Hello from Cairo, as I’m currently in the middle of a review trip! After crossing the Atlantic in Lufthansa’s Airbus A350-900 Allegris business class, I then took the 3hr20min flight from Munich (MUC) to Cairo (CAI) in EgyptAir’s Airbus A320neo business class. While I’ll have a full trip report soon, in this post I wanted to share some initial impressions of the experience.
There was a lot I really liked about this flight, including the comfortable seats, the genuine and friendly service, and the decent food. However, there were also some areas for improvement, like the Wi-Fi being broken (as usual), the pitiful entertainment selection, and the lack of cabin maintenance.
EgyptAir’s A320neo business class seats are spacious
For a narrow body, EgyptAir’s A320neo cabins are awesome. The jets feature a total of 16 business class seats, spread across four rows, in a 2-2 configuration (the carrier’s A321neos have an identical business class cabin). EgyptAir installed the Collins Aerospace MiQ seats in business class, which are the same seats you’ll find on carriers like American.
What you won’t find on American (or virtually any other airline) is this amount of pitch. EgyptAir has an unheard of 48″ of pitch with these seats, which is 10″+ more than you’ll find in first class on most US airlines.
Each seat also has a 13″ seat back monitor and AC and USB-A charging outlets.
This product is hard to beat on regional flights, plain and simple, and it’s also a huge improvement compared to EgyptAir’s previous generation Boeing 737s. The advantage is even clearer when you consider EgyptAir goes head-to-head against Lufthansa in this market, and Lufthansa has its standard intra-Europe business class.
EgyptAir’s business class food is plentiful and decent
EgyptAir’s catering is nothing to get excited about, though on this flight I thought the multi-course meal was quite good, especially given the length. It’s also worth keeping in mind that EgyptAir is a dry airline, so no alcohol is served onboard.
The flight started on a great note, with pre-departure drinks, which you wouldn’t get on Lufthansa on this route. I do have a soft spot for EgyptAir’s strawberry juice.
After takeoff, drinks of choice were served, along with spiced almonds and macadamias. I just had a Diet Pepsi to drink, and otherwise stuck to water.
Then there was a meal tray with an appetizer (smoked salmon and shrimp), a salad (with parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomato), and a cheese plate.
For the main course, there was the option of chicken, fish, or beef. Since OMAAT readers have basically banned me from ordering fish dishes (see, I’m listening!), I ordered the chicken with rice… which made me immediately wish I had ordered the fish. 😉
In all honesty, the chicken was okay — it was somewhat bland and chewy, but that’s kind of what I expect on an airplane.
Then there was a dessert selection, including fruit and eclairs (the sweets were of course yum).
The EgyptAir crew on this flight was lovely
Egyptians are generally very hospitable people, as it’s a big part of the culture. However, that’s not always reflected on EgyptAir — after all, hospitality and service aren’t necessarily the same thing. While I’ve had some friendly crews on EgyptAir, I’ve mostly found the crews to be quite indifferent.
That brings me to what impressed me most about this flight — Dalia and the rest of the crew. Dalia was the primary flight attendant working business class, and she provided genuine hospitality, and couldn’t have been lovelier. She had a radiant smile, and she took time to interact with each passenger and provided proactive service. If only EgyptAir consistently had service as great as what Dalia provided.
Why can’t EgyptAir try just a little harder?
I find EgyptAir’s selective investments in the passenger experience to be a bit backwards. The most expensive “asset” on a plane is real estate, and EgyptAir gives business class passengers plenty of space. The airline could easily reduce seat pitch in business class and add an extra row of economy, and get away with it. But I assume the airline wants to offer a good experience, or something.
But then the airline seemingly cuts costs in other ways that just don’t make sense — these are largely things that would be a lot less expensive to provide, but which would leave more of an impression.
It’s great to have a beautiful high definition monitor at every seat, though unfortunately the entertainment selection is abysmal. The only western sitcom in the entire catalogue was “Night Court,” and there was a single episode of that. As far as movies go, there were roughly 25 movies in English, and they weren’t exactly cutting edge hits.
Ostensibly, EgyptAir has Wi-Fi on its Airbus A320neos. However, as I learned the hard way, it was broken on this flight (therefore the live TV feature was also broken).
Okay, that can happen sometimes, because stuff doesn’t always work. But guess what? My last EgyptAir flight was on a Boeing 787-9 that was also supposed to have Wi-Fi, but it was broken as well. Maybe I’m just the world’s unluckiest person, but having broken Wi-Fi on two of my flights with the airline in a row suggests there might be a bigger problem.
The other thing is that EgyptAir doesn’t seem to invest much in keeping up the appearance of its cabins. This A320neo was only a few years old, but parts of it looked like what you’d expect from a jet that’s a couple of decades old.
It’s so weird to me. EgyptAir makes huge investments in new aircraft and in spacious cabins, while then cutting corners on entertainment, functioning Wi-Fi, and cabin appearance. Those just don’t seem like the right priorities.
Bottom line
I had a mostly pleasant flight on EgyptAir’s A320neo, with very spacious seats, friendly service, and pretty good food. In terms of personal space, EgyptAir’s experience is on a different level than what’s offered by many European airlines on routes to and from Cairo.
However, there’s also room for improvement. EgyptAir’s entertainment selection is quite bad, and I’ve now had two EgyptAir flights in a row where Wi-Fi was broken. Still, on balance, this was probably my best EgyptAir flight I’ve had.
What’s your take on EgyptAir’s A320neo business class?
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