GlenP From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2009, 43 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 months 3 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 6941 times:
As this is my first TR, please bear with the fact that the information I was able to gather; A/C registrations, photos, etc., wasn't as comprehensive as I'd have liked but, unfortunately, circumstances intervened in several places to prevent my being able to do this.
The trip involved six flights; 4 segments with AF & 2 with MS, so I'll break it down into several parts, so as not to get too tedious.
Date: 06/07/2009
Flight No. : AF1469
Airline : Air France
Route : Man (Manchester) Terminal 2 - CDG (Paris Charles de Gaulle) Terminal 2E
Scheduled Departure: 0635
Actual Departure : 0655
Scheduled Arrival : 0905
Actual Arrival : 0915
Aircraft : Airbus A319
Registration: F-GRXW
Seat: 2A
Load Factor : J 80% C ??%
Due to a glitch on the Air France website, I was unable to check-in online; it wasn't recognising my booking reference, & after contacting Customer Support, I was advised to use one of the airport check-in desks. This meant arriving 2 hours before departure, which wasn't such a big problem, as I had access to the salon, but I decided it was best not to go to sleep on the Sunday night; as I'd not got much sleep whilst working in London over the previous fortnight I was afraid I'd sleep through the alarm.
Setting off at 0400, I allowed 35 minutes to drive the 15 miles to MAN & find parking in the Terminal 2 multi-storey; having pre-booked parking a couple of months before this was being a bit on the generous side, but better safe than sorry I thought. As it turned out this was a wise decision.
Arriving at the car park, I inserted the debit card I'd used to pay for the parking, as per the instructions, only to have it rejected as being invalid. After several attempts at wipng the magnetic strip clean & checking I'd inserted the card the right way round, I had to contact the car park assistance desk before I could get in. Suprisingly, the car park was quite full & it took some time to find a free space, but eventually, I was parked up & able to walk the short distance to the departures hall.
The AF desks were quite busy with economy passengers checking-in for a Delta flight to ATL, but the Affaires desk only had two other PAX in the queue &, although the agent was a little surprised that I hadn't used the OLCI facility, I soon had my boarding cards for both the MAN - CDG & CDG - CAI flights; plus Salon invites, CDG Connections advice leaflet & Access No 1 security invite, for CDG, in my hand & was on my way to security.
Terminal 2 at MAN is used for a lot of the charter operators &, as Britannia & First Choice both had several flights departing early this Monday morning; & the airport had decided that only PAX in wheelchairs or with pushchairs could use the priority lane that morning there was quite a queue. Thankfully, plenty of the new scanners were in operation & it only took 10 minutes before I was being selected for extra screening (I'd removed my belt & all other metal objects from my person but I guess I just have one of those faces). This involved having my shoes x-rayed in a dedicated machine & only added about 5 minutes to the whole process, So I was soon on airside.
The departures lounge at Terminal 2 has changed a lot recently & is now set up in such a way that you are channeled through a range of duty free shops; normal fags & booze, Boots Chemists, Waterstones Books, Dixons & Manchester United, before you actually get into the lounge proper. I only stopped long enough to collect some cigarettes & a bottle of Bombay Sapphire, before making my way up to the AF Salon.
F-GRWX:
The Salon is actually quite small, but it is comfortable, with a good selection of soft & alcoholic drinks, light snack type food & really decent coffee (okay, I admit it, I'm a terminal caffiene addict), which I partook of for the best part of 30 minutes, until making my way to gate 12, for the 0605 boarding time.
The gate agents did try to organise priority boarding but, despite their best efforts, it was a case of forcing your way through the inevitable scrum that formed as soon as boarding was announced. Credit is really due here, as those who attempted to board before they were called were being turned away, so I was able to fairly quickly make my way down the jetway & onto our lovely Airbus to be warmly welcomed aboard by the smiling cabin crew.
AF use a standard European short haul configuration in Affaires, in that the seats are 3 - 3, with the middle seat blocked with a table, but the cabin was clean & looked quite fresh, whilst the blue colour scheme was actually very pleasing to the eye (sorry there's no overall cabin view photo). The seats were comfortable & there was more than adequate leg room, for someone of average height, as can be seen from the photo.
Legroom:
Legroom
Once the doors were shut, champagne, orange juice or mineral water was offered, prior to the Captain informing us that, due to congestion, ATC had imposed a 20 minute delay on our departure; this is a big problem during the peak UK holiday season, even with MAN's two runways. Having heard the horror stories, I'd allowed 4.5 hours for the connection at CDG, this slight delay didn't bother me too much, it only being a shame that there wasn't actually anything of real interest that I could see going on around us on the apron.
0655 soon came around & after what always seems to be a long taxi, we were soon making a brisk take off run on 23L, getting rotating after 26 seconds (again sorry for the lack of take off photos, I just got too tied up trying to take notes).
This was m first flight aboard the second smallest Airbus &, although I will admit to having been a fan of this manufacturer's A/C since my first flight on an MS A300 B4, 21 years ago, I must say that I was quite impressed by the fact that, despite being seat just in front of the leading edge wing root I found it to be far quiter than some of the older short-haul types I've been on over the years, with a feeling of space that belied its small size.
Once the seat belt signs went out we were served a very good breakfast of a cold chicken salad, fruit, bread rolls, fromage frais, ornage juice, delicious President butter, cheese & strawberry conserve, followed by two cups of rather nice coffee. This was served with a smile & responses of, "Avec plaisir" to any request by the FAs, who really were the exact opposite to the oft described cold & somewhat formal "norm" for AF.
By this time we were nearing the channel coast, though it was difficult to tell, as there was quite a bit of cloud, until we were nearing Paris; with only a fleeting glimpse of the French coast, so I took a few photos & read the in-flight magazine; which ironically featured an article on modern art & things to see in Cairo, before starting to snap away, when we were well into our descent.
