Billiken

Is there any general rule or trick for finding MS award availability?
Specifically, LXR-CAI-IST
Not seeing any direct award availability LXR-CAI......to end of schedule.

I have been seeing phantom availability on UA's website for the last six weeks.
ExperFlyer shows an occasional award flight from LXR to KWI.

Thank you.

dvs7310

UA is terrible about showing phantom availability on MS domestic segments. I have been able to score actual C domestic awards for ASW and SSH before as part of an international itinerary. ABS was totally impossible and I don't think I tried LXR. The upside is, this is a very cheap flight if you have to book it. Use the Egyptair Egyptian website (select Egypt as your location) and the prices are very cheap most of the time. Unless you're looking at a very busy day, it should be in the neighborhood of $40-60 per person in economy.

worldtraveller73

This is what I would think as well. Get yourself to Cairo, then purchase the internal domestic Egypt section for cheap.

There certainly aren't lots of trip reports highlighting travel beyond Cairo internally throughout Egypt.

You could try hunting forever, but it may be worth effort than time you have available.

dvs7310

I've done it a number of times, both incoming and outgoing. All in all it's quite standard stuff. If on a continuous ticket inbound your luggage gets tagged to the final city assuming they have customs facilities (all the major ones do), you then pick it up from international arrivals instead of domestic. If you are on separate tickets then obviously you pick up your bags in Cairo, take them through customs there and send them onto your next city from domestic departures.

Frankly, having done it several times now I would not advise using the through checked service beyond Cairo anyway if you are on one ticket. It's a MAJOR PITA if you just want to pick up your bags and leave the airport quickly. The security officer who opens the door to international arrivals will wait until all domestic bags come up first before allowing you to go get yours from international and clear customs. Last time in SSH I watched my bag rotating around the carousel for 20 minutes before they'd allow us across. From now on I'll just check bags to Cairo and take them upstairs to domestic departures myself.

As far as separate tickets go, Cairo is a surprisingly efficient airport, obviously allow some time for delayed inbound flights, but logistically, if on time, 2 hours is plenty of time to pick up bags and re-check at domestic, 3 hours you're going to find yourself bored out of your mind as it's not enough time to leave and go anywhere, and there is literally nothing in the domestic side of the airport. If you're like me and get local SIM cards then there are kiosks for both major carriers inside the international arrivals hall, so (assuming 1 ticket), don't go to transfer, instead go to international arrivals, through passport control and customs and use your layover time to get your SIM card instead of wasting time at the final destination airport.

Billiken

dvs7310:

Thank you for the advice re ticketing in Egypt and baggage.

Actual itinerary (2 pax) is LXR-CAI-IST-ORD-CLE with CAI-IST-ORD in TK saver business class.
(Actually, the phantom availability for MS LXR-CAI is in business too.)

Happy Trails,
Mark
(Billiken)

dvs7310

That's quite typical, regarding the ghost inventory. It's a 40 minute or so flight, so unless you need the additional luggage allowance that business offers, then I'd just grab the cheapest economy ticket and be done with it. The E170s they fly domestically have exactly the same seats in business and economy. I usually pay the upcharge for business when I have my diving gear in tow and use economy if I don't. I think actually the excess luggage charge is actually a little less than the difference between business and economy but it just outright buying business makes things simpler in my mind since it's still not very expensive.

worldtraveller73

That's funny... I've arrived on the other side of that glass portioned luggage wall myself in SSH. It does take a bit of time to complete that whole process; especially went the key holders aren't around (or where they should be)

zephyr7

Sorry for the bump - but any updates in MS domestic flights this year? I've been searching and strangely, there are plenty of international spaces to and from CAI, but domestically CAI/LXR/ASW etc. are no where to be seen.

I understand that the flights are extremely cheap, but I am trying to plan a trip using Aeroplan, and if I stop in CAI instead of going further to LXR it would mess up which city being considered my destination and effectively eat up a stop for my itinerary.

Thanks!