Airport and Luggage, Cairo

1. Know your terminal. We were flying from Cairo to JFK in New York and those flights leave from Terminal 1. Our driver left us at Terminal 3. They have free shuttle buses from the terminals right outside at the beginning of the building. Be sure you get off at the right terminal. The bus makes a stop in between at a small bus depot area that is very far from Terminal 1. You also have to walk for a few minutes from the drop off area once you do get there.

2. At most airports, the boarding passes are issued in the main area of the terminal. Not here. You must walk to the end of the terminal where your airline is located and look for the area with the xray machines. Find the guard. Your name is on a 1980s type dot matrix printed list, the guard looks at your passport, checks you off the list and THEN you put your bags on the x ray machine and go through to the next area. You get on another line and then you get your boarding pass. You will have to go through at least 2 - 3 more xray machines and checks before you reach your gate.

3. Our flight was leaving from Gate 5. This was the final check point before we would be able to sit down and wait for our flight. There are no restrooms in this very small area. Sit near the entrance because this room fills up fast. And if you buy water at any of the stores in the airport, you will not be allowed to bring it into this area. So use the restroom and drink your drink before you enter. Also, your bag will go through another xray machine AND it will be checked visually at this point so make sure your undies are in good shape - LOL!

4. When they tell you to be at the airport 3 hours early, it's good advice. This was the most ridiculous airport I have ever been in. There's no rhyme or reason to why it's set up this way so be prepared to deal with lots of nonsense on your way to home sweet home.

It was the worst that happened to me in my 4-country tour late last year. My trip in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus were almost all hassle-free. The incident that happened at the Check-in Counter at Cairo International Airport - Terminal 1 is something that I cannot easily forget.

We arrived at Terminal 1 only over an hour before our flight due to the mistake of the hotel driver, and the unhelpfulness of the EgyptAir Office Staff in Terminal 2.

My/our confirmed flights on my hand. Gave it to one of the ground staff when I had my turn after a long queau. I also gave our passports and all our Aeroplan Cards. He seemed to enter all the information and handed me our Boarding Passes. Although we are in a hurry to go for immigration formalities, I checked our boarding pass for accuracy. There was a mistake. The guy changed our confirmed seat . They put my daughter on a seat at the back very far from us. I told him the mistake and asked him to give us our confirmed seat. What he did....he gave it to the other ground staff on the next counter and the guy there gave it to the next and ended up to the hands of the supervisor. The supervisor said to wait for few minutes as they will fix it which happened to be 30 minutes. Do you think it happened....No, it didn't!

I was the third one arguing with the EgyptAir Ground Staff. Before us, there was an older guy and another older husband and wife yelling for some reason regarding their checking in. I have been flying via EgyptAir several times several years ago and have high regard on this airline.

Why is the customer service went down that low. Full of inaccuracies. I wrote the Chairman of Egyptair in Cairo to report the incident and have remedial measures. His/her representative wrote back after a month and told me it will not happen again. How can I be sure it is not happening again? Do I write them again and ask for feedback? Do you have any suggestion so that same incident can be minimized, if not eliminated?

Our hotel driver dropped us at Terminal 2 for our departure flight by mistake....or due to his negligence or carelessness. It happened.

We were supposed to be flying via EgyptAir from Cairo International Airport Terminal 1 bound for JFK Airport New York on that day. I tried hard to calm down as we are running out of time to check it at Terminal 1. I went around Terminal 2 to seek assistance. I found EgyptAir office and asked if they have shuttle bus between terminals. That guy looked blank....and just said, No. How can this people sit there for customer service and not doing their job. I told him a very short story about the drivers' mistake and that we are flying via Egyptair and that is why I chose their office for help, but to no avail. Not many employees can speak and understand English - not even the Security Guards.

In Cairo Airport, there is no room for mistakes or you will miss your flight. I have had bad experiences with at least 5 airport employees at different ocassion at a very short stay in Egypt.
I do not want this to happen to you.

No, matter what happened, I am still coming back to Egypt as I still love this country.

Make Sure the Driver Knows the Way to Terminal 1.

