I was on my way to Goa, India and in an attempt to avoid the hefty fuel surcharges by Air Canada when redeeming for a flight through Aeroplan, I decided to take Egypt Air and have a few stops along the way i.e. Cairo and Dubai. This also helped me cross off visiting the Pyramids off my bucket list. Later, I will also illustrate below how I booked my flights by redeeming Aeroplan miles.
At Pearson, the check-in process was quick and efficient at the dedicated Business class counter. Initially, the check-in agent said my baggage would only be tagged only till Dubai. When I persisted that this does not sound right given that I am flying on Star Alliance carriers, he continued to tap some keys and finally said its tagged all the way to Goa but he can only print boarding passes till Dubai. This was fine as I wanted to exit the airports in both Cairo and Dubai during the layover and didn’t want to deal with the luggage at those airports. I was advised that the flight was on time and that I could access the Maple Leaf lounge.
There was a long line up, but fortunately, there was a separate lane for Business class passengers.
The seat looked dated and there was a blanket and pillow on the seat. There was no place to put the blanket and no storage space to put your things like phone, headphones, glasses etc.
Once, boarding was completed we were served hot towels. Once these were cleared away, we were served a pre departure drink with a choice between guava or apple juice. Note that Egypt Air is a dry airline so alcohol is not served on board.
The captain came on the PA to announce that the flight was delayed by 10 mins to offload a passenger.
Later the Amenity kit was handed out which was nothing worth writing about. They also handed out stickers to affix to our headrests to indicate – Do not disturb, wake me for meals, duty free.
I had a brief look at the offerings on the In Flight entertainment system, but didn’t find anything interesting, plus I wanted to get in some sleep as I had a busy full day ahead once I landed in Cairo in the morning.
I then settled in to sleep and was surprised to find the seats were lie-flat. I was later awakened when there was a lot of activity as I realized that we were about 90 minutes to land and they were getting ready for the breakfast service.
The FAs came around again and opened our table trays and placed the table cloth. The main tray was presented and we were asked for our choice of beverages.
What I liked was
– On time performance
– Friendly crew but not very attentive and do not anticipate needs
– Decent food
What I didnt like was
– 2-2-2 seating so not all seats have aisle access
– Old and dated seats
– Only 1 USB port
– No proper place to store phone
– Seat belt buckle is on right side and cannot rest arm comfortably
– Seat belt when un-done gets stuck in sides of seat
Finally, here is how I booked the flights, but first let me show you the difference in fuel surcharges.
If I were to fly on Air Canada from Toronto to Mumbai and then on Air India from Mumbai to Goa, I would have to spend $709.16 in taxes, fees and surcharges in addition to 75,000 Aeroplan Miles.
(*Since I booked this, with the new reservations system in place there are reports that some Aeroplan agents cannot piece together segments but YMMV)
Happy Travels.
Written by Dominic Fernandes aka CanadaPointsGuy