EgyptAir Boeing 737 Business Class Review (Vienna-Cairo)

A Star Alliance member, EgyptAir operates an extensive network from its Cairo hub to destinations across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America and India.

Although it’s a dry airline, I found the seat very comfortable and enjoyed the food in EgyptAir Business Class on a recent flight from Vienna to Cairo.

Join me as I review the full EgyptAir Boeing 737-800 Business Class experience…

Flight Details

Flight number	MS798
Route	Vienna (VIE) to Cairo (CAI)
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-800
Class of travel	Business
Seat number	9A
On-time performance	We arrived on time
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

I booked this flight as part of a Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer award ticket from Vienna to Kuwait City (via Cairo), which cost me 33,500 KrisFlyer miles plus approximately AUD335 in taxes & carrier charges for Business Class.

If you were to book a commercial Business Class ticket from Vienna to Cairo on EgyptAir, you could expect to pay around AUD1,200 one-way or AUD1,640 return.

Airport Experience

Vienna International Airport is always easy to navigate, and this was no exception. There was no queue to check in at the EgyptAir Business Class counter, the staff were very friendly and I was given a fast-track pass for security.

Star Alliance Business Class passengers departing from Vienna would normally be invited to visit the Austrian Airlines Business Lounge. Due to my Star Alliance Gold status, I was instead able to visit the (slightly nicer) Austrian Senator Lounge.

This was not a huge lounge, but it also wasn’t at all busy. The lounge had nice airport views, fast wifi, a sleeping room and a great buffet with hot food, fresh bread, soup, salads and plenty of drink choices. (I believe the catering here is done by Do&Co, which has high standards!)

Before heading over to the boarding gate, I enjoyed a nice glass of wine – something that would not be offered on board!

Although the Austrian Airlines lounge in Vienna was very pleasant, I unfortunately can’t say the same thing about the EgyptAir lounges at Cairo Airport that I visited while waiting for my connecting flight to Kuwait. I’m sad to say that those lounges had fairly poor catering and a similar ambience to a hospital waiting room.

When I reached the gate, boarding had already commenced. There was no separate priority boarding line, so I just queued up with everyone else.

Upon spotting my blue boarding pass (EgyptAir prints Business Class boarding passes in a different colour), the ground staff apologised profusely that I had to wait in line and asked me if I wanted them to make room for me at the front of the queue. (I declined – that really wasn’t necessary and frankly would have been quite embarrassing!)

The Hard Product

There are four rows of reclining Business Class seats in a standard 2-2 configuration on the EgyptAir Boeing 737-800. The leather seats reminded me of the Qantas Boeing 737 Business Class seats, except that there was a lot more legroom!

The seats reclined a fair way back, and I could comfortably stretch my legs out.

Only 5/16 Business seats were occupied on this flight and I didn’t have a seat neighbour. But I’m quite confident that I would have been able to get out of my window seat without disturbing the passenger in the aisle seat, if needed.

There was no wifi but an in-flight entertainment screen folded out from underneath the centre armrest. There wasn’t a huge amount of content but it was perfectly adequate with a mix of Arabic and world movies, TV shows and music. I particularly enjoyed the eloquent descriptions used to describe each of the different music albums, such as “let yourself be swept up by the emotions of the music”, “prepare to have your ears soothed” and “start a new musical chapter in your life”.

While it doesn’t convert into a lie-flat bed and direct aisle access is not available from the window seat, this was a perfectly nice Business Class product for an afternoon flight of just over 3 hours.

The Soft Product

A pillow and blanket were waiting for me at my seat when I boarded. Before departure I was also offered a hot towel, a bottle of water, headphones (these were not noise-cancelling) and a choice of orange or guava juice. There was no amenity kit provided.

Before take-off, there was an announcement that EgyptAir had removed single-use plastics from our flight to help the environment. The crew then played a delightfully Egyptian-themed safety video in Arabic, followed by English with German subtitles. The English version of the safety video started playing just as we accelerated down the runway for take-off.

I was offered a choice of three hot meals for lunch – salmon, beef or chicken. There were no printed menus, but these meal options were presented directly from the trolley so you could see exactly what was available!

I opted for the beef, which was surprisingly tender (steak is often overcooked when served on a plane – not on EgyptAir). This came with a delicious potato bake, grilled capsicum, eggplant and zucchini. The flight attendant also handed me a bottle of hot sauce so I could spice up the meal a bit.

The main course was accompanied by three small plates and fresh bread. This was followed by a choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake for dessert.

All in all, this was a satisfying and delicious Business Class meal. I told the flight attendant how much I enjoyed the food, and she seemed pleasantly taken aback to receive such a compliment. I got the impression that the EgyptAir crew don’t often receive compliments from passengers…

Later in the flight I was asked if I wanted anything else. I discovered that they had an impressive selection of teas and gladly took advantage of this.

The service from the cabin crew was fine, but I did feel as though some “warmth” was perhaps missing from the service. For example, I was never welcomed on board or called by my name. My first interaction with the cabin crew was them handing me a hot towel without saying anything. This isn’t necessarily bad – it’s probably just a cultural difference.

Arrival Experience

We landed on time in Cairo and parked at a remote bay. This meant we had to take a bus ride into the terminal, but EgyptAir arranged a separate bus for the five Business Class passengers.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.