ReelChief

Phil,

Thanks very much for all these helpful postings. Your experience is invaluable. I have a couple of follow-up questions.

My wife and I just picked up our tickets in London for the CAI-LXR-ASW-CAI flights to be flown in the next couple of weeks.

When we get back to CAI in mid-October we are scheduled to fly out the same day on Emirates to DXB with a 3 hour connection time in CAI. We will have checked luggage-- do you think we will have adequate time to collect the luggage and get over to the international terminal (is it nearby?) to check in with EK? Is it likely to be a problem. Your point about baksheesh is useful but how do you know who can really helpful versus who might just want to disappear with your luggage? Are there official porters who can be identified by uniform, etc.?

Phil the Flyer

ReelChief - Glad to offer any advice, based on personal experience, I can.

To answer your questions:

1. For a mid-October MS ASW-CAI to EK CAI-DXB transfer, I don't know your MS arr CAI time but, your EK dep CAI time should be either 1815hrs (1234567) or 1155hrs (257).

Although CAI terminals are not physically linked in any way, a taxi transfer between terminals is only a 10 minute exercise, and shouldn't present any problems - apart from arguing the toss with the taxi driver over the fare. It's not worth your blood pressure to get too worked up about the fact that you're probably being ripped-off for an extra US$5.

There is more than one international terminal. Although I haven't used EK ex-CAI in about a year now, I believe they are still using Terminal 2 (Two). It's important to establish and remember that before your arrival in CAI otherwise you run the risk of getting dumped outside the wrong terminal.

Three hours between flights, assuming the MS flight isn't severely delayed, should be more than adequate. The one thing you probably want to factor into the equation is this - today, Sunday 1 October is day 8 of the month of Ramadan; 'mid-October' will be approximately day 24 (of a 29 or 30 day month), by which time the patience of most Egyptians will be pretty close to breaking point, so just go easy on them. Given that we've had some hot weather for the time of year (Friday it was 40C in CAI), fasting for a month during the daytime can't be a lot of fun.

2. I believe that there are porters in uniform although, to tell you the truth, I never pay much attention as I always like to look after my own luggage. Depending upon your age, state of tiredness, amount of luggage, you may be grateful for the services of a porter.

If you have any other specific queries I'll be glad to try and answer them.

The attached link isn't that informative, but may be of assistance:

http://www.cairo-airport.com/

AJLondon

Thanks a heap Phil! ^ Yikes, I'm quite apprehensive about a 0500 departure from CAI now! Particularly with one pax being quite old and with somewhat restricted mobility. Is there any service, similar to the international meet-and-greet, which can get check-in etc sorted for the domestic flights?


Duly noted!

Phil the Flyer

AJ - Based on my experience, the answer has to be 'no'. I have never seen any such service for passengers checking-in at CAI for domestic or, for that matter, international flights.

The only form of 'personal service' I ever see at CAI is that representatives of local hotels are permitted to 'meet and greet' arriving passengers airside of Immigration.

I wouldn't be unduly concerned about elderly members of your party. I see quite a lot of 'older' foreign tourists travelling between CAI, LXR and ASW, particularly in the winter months when Egypt offers a welcome respite from the colder European weather.

As long as you allow adequate time for check-in purposes you'll be fine.

AJLondon

Thanks Phil! ^

I'll try and get them to the airport at 0300 for the 0500 flight! Might just stay at the Sheraton Helipolis thoroughout the trip, given these flight times!

Phil the Flyer

AJ - You could do a lot worse than the Sheraton Heliopolis. They used to - and I believe they still do - have a complimentary shuttle bus service to the airport every hour on the hour. It's 10 minutes maximum. Nightime is their busiest time. 0300hrs is possibly a tad early to be at the airport. If it was me I'd get a taxi, leaving the Sheraton at approx 0330hrs.

If you're on the 0500hrs flight ex-CAI you'll be in LXR by 0600hrs. Do you transfer directly to a cruise boat from the airport, or do you have to hang around somewhere for a few hours?

If you hire a car with driver for the day while you're in CAI you won't lose too much by not staying more centrally at, say, one of the Four Seasons properties. With elderly members in your party you don't want to be doing too much walking while trying to avoid the madness that is Cairo traffic anyway.


AJ - I've reflected upon my earlier 'advice', and would like to add the following:

I live in an apartment building on the Corniche on the east side of the River Nile in Cairo. My apartment building is no more than 1-2 miles from the likes of the Four Seasons Garden City, Intercontinental, Marriott, etc.

Whenever I have a BA CAI-LHR flight to catch I find that, having done an OLCI and therefore only having to be at the airport 60 minutes prior to departure, if I leave my apartment at 6:30AM I can be at the airport at 6:55AM, leaving me a further 25 minutes to the 60 minutes before departure deadline.