A Cloudy UK
Cloud over the UK
Over France
Over France
We landed on CDG 09R, having made up 10 minutes in the scheduked 1.5 hour flight & after a long taxi; during which I was able to snap a wide range of both AF & other operator's A/C, we were soon at an airbridge stand at Terminal 2E (although I think they refer to this as S3 these days)., passing an AF A319(?) in anniversary & AF 777 & Aeromexico 767 in Sky Team livery, on the way.
(Sorry, I have to resort to URLs for the photos, due to upload limits & the fact that the links don't allow the "img" tags to Flikr/Photobucket don't seem to be working. If anyone can give us a clue as to how to get around this it'd be much appreciated.).
Cabin crew enforced the premium passengers disembarking first policy &, after a genuine thank you to the cabin crew, it was time to make my way to the 2F salon to await my onward flight to CAI.
GlenP From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2009, 43 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (6 months 2 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 6523 times:
Thanks for the feedback.
I should be able to include the photos in the other parts, without resortiing to HTML links, as Photobucket produced code works when manually typed doesn't.
GlenP From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2009, 43 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (6 months 2 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 5833 times:
Part 2: CDG - CAI in J
Date: 06/07/2009
Flight No. : AF508
Airline : Air France
Route :CDG (Paris Charles de Gaulle) Terminal 2F - CAI (Cairo International Airport) Terminal 1
Scheduled Departure: 1340
Actual Departure : 1400340
Scheduled Arrival : 1905
Actual Arrival : 1900
Aircraft : Airbus A330-200
Registration: ?
Seat: 2A
Load Factor : J 75% C ??%
Having deplaned at Terminal 2E, I was well & truly prepared for a nightmare connection for the onward flight to Cairo, which left from Terminal 2F & had allowed 4 hours & 5 minutes to negotiate a long bus ride & the security queues that I had been warned would be involved.
Following the Correspondances signs for Terminal 2F, I proceeded along several travellators to a set of stairs, which I assumed would lead down to a bus & was presented with a rather long queue. Assuming this to be for a bus I just tagged on to the end & moved slowly forward until it dawned on me that this was actually the security line for Terminal 2F Gates 41 - 56. A quick word with one of the airport staff; & a showing of my Access No 1 invite was all that it took for me to be ushered into the fast lane &, after a fairly painless security cscan, by a polite & smiling female agent, I was in my terminal & sat in the AF Salon, all within less than 1/2 hour after arriving.
The Air France Salon in the non-Schengen departures area of CDG 2F is located downstairs from the gates themselves & is split into 2 levels. On the upper, entrance level, one finds desks, a seating area; with armchairs & reading lights & tables, & a small dining area. The lower level is wheere one finds the shower & toilet facilities, in addition to the seating & a, slightly larger dining area, as is found upstairs. The decor is a mixture of beige & browns,with stainless steel buffet/bar units, & the whole place is quite pleasant & airy.
There is both ethernet & wifi Internet access available & a French news channel was showing on the widescreen plasma TVs.
Food on offer included the usual crisps (chips), nibbles, cream crackers & cheeses, a variety of sandwiches &, at lunch time, some hot snacks, Drinks ranged from coffee & tea, soft drinks, mineral water & fruit juices through Heineken lager, several red & white wines, spirits (with appropriate mixers), champange & liquers to even include a very nice 10 year old tawny port.
Whilst I sampled some of the above, I mainly concentrated on trying to read a book I had brought along; rather than one of the French, US, German or UK newspapers/magazines available, but soon found the lack of sleep catching catching up with me & entered into nodding dog mode. In an attempt to stay awake I decided to have a walk around the terminal.
As had been mentioned in several other TRs, the CDG Terminal 2 buildings themselves are actually very pleasant places to look at, being filled witha sense of light & space & there were some very upmarket & expensive designer duty free outlets, but the best thing I discovered was that Gate F44 was almost immediately at the side of the escalator leadingto/from the Salon, so I wouldn't have far towalk come boarding time.
Returniing to the lounge, I had a few cups of coffee & some very nice President cheese, in between boouts of nodding off & waking up again.
Boarding was called at 1250 & the gate area was actually quite crowded by this time, so I thought we might actually make it away on time & at precisely the scheduled time boarding was called.
There was no priority boarding; & the usual scrum ensued as we proceeded to what appeared to be an airbridge, but which in fact was an access way to a set of stairs leading to a bussed boarding area.
The Boarding Scrum:
It took about 10 minutes to reach the stand &, as they were still refuelling the A/C, we were husstled aboard as quickly as they would get us up the stairs. This was a shame as I'd have like to have taken some photos of the A330-200, but this was not to be.
After being nicely greeted at the door & turning left, I soon found seat 2A; which is the first window seat on the left hand side of the forward Affaires cab I;d specifically booked this seat at the time of purchasing my ticket as Seat Guru said it had the best legroom & in order that I was sure to get my meal choice (salmon is getting omnipresent in airline menus & a fish oil allergy prevents me eating it, so I had to avoid being lefft with a choice of salmon of nothing), where a blanket, pillow & coat hanger were waiting for me, secured by the seatbelt.
Before I could even remove my jacket, a friendly FA had appeared to take it from me, place it on the hanger & stow it in the wardrobe/cupboard immediately in front of my seat.
She returned &, seeing my camera at the ready, asked if I would refrain from using it for the moment, as she wasn't quite sure if it was okay for me to do so whilst refuelling was still in progress. Oh well I thought, I should get the chance to take some shots of the pleasant blue & cream Affaires cabin later in the flight & set about having a good look at the seat.
