Review of Egyptair Business Class

The airline’s main hub is Cairo, which is a modern airport with duty-free stores, restaurants and other services. Unfortunately, security procedures can be slow. Priority check-in and security help to expedite the process for Business Class fliers, but do not expect much extra on the ground. Even the connection process for travellers in transit can be cumbersome requiring bus rides to other terminals, additional security checks and the added pain of securing a transit or visitor visa for certain passport holders.

Egyptair has a few lounges in the airport, many of which have been modernised. They are not necessarily chic and feature limited food and beverage options. For many fliers, this is the only respite from the bustling terminal, but there is no alcohol in the lounges, and the Wi-Fi signal can be sedate. Most restaurants in the terminal follow the same no-alcohol protocols. When it comes time to board, priority lanes are rarely respected, but perhaps that is because most people are just eager to get out of the less-than-stellar airport.

Business Class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members travelling in any cabin are supposed to have access to priority boarding lanes to have more time to get settled. These are more likely to be honoured outside of Egypt.

Egyptair has a hotchpotch of aircraft with different styles of Business Class from Airbus A330s with recliner seats dating back decades and offering limited storage space to Boeing B777s with angled lie-flat beds in a dreadful 2-3-2 configuration with a middle seat.

A small fleet of six Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners have recently joined Egyptair, finally introducing a competitive hard product to the airline. They have a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration with fully-flat beds, plentiful storage space and better entertainment screens. With so many different types of airplanes and so few planes with the newest product, a flight with Egyptair may not be the most comfortable experience.

Couples will prefer any pair of seats, but do your best to avoid the centre section since there will be a middle-seat passenger on B777s that will need to cross over your feet. Solo travellers will want to fly on one of the newest planes, but these are limited to the longest or most important flights for the airline (like Washington DC or Paris).

The Boeing 777s have a galley dividing the Business Class cabin making the experience seem a bit more intimate - especially in the front section where there is limited foot traffic - whereas on other planes, Business Class is all in one large cabin. 

Each seat has a side table, power and USB outlets - not on some A330s -  a dining table that folds out and storage areas near the armrest. Electronic controls bring the seat into various positions including reclining position for lounging or fully flat for a sound rest, but the oldest A330s have borderline archaic seat controls.

The flight search on BusinessClass.com includes images, videos and seat maps for most airlines and aircraft Search results also include details such as seat pitch, width and recline. This way you can see the seat and cabin configuration of the flight in which you are interested, before making your choice.

Egyptair’s printed menus are colourful, but lack detail including descriptions that may not go beyond “mixed seafood” or “beef fillet with cheese.” The appetiser may say “selection of oriental appetiser,” for example, and the cheese section says “selection of cheese.” That is not very helpful, especially for those with particular dietary needs. It is clear they reuse the same menus for the multitude of their flights, and by leaving out detail, they can reuse them for months at a time.

At least, there are four options for the main meal including a vegetarian choice. Flight attendants place a table cloth on the tray table before bringing a tray with all of the silverware, bread plate, salad and appetiser. Egyptair misses a huge opportunity by not serving much Egyptian cuisine on its flights.

The food appears low-quality and is not particularly plentiful. It would be nice if the airline helped people discover more of the region, especially since many passengers are simply in transit. There are no celebrity chefs or local partnerships involved in designing the menus.

Dessert soon follows with cake, fruit or cheese, but it is hardly remarkable.

Roughly two to three hours before landing on long flights, a pre-arrival meal is served and varies based on the time of day. Luckily, breakfast typically has an Egyptian option.

Travellers can pre-order special meals including vegetarian, Muslim, or children’s themed dishes if they wish. There is no “dine-on-demand” service, but in between flights some light refreshments are set up in the galley.

One disappointment for many passengers on Egyptair is that there is no alcohol on board. For religious reasons, Egyptair does not serve alcohol to anyone on any of its flights. In this day and age the policy appears outdated, given the fact that many other airlines from the Middle East do serve alcohol under the principle that it should be the passenger’s choice if they choose to drink or not.

