Grcxx3

I'm not sure how much those Priority tags work! Our bags from Azerbaijan to Houston were tagged Priority (as were 3 other families traveling the same route). Our bags - and there were LOTS of them since us and another family were moving back to the US - were THE LAST BAGS off the carousel in Houston! AUGH!

Lolo12

martinlevine - I am going with OAT in January to Egypt in January and would love to hear about your trip.

As for upgrading to business class - I usually do so anyway and did on this trip as well. The extra room and comfort are well worth it to me.

My experiences on business class airlines is that the absolute best was South African Airlines.

martinlevine

My wife and I took the OAT trip (Cairo and the Eternal Nile) in November, 2006 and feel that it's one of the best trips we've taken. My wife says it's the best, mainly, because in her opinion, "Not only was it educational and eye-opening, it was fun!"

Cairo is a dusty, noisy city, full of traffic and crowds, but obviously very interesting, bringing to life things we'd read about as kids.

All of the accomodations were superb, food was delicious, and the Nile cruise , not only while on board, but at all stops, was wonderful. We started with a most enjoyable susnrise breakfast on the west bank of Luxor and continued on to see things we'd only dreamed about. We also did things we'd never thought we'd do: an extended camel ride, a henna tatoo tatoo, and a great Egyptian Night party on our ship.


We took all of the optional tours including Abu Simbel, and found each to be well worth every penny. Terrific trip.

Lolo12

Martinlevine - thanks so much for the report. We have traveled on our own as well as taken tours and I must admit that OAT trips were wonderful. We were on their Japan trip 2 years ago and loved it. Also took a Grand Circle this past spring down the Danube, but I like the OAT tours better because of the fewer travelers.
We are looking forward to the Egypt trip next year. I don't think we have a choice in the airline, though, and they probably use Egypt Air exclusively.

IngridG

OMG, this airline is horrible, horrible and more horrible. We did fly it in 2001 right before Sept. 11th (literally - right before), but smoking was going on in the seats, seats were all different colors (mismatched), there was no air conditioning, food was horrible and everything smelled like urine.

In the actual country itself, the Egypt Air flights were okay, not great.

But for international flights - forget it! I will not do it again.

Grcxx3

Ingrid - that was 7 years ago and since then Egypt Air has (I believe) joined Star Alliance, so I think they have certain standards to uphold. My MIL flew JFK-Cairo in 2002 and 2004 and had no complaints. And we flew it Cairo-Johannesburg in 2003. While it's certainly not the most luxurious of airlines - if it is the best option available - it's just fine.