This was the NEV2 lie-flat; without the lowering armrests of the newer NEV3, & features a storage areas for the hard-wired noise cancelling headphones, amenity kit & a pre-supplied small bottle of mineral water in the common, central, armrest. The AVOD PTV screen, together with its control unit were also stowed within this armrest which, in addition, features a small, fixed, drinks table & seat position controls, whilst the tray table is stowed in the individual window or aisle side unit.
The seat features three pre-programmed positions: upright, reclined & lie-flat, but the back & legrest can be adjusted to help find what is most comfortable. Upright is just that, reclined is actually very comfortable, with a small amouont of adjustment is great for sleeping, but I never tried the lie-flat position, & so can't comment on whether or not I experienced the oft mentioned tendency to slide off the NEV2 unit.
AF adopts a 2 - 2 - 2 seating configuration for Affaires on their A330s & there was certainly more than adequate space & legroom.
Legroom in 2A
Several more busses unloaded before the Captain came on to explain that, due to having to chase down some missing PAX & get them out to the stand, our departure would be delayed; added to when they had to offload the luggage of some who didn't turnn up at the gate, but that we should make this up enroute.
We finally pushed back 20 minutes late & taxied to runway 26R, whilst welcome drinks of water, orange juice or champagne were offered; yes I did indulge in the bubbly.
After a slight hold for an AF 777 to land, we began what turned out ot be a quite short 26 second takeoff run before banking to port & passing over the heart of Paris (of which I managed to get some shots) & heading southeast to overfly Switzerland, Monte Negro, Croatia's Dalmatian Coast, Albania, Greece & Crete before crossing the Med to Egypt's Delta Coast.
AF 777 That Held Us Up Landing
A Paris Landmark
Another Paris Landmark
Menus were distributed soon after the fasten seatbelt signs were turned out:at the same time demonstrations of the seat & IFE controls were offered, &, though the Plat du Jour was tempting, I opted for the shrimps, Tournedos of beef, cheese, & sherbet accompanied by the Cotes du Rhone. with the FA returning with a bread basket & tablecloth, shortly afterwards.
Food Menu
Plat du Jour
Wine List
Drinkies
The shrimp salad was very tasty, & not too large, whilst the beef was far from overcooked with a delicious taragon sauce & the Cotes du Rhone made a perfect accompaniment to both the main & cheese course, with a refill being offered as soon as my glass appeared to be getting empty.
Starter
A Nice Touch
Main Course
Cracking Cheese Grommit
By this time we were well into the journey & I was able to look down on what I believe to be either Split or Dubrovnik & its airport, with the desert being served as we overflew Albania & Greece. At this point, coffee & a digestif, in my case a very good cognac were also provided. Again, the desert was marvellous, being of just the right degree of sweetness & of a perfect size so as to not leave one feeling ready to burst. As had been the case throughout the meal, the attentive FAs were ready to offer a refill of either coffee or your digstif, if desired.
Split or Dubrovnik
Desert
Albania
Mapview
Flight Info
Coffee & Cognac
Once the meal had been cleared away, most of the other passsengers decided to sleep, whilst I tried to watch the IFE but, unfortunately, mine wouldn't load anything other than the main menu; even after several resets, & an affer of a change of seat, by the Chef de Cabin; who, like his crew was making regular tours of the cabin, so I took a quick snap of Crete before settling back for the flight across the Med. I was soon out like a light.
Crete, I Believe
With incredibly good timing I awoke just before we crossed the Egyptian coast, so it was out with the camera again for some shots of the Nile Delta &, hopefully, the Pyramid fields during our looming descent.
Nile Delta Coast
After flying over green fields & villages for a while it suddenly dawned on me that we would not be routed so far to the west as to catch a glimpse of Giza or Saqarra, & their pyramid fields, but would instead be passing, at a fairly low altitude, over the very heart of Cairo, with the Nile & many of its wonderful Islamic monuments clearly visible.
Northern Outskirts of Cairo
Gezira Island. with the Cairo Tower, 6 October Bridge, Ramses Hilton Hotel & a Glimpse of the Egyptian Antiquities Museum
Rounding the Southern Tip of Gezira Island
Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun
Sadah ad Din's Citadel, Mohammed Ali Mosque, Sultan Hassan Madrassa & Rifa'ai Mosque
Soon, after passing over Heliopolis, we touched down on Cairo's runway 05R, 5 minutes ahead of schedule at 1900, & began the taxi to a Terminal 1; used by all Sky Team airlines, stand. On the way we encountered various A/C: an MS A320, MSExpress Embraer E170 (I really like the Egyptair Express livery), AMC 738, Petroleum's Dash 8 & 7s & a Midwest A310 that seemed to be a long way from home.
MS A320
MSCargo A300s
MSExpress E170
AMC 738
Petroleum Dash 7 & Dash 8s
Lost?
Cairo International Airport Terminal 1
Control Tower & Obelisk of Sen-usert 1
Deplaning via stairs, after a genuine thank you to the crew for a very pleasant flight, we were bussed to to the arrivals hall; As is always the case at Cairo's T1, to be met by a bevvy of health officials (swine flu testing to be undergone & medical forms to complete - immigration forms having been distributed by the FAs - before I was greeted by, my old friend, the tour company's rep (I book tailor made accommodation & tours through a friend who is rather well placed with them), who had my single entry visa (US$15.00 upon arrival) ready to stick into my passport.
T1 Baggage Hall
Clearing immigration was very quick; as T1 is less busy these days than it was when I first visited Egypt 21 years ago collected my cases & made my way to the arrivals duty free shop stock up on my additional cigarette allowance & a bottle of Laphroaigh single malt before clearing customs.
I'd actually cleared the terminal & was sat in the minibus to the Ramses Hilton & the banks of the Nile, via the Midan Opera tunnel (a new route for me) arriving in my Nile view room just as the sun set & it quickly got dark.
