EGYPTAIR Domestic Business Class - SHOCKING safety failures. Cairo to Luxor and back again...

[@GuidanceX]

I am an Egyptair frequent traveller and can tell you the secret about the rows. I have to go back a little for that. Egyptair used to offer 3 classes. First, Business and Economy. The last aircraft to have first class seats were the 5 B777-200s and the 3 Airbus 340-200s. First Class started with Row 1 and Business Class always starts with Row 8. Since Egyptair no longer offers first class, all aircraft except the Airbus 220-300 start with row 8. Why does this plane start with row 20? Because Economy at Egyptair always starts with row 20. As you have noticed, there are no business class seats on the plane. This is because Egyptair can change the size of the Business class through the curtain depending on the booking. A pure economy flight with Y140 seats is also possible. Therefore, in order not to cause misunderstandings and to remain true to themselves, the numbering starts with 20. This was also the case with the predecessor Embraer 170. Another fun fact if you didn't know: Row 13 doesn't exist with this airline either. I hope I could answer your question.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks for that! Outstanding comment... I really like an Airline that's true to its heritage and that sort of consistency and organisation really appeals to me... Even if its not immediately obvious why they do it! Thanks again for taking the time to explain this.

[@GuidanceX]

@@MattsPlanet Anytime

[@MegaAhmad1994]

i am flight attendant in egypt air and you explained that soo clear that i am actually surprised that could came from passenger

[@GuidanceX]

@@MegaAhmad1994 Thanks a lot, that is like a big compliment for me. I love to fly with Egyptair. I remember flying the B707 and A300 from MS, long long time ago.

[@GLAFly]

I don't think I've ever been on a flight where the crew haven't come through and checked for seat belts - that really was a major safety breach and I hope if Egypt Air see this, they address this with the crew. Great vid as always - just disappointed that I wasn't watching this one at 37,000 feet this time :-)

[@MattsPlanet]

Back home? I hope Egyptair sees this too!

[@GLAFly]

@@MattsPlanet Yep - trip all done and dusted. Awesome time but not sure I'd try to pack so much into 5 1/2 days next time.

[@rogersuddaby2676]

An excellent video as always Matt. Glad to see you got to experience the A220 on the leg down to Luxor from Cairo. I have fond memories of taking my young children for a few days in Luxor many moons ago so I'm hoping you had an opportunity to record some footage for a future video upload. I have flights booked to Abu Dhabi and Thailand for early 2022 so keeping everything crossed that Omicrom doesn't give rise to another raft of cancellations on long haul travel.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Roger. I did indeed enjoy a couple of days in Luxor, including the very odd experience of being the only customer in a pub for the duration of Liverpool losing to West Ham... Will be a video one day although I was more focussed on relaxing by the Nile than fighting my way around the tourist sites... Here's hoping Omicron is a speed bump rather than a huge pot-hole...

[@rogersuddaby2676]

@@MattsPlanet Despite the disappointing football result I guess at least you found a pub in Luxor after flying 'dry' with Egyptair

[@Phlegethon]

Egypt air is hilariously whatever on rules I was able to go to the bathroom before take off and the plane just took off with me in the bathroom

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks. That's not great!

[@sfe4]

5 years ago I took a flight with EgyptAir from Paris to Hurgada and what a surprise!! First of all it was a direct flight but they made an unannounced stop in Luxor where some passengers disembarked. No announcement warning that this stop was not for everyone so of course some of the passengers to Hurgada disembarked in Luxor and someone had to run after them in the terminal. But this is just a terrible organisation. The worst is at some point, the crew decided to privatize the front of the plane, closing the curtains and forbiding any passenger to access the toilet. There was a clear smell of cigarette coming from the front and we could see constant crew coming in and out of the toilets to smoke there. Also we had the same issue where they didn't dim the lights during take off but at least the safety briefing was complete.

[@MattsPlanet]

Gosh!!! 25 years ago that might have been the sort of shocking incident you read about, but 5 years ago really is unacceptable.... And on an international flight governed by EU regulations too...

[@sfe4]

@@MattsPlanet well only 6 years ago there was a deadly accident involving EfyptAir where it was found the pilots where smoking in the cockpit. There was a leak in the 1st officer oxygen mask that caused a spark and fire in the cockpit and the plane crashed killing 66.

[@oanamanole9005]

😂 Matt...I enjoyed this! I think I knew you had a spreadsheet right after you said hello to us

[@MattsPlanet]

All the best people do....

[@TheJassal98]

I took Egypt Air from Sharm El-Sheikh to Cario and back, about 11 years ago. Same experiences you've mentioned!

[@MattsPlanet]

The A220 was a good step forward - the 737 not so much. That airframe was 11 years old so perhaps it was literally the same experience!

