Flying from Europe to South Africa on a 27th December in business class is expensive. The cheapest one-way option is usually from Budapest with Egyptair. I've already taken this route six years ago and had a very disappointing experience. Let's see if Egyptair has improved since then.
Airlines and airports recommend to arrive to the airport two to three hours before departure; we arrived one hour before departure. There was nobody at the check-in desk and we were checked in in two minutes.
Business class comes with fast track security, but there were only a few people so it didn't really matter. We were through quickly, even if there were quite a few flights.
Egyptair uses the SkyCourt lounge in the Schengen area.
It's a medium size lounge, wasn't full this time, and has a decent offer of food and drinks.
Passport control was automatic and quick.
The view from the terminal.
A Pegasus plane.
There's a food court in the non-Schengen area.
A delay of 25 minutes was shown at check-in, then no information was shown, then a delay of 10 minutes was announced at the gate. This Egyptair flight is often late.
The departure board.
Boarding started a few minutes before 16:00. Priority boarding was available.
Our plane, a B737-800, registration number SU-GEF, built in 2016.
This B737 has a business cabin with four rows of US Domestic first class type seats with a total of 16 seats. The cabin was full.
My seat.
Legroom was excellent.
The recline buttons.
Seat numbers are weird. The first row has seats 8AC and 8KH.
A small bottle of water was waiting at the seat.
Headphones were also available.
There was an excellent amenity kit for such a short flight.
A refreshing towel and a welcome drink of apple or orange juice were offered.
Push-back 16:30 for a scheduled departure time of 16:00. We took off at 16:35.
Spectacular sunset views after take-off.
Meal service started about 45 minutes after take-off. A white napkin was laid on the tables, then drinks orders were taken. There was no printed menu. I had some apple juice, which was served with nuts.
There was a choice of salmon, chicken or beef. I had salmon.
The meal was served with some cold meat as an appetizer, a salad, a small packaged cheese and a small chocolate cake. It was plentiful for a relatively short flight.
My main course was salmon with rice. Both the fish and the rice were tasty.
The meal was very good.
There was an individual screen with a choice of 65 movies in English and about 100 TV shows.
We landed in Cairo at 20.28 and were at our parking position at 20.40 for a scheduled arrival time of 20.15.
The cabin after landing.
The plane after landing.