Cairo Traffic
Nile, 6 October Bridge, Gezira Island & Cairo Tower, From the Hotel, by Night
Thanks for getting through all the above & sorry for any typos (the spell check function's gone pear-shaped tonight). Will try to post Part 3: MS CAI - ASW in Y tomorrow
GlenP From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2009, 43 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (6 months 2 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 5309 times:
The third part will cover the flight from Cairo - Aswan, with MS, in economy.
Date: 09/07/2009
Flight No. : MS132
Airline : Egyptair
Route : CAI (Cairo International) Terminal 3 - ASW (Aswan) Terminal 2E
Scheduled Departure: 0845
Actual Departure : 0845
Scheduled Arrival : 1000
Actual Arrival : 0957
Aircraft : Airbus A320-200
Registration: SU-GCL
Seat: 24A
Load Factor : Y 50%
After 2 days & 3 nights at the Ramses Hilton, Cairo, seeing sights that, after 18 visits in 21 years, were familliar & some that were new to me, it was time to move on to Aswan & join a Nile cruise boat for the journey down to Luxor. To be honest, I always feel a slight pang of regret at having to leave a city I love; despite it being crowded & chaotic, it remains a very friendly place, but at least I could look forward to a couple of days in the city with the most beautiful location of any to be found on this most historic of rivers.
Standard Room at the Ramses Hilton
Saqarra: Step Pyramid of Netjer-ikhet Djoser
Giza
Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun
Salah ad Din's Citadel, Mohammed Ali Mosque & Sultan Hassan Madressa
The View from the Hotel Balcony
As this was a domestic flight, with Egyptair, I would be seeing the newly opened Terminal 3, at Cairo International, for the first time &, from the photos that the Egyptair Plus FF programme had emailed to me, I was really looking forward to this.
Having checked out from the hotel for my transfer at 0600, we were fortunate enough to only take 20 minutes to drive to the airport; passing the 1973 War Panorama building, with a collection of MIGs & Sukhoi types on display outside, on the way (great for those of us who had to teach people A/C recognition for 17 years without eer seeing the A/C in the tin).
For some reason I couldn't fathom at the time the terminal was literally crawling with security policemen, so I thought it best not to get the camera out for any exterior or landside photos.
The new terminal is a done out in a pleasing shade of pink, the approach being far better organised than is the case with the older 2 terminals, &, once through the security check, I found the check-in hall to be bright, spacious & well organised. One side of the Egyptair checkin-in area was given over to MS international flights & the other to domestic routes with common check-in being in operation & there were 5 economy desks manned, so it took less than 10 minutes before I had my boarding pass in my hand & was on my way to clear security, for the second time, & move airside.
The security staff were polite & friendly, which is a rare event at any airport; actually laughing with me when I my glasses set off the scanner & I promptly walked into the damned thing when attempting to pass through it again without them, & actually wished me a pleasant flight.
Airside, the departure gates are arranged in a U shape, with a couple of cafes/snackbars, dedicated smoking rooms, unmanned (i.e. nobody handing you some paper towels in exchange for baksheesh) toilets & travellators to ease movement over what some could find to be the considerable distances involved. The decor is pink & grey granite floors, Egyptian alabaster walls, high white ceilings, with wide corridors & blue tinted glass in the windows. The overall impression is very favourable (I thought it to be one of the best looking & laid out airports I had ever come across - PRG taking top marks in the latter respect).
Having had a wander round I noticed that all the airbridges were attacehed to Egyptair widebodies &, with no single aisle types in sight, I wasn't surprised to find that we were to be bussed to a remote stand from Gate F32, which is located on a lower level from the main departures lounge (not a big problem as I love to see airfield operations in progress & the different A/C enroute).
CAI T3 Domestic Airside Views
Arriving at the stand we were presented with the spectacle of a wonderful A320, in the new Egyptair livery. Now, I must admit that over the time I've been flying with MS, I've seen 3 different paint schemes & wasn't too sure that the latest one would be all that great, but I have to say that, having seen it, I actually quite like it. The muted blue tones of the Horus logo & the varying shades of blue employed on the tailfin are actually quite eyecatching, without being overpowering; & it does away with the huge areas of white that made so many carriers' liveries boring over recent years.
SU-GCL
The FAs greeted us at the door with a smile & directed us to our seats & it was only then that I realised that the A/C was in an all Y configuration, which was a little confusing; until I remembered that Abu Simbel was its ultimate destination.
Whilst awaiting the second bus arriving, I took the opportunity to grab some shots of the other A/C parked at the gates & on the other remote stands. Knowing the way in which just about every other airline seems to fly out of Cairo at daft o'clock in the morning, I wasn't too surprised to find that there were no representatives of any of the other Star Alliance carriers to be seen.
Various Egyptair A/C at Remote Stands & Gates
Once boarding had finsihed & the doors had shut, I had a bit of time to gaze about the cabin, before pushback, & found it to be pretty clean (there were some fingerprint stains on the back of a few headrests), with pleasant mid-blue seat upholstery, & about half full; as most PAX would be joining the flight in Aswan for a brief visit to Ramses II''s temples.
The Captain came on to welcome us aboard & inform us of the weather in Aswan, which was somewhat hotter & less humid than Cairo, immediately after the doors were shut.
The safety demonstration was done manually; thankfully we didn't have to endure the plummy tones of the English dubbed video, & soon we were on our way for a rolling take off on runway 29L; the take off run lasting 28 seconds in the hot & humid early morning, before almost immediately turning due south for Aswan. Sadly, cloud, that hadn't burned off this early in the day obscured any last views of Cairo.
