Came back from Cairo yesterday and went through the gate security scanner with nine small bottles of hotel shampoo, body wash etc in my carry-on bag. Security guard asked what they were and I had to get them out to show him. Told I could not carry them on board, I said they were only small toiletry items and he checked with a colleague who also said that I could not take them on board. He now told me there was another way, asked to see my passport and holding it with his fingers stroked his palm with his thumb. Unwilling to bribe him for the toiletries, I said no and walked away, he called me back and summoned a suited man, presumably a manager, who then said I could keep them.

Does anyone know how much it costs to take a machete, automatic rifle and 5kg of explosive on board at Cairo airport?

No but its about �10 to get to front of immigration at RAK,MCT,CMN,SSH ETC! the walk thru service at Rak is my personal fave even have a little bench to wait on while they stamp your passport!

Fits with my experience of Cairo. My colleague and I once had to "pay" to get our passports back from security before boarding. There were then no checks on our hand baggage whatsoever. If the flight hadn't been on final call I'd have kicked up a fuss but they knew that!

We flew BMI back from Cairo in Jan 08 and it was interesting to see that BMI had set-up their own security to check bags before reaching the check-in desk. It seems like they did not trust the Cairo Airport security.

What nonsense!

I have been travelling back and forward to Cairo for almost 10 years. I have never once been asked for anything approaching any sort of bribe or payment by officials. The security screening is three tier. Your luggage is x-rayed once before you get to checkin, your hand baggage is x-rayed at the gate and finally is subject to an manual inspection before boarding the plane.

Let's try and avoid generalisations about a country or its people on the basis of single examples and a liberal application of sterotypes.

Never been asked for a bribe either at CAI. (I am there once a month on average).
The security scan at the gate however is a tad lax to be honest....

I agree with this. Like OP I also flew to LHR from Cairo yesterday, and there was no suggestion of any sort of bribery/corruption that I noticed. If anything the security checks seemed a bit lax - no question of the trouser belt buckle or shoes being a problem walking through the machine as they might have been at LHR, JFK.

It was my first time departing CAI and I could probably list 100 reasons why it wasn't much fun (the airport is a tip, the lounge is awful and tiny etc. etc.) but corrupt officialdom wasn't a problem for me. Perhaps if OP hadn't half-inched the contents of his hotel room.....

Slightly OT, I was openly asked for a bribe in ACC by customs, the question was "Do you have any money for me?", i said no, my wife has all my money, she is outside waiting for me. He laughed and let me go.

1.5% of the one way IATA fare per kg plus must be hessian wrapped as per regulations. Only available on fares purchased from Al Laden travel agent in Bin Qaeda street.

Do I get a discount on the one-way IATA as the plane won't be paying the landing / gate fees at the arrival airport?

As a (CAI-based) 7-8 times a year CAI-LHR-CAI BA traveller I concur 100% with this post.

While not condoning the incident as reported in the OP the use of the word 'bribe' demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the 'baksheesh' system in Egypt. Egyptians are always 'trying it on' in this regard; you either slip them a small amount of money for 'services rendered' or politely brush them off.

Personally I'd have been more worried if they hadn't detected the shampoo and body wash in your luggage. You're hardly likely to need it on the flight anyway - unless you're travelling First Class on an EK A380.

The point is that if a security guard is prepared to take a bribe to allow goods onto a plane, where exactly does this stop? A few small bottles from the hotel does not matter, but what about, well anything that can be used to blow up or hijack the plane?

This was my first visit to Egypt so regulars may get used to the system, but baksheesh seemed very much like a bribe to me. It goes further than a tip; you are,for example, not allowed to take your camera into the Great Pyramid, but a little money changes hands and you can, then inside another official takes a little more to take your photo.

Has anyone spotted any difference between the terminals regarding security issues? I seem to remember there being 2 terminals last time I went there, with BA only at the "smarter" of the two. I may be wrong because it's years since I flew to Cairo.

I don't know about CAI but SSH (old airport) would not surprise me.

We'd gone as a large group of friends on a package tour diving holiday. Some of our number were phobic about flying (including one who lived in NI and studied in Leeds - clearly loved ferries!). We'd struck up friends with a tabloid photographer (who was an avid underwater photographer and wreck diver) and his party, so we were quite an extended group checking in for the flight at 02:00.

Going through security, several of us witnessed saw the baggage screeners putting ammunition into one of our bags... after the bag had been screened! The date was November 2001.

The airport could offer no reasonable (!) explanation for this. The flight operator contacted the pilot of our flight, who then refused to fly the 'plane until the 'plane had been search and all the bags had been rescreened BY HIS CREW and an explanation was forthcoming. The tabloid photographer was straight on the 'phone to the UK news desk as well. A loooong stand-off then ensued, which only ended with the intervention of the MoD with the Egyptian equivalent.

Meanwhile our reluctant flyers had run out of tranquilisers and nictoine patches....

And on the topic of countries' reputations... my godmother was stopped at Lagos in the late 70's. The immigration official took her passport, dropped it on the floor and stood on it, saying "Madam, you do not have a passport and there will be a fine".

This was brazen even by Nigerian standards, though, since it was a diplomatic passport (husband was a senior diplomat in Lagos/Abuja/wherever the embassy was in those days) and she was heavily pregnant!