Article: How I Save Money by Flying Business Class from Cairo

Which airlines and terminals? If Egypt Air, no worries, we were in and out in less than 20 minutes each way.

Apparently the other terminal can be less friendly. I would say you’d be ok with 3.5 hours to get back to check in!! if not, bigger problems to worry about! :)
BA inbound, RJ outbound.

Cheap CAI-SYD fare :)
 
BA inbound, RJ outbound.

Cheap CAI-SYD fare :)
Sounds familiar ;)

I didn't transit airside in Cairo and worked in an overnight to be safe, but honestly, you could play it by getting the Egypt e-Visa and then assessing the lines when trying to enter the country (if they're ridiculous and you think you're in trouble, try an airside transit then?). If you can though, it's much less stress and human interactions to enter the country and walk back to the check-in area.
 
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Sounds familiar ;)

I didn't transit airside in Cairo and worked in an overnight to be safe, but honestly, you could play it by getting the Egypt e-Visa and then assessing the lines when trying to enter the country (if they're ridiculous and you think you're in trouble, try an airside transit then?). If you can though, it's much less stress and human interactions to enter the country and walk back to the check-in area.
BA and RJ both fly out of Terminal 2. Can I just OLCI and walk to the new boarding gate or does it not work like that at CAI?

Happy to pay $25USD for a "tourist" visa for five hours. Can try to work in an overnight stay as well if it works for the itinerary.
 
BA and RJ both fly out of Terminal 2. Can I just OLCI and walk to the new boarding gate or does it not work like that at CAI?
IME (from several years ago), nothing works like that at CAI, and OLCI was not permitted. I think your best bet is to just pay the USD25 (which was usually pretty quick) and head out of arrivals and then back into departures, where you will no doubt encounter hoards of "helpers" who, for a small donation, will attempt to get you to the front of the check in queue. I did this once (a couple of USD might be sufficient) and did get straight to pretty much the front of the queue (although it did lead to a few arguments and dirty looks).

But in any case, I would expect 5 hours would be quite enough time to make the connection (although a lot of it might be waiting in queues).
 

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