Cloud Over Cairo
Legroom was more than adequate for someone of 5' 9" & the seat was actually very comfortable; regardless of the short duration of the flight.
Legroom
As soon as the seatbelt signs went out the, mostly young, FAs did a drinks run (water, soft drinks & fruit juices); I opted for Baraka mineral water, & I settled back to take some photos of the Eastern Dessert & to read the inflight magazine, "Horus", which was contained in a plastic wallet; together with the safety card & a sick bag,in the seat pocket.
Horus Inflight Magazine & Safety Card
Egyptair's inflight magazine must be the only one in the world to include its country's chief; & most famous, archaeologist amongst its writing staff (Dr Hawass contributed an article on conservation & excavation projects underway by the Supreme Council of Antiquities) & was actually quite a good read. Another good point is that, unlike AF, the magazine is divided into 2 equal sections, with English reading from what we would consider the front cover & Arabic from "the back", & thus saving you having to hunt for the parts you can actually read.
Eastern Desert Wadis & Mountains
Throughout the flight, the F/As were wandering up & down the cabin, chatting with passengers & fussing over a young couple's baby.
Soon we were crossing to the western bank of the Nile, whilst overflying Edfu, before descending over Aswan & Lake Nasser (very impressive views) for our approach to ASW & a landng towards the north on runway 35.
Edfu From Above
Banking to the West Over Aswan
The Descent Over Lake Nasser
The landing was actually quite rough, with a noticeable swing to starboard, with lots of reverse thrust & the spoilers deployed for slowing us down, but we were soon parked up on the apron & boarding the bus to the arrivals hall (the actual distance isn't that far but nobody walks over the apron in Egypt).
Thrust Reversers & Spoilers being Deployed
Aswan International Airport Terminal Exterior
Again, there were a lot of security police awaiting the flight in the baggage hall; it turned out a senior official from the Ministry of Civil Aviation had been on the flight, so I'm afraid there are no photos of the terminal interior again. This is a shame as the new terminal is actually quite nice, but that's life, I guess.
Within 10 minutes of touching down, I was sat in a private car & on my way to board the cruise boat that would be my home for the next 3.5 days, as I sailed north to Luxor & my next flight.
BA319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 6400 posts, RR: 52 Reply 5, posted (6 months 2 weeks 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 5234 times:
Nice report & pictures, good trip, interesting route.
AF seems pretty decent on this TR, much better than others seen recently.
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter): Once the doors were shut, champagne, orange juice or mineral water was offered
- Nice touch for a european short haul.
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter): Having heard the horror stories, I'd allowed 4.5 hours for the connection at CDG
- Wise move knowing CDG!
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter): we were served a very good breakfast of a cold chicken salad, fruit, bread rolls, fromage frais, ornage juice, delicious President butter, cheese & strawberry conserve
- Sounds nice, shame no picture.
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter): Sorry, I have to resort to URLs for the photos, due to upload limits & the fact that the links don't allow the "img" tags to Flikr/Photobucket don't seem to be working. If anyone can give us a clue as to how to get around this it'd be much appreciated
- Seems to be a problem with A.NET - as I found out myself
EC001 From France, joined Jan 2009, 64 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (6 months 2 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 4938 times:
Congrats' GlenP, this was a promising first TR!
I really appreciated your detailed description of the flights and the products. Very well written indeed! PLUS, your photos were both sharp and beautiful... And I enjoyed ending the TR with pictures of Egypt!
Quoting BA319-131 (Reply 5): AF seems pretty decent on this TR, much better than others seen recently
Yes indeed, but I tend to say that SOME TReporters seem to somewhat exagerate or dramatize their flying experience with AF... But again, who am I, a froggie from Paris to say that! I don't fly them long haul anymore, so yes, I can't give an objective opinion on those routes, but I regularly fly their domestic and short european flights which are pretty decent In my opinion. I did realize some positive change (on those specific routes), but I still don't understand why they serve Nescafe coffee on their flights...It's really a shame.... but lately, they introduced hot chocolate as an option to coffee which is great. BUT YES, unfortunetely, you still get some grumpy cold FA...
but I think that their often depicted "cold and snob" attitude is what they are taught to do when they are hired (seems to be a management decision to have an AF service were there isn't too much interaction with the pax, they want the crew to adopt an attitude that fits the airline's product (or so they think...))
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter): Once the doors were shut, champagne, orange juice or mineral water was offered
Nice touch indeed on such a short flight!
well, I'm looking forward to reading your next TR,
Directorguy From Egypt, joined Jul 2008, 1097 posts, RR: 4 Reply 8, posted (6 months 2 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 4832 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW CHAT OPERATOR
Thanks for sharing this wonderful TR on the land of the sun !
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter): The security staff were polite & friendly, which is a rare event at any airport; actually laughing with me when I my glasses set off the scanner & I promptly walked into the damned thing when attempting to pass through it again without them, & actually wished me a pleasant flight.
Ahahah-that's rare !
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter): Arriving at the stand we were presented with the spectacle of a wonderful A320, in the new Egyptair livery. Now, I must admit that over the time I've been flying with MS, I've seen 3 different paint schemes & wasn't too sure that the latest one would be all that great, but I have to say that, having seen it, I actually quite like it.
What do you think of the old 1971-1997 gold/red livery?
Glad that you like Egypt so much-and the photos were incredible! You're also lucky that you got to circle Zamalek and see the Cairo Tower and Ramses Hilton from the air! Aswan looks like an amazing place to visit-now I really want to go there!
Glad that Egyptair's domestic flights aren't so bad. And btw-all domestic flights are now remotely parked.
Regarding taking photos-it's not much of a problem so long as you're discreet about it. But don't sweat it-there you have another reason to visit Egypt again
Great job, Glen !
