Scullysioux

I was just reading the post about bringing cameras in your carry-on while flying on Egypt Air and someone mentioned you can only bring medication in your carry-on that you need during the flight. I will be flying Egypt Air and need to have at least 2 liquid medications with me on the flight for asthma, preferably 3 medications. I would have the original bottles and boxes with the prescription on it. Does anyone have any experience with this. What, if any kind of problems can I expect?

Thanks!

Scullysioux

I just returned from my trip to Egypt and I thought I'd answer my own post since I received no replies, in case anyone else is wondering about this issue.

I brought 3 different liquid medications in a clear plastic bag in my carry on and had no problems whatsoever with Egypt Air. I did not even have to take them out of my carry on going through security. I had no problems at all. Very easy.

P_M

Thanks for the update. At the time you first posted this I had not yet flown Egypt Air. But I have since taken a couple of domestic flight w/EA on my recent trip. I also carry asthma meds and I was fine.

traveller1959

I came just back from four flights with Egypt Air. Safety checks in Egypt are generally a joke. Nobody cared for peeping metal detectors, nobody seemed to look on the x-ray screens, and nobody cared for liquids in hand baggage. People took whole bottles of water through security checks and nobody cared.

No wonder that bombings are rife in Egypt.

SWD

I'm flying EgyptAir next week. How was the flight, service, seating? I'm flying JFK to Cairo. Where did you fly from?

Scullysioux

I flew from JFK to Cairo. The flight was about the same as any other airline. The seats in coach are cramped. The service was ok, although I wish they had brought the beverage cart around more. I would recommend bringing water on the plane with you.

The plane was a 777 with 9 seats across, our flight was pretty full. They hand out English and Arabic newpapers at the beginning of the flight and a little package with socks, earbuds, sleep mask and travel toothbrush and toothpaste in it.

4 movies were shown during the flight, 3 in English, one in Arabic. The Egyptian movie was quite hilarious really, although I don't think it was supposed to be. It was about a cop who went undercover at a college to round up some drug dealers. Really hokey, but entertaining.

As far as security, I would agree that they did not seem concerning with liquid in carry on baggage, but they checked identification about 4 times before getting on the flight.

One thing about Egypt Air I did not like was their rotten customer service at the ticket counter. Our flight from Pittsburgh to JFK was cancelled which caused us to miss our flight to Cairo. Egypt Air would not reschedule us on the next flight in advance. We tried calling Egypt Air but they would not do this over the phone. As a result, we got to Egypt 2 days late for our tour. It was a real fiasco. We weren't the only ones in that situation either.

All in all, Egypt Air was ok, but if I ever go back to Egypt I may use another airline if convenient. I like Egypt Air because they fly direct to Cairo from JFK, but if something goes wrong and you miss your flight, it is a real hassle.

SWD

Thanks! We upgraded to business class, so I hope we'll be happy with our decision. In some posts, I saw reports that the flights aren't very full and you can just stretch out in the next seat; so I was beginning to think we should have saved $ and gone economy. We are also at the tale end of a cold; so we have some prescription meds that we were concerned about bringing. They are 4 oz in size. So hopefully they pass through without concern.

If you have any info about Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Cruise, etc. that you'd like to share; please do so. We are excited about going, but have no idea what to expect. We normally go on our own when we travel. This is the first time we are taking a fully escorted tour.

Scullysioux

Hi SWD,

You should much happier in business class just because it is so much roomier. It is a long flight.

This was my first time taking a tour also, but I was pleased with it and it was such a small group it was almost like going on our own. I hope you enjoy your tour also. Now that I went on the tour, I think I may be able to go it alone in Egypt if I go back.

I don't have much to say about Cairo because we were really only there one day and that was to see the Pyramids and Egyptian Museum. We were supposed to be in Cairo 3 days, but 2 days were at the beginning of our tour and we missed those days due to the cancelled flight. Everything they say about the traffic is true, it is crazy, but there is some kind of chaotic order to it. ATM's and Internet cafes are plentiful. Sometimes the ATM machines don't work though and you have to go to another. This is true for all over Egypt, not just Cairo.

I really liked Luxor, although we missed the Luxor Temple and Karnak
because we were flying from Cairo to Luxor to meet our tour when the tour was seeing those sights. ( I will just have to go back! ). So now you are thinking "What did she see?" OK, the Valley of the Kings is incredible. They let you see 3 tombs of your choice and if you want to see King Tut's tomb you pay extra. We saw 3 different Rameses tombs and Tut's. If you have done any reading on the discovery of King Tut's tomb it is interesting to see. Yes, it is small and only one room is decorated, but Tut's gold coffin in still there and his mummy is now on display. There is a guy (guard?) that hangs around in the tomb pointing things out that are truly obvious (like these are Tut's toes, while pointing at his toes. No kidding!), then he wants a tip.

The cruise was wonderful, beautiful scenery and so relaxing. I loved stopping at the lock at Esna and seeing the pirates. I won't say any more about the pirates, because the surprise is half the fun.

The cruise boats all stop at Edfu and Kom Ombo to go to the temples. They are definitely worth seeing. I especially enjoyed Edfu, the temple is in great condition.

Aswan is a lovely town, lots to do and it is very pretty. We took a felucca ride on the Nile. I would recommend that, it's just relaxing. We also took an optional tour to Abu Simbel, which of course is impressive. I think the most impressive thing about it was the fact they moved the 2 temples. Incredible. We took the bus caravan and the scenery of the desert was something I had never seen before. Very picturesque. The bus ride is 3 hours each way but the bus leaves so early (I think it left at 4 am or somthing like that ) you can sleep on the way down and it goes by fast. It is definitely worth doing.

