Hello from Paris, as Im currently on a review trip! After a rough night in Cairo Airport, I flew EgyptAir’s Boeing 787-9 business class on the 4.5 hour flight to Paris.
Continue reading: EgyptAir’s Disappointing Boeing 787 Business Class
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Well, some positive things about the flight::
- no ciggy smoking pilots to bring the plane down;
- no suicidal pilots to bring the plane down.
MSR is definitely on my no-fly list... So, many thanks to take one for the team!
Flew it from JFK-CAI in 2021 and back. Nothing memorable on flight over. On flight back I'd pulled down my mask to wipe my face after putting luggage in overhead bin. Wasn't down a minute.
Suddenly had FA in my face telling me to put on mask. And not nicely. Meanwhile a "friend" of the crew barely wore his the entire time. I had a spot of fun by quietly walking to galley, then pulling back curtain to find crew and friend, not a one of them with a face mask on, I'd just quietly stand there for a few seconds engaging them in eye contact, especially the rude FA, before moving on to bathroom.
The FA wouldn't even make eye contact with me the rest of the flight but just rushed by me in the cabin.
Meal was pretty much inedible both ways.
Now on my multiple internal Egypt flights, the crews were personable and helpful.
Have flown them CAI to London and to Rome. Nothing exciting but no hassle.
Completely agree!
After seeing how families of MS 990 have been treated and the complete lack of accountability on the airline’s part this is definitely one to avoid.
While EgyptAir doesn't cater alcohol, the flight attendants will serve alcohol if you happen to buy wine or something like that at the airport.
Sadly, this attitude ("eh who cares" combined with arrogance) is about what you can expect from a north-african airline nowadays
I don't think anyone has ever been impressed with EgyptAir, so your expectations were a bit high?
I spent 10 days in Egypt and could not tell you what Egyptian cuisine is supposed to be. It was mostly poor attempts at Western classics like burgers and pizza.
That's what irks me about non ME Gulf carriers: the practice of upgrading your buddies and flight crew to business.
Not only saw that on Egyptair, but also Tunisair, Air Algerie, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian and MEA.
Flew them a few times last year. Brand new planes were falling apart. I was glad to just survived the short flights. Egypt Air is just a huge avoid. Nothing good.
Don’t even get my started on how the international airports like Luxor had bathroom attendants requiring tips before allowing passengers to use them. That kind of stuff really ruins Egypt. Such amazing culture and food, but the people and corruption ugh
I've flown EgyptAir a few times and always find the male flight attendants sleeping in the J seats while the female crew does all the work. I once even saw them trying to kick a paying J passenger to Y because there weren't enough seats for the male crew to sit (sleep) in. Pathetic airline!
Wasn’t MS 990 deemed a suicide by plane? Did the pilot deliberately crash the plane?
My only experience at Cairo airport was horrendous. Staff were on strike and went on a looting spree of the Duty Free area. SQ barricaded the passengers (all of them) in a tiny lounge with one toilet for about 4 hours and eventually we were escorted by armed guards from the lounge to the plane. The day after I left, mobs attacked the media center next to the Fairmont where I was staying, killing several people. I was very happy to see the back of Cairo.
When I retired at age 70 in 2018, I knew I’d reward myself with an 18-day, wonderful trip to Egypt to see amazing things I’ve only read about. When I visit other countries, I like to fly the national airline, so EgyptAir it was. I flew there in Economy, but after walking way more than I anticipated and crawling on my knees sown and up tunnels into tombs, I was pooped. The first thing I did when I got to the airport to depart was to check out what an upgrade would cost for the then-anticipated 14-hour flight back to JFK. It was so worth the extra $800. I had my own little pod that I could position to make it a comfy, private enclosed bed to relax and lie down in. I loved it. I don’t remember the meals except that I ate all of them. The only meal I truly remember is a juicy steak dinner when I flew Varig to Brazil back in the day.
@mon, begging is a job in Egypt. Your tips (baksheesh) are for good wishes (karma?). Most are well behaved and want to help. You get used to it. Many would say the window washer people at traffic lights in the US are far more aggressive
Respect is earned, not granted... this is one of the shittiest airlines on Earth, with a safety record to match.
It deserves all the ridicule it gets, and then some.
Chris W: if you spent 10 days in Egypt and now don't know what Egyptian cuisine is, then that is a reflection on you and not on Egypt. You chose not to go to an Egyptian-cuisine restaurant (of which there are, of course, many). We had some delicious food in Cairo, Alexandria, and Luxor.