GlenP From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2009, 43 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (6 months 2 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 4782 times:
Quoting BA319-131 (Reply 5): Quoting GlenP (Thread starter):
we were served a very good breakfast of a cold chicken salad, fruit, bread rolls, fromage frais, ornage juice, delicious President butter, cheese & strawberry conserve
- Sounds nice, shame no picture
I'll be honest heere & admit that I'd actually eaten the breakfast before I remembered that I'd meant to take a photo.
Quoting BA319-131 (Reply 5):
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter):
AF A319 in Anniversary Livery
- It's a 320.
Ah, my mistake. My A/C recognition training concentrated on military types.
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter):
a Midwest A310 that seemed to be a long way from home.
- No, they are an Egyptian airline.
Really? The name just sounded like something you'd find in the USA.
Quoting Egyptair269 (Reply 6): Quoting GlenP (Reply 4):
we were fortunate enough to only take 20 minutes to drive to the airport
Thats a record, I have yet to beat
Got to admit that it was the quickest I've ever managed to do the airport run; even when the flight's scheduled to depart at Oh my God it's early in the morning
Quoting Directorguy (Reply 8): What do you think of the old 1971-1997 gold/red livery?
Fond memories of their A300-B4s & 600R's tied up with that livery. I actually thought the cabin interior that went with it, with the walls decorated with pale ankh, uas & djed hieroglyphs was much nicer than the rush to plain panels that seems to have inffected just about every carrier these days.
Quoting Directorguy (Reply 8): Glad that you like Egypt so much-and the photos were incredible! You're also lucky that you got to circle Zamalek and see the Cairo Tower and Ramses Hilton from the air! Aswan looks like an amazing place to visit-now I really want to go there!
Glad that Egyptair's domestic flights aren't so bad. And btw-all domestic flights are now remotely parked.
Regarding taking photos-it's not much of a problem so long as you're discreet about it. But don't sweat it-there you have another reason to visit Egypt again
It's only the second time I've beeen routed over the city centre in 21 years; the first time was on an MS night flight in 1998, when arriving in Cairo, so it was the first time I've actually been able to pick out some of the landmarks.
Oh, yes, Aswan is a really wonderful city; best sunsets on the Nile, very relaxed atmosphere, butI'll wait until the Old Cataract re-opens, next May/June, before looking to have my usual 2 - 3 nights there before moving on to Luxor.
Another reason to visit Egypt? You mean apart from the climate, history, landscape, monuments & people?
Lucky727 From Canada, joined Sep 2003, 567 posts, RR: 4 Reply 10, posted (6 months 2 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 4551 times:
An amazing first report - great writing & photos...AF sounds very nice - menu reads a bit better than the food looks, but from the sound of things it was pretty tasty. Photos & descriptions of Egypt are just so fascinating (and so exotic, to this Canadian reader), definitely on my list of places to visit someday.
First I must say sorry for the lack of photos covering the actual flight but, for reasons that will become apparent; I was erring on the safe side in the circumstances; needlessly, in the main, as it turned out, but I've thrown some in of the various sights, for those who might have an interest in seeing the country being visited.
After spending a couple of days in Aswan, revisiting the usual sights & noting the vast changes that have taken place; I can actually remember when the trees & shrubs at Philae Temple had only just been planted & you had climb over granite boulders to view the Unfinished Obelisk, or just soaking up the atmosphere of this wonderful city, I sailed down to Luxor, for 6 nights.
Aswan & Cruise
Accommodation
Unfinished Obelisk
Lake Nasser, from the High Dam
Approaching Philae Temple
Cruising Down to Luxor
Luxor Views
Luxor Corniche by Day & Night
& Across the Nile to the West Bank & the Theban Hills
Again, after revisiting all the usual sites (though some aren't included in standard tour itineraries) & having a rather unsuccessful atttempt to build up a suntan, whilst relaxing it the luxurious calm that is The Old Winter Palace hotel, the time came to hop aboard the return flight to Cairo, for the final two nights of this year's trip. (A nice touch by the staff was that, having seen me taking photos of the public areas, the General Manager & Bar Manager arranged for me to be given 2 CDs full of professional shots, during my last visit to the bar.)
Old Winter Palace Hotel
The Grand Entrance
Foyer
"Standard" Garden View Room
Immaculately Kept Gardens
Pool Area
Luxor Temple
Sunset, Courtyard of Amun-hetep III
The Ancient & the Modern
Luxor Temple, Floodlit Views:
Pylon of Ra-messes II
Colonnade of Amun-hetep III
Courtyard of Amun-hetep III
Karnak
(Much Improved) Approach to Pylon 1
Hat-shep-sut's Obelisk
Open Air Museum: White Chapel of Sen-usret I
West Bank
Colossi of Memnon
Hat-shep-sut's Temple, Deir el Bahari
Relief in the Hathor Chapel, Hat-shep-sut's Temple, Deir el Bahari
Valley of the Kings (from the entrance to KV43 Thoth-moses IV towards the centre of the East Valley)
Sheikh abdel Qurna, Courtyard of TT55, Ramose
Pick-up from the hotel was set for 0930, but we got away 15 minutes earlier than planned, as I'd made a point of checking out with time to spare.
The distance between the Nile Corniche & Luxor Airport isn't that great &, as it was a Friday morning, there was no need to worry about any delays in getting there due to traffic; though we did stop briefly in order that I could see where the airport road crosses over the, newly excavated, Avenue of Sphinxes, linking the Karnak & Luxor temples. Even so, the journey only took 20 minutes.
Luxor International Airport is actually quite small but the terminal is modern & clean; it also acts as a military airfield, so security is quite tight (I actually had to present my passport for inspections before the mini-bus was allowed into the drop-off area) & there was no opportunity of photgraphing the Mi 8's that were dotted around the perimeter of the apron (strangely, CAI is home to a large number of C130s but they seem to be far less worried about enforcing the no photos rule).
