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

[AFF Editor]

In this article, Wilson explains the practical considerations involved in booking cheap Business Class tickets originating in Cairo.

Case Study: How I Save Money by Flying Business Class from Cairo

Business Class fares from Egypt are often thousands of dollars cheaper. Wilson visited Cairo twice last year with the sole purpose of taking advantage of the savings.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[kpc]

Thread 'Is transitting at Cairo (Egypt Air to Egypt Air) straight forward?'

Oct 31, 2022

I think I don't need a transit Visa. Do I remain airside? Any "gotchas" I should be aware off? Assume same terminal...Would you choose a 6 hour or 2 hour transit? (all on same ticket). Thanks in advance.

• kpc
• Replies: 2
• Forum: Passports, Visas, Immigration & Customs

I did it on the same ticket on Egypt Air to Egypt Air whch arrived and departed in T3 and the process was easy as described above. Dont need a visa if on same ticket.

For separate tickets, I would definitely stay the night near the airport and an eVisa (although the system is very buggy...mine got processed but +1s on same application didn’t...got hers from Egyptian consulate in Sydney in the end) is necessary. Getting a Visa on arrival is essentially handing over Us$50 in cash on arrival and is the recommended way bar rhe Qs mentioned in the article.

I personally wouldn't start a cheap J ticket ex Cairo (and I would sugggest only the more travel savvy people try this) but would look at one of the other airports mentioned. The Egypt Air lounges are terrrible btw.

If you were to buy a cheap ticket ex Cairo, stay a few nights in Cairo albeit a very busy chaotic city....go to the new Egyptian museum, the Pyramids, Sphinx etc....they are truly magnificent!

 

[RooFlyer]

As an aside, if your cheap-ish business ticket from Cairo is on QR, you will be bumped up to F as they don’t have a business cabin on those flights. Then, Al Safwa First lounge in DOH, irrespective of the class of onward travel

 

[Melburnian1]

Compared to booking a return ticket from Oz to Manila on PR, staying a night or two to ensure connections work and then using another airline to get to London or Europe and back from Europe (avoiding the UK Air Passenger Duty levied on outbound flights), flying via Cairo seems very complicated.

Hardly worth an article.

 

[tassie6]

Compared to booking a return ticket from Oz to Manila on PR, staying a night or two to ensure connections work and then using another airline to get to London or Europe and back from Europe (avoiding the UK Air Passenger Duty levied on outbound flights), flying via Cairo seems very complicated.

Hardly worth an article.

I disagree, it is very much worth an article, especially considering that the author actually did it themselves and with the real world transit experience

As asia stopover on different tickets is one option, but this is certainly another, especially if you are in a situation where nesting tickets works out. You could nest a cairo return, between an asia stopover return and use both options.

 

[Gold Member]

Compared to booking a return ticket from Oz to Manila on PR, staying a night or two to ensure connections work and then using another airline to get to London or Europe and back from Europe (avoiding the UK Air Passenger Duty levied on outbound flights), flying via Cairo seems very complicated.

Hardly worth an article.

Disagree. Although Cairo wouldn’t be my first choice just to save a few bucks, the article highlights the importance of avoiding the Australia tax, and how to work with nested itineraries to save even more.

Personally, I would’ve just flown straight outta somewhere like Oslo to MEL/SYD on reputable carriers like Turkish and Singapore on their long haul business class products for $5-6K. It’s a seamless experience in comparison and would probably earn a similar level of status accrual to a Star Alliance carrier like Singapore Airlines.

And as another nested alternative, EU-BKK/KUL/SIN/CGK for $3-4K with connections to and from Australia.

A word of caution with nested itineraries commencing outside Australia - most credit card travel insurances policies won’t cover you. You must be departing from and returning to Australia. There are many online TIs that will play ball though.

 

[Portsoft]

In this article, Wilson explains the practical considerations involved in booking cheap Business Class tickets originating in Cairo.

Case Study: How I Save Money by Flying Business Class from Cairo

Business Class fares from Egypt are often thousands of dollars cheaper. Wilson visited Cairo twice last year with the sole purpose of taking advantage of the savings.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

Looking at the length of the layover times, even in the business lounge would make that itinerary very unattractive to me ....

 

[blaz]

I walk to hotels that are less than 30 minutes away all the time, but it can be fraught. The exercise is great, but the footpaths always disappear after the carparks. So, you feel like a fish out of water as you try to navigate your bag as close to the verge as you can. I love the look of surprise when you tell the checkin staff that you walked from the airport. They either admire your stamina or just think you are bonkers.

 

[N860CR]

I’ve booked a CAI-JNB-CPT to join two Singapore awards (SYD-CDG and then CPT-SYD). Less than $1000 in business class (the JNB-CPT alone is often about $4-500). Only issue is flying Egypt Air… but it’s overnight anyway. There are some good deals to be had.

 

[Gold Member]

Only issue is flying Egypt Air… but it’s overnight anyway.

Does an overnight flight make Egypt Air OK?

 

[kpc]

I have flown 4 flights in J on Egypt Air...Ist-Cai x2, Cai-Kgl x1 and Cai-Amm x1....3 hot meal options offered in J, average TV entertainment screen (and no WiFi) and wait for it, it is a DRY airline. . The longest flight was a 5 hr 40 min flight on a 737 from Cairo to Kigali (arr 0320!!) and the seats reclined to about 45 °....wasn't the best or worse J flight I have ever taken

 

[N860CR]

Does an overnight flight make Egypt Air OK?

My theory is that I’ll sleep from take off to landing. And if it crashes, I’ll be asleep and hopefully won’t notice.

 

[Scarlett]

@WilsonM It was a case of deja vu reading about that first transit in CAI:

- delayed IB flight into MAD
- missed connection to IB3626
- reroute via FCO
- fly on the lovely ITA A321
- arrive in CAI sans luggage
- ITA agent in CAI sorted out lost luggage form and got it returned to Australia quite quickly.

I had these exact same things happen in October last year, which was on my second transit of CAI. I had stayed at the Novotel CAI on my first transit a few weeks earlier.

I suggest you were amazingly lucky to have been able to be rerouted the way you were AND them doing it even though you had checked luggage. By your timings of being 45 minutes late, you arrived into MAD about 1615, but were able to be rerouted onto a 1705 flight to FCO. No wonder the baggage staff couldn’t also quickly reroute your effects.

As for the actual transiting, I agree that having the visa already sorted out made the arrival easier. The terminals aren’t great but they’re functional enough and they’re fairly close together (terminals 2 and 3 at least), as I walked between them a couple of times. The MS lounge is also nothing special.

As a final note, you’ve written the article form the point of view of using CAI as your departure point (your origin) to take advantage of a good fare. I was flying to CAI as the fare to there (as a destination) was good value. In my searches from Sth East Asia to Europe I often see CAI as one of the cheapest destinations and as it is relatively close to Europe can sometimes make sense.