Last January, we spent a week in Egypt booked mostly with points and miles. We flew to Egypt in economy so we were really looking forward to our flight back to the U.S. in business class. EgyptAir isn’t known for having a particularly great business class product, but getting to lie down for the 12 hour flight makes it more than worth it. Here’s a brief review of our flight from Cairo to New York on EgyptAir 787-9 business class.
Booking EgyptAir Business Class
We booked our flights to and from Egypt using United Airlines miles. The business class flight from Cairo to New York on EgyptAir cost 85,000 miles and $81.85 per person. This is kind of a lot of miles for a subpar business class product. However, we had miles to spare and didn’t have any other trips planned for the rest of the year.
EgyptAir Business Class Review
EgyptAir’s 787 business class cabin has 30 seats arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration. Since there were two of us traveling, we booked middle seats.
The seats were comfortable and new so no complaints there. Upon boarding, our seats were stocked with a bottle of water, a menu, headphones, an amenity kit, a pillow, and a blanket.
The inflight entertainment options were not great. The flight leaves in the morning and arrives in the afternoon so you might not find the need to sleep. That leaves 12 hours to fill with a limited selection of movies.
Here’s the menu for the flight. We started with breakfast and were served lunch prior to landing. You’ll notice the “Available Upon Request” section of the menu is quite limited. I think my husband and I ended up ordering one of each and were still hungry!
Here’s the contents of the amenity kit. It was pretty standard with a lip balm, lotion, dental kit, brush, shoehorn, hand sanitizer, earplugs, face mask, and pen.
EgyptAir is a dry airline so we were offered juice as our welcome drink. Tasty, but it’s no champagne.
After take off, the breakfast service began. I started with a glass of apple juice.
For my meal, I picked the “oriental dish” wish consisted of Egyptian beans, a feta-like cheese, bread, fruit, and more cheese.
Later on during the flight I had a cappuccino and a chocolate muffin.
I was still hungry before the lunch service so I tried the mini sandwiches. I should also mention I drank about seven Diet Pepsi’s during the flight. My husband and I ended up drinking their whole supply of Diet Pepsi. I guess that’s what happens when there’s no booze!
Before landing, we were served lunch. The appetizer was yummy. I love a good mezze platter.
For my main course, I tried the chicken which was just okay.
The dessert was kind of small and not the most tasty.
Final Thoughts
EgyptAir business class isn’t the best, but it’s much preferable to flying 12 hours in economy. The hard product was good, but the soft product could use some help. The Egyptian food items were overall good, but everything else was like typical airline food. I was hungry during the flight which has never happened to me in business class before. EgyptAir business class could use some more on-demand snack options. Overall, flying in EgyptAir business class is certainly not aspirational like Qatar Airways QSuites but it serves its purpose.