After passing through the intial security screen to enter the terminal building; a requirement at all Egyptian airports, I found 3 x Y & 1 x J desks open, even though ours was the only flight checking in, & no queues, thus the check-in process was handled very quickly & efficiently; I even found that the Egyptair Plus FF points had been credited by the following day. Interestingly, there have been reports that MS have become much stricter on enforcing baggage allowances lately, & I was quite prepared to pay the LE8/kilo for any excess, but, as the flight was nowhere near full, the fact that I was a good 9 kg overweight was never mentioned.
Passing through the second security check; & forgetting to take my glasses off again, I entered the smallish, but clean & airy departures lounge/gate area, with approximately 30 minutes to kill before the scheduled boarding time of 1015. Airside, one finds a couple of duty free shops, clean, modern toilets (baksheesh for the attendant is expected - though this is not a problem) & a cafe, plus a communal seating area; there appears to be only two departure gates, both of which are for bussed boarding. The seats provided are of the, seemingly, standard for Egyptian airports, metal "pseudo-bench" variety, but are actually quuite comfortable. Large windows gave views over an apron that was devoid of any civil types, but they are obscured to a degree by, concrete, artwork, consisting of various letters (they don't actually spell anything recogniseable, when seen from the apron).
The stated boarding time came & went, with no sign of the inbound A/C & it wasn't until 1030 that there was a sudden appearance of groundstaff, followed shortly by our Embraer touching down & taxiing to its stand.
Within 5 minutes, the first bus had arrived at the gate; again they seem to have modernised these to include airconditioning, which was really needed, as we'd been experiencing temperatures of 52 Celsius, at 0930, for the past few days, boarding was called & we were on our way across the apron.
As I've mentioned earlier, I really do like the Egyptair Express livery, with its combination of the newest Horus logo & shades of blue, with only small areas of plain white to be seen, so I was doubly disappointed that the presence of so many helicopters meant that there was no chance of taking a photo before climbing the stairs.
The young F/As; 3 female & 2 male, greeted us with a smile at the door &, later, actually took the time to assist a young family, travelling with two small children to find their seats; which had been occupied by a couple of gentlemen between the first & second busload of passengers arriving at the aircraft (sadly, this gave me the impression that they were going to strictly enforce seat assignments, or I'd have moved from the aisle to a window seat, once it became apparent how light the load would be).
As is usual, the E-170 had a 2 + 2 seating arrangement, with legroom comparable to that I had found to be more than adequate on the CAI - ASW flight, & the dark blue leather seats were actuallly very comfortable for a 1 hour journey. The cabin itself was very clean & modern looking.
Seatback pockets contained the usual copy of "Horus", safety card & sickbag.
I would have got my camera out at this point, but I'd noticed that the guy occupying the window seat was dressed in a uniform that was, quite literally, dominated by large & official looking badges. This gave me the impression that he might just be some sort of "Sky Marshal" type police officer &, I therefore decided, once again that photos were out of the question (I do try to abide by the laws of any country I visit, I'm afraid - remembering the A/C spotters that got arrested in Greece, as spies, a few years back).
Soon, everyone was aboard &, after a greeting & Cairo weather report from the Captain, the doors were shut & we pushed back.
A manual safety demonstration was given as we taxied for a rolling take off run of 21 seconds, to the north, from runway 20 Left (?), before banking to the west & being given a view of wing over the Amun Temple at Karnak, Nile, Hat-shep-sut's temple at Dier el Bahari & the Valley of the Kings, finally turning north again, as we climbed.
As this was a very short sector, the F/As embarked upon a drinks service, as soon as the seatbelt signs went out; smiling & chatting with the passengers as they did so (this more relaxed atmosphere seems to be typical of the Egyptair Express cabin crew I've encountered over the years) & a nice glass of guava juice was most appreciated (water, soft drinks & other juices also being available).
Settling back, for the cruise to Cairo, I didn't actually see us pass over the Dashur, Saqarra, Abu Sir & Giza Pyramid fields or the city, before banking to the east & beginning our descent into CAI, prior to a somewhat hard touchdown on runway 05R. (I've never experienced such landings on MS flights before these 2 flights but, there again, it could have been linked to the turbulence we encountered as we descended into both ASW & CAI - possibly linked to the very hot air temperatures?).
It was only as we taxied to a remote stand that I spotted a PIA A310 (new livery) landing; & said to myself that it might just have been one that I knew from MAN, that my row mate suddenly started chatting to me.
Having explained that I'd, briefly worked at MAN, he informed me that he was actually a Customs Officer, returning to work at CAI's T1, after spending time with his family in Luxor (Damn! I thought, I could have taken photos after all.). We had a good old chat about how Customs at T1 was very quiet these days; whilst the officers at T3 are overloaded with work, my 15 visits to Egypt over the last 21 years (why I keep returning, what's changed, etc.) & whether I felt safe after having been in a muslim country (Obvious answer, why wouldn't I?), that continued, even after having thanked the FAs & boarded the bus for the T3 Arrivals Hall, where we parted company, as he headed off to start work.
The T3 Domestic Arrivals Hall is, again, modern & spacious, with a nice decor & plenty of luggage trolleys available (for no charge or deposit) & my bags had arrived within 10 minutes of entering the building (for reasons that only became apparent two days later, there were a lot of "plain-clothes" Security Policemen on duty that day, so again no photos - as they really don't conceal their 9mm Heckler & Koch handbags all that well).
Landside, the exit from baggage reclaim is kept clear with the normal elasticated barriers; which everyone, except a very small child who snuck through to hug her dad, observed, & the hall is quite large, with palm trees & potted plants dotted around; the pink/grey granite & Egyptian alabaster decor being mirrored from departures.