I requested the front desk staff of my hotel, Pharaoh Egypt Hotel to call a taxi/van to go to the airport for our departure. 100 Egyptian pounds is high price to take us to the airport. I agreed anyways. He did call a van with a driver and as soon as we are seated comfortably, I told the driver we are going to Terminal 1 for EgyptAir. He said a simple answer, 'Yes'.

Now here comes the problem. He dropped us at Terminal 2 (which I did not know it is Terminal 2) and left. We went inside the airport and found out that EgyptAir does not fly from there. We went back outside to call another taxi but cannot find one. Approached a guy with an ID and told us shuttle bus is coming in few minutes to take us to Terminal 1. It came after 30 minutes. Whewwww! We arrived at Terminal 1 a little over an hour before our flight. Thank God we are here, I told my family as we lined up a long queau to check in.

Do you think the hassle ended there? The answer is No. See my Warning about the Ground Staff of EgyptAir at the check-in counter as this particular incident is the one thing I cannot easily forget.

Very disorderly and aggressive. Went back to the first floor to take a taxi after a local woman took us to the second floor which really made me upset for a minute because I told her I need a taxi to my hotel. It is okey because they are doing their business but not to the extent that they are misleading foreigners.

Now, here comes the 1st Floor. I was approaching a round counter in the middle of the airport lounge to get a taxi. They saw us coming and around 10 men aggressively try to take the cart of luggages from me and at the same time offering a taxi. I ignored him and went to the counter instead. I was talking to the person and almost all the other 10 people are also talking to me all at the same time. Now, I made the decision and have my receipt and heading to the taxi outside with one driver. Before we left the counter, the person in the counter and the driver who first approached us were arguing. I feel sorry for them but there is nothing much I can do. It is a pity.

I still love Egypt and still like the people.

As soon as we are done with the hassles at the immigration and have collected our luggages, here comes another one. A woman approached us. Do you need a taxi? Thinking that she is an employee of the airport (because she is wearing an ID), I said yes. Ok follow me, she said?
We followed her to the second floor by taking the elevator. She endorsed us to the guy in one small office. And then the story goes.....

He will provide us a taxi to our hotel for such an overprice fare which he said is cheap for 250 pounds. But he said before doing that he is offering a tour of Cairo for another overprice fee. I just did not think twice. I said no, and left with all our luggages.

Went back to the 1st floor to find a taxi. The hassles did not end there.....See my next Warning! There are too many, I tell you.

No matter what happens I still love Egypt and still like the people.

As soon as we landed at the Cairo International Airport, hassles begin.

We followed other tourists to the queau which is supposed to be the immigration officer. After about 5 minutes, I can see those who were at the immigration window was turned away and asked to go to another cubicle which is a little bit away which looks like a currency exchange. I have discovered that they were asked to pay on that window the US$15 for the tourist visa and then go back to the end of the line to have a tourist visa sticker stamped by the same immigration officers.

There are no signs or direction that paying visa is separate from stamping of visa. I seldom see this procedure in other countries. In my opinion, it is a waste of time and money. This can be done by the same immigration officer and not from the currency exchange window. We'll, in my opinion, the trick there is....you go to that window to pay and also have to change your money from dollars to local currency. Two birds in one shot!

In fairness to people I mentioned above, I know they are just doing their job. My guess is that this procedure is implemented to avoid cheating and corruption. If not eliminated, at least minimized.

Inspite all this, I still love Egypt and still like the people and am coming back for another tour. At least we already know what to expect next time.

I was whisked through Cairo airport, both ways, but the impression I had was that it was pretty chaotic. It's a very modern airport, but.......

You and your luggage have to go through a scanner to even get into the check-in area; there was only one, and there was a very, very long queue which we jumped, courtesy of our bossy guide.........trouble is, that slowed down the queue even more, and I imagine it's entirely normal practice.

I found the check-in area very crowded, and the signing confusing. Signs are in English as well as Arabic, but the noise and sheer number of people made it difficult.

I think, if one is flying from Cairo, it would be very sensible indeed to get to the airport well in advance of one's flight time.