Cairo & Seoul long weekender

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After booking a too-cheap-to-miss-it $550 SV fare from Cairo with two nights in Seoul, I ended up building a week long trip where I think I might be in the air more than on the ground. Managed to find a TK award through Aeroplan from Chicago to Cairo and BA also has good J fares CAI to US (granted five hours of Club Europe), so why not.

Plan:

AA BOS-ORD in Y
TK ORD-IST-CAI in J
SV CAI-RUH-ICN in J
SV ICN-JED-CAI in J
BA CAI-LHR-JFK-BOS in J

Started off with a QF award positioning flight from BOS where I managed to sneak into the BA lounge there, which is miles better than the Admiral’s Club in Terminal B. I’m lucky with AA crews and this flight was no exception. Managed to get moved to the middle exit row with MCE at no charge and a nice flight through to ORD.

Currently in the UA Polaris lounge at ORD, which is great! The dining room sets this place apart from pretty much every other J lounge and it’s very quiet in the morning due to a lack of international UA/LH flights at that time. I’d better get a move on to get to T5.

 

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Just off the last SV flight and currently in CAI T2 baggage claim with three hours until BA check-in opens so now is as a good a time as any for an update.

Starting from where I left off in ORD…

I had gotten more excited about the TK flight from Chicago to Istanbul a few weeks out because the TK and EF seat maps was showing 7 rows of J. The real heads here will know that meant that the 350 would have been one of those originally outfitted for, but never operated by, Aeroflot, and then purchased by TK. The J cabins on these have enclosed pods with sliding doors (I believe closer to the new BA Club World product, but someone please correct me if they have flown them).

Well, that was all for naught because the 350 that turned up was a good old 8 rower – a classic TK equipment swap if I’m not mistaken.

I did sample the Swissport “lounge” (read: dungeon) at ORD, but it’s better to not step foot in there at all – if one must, grab a drink and muesli bar and sprint for the exit. The SAS lounge said the couldn’t let me in until after the set departure time of the TK flight. I didn’t have my trusty Star Alliance lounge access rules handbook handy to quote at them so left it at that.

Boarding was an absolute mess given the tiny amount of gate area – I think partly due to ongoing renovations in T5 (LX lounge or something like that?). The gate agents announced pre-boarding for anyone who required it, but in the same breath welcomed J pax and Star Alliance elites to board.

ORD-IST-CAI

90 000 Aeroplan Points + $87.40 CAD

TK186

This was a good flight with a friendly crew and really good food (I did have kind of high expectations going into it).

The J seat on the regular TK 350 is not particularly good IMO. The massive wing on closer-to-the-window seats in even rows totally blocks one window so you’re left with maybe 1.5 windows (the SV 330 has three windows a piece for a 2-2-2 J cabin – and the seats are probably better too!). The seat was also too narrow to lie down with both arms at my side and too short to lie straight. I’m 6”3’ so YMMV, maybe I expect too much? Also TK has finally answered the age old question: how to stop people stealing my cough out of the seat storage while I’m getting changed in the bathroom, add a lock!

Lunch service started with a really, really good mushroom soup and a whole bunch of goat’s cheese (there’s never enough goat cheese!). The gnocchi was also good. The baklava selection underwhelmed slightly and didn’t seem very fresh. Everything is presented to a very high standard. Menus are attached for those interested.


TK’s WiFi service was pretty cough and I couldn’t figure it for the life of me. It didn’t matter so much because the IFE selection is really good, with lots of boxed sets and features. TK runs rings around Saudia here.

The flight timing whacked me around a bit – departure 11:30 and arrival ~06:00 in IST, not much you can do about that. I didn’t get much (any?) sleep so really needed it in CAI.

TK690

I booked a stupidly short connection in IST, (only redemption available) and this was despite knowing that TK186 is consistently late departing, and doesn’t make up time in the air. Out of the arriving D gate in IST (no transit security thank god) I saw my connection already at final call and at the F gates. Of course, IST, one of the biggest terminals in the world, has no ATS, or even many travellators. I busted an absolute gut sprinting to the gate and just made it. I knew I’d be able to get on the next TK flight to CAI but it was ten or so hours later so if I could make this one then I wanted to.

Sweating bullets (don’t knock me, no cross country in a while), and having just had the average french toast (more like bread and butter pudding) on TK186, I took my seat on the 321n.

Shortly before takeoff… . Luckily the sick bags were close by and I shall never question their utility again. Needless to say I didn’t eat anything until I got to CAI.

To be continued.

 

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Back in Boston now so will make the last couple of posts in the next day or so.

CAI immigration very easy, I had already paid for a $60USD 6-month multiple entry visa as I knew I'd need to enter twice on this trip, and have a return to Egypt in August.

TK690 arrived early morning, I originally wanted to do the Egyptian Museum in downtown before heading to my hotel, but I felt pretty cough so decided to go straight there. I decided to try public transport at least one way so made use of the airport shuttle to get to the CAI bus station. Took a minute but found one of the two buses that go to Abd Al Moneim Riad (near the Ramses Hilton). I stayed in Sheikh Zayed which is west of the city so hopped on the M10 which took 40ish minutes. Total cost 30EGP so about $1USD.