This heightened Police/Military prescence continued all the way along the roads frm the airport, almost, to the banks of the Nile & the Ramses Hilton (later that day, all traffic & pedestrians were stopped from accessing either the roads directly outside the hotel or the 6th October Bridge approaches, but nobody at the hotel seemed to know what was going on) & the journey actually took about 45 minutes.
Check-in was, again, handled smoothly; with an upgrade to a 24th floor mini-suite (city view) thrown in as a bonus & soon I was able to stand on my balcony admiring views of the Citadel & Egyptian Antiquities Museum whilst planning how to spend the next 1.5 days & 2 nights, before the return flight to Paris.
Again, I appologise for the lack of photos on this segment; certainly my concerns over grabbing some shots on the A/C were, pretty much groundless, but hindsight is a wonderful thing & there's always the hope of being able to grab some photos next time I fly this route.
Egyptair269 From Egypt, joined Mar 2007, 108 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 4022 times:
Thanks for the update!
Luxor looks lovely, I havent been there since I was 5 lol I must go again
Good to hear you had a good experience on MS express. I flew on their E-170 in C class on CAI-SSH. I was disappointed when I discovered the C class seats were exactly the same as Y seats. The only difference between C and Y was that we were served juices and hot towels before take off. Butother than that the service was great and just like you said the cabin was clean and modern.
Quoting GlenP (Reply 11): This heightened Police/Military prescence continued all the way along the roads frm the airport, almost, to the banks of the Nile & the Ramses Hilton (later that day, all traffic & pedestrians were stopped from accessing either the roads directly outside the hotel or the 6th October Bridge approaches, but nobody at the hotel seemed to know what was going on) & the journey actually took about 45 minutes.
I think that would be President Mubarak visiting 6th of October, or Prime Minister Nazif returning home after visiting Mubarak in the Heliopolis Palace.
GlenP From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2009, 43 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 3987 times:
Quoting Egyptair269 (Reply 12): I think that would be President Mubarak visiting 6th of October, or Prime Minister Nazif returning home after visiting Mubarak in the Heliopolis Palace.
Possibly, but there was someone else in town that week; the clue as to who will be revealed in the next installment. (Clue, Could be a cigar involved )
CityofAthens From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 14, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 3943 times:
I haven't even finished reading your Trip Report yet but I already love it ... Egypt (and the Middle East in general) fascinated me as a child and continues to do so today (good job, Discovery Channel ....)
Unfortunately I am only reasonably familiar with Cairo, but recognised many of the familiar landmarks; on my last trip to Cairo I stayed in Zamalek with some friends; I love their music and I have a few of Amr Diab's tracks .... I had the fortune to catch a train to Alexandria and loved every minute of it (including the sweet tea served onboard).
Looks like the international flights with AF were pleasant and enjoyable - it's nice to read something favourable I must admit, as some of the reports tend to be somewhat negative - then again, I suppose everyone has different standards. I must add the AF cabins always look clean, this isn't always the case with its competitors!
Loved the photos of Cairo and the domestic flight ... one day, I will do the same. The boat trip conjures up images of romance, glamour and adventure - I will make sure I have access to a bucket of ice and some Champagne when I get there!
Thanks again for the great photos ... I will come back and read the rest of the report over some coffee; unfortunately not the delicious Turkish coffee I enjoyed on the corniche in Alexandria.
CityofAthens From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 17, posted (6 months 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 3756 times:
Quoting Egyptair269 (Reply 15): Really? DId you see his new album? Wow i'm surprised, never met a non-egyptian or non-arab who listened to him
Oh YES! I'm listening to 'Amarain' at this moment! Love Arabic pop, I have some stuff from other artists in the region - Lebanon etc. Very catchy and reminds me of some great times in Cairo, Beirut, Damascus ...
Egyptair269 From Egypt, joined Mar 2007, 108 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (6 months 1 week 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 3711 times:
Quoting GlenP (Reply 16): Notch up another then, as I have his greatest hits CD in the car
Quoting CityofAthens (Reply 17): Oh YES! I'm listening to 'Amarain' at this moment! Love Arabic pop, I have some stuff from other artists in the region - Lebanon etc. Very catchy and reminds me of some great times in Cairo, Beirut, Damascus ...
Akhmad From Netherlands, joined Sep 2005, 532 posts, RR: 6 Reply 20, posted (3 months 3 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1524 times:
Hi GlenP,
Nicely written trip report with great pics! In all sudden, it brings me back all the memories of my holiday in Egypt.
Thank you for sharing the pics of places I have not been to. How long have you spent your holiday actually? 8 days were not seemingly enough to visit all the places you have captured.
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter): This involved having my shoes x-rayed in a dedicated machine & only added about 5 minutes to the whole process,
I remember this from our flight from LGW.
Quoting GlenP (Thread starter): Once the doors were shut, champagne, orange juice or mineral water was offered
That is a nice welcome greeting for J European flights.
Quoting GlenP (Reply 3): before I was greeted by, my old friend, the tour company's rep (I book tailor made accommodation & tours through a friend who is rather well placed with them), who had my single entry visa (US$15.00 upon arrival) ready to stick into my passport.
You also got everyhting settled. We have certainly chosen a wrong travel agent!
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I don't fly them long haul anymore, so yes, I can't give an objective opinion on those routes, but I regularly fly their domestic and short european flights which are pretty decent In my opinion. I did realize some positive change (on those specific routes), but I still don't understand why they serve Nescafe coffee on their flights...It's really a shame.... but lately, they introduced hot chocolate as an option to coffee which is great. BUT YES, unfortunetely, you still get some grumpy cold FA... 
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