The point I am tryng to make is that for both your BA LHR-CAI (arr approx midnight) and CAI-LHR (dep approx 0830hrs) flights, as well as your early morning MS ex-CAI domestic flight, road traffic is so light at those times of day that you can confidently get from downtown to the airport in less than 30 minutes. Therefore, you might want to reconsider whether staying at the Sheraton Heliopolis offers much in the way of benefits.

AJLondon

Phil - Thanks! We will effectively have only 1 full day in Cairo. We arrive on a Monday just before midnight and leave for LXR wednesday morning at 0500. So even though it is "2 hotel nights", it is still effectively just one full day. So not too sure if it would be worth paying $500 per night for 2 nights at the Four Seasons, given that the effective stay would be just one day. Besides the Sheraton Heliopolis, would you recommend any other hotel out of the Intercontinental, Le Meridien or Sheraton Cairo. (Location and comfort being the primary issue.)

Re. the transfer upon arriving at LXR: Has already been arranged by the tour company for a pick-up and drop-off to the cruise boat. AFAIK, they will me meeting the flight.

Phil the Flyer

AJ - Living in Cairo full-time these days - with an apartment 12 months of the year - I don't have any need to stay in Cairo hotels anymore; accordingly my visits to Cairo hotels are limited to patronising their restaurants.

My previous extensive experience of the Sheraton Heliopolis was due to working in Upper Egypt for a number of years and flying to the UK six times/year for R&R. It is an excellent hotel for those transitting through CAI.

Given that, effectively, you've got about 26 hours from check-in to check-out at whatever property you stay at I certainly think a Four Seasons property for two nights is a bit of an overkill. Of the others overlooking the River Nile, I hear good reports of both the Intercontinental and the Hyatt. The Cairo Sheraton is quite cheap but a bit shabby - at least that's my perception. There's also the Nile Hilton and Ramses Hilton.

To wake up at least one morning, throw open your curtains and see the River Nile glistening in the sunlight before you, and all the noises and smells that are Cairo is a vote in favour of staying downtown. On the other hand - as discussed before - there's not a lot wrong with the Sheraton Heliopolis.

It may come down to what rates you can get.

AJLondon

Phil - Thanks! ^ Will look into rates asap. (Currently in JNB, enroute to CPT!)

Actually had a weird dream last night. Dreamt I had arrived at Cairo with my parents and no hotel booking whatsoever. Was flummoxed when the cabbie asked, where do you want to go! Woke up in a cold sweat!!

The Lev

I tried to book a flight on Egyptair through their Toronto office and they told me they do not accept credit cards and I'd have to mail in a certified cheque or money order. They weren't even keen on cash - eventually said OK as long as I came in before noon so they could deposit the money at the bank.

I figure it will be easier just to pick up my ticket at CAI. Does Egyptair accept credit cards at the aiprort?

If not, reminds me of flying from Khartoum where I had to scrape up my last few US $ cash to pay for a ticklet on Sudan Airways to RUH - no credit cards accepted there.

ReelChief

Phil,

My wife and I have now taken our internal Egypt flights (CAI-LXR, LXR-ASW, ASW-Cai) and would like to reiterate my thanks for your earlier advice and add the following comments.

Your comments prepared us for the worst-- which was good-- and so it was much better than we expected. The flights were also announced in English and the flight numbers and destinations were also not just in Arabic. The airport transfer at Cairo (from domestic to international) was a bit hectic but, taking your advice, we did not get overly concerned about being asked for more money, than agreed on, to pay the entrance transit fee, etc. What we thought might be a tight connection wasn't and so it was a bit of a hassle having to stand around in the international terminal until the check-in agents (for Emirates) arrived.

Re: the OP, we did buy business class seats and thought the difference (under $100 for the 3 flights) was well worth it. There was a separate check-in for businesss class, no lounge but they gave us a voucher for a free soft drink(!), the seats were 2-2 instead of 3-3 and the business cabins were not full even though the rest of the plane seemed to be packed in, the snacks were comparable to what North American carriers would give on a similar flight (in fact better) and in all three flights the "premium" tag on our bag meant that it came out of the carousel first. Maybe we had an untypical experience but our experience we would rate Egypt Air over AA for comparable flights.

ReelChief

I booked our CAI-LXR, LXR-ASW, and ASW-CAI flights with Egypt Air's Toronto office the day before going abroad and so there was no time for us to pay them and for them to get the tickets to us in Vancouver. Given the uncertainties of the Cairo airport we opted to go into the Egypt Air office in London just before flying to Egypt. Our reservation was in their system OK (and in fact a waitlist had cleared) and we had no problem paying by credit card. Given the mess that CAI can be, I'd suggest strongly that you take the time to go into the Toronto office if necessary. As noted in a separate posting, our experience with Egypt Air was good.

YVR Cockroach

I'm contemplating a ASW/ABS-CAI-LCA flight on MS. The layover in CAI is 5 hours and the difference in fare between EC and BC at this point is USD 60. Is there a lounge in CAI that would make this worth it (in addition to the more spacious seats).

Also, is RJ worth a small premium over MS (mainly for AMM-CAI)?