Wasn’t MS 990 deemed a suicide by plane? Did the pilot deliberately crash the plane?
All but one of the nations involved in the official investigation have concluded that.
But because Egypt then and now still refuses to accept that, the NTSB softened its final report with language like "the aircraft departed normal cruise profile due to erratic control inputs by the relief officer, causing subsequent impact with the Atlantic Ocean."
Egypt believes, based on a cleanly sheered bolt in the elevator system, that a random catastrophic failure occurred in the aircraft's Power Control Unit (PCU) and brought the plane down. Boeing did admit to such damage, but says it occurred because the elevators split during the plane's dive, which it didn't even know COULD happen-- because it never tested for a situation where one pilot would be pulling and another pushing, for 2minutes straight.
Egypt's theory also doesn't explain why the CVR would catch the Captain screaming "you shut off the engines?" or the FDR verifying that very thing.
A friend of mine was a flight instructor who used to train pilots sent by EgyptAir. Almost all of them failed his course and yet every single one of them was put on an EgyptAir jet. For that reason alone he, and I, will never set foot on an EgyptAir plane.
Yes, but the Egyptian government refuses to accept that.
Denial is what leads to more bad things.
Why would rich Egyptians flying business class want local Egyptian food that they can have every day. Even rich tourists leaving Egypt after a couple weeks of local food would be happy with something non-egyptian to eat
Not everyone is mileage running and experiences the culture just on the flight. They actually spend time in the location so food cuisine matching the location isn't that important
I flew on MS last week from LHR-CAI on a 789 as well. The IFE selection on that flight was perfectly adequate, at least as far as movies are concerned. I agree the food was mediocre but for me the major issue was the indifference of the cabin service.
All that being said, I will fly MS 10 times out of 10 from LHR (or CDG) to CAI and get the proper seat rather than put up with the absurd excuse for business class that the Euro carriers continue to get away with. Those are tolerable on one hour flights, less so on 5 hours flights.
It’s hard to imagine any self-respecting Egyptian, rich or otherwise, would prefer the mediocre offerings of this flight over Egyptian cuisine.
So offer the choice of a western meal as well as an Egyptian meal. Many carriers in Asia offer this choice. Let people decide for themselves instead of making the decision for them.
I'm sure it is hard for the crew to be cheerful and delightful when they're constantly marginalized and harassed by the male crew.
As an expat based in the ME, I often fly in biz with QR, EY, GF, SV etc. but not that much with MS. Nevertheless I had a chance to try MS B789 Biz for a couple of times for the route of RUH/DXB-CAI, none of which were that memorable (aircraft itself is just OK, but service was not that good) compared to other ME airlines. But based on my experience, I would say that MS service (flight crew attitude) for the route of major Saudi Arabian cities(JED, RUH, DMM)-CAI tend to be slightly better than those of MS's other routes within the region.
Actually. Egypt air in short flight to Europe much better than British Airways. France and Lufthansa.
You are complaining that no WIFI. intertemint is poor
How about flying from Cairo to London business class with British Airways no screen at all. Seating on economy seats not flat seat no music and very poor lunch meal no Wifi. Very very cheap business class I have ever seen in my life.
Please be fair and try those airline then compared to Egypt Air.. I will never ever fly European air line again . Because they become so cheap in service. And will continue flying with middle East Airline
Egyptair has always been third rate, and always will be. Nepotism and endemic corruption will ensure that.
On the plus side, the cute brush in the amenities pack will be much appreciated by Winston, Ben!
Funny reading the comments here about male cabin crew making the women do all the work etc. I know a totally woke German woman - the type who posts the obligatory "immigrants makes us stronger" performative type stuff on her Facebook page. She once told me she despises Egyptian men while practically spitting the words out of her mouth.
I took a number of international and business flights with MS a few years ago. Old style recliners. Limited IFE. It was actually better than I expected. The catering is not haute cuisine. I likened it to good, solid home-style cooking. But oh my, they were generous with their portions! On a red-eye from Cairo to Kuala Lumpur via Bangkok, we were served three delicious full course meals: dinner, breakfast AND lunch i I can't recall what type of cuisine it was, I only remember it was delicious and generous). That was mighty impressive. But the service was what caught my eye. The leading female attendant did a cute little curtsy after serving each meal. I've never had anyone curtsy to me before (it's not something I would encourage), but that was super classy. I get that MS is not perfect, but there are some hidden gems in MS.
