. Your agent will meet you at after arrival from LCA, and then do virtually everything for you including helping you enter Egypt, transfer to terminal, checking-in, exiting Egypt etc. And it shouldn't cost more than $15-20.

HIDDY

No expert on CAI but me and the missus had to take the connecting bus and as someone already stated the taxi touts insisted we take a taxi as the bus didn't exist.
Asked one of the police in a white uniform and he put us right radioing in for us to find out where the bus was and told us where to stand.
In hindsight a taxi would have been best but the drivers got on my t*** so much I was determined not to.

Ex Amex Card

In Egypt you have to treat these people as you would a 10 year old child. Just indicate to them that you want your bags back and refuse to let them extort any money out of you. Just keep saying "La shukran" (No thankyou) to them or if that fails then "Imshi" (Go away). Don't say anything in English - if they know what language you speak then they will argue the point with you.

Likewise with the Taxi drivers when they agree one fare and try to charge you another or take you to the wrong place and then ask for more money to go where you wanted to go.

It's all a bit of fun really.

Phil the Flyer

I get round it by a combination of the methods employed by Swanhunter and Ex Amex Card - except my own knowledge of Arabic permits me to question, inter alia, the unfortunate baggage handler's parentage and sexual prowess if he persists in being a prat.

As for behaving like a Brit - that is precisely what they are relying on; the belief that you will not make a scene. You've only got to witness Cairo traffic conditions to realise it's 'dog eat dog'. Go for it - make a scene, and enjoy the results. Just don't try it with CAI Immigration and Customs officials!

Smirnoff - one more tip for you. When you hand over your boarding pass and go through the final security check before reaching the holding area referred to by AJLondon make sure you head for the left-hand seating area, rather than the right-hand seating area. The left-hand area is the area they board passengers from. Oh, and try and keep your passport open at the page with the Egypt exit stamp on it; that will earn you brownie points from the security guys.