Crowne Plaza West Cairo - Arkan

Booked this IHG property with 32000 points, regular rate is around $200USD I believe. I arrived at 10 and could check in straight away which was great. I ended up going to sleep for longer than anticipated so didn't do much the rest of the day. The area is a bit weird - mostly malls and gated communities, I'd probably stay in Cairo proper next time I go.



I ended up having dinner at the hotel's Armenian restaurant which was really excellent. They let me order the 650EGP set menu and I recieved an absurd amount of very good food - easily enough for four reasonably hungry people (two of eight courses pictured...) IHG currently have a 30% dining discount in Middle East/Africa (even if you're not staying).



I had the diamond breakfast in the morning which was also great, except for that fact that I was told a couple of times I would be charged for it (I figured they would wipe the charge on checkout which they did).

Next day was mandatory pyramids day, nothing much to report other than that the Uber there and back was great value (as are all Ubers in Egypt) - about $4 each way for a 30m drive. The driver ended up taking me to the Sphinx entrance which had a fairly short queue. I tried the new cafe/restaurant - Khufu's - west of the Pyramids, which had a great view and western-priced drinks.

 

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Ok, last post... SV, Seoul, and more SV, and just a little BA/AA.

Headed to CAI from my hotel probably earlier than I should have, but I was worried about traffic. I needn't have and was there in an hour or so.

SV don't open check-in until 3h prior so I had to wait in the terminal post security check #1. Priority line was no issue so I was soon in the SV lounge which is very good, compared to both the BA offering in the same terminal, and the SV offering in RUH (coming up...)

SV312 CAI-RUH

Regional J isn't usually too exciting and this was no exception. SV's 330 (33R) 2-2-2 lie-flat is quite comfortable for the short hop to Riyadh, it's a similar (identical?) product to what AA use in J on their 321Ts. I had to get the date smoothie and wasn't dissapointed - definitely sweet but worth the calories IMO. The crew only managed to play the safety video in Arabic and then English three times (I was hoping for more), but perfectly timed the travel prayer with wheels up, which was a lovely touch.



RUH transit

This is supposedly an SV hub but the part of the terminal they are using at the moment is too small - arriving and departing gates were both via bus . The temporary lounge was woeful, no showers and pretty packed with transit pax - it was much more pleasant in the lower level gate lounge (new one is under construction upstairs I believe). This was where I realised I'd left my USB charger and cable in CAI and had to shell out $50+ on a new one at duty free.

SV896 RUH-ICN

The J cabin on this 787-9 flight was pretty full but the crew was excellent and service was great from the get go. PDBs and multiple coffee/date offerings before takeoff. I was super impressed with the Arabic ful - which I also had on the way back. Like TK, SV have a dedicated inflight chef who preps J meals (including fresh eggs I believe).

The flatbed was definitely better than TK, though SV don't offer a turndown service or bedding (this was technically a day flight leaving at 4am). IFE is definitely a low point for SV, with a limited selection and some issues (M3GAN only had an audio-described track - no original English audio?). Headphones are also very average.

Seoul

We arrived in the evening and immigration was 20-30 minutes. I prebooked the Arex train to Seoul Station for about $5USD and got the subway to Sinsa - I did the same going back but next time would get the bus which goes from Sinsa metro directly to ICN, a little more expensive but quicker and better if you had bags. Stayed at Voco Gangnam - see IHG thread - love a "free" minibar.



Over the two days I did lots of walking - Seoul is a great city for it - over to the National Museum of Korea, War Memorial of Korea, and Gyeongbokgung Palace. I would recommend all of them. Its a little out of the way but I'd also highly reccomend walking around the Seoul National Cemetery.

SV899/SV301 ICN-JED-CAI

Back to CAI via JED, and what a massive difference from RUH. JED is a much larger terminal for SV, and has a proper lounge (albeit with only two showers). They also use two gates to board so J pax have a totally seperate gate and airbridge - very impressive.

The pistachio pancakes were awesome - and this was on the shorter JED-CAI service too.


BA385 CAI-LHR

BA no longer operate a widebody (or lie-flat ex BMI narrowbody) on this ~5h route, so it's Club Europe only - this probably goes some way to explain the cheap ex-CAI fares to NA. The 321n had about 9 rows of CE and great service from the crew. That said, I'm not looking forward to the return I have booked later this year - leg room is very middling for such a long narrowbody flight.

Overnight layover so chanced the HIE at "T5" (i.e. Slough), I wouldn't return because the matresses were so cough.

BA117 LHR-JFK

I knew I was cough*** when I saw a seat change from 5K to 14J - equipment swap from 1-2-1 Club Suites (77H/M) to the old Club World 2-4-2 777 (77G). Ahh well, it's still J I suppose. Thank god these seats are going the way of the dodo (luckily my first time sampling them). Crew and food were still great however.

AA4368 JFK-BOS

Nothing exciting whatsoever about this flight, but a friendly AA/Republic Airways crew as usual.

Thanks for coming along!

 

[kookaburra75]

Thanks for taking us along on what seemed a whirlwind tour, and really interesting for me, as you covered a few different travel options.