[@TheJassal98]

Maybe !! I remember it being a twin-turboprop Embraer, if my memory serves me right they didn't even do a safety demo (no videos) or say anything about safety!

[@peterstewart7901]

I’ve seen a child on a lap of their mother without a belt for the landing on an Iberia flight barcelona to lanzarote just over 10 years ago. The child was hysterical, and due to this the cabin crew let it go. I remember the plane was very noisy. So I reckon the child who would’ve been about 8 years old maybe was scared due to the noise. I think the risk of something going wrong along with the chance of a seatbelt saving you on a plane that crashes that it wasn’t the worst thing in the world for the Iberia cabin crew to allow it on that flight. The worst thing I’ve seen though would be on a Manchester to Dublin Ryanair flight. The opened the door and said to the passenger at the front to go, but there wasn’t any steps there. It was only because he stopped and pointed it out that he didn’t fall like a lemming. They then got on the phone to get steps. The door stayed open for what felt like ages. The typical crush of people was gathered by the door. Didn’t feel the safest.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Peter. If you take a balance of risk approach then allowing something "risky" to happen within the cabin if it reduces the risk of something else happening seems fine. Nothing that happened on this flight increased the risk (or created a risk) of the plane crashing - they "merely" increased the risk of more serious consequences of an incident. I would fully expect that far more serious things have happened on the flightdeck of planes I've been on - I've just not known about them!!! But opening the doors without any stairs is a good one! Something similar happened to me when my plane got diverted somewhere hot and they opened the doors to get some air flowing athough the crew stood guard by the door as long as it was open...

[@LetsMakeaTrip]

Interesting video Matt, I’m very familiar with the shaking of the head moment when heading off a flight myself, although I’ve never experienced the safety issues you had and anyone who knows anything about flying should be aware of the reason the cabin lights are dimmed before take-off - not good. I must say, it just seems generally lax throughout as the ‘cursory glance’ of your documents indicated earlier on in the video and maybe all this rubs off on the passengers (hence the woman and child situation)? Does it inspire me to fly Egyptair in the future? Not really although Egypt itself would be nice. Cheers 😊

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers Mark. It's tricky - you don't want to make generalisations about a place, but it would be easy to do so based on what was in the video! Re the "cursory" check - just about everywhere there was a secondary check which was pretty much valueless - institutionalised distrust of previous control points and a way of employing more people!

[@MattsPlanet]

But Egypt is well worth a visit! Probably won't get Cairo or Luxor videos out before the New Year but they will come!

[@ravindranparamsothy2446]

Hi Great video , we will be flying Egypt Airlines from Cairo to Luxor , how early do we need to get to the airport for domestic check-in procedures . Thank you .

[@MattsPlanet]

It was a very quick process for me - I think you could get there 45 minutes ahead of departure and be fine but I'd still allow a lot more time as things can change at short notice...

[@ravindranparamsothy2446]

@@MattsPlanet thank you 😊

[@GlobeTrotterBen]

The one I wish BA would do sometimes when using gates A4 or A10 is separate the priority boarding groups from everyone else. Of course, they do seem to prefer cramming as many passengers onto as few buses as possible. Seems Egyptair were slightly more generous there :) The safety procedures are pretty bad though in this video, especially the child not being secured correctly.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Ben - there were glimpses of excellence in their offering alongside the less good stuff!

[@candidlycandi]

our business seats were very large as in the good old days when we flew the same route a month ago!!!!!

[@MattsPlanet]

The old business class cabins are certainly a flashback to a different / better (???) time!!!

[@MattNav]

Great job as always Matt and I can relate to your safety video incident because just a week ago I flew EgyptAir on the same aircraft (737-800) from Aswan to CAI to Frankfurt and I can report that I too encountered the exact same safety video issue... After pushing back from the gate at ASW, the safety video was playing in Arabic as we taxiied rather briskly to the active runway however by the time we were ready to begin takeoff, it was still playing the English version because the arabic version took so long and our taxi was done at high speed... Was disappointed too with the old recliner seat on the domestic leg (as I was originally booked on the A220 & was looking forward to it) then I was even more disappointed with the 2nd aircraft swap I got dealt (which was originally their newest flagship 787-9 with Super Diamond seats but they swapped it out for ANOTHER 737-800 though thankfully this one had a refreshed Boeing SkyInterior and newer seats to make it more tolerable)

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers Matthew - good name btw... Subbing a 737 for a 787 would be a disappointment... The safety video was long in one language - excruciatingly long in two!

