EgyptAir - MSR > Reviews > Egypt Air - Making long haul pleasurable

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Good
Customer Service	Outstanding
Punctuality	Good
Space	Comfortable
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Free Pyramids, Cairo, Giza and Museum tours
Disadvantages:	You will want to stay longer !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I see the views regarding Eygpt airs services are rather mixed on here which is understandable as everyone has different expereinces depending on there situation.

After undertaking my first journey with Eygpt airways I must say I found all aspcect of the journey excellent with some great added bonses, which were more to do with the scheduling of the flight but worth having knowelege of if your ever using the airline as these bonuses are standard additions.

So my journey was a long haul from Bangkok, Thailand to London Heathrow, England. So breifly the journey schedule:

Bangkok to Cairo - 9 hours
Cairo - 5 hours transit stop over
Cairo to London - 5 hours

As you can see not the greatest and finest looking travel itinerary, so you could say I wasnt exactly looking forward to it, infact I was dreading it and especially as I had no experience of Egypt air in the past although it was the cheapest flight back from Thailand at the time, hence the reason why I booked with them not knowing there history.

So the first leg of the journey I thought was fabulous the flight crew service was efficient, the food was better than average, I mean this is airline food so gourmet just isnt going to happen but good enough. Leg room sufficient. The only critism here would be the inflight entertainment was a bit poor, and visibility was down, but it was a night flight so sleeping was the common activity in this case.

This takes us to Cairo, and this is were the airline excelled. Firstly in transit passangers were instructed to re-check-in on arrival to Cairo at the transit building, which I thought was unsual. But the staff were efficient, helpful and very friendly and dealt with two flights of passangers simultaneously in transit very effectively without problem.

Now this is the gem, all passengers on transit with a stop over longer than 4 hours were given the option of either hanging out in the well equiped tranist lounge offering all amenitities, junk food, smoking areas, shopping, cafes and free internet wi-fi access or a free, thats right free 4 hour tour of Cairo, Giza, The Pyramids and A Papyrus and Essence museum. What a bonus, as I say the transit lounge looked fine but the thought of hanging around for 5 hours wasnt an energy booster after a long flight and another flight to follow, the offer of a tour to see the Pyramids was a natural energizer.

For those who opted to take the tour, which everyone was pleasantly suprised and delighted by, the check in staff arranged for us to leave the airport with temporary visas, for which we had to do nothing for except wait for 10 minutes then walk out of the airport with the steward onto our bus. We then had one of the firendliest tour guides I have ever met, fluent English and highly knowelegable feeding us information on route about our tour destinations for the day and also places we were passing through. I'm not a tourist tour taker but this was impressive. After buzzing round the Pyramids staring up in amazement and taking the costumry photo shots we were then taken to the Papyrus museum, where we were show the process involved in the acient art of Papyrus paper making then oppurtunity to buy some fantastic art work, although very touristy there was no pressure to make any purchases, just an option and a very informative demonstrator. A similar sort of set up was seen at the Essence muesum, allowing people to try different natural extracts which are then exported to large companies for use in top brand name aftersahves and perfumes and again the option to make purchases with no pressure (how the bus smelt delightful after this one). At both of these stops we were given complimentary drinks, choices included a range of teas and coffees and soft drinks and many smiles! Fantastic way to spend a 5 hours stop over, would'nt you say.

So the tour itself was imformative, well delivered and well you get to see the Pyramids, one word...SPECTACULAR! On completion of the tour which was pleasure in all aspect to take we were returned back to the airport, where things got even more simple. You just report to the Egypt air information desk to pick up your passports, then head into the departure lounge, pass through a few more passport control desks etc, where you walk straight through, no queing necessary as the stewards have already checked you in and your a transit passanger, straight to the relavant boarding gate and off you go, no hassels no problems no sweat. It really was this easy due to the system being very safe, securtiy concious and extremely efficient.

Eygpt air............ Highly recomended.

This brings us to the final leg of the journey Cairo to London, well pretty much the same as the first leg, but naturally shorter. No real complaints, but then you may still be blown away by the fabulous tour you've just had the pleasure of.

So essentially this is how a long haul flight can be made pleasurable, look out for it if you do travel with Eygpt airways in the future.