I find it amazing, Ben, that you even consider flying Egyptair when their safety record is abominable, including in-flight crashing suicide by one of the pilots AND blaming terrorism for crew indiscipline and mistakes not following procedures. To my knowledge, this is the only airline cumulating both occurrences.
This review sort of reminds me of the one where you were so disappointed because TAAG proved not to be a dream-airline, making me think "What did he expect? Why was he there?". The different situation now is that there are Ford and Myles, not to mention Winston. Try to stay safe, if only for them.
Egypt is rated as one of the worst tourist destinations in the world even by woke Reddit. Egypt basically has the pyramids and a few architectural sites that the current people who call themselves “Egyptians” did not build nor would be capable of building in a billion years. There is nothing redeeming about Egypt aside from those 5000 year old pyramids. I’m not saying this; Egyptians on Reddit say this. Cairo is a dump.
We need to be honest. At least the Egyptians can blame the Arabs who captured North Africa in 700AD.
Why didn't you ask to talk to the captain about your internet problem with I think was fixed
After airborne . Coz I was on that plane . And you got to choose between audio folders ??? There were 10s of them you have a freewill . I am Muslim and I don't mind offering me the holy Bible when checking in a room in a hotel. And about the food you could have easily complained. Thank you
@ Ahmed -- Sorry, what? I should ask to talk to the captain about the Wi-Fi during the flight? It was NOT fixed during the flight. Which day were you flying, out of curiosity? And yes, the problem is that there were 10s of movies and TV shows to choose from (rather than hundreds or thousands on other airlines). What would complaining about the food have done? It's not like they can cook something different onboard. Bad catering isn't the crew's fault.
Could not agree more, unfortunately. Over the course of the last 12 months, I have flown MS 12 times between Europe and Cairo, on a combination of B738/A32N/B789. While B789 is my favorite as I just like WBs and more space, the common denominator of all these flights is lack of anything memorable, lack of crew personality and/or interest, mediocre F&B (they do not even offer soda water and I prefer Coke over Pepsi and every time I ask for Coke Zero I get Diet Pepsi which I dismiss). One more common thing is dirt. I was amazed how dirty the J class cabin and restrooms were, including on brand new B789s and A32Ns. No-one seems to care for anything. Oh, and flights are basically always delayed. It is an airline with beautiful history and tradition that is completely mismanaged and lacks any connection to Egypt’s rich culture and heritage. I find it quite bad and if it was not for my company’s choice, I would never fly MS. Nor recommend it to friends.
It is not about a London or Paris flight. It is about EgyptAir having a shit product in Business. If you wanna run comparisons, compare EgyptAir long haul with BA or whatever long-haul. Even Iberia 😀 Truth, sad, is that EgyptAir is a mediocre airline run by mediocre managers appointed by a mediocre government. Period. Shameful.
Luck, youre actually wrong. they do integrate their culture into the flight experience. Complete mess of a country into an airline! Boom! Thats one country I will NEVER go back to!
I am using Egypt Air since 1978 between JFK in New York and Cairo Airport in Egypt twice a year because it's the only direct flight that takes from 10 to 12 hours . I am using business class on 777 or 787 planes and have no problem with it except there is a bathroom that is out of order all the time for the last 10 years. There is malfunction seat and food quality isn't that good for the last 5 years.
Egypt air / Misrair is one of the oldest airlines began service in the 30s. My mother flew them in the 40s to Lyda and to Cyprus in the 50s. I agree I don’t understand why they don’t serve Middle Eastern dishes.
Egypt air / Misrair is one of the oldest airlines began service in the 30s. My mother flew them in the 40s to Lyda and to Cyprus in the 50s. I agree I don’t understand why they don’t serve Middle Eastern dishes.
EgyptAir has the same geographic advantage of the ME3 in being able to connect Europe with Asia and Australia, with the added benefit of adding a stopover package for historic sites or a beach holiday, generating so much more revenue for a country that is presently severely struggling financially. A passenger should begin to experience Egypt from the minute they board the plane, from media options to cuisine, etc, with western options for everything just like JAL does.
By selling passengers packages that allow them to experience Egypt in stopovers, EgyptAir could do so much. Could even add a connection in Cairo to smaller resort towns like SSH for those not interested in history and just want a few days of beach, or Alexandria for those who want to see a different city. This is just very very unfortunate.