[@MattNav]

@@MattsPlanet definitely felt a bit disappointed that I had spent over 38,000 Avianca LifeMiles for the ticket only to end up with a so-so experience 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@speedbird006]

There’s no international regulations regarding the cabin lights. For instance Japanese aviation law doesn’t regulate cabin light during take off and landing in the dark. It’s up to each airline to set its policy. JAL dims the cabin light, but ANA doesn’t. ANA believes that it’s very unlikely to lose the light in case of emergency and safer if the light is on during the evacuation and help keep passengers calm psychologically. No idea what the registration of Egypt or Egyptiair policy are though.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks for that Speedbird - interesting! The Egyptair video did say they'd dim the lights!

[@lesbrown2724]

Since I have never personally encountered an incident where the lights were not dimmed for take off I might have assumed that this was just a freak anomaly but Josh Cahill encountered something similar on a flight with Hainan Airlines ( if i recall correctly) so it would seem that some Airlines just skimp on training or perhaps refresher courses. It's not necessarily directly connected but when an airline is careless about one safety aspect I start to worry about other less visible safety breaches.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Les. Hopefully its rare that this happens although that safety briefing was soooooooo long!

[@haddockman30]

Egypt air are always a mix bag. I flew their 737-800 in economy and the seats were older than the plane. Nice and pleasant crew. Would fly them again.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Mr H - one hopes that membership of Star Alliance means that minimum standards are maintained...

[@zyxyve]

How long that you recommend to go to the airport before the departure time ? (For Domestic Flight) Cause I saw a lot of security check in into the airport.

[@MattsPlanet]

It was pretty quick both ways for me and there's not a lot to entertain you in the domestic terminals so id say an hour would be plenty .. allowing but a bit longer is probably sensible in case something goes wrong.

[@chilglish]

Very interesting video Matt. Always difficult to know whether to act upon instinct or not in the kind of situation with the woman and child on her lap. I probably would have said something (probably the latin in me 😉), but she may well not have understood me. All it would have taken for things to have gotten ugly would have been an overly bumpy landing or the brakes being applied just a little too firmly…anyway, glad nothing happened. Did you write to Egyptair to alert them of the safety issues?

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers. As I said in the vid, it was dark (the lights were off for landing) so I was only certain she was unrestrained when we landed and I could see again - my editing software is remarkable for producing that footage!!! As for communicating with Egyptair, I haven't and I wanted to get the video together before taking anything further... A picture says a thousand words so a video would say, I don't know, a million?

[@chilglish]

@@MattsPlanet too true!

[@gauravdhande3954]

Good job, Matt! I saw in one of James Asquith's video that they had the door open without stairs in front of it.

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers Gaurav - that has happened on a flight I was on only once - actually a Lufthansa 747 when we were on the tarmac after being diverted because of weather. The door was diligently guarded by an attendant although they did allow me to get quite close to the edge for a looksee - it was quite an odd experience to be standing on the edge...

[@bowman7296]

Oh the joy of travelling Matt, still another good video, I am with you on WiFi on planes why they need it on a flight baffles me, surely you can manage to do work if you have to on your computer or phone you have already downloaded before going. Think you were right about the pilots having a booking when they got back😄😄😄

[@MattsPlanet]

The joy of travel indeed!!!

[@likhan.ghosh.]

Brilliant video…. Especially as I’m going to Egypt this summer. Keep the videos coming, but maybe limit the use of the word “obviously” to a max of 3

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Likhan! Duly noted...

[@j2simpso]

I’ve been on evening flights where the lights remain on the whole time. It was Star Alliance but wasn’t Egypt Air. The meal service in business seemed pretty meh, certainly worse than the BA Euro J meals I’ve been served. As for the Domestic lounge at CAI, I was really disappointed at what I saw there when I was there in 2018 and it seems not much has changed there. The international lounge ain’t that much better either. Airlines really need to invest in showers in their lounges especially in this COVID era. I don’t have the hard numbers but I suspect regular showers lower your risk of getting COVID

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks - I was in the International lounge on my way back to Athens and showed it in my Aegean video - better than the domestic one but nor much better! Thanks for watching!

[@orionbaden-powell1496]

absoltely shocking, lets hope they keep the planes better

[@MattsPlanet]

You have to hope what happens with a slack crew inside the plane has no correlation to what happens in the hanger...

[@susansmith864]

I once wrote to Alitalia about uniformed but the not on duty (repositioning?) crew member in the mid-cabin emergency exit seat who loudly chatted to the pretty stranger seated beside him throughout the safety briefing. Set an awful example. Have also seen an unsecured child and passengers in exit rows who would definitely have impeded an evacuation.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Susan. Gonna take a guess that Alitalia's reply was a) non-existent or b) dismissive???