For dry airlines that do not serve alcohol, there are still many ways to provide a good selection of beverages including high quality juices, smoothies, specially curated mocktails and a wide selection of coffee and tea. Sadly, Egyptair fails to impress.

The Egyptair drinks service starts with the welcome beverage, which is a choice between juice or water. Once in the air, a trolley features all of the soft drink and juice choices available. Beverage refills are not very proactive, and in between meals, the flight attendants rarely appear in the cabin. Each passenger does have a bottle of water waiting at their seat when they board though.

The airline has basic coffee and tea beverages, but it does not serve Arabic coffee the way some Gulf airlines do. Again, that’s another lost opportunity to showcase the local culture.

Some fliers report that if they bring duty-free wine on board, some crewmembers will uncork and serve it to you upon request. This appears to be more of an exception to the rule, but some passengers might like to know that it is possible to ask (although not a guarantee).

While Egyptair may be a dry airline, the flight search on BusinessClass.com includes information on which Champagne is served in Business Class and First Class on many airlines. We do our best to keep track of any changes, but feel free to let us know if there is something we missed. 

The service varies by crew, but the airline does not offer a particularly doting service protocol. Crew do not pass through the cabin much to check on passengers leaving fliers to visit the galley or ring their call button if they need something. English is generally well-spoken, but not all flight attendants are exactly in the mood for conversation. Some will be quite caring asking passengers how their flight is going and what they can do to make it better. Others just go through the motions.

On the older A330 planes (these are even used on longer flights like Cairo to Johannesburg, for example), tiny screens fold out from the armrest whereas on other planes, a larger screen faces the seat. It features a handful of Hollywood and international movie selections and a range of short-subject programs and music. Don’t expect a large selection, but at least the programming is available in many languages. Arabic films and music are another nice touch.

On B787 Dreamliners, the selection is far better and worth seeking out if you have a choice of aircraft on a particular route. These are also the only long-haul planes with Wi-Fi, which carries a fee based on data use.

Basic noise-reducing headsets are available at each seat during boarding, and remote controls make it easy to change the channel while reclined.

The flight search on BusinessClass.com includes information on WiFi and inflight entertainment.

On many EgyptAir flights, amenity kits offer minimal toiletries, and they lack the panache and name-brand products that other airlines offer. On some flights, the airline does however offer upgraded amenity kits with all-leather Cerrutti-branded bags stocked with Aigner toiletries, so your experience may vary.

Egyptair amenity kits do include stickers that indicate if you would like the crew to wake you up for service or duty-free items, which is an unusual touch. Disappointingly, lavatories are rarely cleaned between use, and the provided pillow and duvet could be bigger.

Families travelling with infants can request a bassinet on long-haul flights to use at certain seats.

On short and medium-haul flights, Egyptair uses a mix of widebody and narrowbody aircraft, and Business Class tends to feature recliner-style seats. They are perfectly comfortable for shorter sectors, and meal service includes hot selections on most flights and cold snacks on domestic flights. No flights have alcohol.

On Egyptair A220-300 aircraft, "Comfort Class" replaces the traditional Business Class. The offering includes many of the benefits associated with Business Class, but seats are the same as in Economy Class.

The addition of more fuel-efficient aircraft has helped the airline already lower its fuel consumption by 20%, and the airline launched a sustainability committee in 2019 to study further eco-friendly options. The airline is also working with supply chain partners to promote more efficiencies toward a more eco-conscious operation.

Egyptair aims to reduce single-use plastics on its flights by 90 percent, and has identified 27 single-use plastic products which have been replaced with sustainable alternatives.

As part of Egyptair’s program to combat climate change and pollution, the airline is operating selected ‘Green Service Flights’ - highlighting sustainability initiatives including the focus on eliminating single-use plastics.

The flight search on BusinessClass.com includes information on CO2 emissions for each flight. Our quality algorithms also give a higher score to flights operated by the most modern and environmentally friendly aircraft.