And Egypt is more lax on alcohol than a lot of Gulf countries, why is this a dry airline?
You have agenda
The way you expressed your experience is questionable!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry to hear and read that,if you rethink and come back ,you will be my guest,so to show you a better prospect of Egypt,please rethink
You are most welcome
I haven't flown with them yet but FYI they're known to be the best out of Egypt to many destinations (esp. to Europe) due to lack of any serious competition unfortunately. BA/LH/LX all downgraded CAI to narrowbody and sell food in Eco. Just a couple of days ago I flew with LH in J to CAI and it was just what economy class used to be like in the 90s and early 2000s. A small meal tray, economy class seating with middle seat left empty, no WiFi or entertainment or even a moving map. MS fly this very same 787 on the same route with hot meal in Eco, entertainment, WiFi (when it works) and double the luggage allowance. Best airlines from/to Egypt remain MS, TK, AF and the middle eastern carriers so technically MS don't even need to try hard to compete. A friend recently flew BA out of CAI to Heathrow in Eco and was offered a snack of mini pretzels and a small bottle of water on a 5h flight. So yeah.. whether you liked them or not they remain superior to most EU competition
You are absolutely right. BA, LX and LH just treat flights to Cairo as 3rd rate. At least on Egypt Air you get a decent seat, space to stretch your legs, in-flight entertainment allbeit sub average and an average meal.
I will take that any time over the economy class seats and lose food disguised as business class on the above mentioned European airlines.
That is what happens when you choose the national airlines of a country like Egyp,where there is no body can be brought to the book, as the country is in the 130th rank on the corruption perception index.
Your issues are Not only you visited Egypt, but also flown over their airlines which unfortunately reflect their ignorance everywhere you go. You should have bribed the pilots and the flight attendants to get your WiFi service for once. And bribes the stewards to upgrade you to a functioning audio jack in another seat…..
As for the food, aren’t you glad that you didn’t get sick for their employees practicing bad hygiene before and after serving you ☹️
Tbh the terrible food makes sense - Egyptians are famous in the Arab world for terrible food and being unable to cook lol!
I always fly egypt air, it makes BA look like a two outfit. The service and food is exception, well done Egypt air
While this is a very "First World" problem, I do agree that it's unfortunate that Egyptair doesn't integrate any part of their nation's culture. Never been to Egypt nor flown MS, but based on this review, it looks like a soulless airline.
Oh, and regarding the livery, I think that it's also pretty soulless and "generic". The one from the 1960's, with gold and red/orange desert tones looked far better (IMO).
I enjoy flying business class with Egypt Air, I hope you try other airlines like British Airways, United, lufthanza at that point you'll be really disappointed.
I have flown with Egypt Air several times to and from Cairo to London in Business Class over the last few years.
On BA's direct flight and Lufthansa's indirect flights you don't get flat bed seats. Just Economy seats at the front of the aircraft in BA's case and on Lufthansa the middle economy seat blocked off. Compare that to EgyptAir flat bed and compare the price as well.
I have been more that happy with EgyptAir. The flight attendants have been professional and amiable. Perhaps when you smile yourself you get a smile back.
Great that the new 789 is on the London route.
Totally agree. BA use Economy seats with zero recline in Business class on the Cairo to London route. Lufthansa simply block of one seat in the three but without any leg room. Give me EgyptAir any day to fly from Cairo to London.
I don't like the fact that Egypt Air does not offer Alcohol in Business Class. Shame on them for imposing their religious restrictions on us. I would not recommend Egypt Air for this reason.
Egypt Air staff is rude, obnoxious, threatening, and has zero respect to the pre-confirmed assistance to clients. Especially elderly ones. A disgrace.
Well I have travelled on Egypt Air several times in both economy and business I like it that is why I am flying with Egypt Air from North America to Egypt then jedda and Beirut business class in the next two weeks.
I and my wife flew on Egypt Airlines from Jeddah to Cairo on business class on flight no Ms670 and was very disappointed as my wife was feeling cold and I asked for a blanket and they didn't have one to offer when I had to ask for it again they still said they haven't got one I had to give her my jacket and as we were landing in Cairo the stewardess brought the blanket and the seats where not comfortable as I had to pay extra to travel in business class and the recliner was not working properly even the stewardess tried and she said when the plane takes off it will work but it didn't work very disappointed Ahmed A.S.Bhimani
Report your noisy vehicles. You will have to pay compensation to the authorities for excessive noise.