[@rveguita]

Did you need pcr test or vaccine QR for Internal flights??

[@MattsPlanet]

No - nothing was required for the domestic flights.

[@mrclaypole]

Egypt's CAA has a working arrangement with EASA, so should expect to see a fair bit of commonality with safety standards. The reality, when within their own jurisdiction, these countries often bend the rules and the rest of the world turns a blind eye to it. I used to love flying. Now I need to be sedated, with experiencing internal flights in Egypt being a major reason for my now unease at being up in the air 😞

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks! Sorry about the sedation.... The statistics will tell you that flying is extremely safe, even if some airlines take a laxer attitude to certain aspects of the experience...

[@mrclaypole]

@@MattsPlanetHave worked in a/c engineering before further studying aero engineering design, which makes it even more frustrating, as civil aviation is in my blood. Still, rather be sedated and see as much of the world as I can, than be un-sedated and see nothing. Keep up the good work with this channel, as it's a real joy to watch 👍

[@MattsPlanet]

@@mrclaypole Thanks for the kind words. Not bored of this video making lark yet so the content will keep coming!

[@seguntoyin5720]

Aside 2 bags of 23kg How many kg am I entitled too as an adult cos am considering back bag 🎒 and 7kg

[@MattsPlanet]

I've never had my carry-on baggage weighed... So in my experience, as long as you don't groan or sweat visibly when you lift and carry your bag, you should be alright with whatever you cram in it! Otherwise check with the airline but 7kg shouldn't be an issue. They charge the same for a 120kg passenger as they do for a 60kg one, so a few kg here or there in cabin baggage isn't the end of the world!

[@LeoMiles-j3f]

Probably the worst Domestic airline flight I have ever taken 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@MattsPlanet]

Strong words! Was on a now defunct carrier within Venezuela 25 years ago that was worse, but not many others spring to mind!

[@mohmt]

Blaming the airline for people's behavior is not fair, I have been on ryan air when a drunk passenger lighted up a cigarette. Another time on Aegean airline a mother let her kid play with the emergency door handle, if the flight attendant is not passing by that shouldn't make the people act crazy.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Ahmed. I agree with you - people need to take responsibility for their own action. But if there'd been an accident on that flight, the child could have been hurt but people around could also have been hurt from having an unrestrained child flying around the cabin. As the crew made no checks to make sure that everyone was safe, I think it is a fair criticism. Thanks for watching!

[@scottprice4813]

Let's face it- an airline that not that long where a pilot took a passenger or family member and placed them at the controls for fun is not getting any gold stars for safety .

[@MattsPlanet]

It's tough to condemn an entire airline for the actions of one person, but it is fair to condemn an airline for creating an environment where that sort of thing can happen...

[@stevecraven3502]

matt. Yes still working my way through the old stuff whilst watching the new. Like you say an absolute appalling breach of safety protocols. Unless that is their protocols. I would have contacted Egypt Air with a major complaint. I would have even sent them the proof, video footage of said incident. it is not acceptable. Those protocols exist for a reason. I would even contemplate contacting the relevant Aviation authorities. Regards Steve. C. YNWA.

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers Steve... I think standards differ - took a little heat at the time as perhaps you shouldn't expect a developing country airline to follow western standards... My response was that Egyptair is in Star Alliance so is carrying people with high expectations...

[@roses.9181]

@@MattsPlanet Wait, so you complained and they responded with this!? Is there another regulator you can complain to!?

[@MattsPlanet]

@@roses.9181 I didn't lodge a formal complaint as I could see very little likelihood of it making a shred of difference

[@roses.9181]

@@MattsPlanet I can understand. Thank you for the video! Not going to lie, it makes me scared to fly with them. But the fact that you said you would fly again reassures me LOL.

[@nuclearengineer7688]

What a silly clickbait title. Safety standards in a foreign country not the same as the UK? Shocking!

[@MattsPlanet]

I couldn't disagree more! When an airline is in a global alliance and when that airline conveys a vast number of tourists from developed countries where standards are widely understood and accepted, if that airline falls short I believe it needs to be called out. If I fly on a small, unaffiliated airline in a developing country, not so much. But a headline Star Alliance carrier? Absolutely.

[@andyml1]

Very shabby cabin procedures….👎

[@ahmedelbanna6721]

U don't stop talking I can't hear anything what's they say

[@MattsPlanet]

Sorry! Sort of the point of KZbin videos though is to share my opinions...

[@elpasocompa]

Hi Matt, did you have to go through passport control for the domestic flight?

[@MattsPlanet]

No. You need a photo ID to check in so I did use my passport but as a domestic flight there were no immigration checks.

[@elpasocompa]

@@MattsPlanet Thank very much Matt.