First Time in the Middle East
This is the second leg of my trip to Cairo via Qatar Airways. I never found saver award availability in either economy or "first" for this flight, so I just booked it with cash.

Flight routing
- 1
- 2QR1301 - Economy - Doha → Cairo - Airbus A330-300
- 3EK928 - First - Cairo → Dubai - Airbus A380-800
- 4EK15 - First - Dubai → London - Airbus A380-800
- 5BA115 - Business - London → New York - Boeing 777-300ER
- 6DL5785 - Economy - New York → Washington - Embraer E-175
Doha International Airport (DOH)
It was smooth passage through security at DOH despite being mid-day on a holiday weekend. After security, you descend into the concourse facing the (in)famous bear.

Head towards the A Gates and you'll soon come across the Platinum Lounge South on your right–can't miss it.

Qatar Airways Platinum Lounge (South)
The lounge is split into an upper and lower level–as far as I can tell. I believe the lower level is for OW Sapphire and the upper level is for OW Emerald. I found out about this lounge online when reading that, compared to the Platinum/Gold Lounge North, the South lounge actually separates Sapphires and Emeralds by level.

After checking in, you can take the elevator upstairs. Immediately to your right after walking in is the dining area.

Then the lounge is one large sitting area, with a small drink station in the middle. On the left is an elevated seating area with a bar.




There were 3 coffee machines in the lounge, but all of them except for the one in the dining area seemed inoperable. I asked an attendant about making a cup of coffee and he just pointed me to the one in the dining area. I think his manager must have overheard this because later I saw the manager berating him and telling him to fix this central coffee machine (or at least get the coffee for the guest).

Behind the coffee machine is a small self-serve station for other beverages.

The lunch buffet wasn't bad, actually. There were an assortment of hot and cold options.








What you might not realize, however, was that there is an a la carte option that you can order from the QR codes. Here is the menu from when my visit.





I took the risk of ordering the sushi at an airport because I was so curious what the California roll would be like. All things considered, it was better than grocery store sushi.

For my "main," I had the smoked salmon tartare on toast. It was fine.

Finally, I polished it off with the molten lava cake, which is served with a scoop of ice cream on top.

Enter text here…

Showers were available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Do you think they have enough rolled hand towels?

I forgot to check the WiFi speeds of this lounge, unfortunately, so no report there.
QR1301
Gate C8 was a leisurely 7-minute walk from the Platinum Lounge - South, not even using the moving walkways. Boarding was a confusing mess and first I moved through the document checkers before waiting in an area as passengers were slowly called. "Boarding" was called at 1:16pm, but no one actually got on the plane until more than 30 minutes later.

Because of the chaos of the situation, no cabin pictures unfortunately, or pictures of the plane for that matter. Qatar's A330 economy cabin is arranged in a 2-4-2 layout. I was lucky enough to snag one of the pair seats in 11A. It was still a tight fit and the IFE box underneath 10A meant you had no space for a bag underneath the seat in front either. Luckily, there was enough space in the overhead for both my backpack and carryon.
My ride to Cairo was on A7-AEG, an 18-years old A330-300.

The seat itself was a bit dated, but still had a very blurry IFE, a remote control in the armrest, and even a little cup holder that folds down.




Also waiting at the seat as a blanket–not bad for a regional flight in economy.

Headphones were available as well.

The Captain came on at 2:18pm to apologize for the delay and promised to make up a little time in the air.

While we waited, the FAs came by with little water cups for everyone.

We ended up pushing back at 2:32pm–17 minutes behind schedule, and took off at 2:49pm.
There was no WiFi onboard, so I couldn't communicate with my friend waiting for me in Cairo.

First the FAs came by to pass out immigration cards, then about 35 minutes after takeoff the FAs came by to take orders in economy. At the time I had status matched to get OW Emerald, so my order was taken first. As far as I can tell, not everyone had their orders taken (maybe only OW elites?). The options were lamb kofta, beef, or a vegetarian pasta.

I opted for the lamb kofta, which honestly wasn't too bad. The rest of the plate, not so much. These trays were served just an hour after takeoff.

I dozed off for a while and woke up a bit later as we were passing by somewhere around Ha'il, Saudi Arabia.

That point I asked for a cup of coffee to wake myself up. It came with a Biscoff cookie.

Soon we were approaching Egypt. The Captain announced that we will begin our descent with about 50 minutes left in flight.

As we were crossing the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez, the senior FA Ana Maria stopped by to thank me and hoped that I had a good flight–she said she didn't want to wake me on takeoff and so didn't introduce herself then. This was a very nice touch. I don't fly economy in international flights much, so not used to this in the back.

Soon any sleepiness was gone as adrenaline began to take over. I could see the Nile! Even though it was a smoggy sky, the majestic Nile powering through the dessert landscape was a sight to behold.

Then on our approach we passed by what I believe was the Saqqarah Necropolis.

Finally, as we turned for our final approach, you could see the famous Giza complex.

Here's another view that's not zoomed in.

And another . . . (last one, I promise).

We landed at 5:47pm local time and reached our gate 7 minutes later.

I hired a meet-and-greet service and was through customs very quickly. If you're actually entering Cairo, this is the way to do it.