Review of Egyptair flight Aswan Cairo in Business

Airline Egyptair
Flight MS097
Class Business
Seat 20K
Aircraft Airbus A220-300
Flight time 01:30
Take-off 17 Dec 21, 20:30
Arrival at 17 Dec 21, 22:00
MS   #83 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 68 reviews
bldavid
By GOLD 1707
Published on 22nd December 2021

I work as a tour guide in Iceland and mid-December is one of the few very quiet times of the year – perfect time to travel. I was planning to go to Gambia with Royal Air Maroc but Morocco decided to cancel all flights to and from the country. I booked a Lufthansa flight from Paris to Cairo only four days before departure at a very reasonable rate of 550 € return in business class, and I had already booked a one-way flight from Paris to Budapest with Swiss. Here are all my flights:

Play, Keflavík to Paris, economy class
Lufthansa, Paris to Munich, business class
Lufthansa, Munich to Cairo, business class
Egyptair, Cairo to Aswan, business class
Egyptair, Aswan to Cairo, business class (here)
Lufthansa, Cairo to Munich, business class
Lufthansa, Munich to Paris, business class
Swiss, Paris to Zurich, business class
Swiss, Zurich to Budapest, business class
Wizzair, Budapest to Keflavík, economy class (no flight report)

Aswan is the southernmost large city in Egypt with a population of about 1.5M and is a popular destination both for domestic and international tourists.

Travel time from Aswan to Cairo is about 13 hours by train or by car while flight time is only 1 hour and 25 minutes. There are five to eight direct flights a day. Most of them are operated by Egyptair although Nile Air and Air Arabia Egypt also have a few flights a week. The typical one-way fare is 69 € in economy and 118 € in business class - so there's a domestic business class with a relatively small price difference. Let's see if it's worth booking business class.

I took a taxi from downtown Aswan to the airport. The first driver told me 250 EGP (14 €) but another driver came in a rush, told me 400 EGP (22 €) and started to argue with his colleague that he should tell a higher price to tourists. I started to walk away and the price suddenly became 250 EGP again. The taxi was a Peugeot 504, a car that was produced between 1968 and 1983, so it was at least 38 years old - but very likely even older. I like old cars but not when the headlights don't always work at night, there are no seat belts in the back and the driver is on his phone when driving. But we eventually got to the airport.

There was a security control to enter the terminal building as usual.

There was a business class check-in desk. I got my boarding pass in no time.


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The second security control was between the check-in and the gate area. I had to write my name and passport number (but not my nationality) into a large book.

I didn't try to comment about Egyptian Airports Co using this QR code.


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There's one large gate area.


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There's an Italian fast food restaurant with a minimum choice, some souvenir shops and a few other small shops.


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There is no lounge so I just bought a coke from the shop.


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I was lucky to be on MS97 and not on MS87.


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Free Wi-Fi is theoretically available but only for Egyptian mobile phone holders.

There was not much to do while waiting for departure.

Boarding started at about 20.25. Priority boarding was available.


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Boarding was by bus and there was a separate bus for business class passengers.


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My seat was changed at the gate from 21A to 20K. Who would have guessed that 20K is a front row window seat on an A220?


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Seats in business class are the same as in economy class with a 2+3 configuration with no blocked seats.

Some hand gel and a bottle of water were offered after boarding.


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Departure was at 20.56 for a scheduled departure time of 20.30. Take-off was at 21.02 from runway 35.

The same typical economy class meal was offered in business class like on the way here: an industrial croissant, the Smallest Sandwich in the World and biscuits.


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We were later offered a hot drink (tea or coffee).

We were flying near Sohag at 21.30 when the captain announced a remaining flight time of 40 minutes. This town of 200,000 people is not very well know internationally but its airport has international flights to Abu Dhabi, Amman, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Qassim, Riyadh and Sharjah.

We landed at 22.09 for a scheduled arrival time of 22.00. We got to our remote parking position at 22.15.


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A separate bus took the business class passengers to the terminal.

I stayed at Le Méridien Cairo Airport which has direct pedestrian access from Terminal 3.


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See more

Verdict

Egyptair

3.0/10
Cabin3.0
Cabin crew5.0
Entertainment/wifi2.0
Meal/catering2.0

Aswan - ASW

5.0/10
Efficiency6.0
Access5.0
Services4.0
Cleanliness5.0

Cairo - CAI

8.0/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

Don't book business class on Egyptair's domestic flights.

Information on the route Aswan (ASW) Cairo (CAI)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 5 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Aswan (ASW) → Cairo (CAI).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Egyptair avec 6.9/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 25 minutes.

  More information

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