anat0l
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2006
- Posts
- 12,544
- Qantas
- Platinum
- Virgin
- Red
- Oneworld
- Emerald
- Star Alliance
- Silver
Oh well, maybe I had good luck on my side then.
Main frustration was domestic travel from CAI, or at least on this carrier that operated from a small butt-end of a terminal. There were so many domestic flights in that morning (e.g. just to Luxor) that the area between check-in and security screening got flooded with people in a slow moving blob. Yes, people pushed in (and others resisted them), but that's mostly a people thing rather than squarely Cairo Airport's fault.
On entering Egypt, I didn't get a visa fee stamp before I got to immigration. The kind enough guard pointed to the cash window where I had to buy the stamp, then I got it and was promptly processed into Egypt. Outside, while trying to locate my tour driver, I asked a kind kiosk attendant to help me call my driver and speak to him in Arabic so he could track where he is and tell him my exact location. Very helpful and didn't ask for anything at all.
On departure from Egypt, I was flying MS J and I had no porters bothering me. I can't remember if I tipped my shuttle driver who dropped me off at the airport. Star Alliance Gold / MS J check-in was quite empty and friendly. Screening was screening. Finding the right lounge was a bit confusing, and I think I was accepted into the wrong lounge (a better one) before being sent to the correct one.
Was a bit scared boarding would devolve into a mess featuring shoving, though there were tapes or metal barriers that made it difficult to push in, so it was fine and J pax boarded first onto a bus, plus some other elites. We left for the plane before the bus was full.