The Egyptians are very friendly helpful people. We felt welcome everywhere we went. They had a good sense of humor too and like to joke around. You probably have heard this, though, and I had before I left, but nothing really prepares you for the onslaught of people at you all the time trying to sell you something. Learn to say La Shukran (No Thank you) and they will generally leave you alone. But once you talk to them, you will never get rid of them until you go into their store.

You have to haggle for prices at the bazaars and markets. I personally love doing this, but sometimes it takes so long to haggle for a price, it just got tiring to have to haggle for everything. I was so glad to go into a supermarket in Cairo at the end of the trip and just be able to pick something up and pay the price that was on it with no haggling. It wears on you after a while, but it is fun too.

Well, I am waiting for AAA to get here to change my flat tire so I can go to work. They should be here soon, so I'll stop. If you have any questions, don't hestitate to ask.

althom1122

Scullysioux - I don't think you mentioned the tour company you went with. Which one was it? And were you happy with them? I think we're going on our own and hiring a guide to help us out, but might still consider a tour. What cruise boat were you on? Thanks.

Scullysioux

The tour group we used was Imaginative Traveller, I was very pleased with them. They have many different tours to choose from. We chose the Nile Safari tour which was 8 days long ( only we had just 6 days due to our flight problems ). They keep a limit to 15 people per tour although we only had 3 people on our tour because that is all that signed up for that particular week for that tour. They are kind of an adventure travel company (we rode donkeys to the Valley of the Kings) and they try to be envionmentally conscious whenever possible.

The cruise boat was the M/S Melodie. It is not one of the bigger fancier boats, but I doubt you would find a nicer crew. The guys on the boat were just great and were really comitted to making sure everyone had a good time. There were about 50 rooms, very small. There was a small dip pool on the top deck which was great. The only thing I did not like about the boat was the shower was just a showerhead sticking out of the wall with a curtain around it. When you showered the whole bathroom floor got wet. The drain did not work well either so when you were done there was a good 1 1/2 to 2 inches of water on the floor. Quite gross.

I think you can go it on your own especially if you hire guides, but it definitely is easier if you have a tour. Of course, with a tour you are limited to the amount of time you get to spend in certain places because you have to stick to a schedule. I thought that was really the only drawback and it was not a big deal.

seafox

I am taking the JFK to Cairo flight next year with a tour group. What is the seat configuration? 3-3-3, 2-5-2??? Is it true you can only bring meds needed for the flight on board. I always carry on all my meds (pills), just in case something goes wrong....will pills be a problem??

Scullysioux

Seafox,

No, it is not true that you can only bring medication that you need for the flight. I had heard that too before I went to Egypt, but I brought 3 different medications (2 inhalers and one prescription nose spray) and they did not even look at them. I had them separated in a clear ziploc bag in plain sight laying on the conveyor belt by themselves because they are liquid. So, no that is not a problem. Just make sure you keep them in their original container and you will be fine.

The seat configuration was 3-5-2 or maybe it was 3-4-2. I can't remember as I did not sit in the middle, but I'm positive the sides had 3 on one side and 2 on the other.

sunshine007

First off, Egypt does not have "a lot of bombings." Iraq has a lot of bombings.

Second, those few that occur are home grown bombers who don't fly airplanes. There have been no airplane bombings, hijacking or other air flight related problems in Egypt.

Scullysioux

Huh?

Casual_Cairo

Yeash Sunshine - Where did that rant come from? Who said what to get that going?

dmlove

I;m resurrecting this thread only because I just got back and happened to see it in my "saved" threads. So, in answer to the question, why did sunshine make the comments about bombings, you have to look back to traveller1959's post, which stated "no wonder bombings are rife in Egypt" (in reference to lax security).

I do have a question which Debbie may be able to answer since she's in the industry. When we were in Egypt, we went through metal detectors just about everywhere - hotels, temples, etc. They seemed to "beep" everytime someone went through, not just in reponse to the detection of metal, and then of course you were just waived through. Do you have any idea whether these detectors are actually detecting anything? They are so ubiquitous and seemingly so ineffective.

P_M

I'm certainly not the expert Debbie is, but when I was in Egypt our guide said the detectors are really there for show unless there's a specific threat. We usually just walked around them and nobody seemed to care. I'm anxious to hear what Debbie has to say.

sunshine007

Generally, Egyptian security practices what are called discriminatory practices in the US -- that is, people who are not of middle eastern ethnice origin are not searched. They profile, too. So if you're, say Jordanian, you'll get a more thorough search. Remember, Egypt is far from a democracy.

They do search and question people, but I'm sure that you're in the suspect group.

At the 5 star hotels the security is more obvious. Dogs, road blocks, etc.

Casual_Cairo

"At the 5 star hotels the security is more obvious. Dogs, road blocks, etc.

More obviuos, but I seriously doubt they are more effective. I've had so many customers coming from different countries that work in law enforcement and laugh about taking the dogs for a walk around the cars. I think it would be very interesting to see if the dogs really could detect something suspicious on a car.

Also, they look in the trunks of cars, but they never open our cool box when they look in there so I don't feel they are looking very carefully.

As for the metal detectors, Sunshine is right on the mark with that comment. There are a few places, like the Citadel and the Library in Alexandria where they will search you (males especially) if you beep.

They are caught between this cultural thing of not wanting to offend anyone, and needing to provide security, so they have to walk a tightrope sometimes.

dmlove

Thanks - I really had no problem with the concept, I just also doubt the effectiveness!