I’ve been discussing flying through Cairo ever since I began planning my SAS Million Mile challenge, but I ultimately chose to fly via Tunis instead after securing an even cheaper premium cabin fare. But in light of what has happened to my friend Ben from One Mile At A Time, perhaps Cairo Airport would have been the more entertaining choice.
Cairo Airport…I Won’t Avoid It, But Ben Was Spot On
Ben has been under attack from Egyptian authorities for what I thought was a very even-handed review of Cairo Airport. Yes, it’s dirty. Yes, people can be rude and hit you up for tips. And yes, it smells like an ashtray. To its credit, it tends to be efficient with check-in, security, and passport control, but that should be a given…
Anyway, Ben’s critique of the airport went viral and has led government officials from Egypt to issue threats against him. No, seriously!
Egypt threatened him for criticizing the airport and even tried to “expose” him for lying.
And all this came days away from a planned visit to Cairo with my son Augustine that even The Wall Street Journal mentioned.
While my visit to Egypt was scuttled before Ben’s drama broke out, I’m rather happy not to give Cairo Airport any support right now…the inability to handle Ben’s constructive criticism is alarming. Rather than simply dismissing it as a unique facet of Egypt’s “face-saving” culture, I will call it out for what it is: foolish, stupid, and counterproductive.
It’s a shame, really. I love Egypt and its warm hospitality and delicious food. Yes, the tipping culture drives me crazy, but I can overlook it. The pyramids are an absolute must-see and cities like Cairo, Alexandria, and Luxor have much to offer. But who wants to visit a country that makes such childish threats against a blog post?
No, I’m not going to boycott Egypt over this. But authorities owe Ben an apology and foolishly failed to realize that they made Ben’s story go viral (and it may just be beginning) when they could have simply accepted the constructive criticism…and expended their energy to improve the airport instead.
Two words: Streisand Effect.
Absolutely correct.
Their reaction changed it from a blog post to a news story.
@matthew, I think you are right that it is face saving, Egyptians especially do handle criticism well and the over-reaction the Ben’s review proof of that.
I have close friends who are Egyptian and live in Cairo, I asked them about the story, they said another angle of the story as it is being reported in Egypt is that Ben either take part in or is “habitual debauchery”, which they explained to me is being Gay in Egypt and a crime.
They indicated adding that to the story is merely a way to discredit Ben because being Gay in Egypt is seen as illegitimate and thus another reason not believe as he hates the country because it is not pro-LGBT rights.
Sadly, the Egyptian Government should have simply ignored Ben’s article, not reacted the way that it did.
Be careful. Journalists do get thrown in jail. Ben is already a marked man. Please don’t be the same. I get the message about Cairo airport.
Sure Cairo is terrible , however Karachi is even worse .
Middle East will always be quite backward , because they are unintelligent .
Have you flown through Karachi? When?
As always, we can depend on you making some dumb racist comment.
STFU Aaron. You’re the dumbest one here.
Oh look, another dumb-comment generator.
Karachi is not in the Middle East.
@ Matthew — This entire promotion is stupid, and the only ones completing it are doing so for attention. Same reason to write another blog post saying that Cairo airport sucks. Just sayin…
No Gene, I’m doing it for the million miles. I love flying SK and this deal makes sense to me…the blogging is icing on the cake to offset the cost of the trip.
To each their own. Paying to fly in eoncomy on 14 middling SkyTeam airlines for days on end to earn a million SkyTeam miles sounds truly horrible to me. I would rather just pay $12,700 and buy a million OneWorld miles via Hawaiian, or simply sign up for a year’s worth of credit cards and obtain the million miles via SUBs. or one of the other easy ways that don’t require misery.
Of the people whom I know to be doing the promotion, most are doing it primarily for the points or as an opportunity for discounted travel and don’t want any attention about doing the promotion.
I am definitely not doing it for the attention, in fact I am probably not going to even upload a single post or photo on social media. I am thinking of keeping notes and possibly share on a blog or reactivate my flyertalk account or something, mostly because I mentioned that I am doing the challenge to a few friends and most of them have told me to keep some record of it.
The only oneworld airlines that would be relevant to me are Iberia and QR, both of whom have ownership links with a state that I don’t really want to support (I mean, I will fly IB if I have to- as I’m having to fly Saudia for the challenge- but I am less than enthusiastic in my support for the people who own a quarter of it). There really isn’t any comparison between the two alliances for anyone who is based in or travels to/within Africa or Latin America.
I hope you get to spend even a little time in Tunisia besides the airport. It’s a beautiful country with a rich history.
Not this time, but I do love Tunis:
https://liveandletsfly.com/tunisia-trip-report/
The misunderstanding with Ben’s article was the compilation view of multiple Cairo airport visits and pointing consistent issues over the years. The government agency read it as a summary critical evaluation of his last airport visit and presented video of his seamless transit through Cairo airport.
As i recall there is a saying in Egypt about bringing the ” dust of Egypt home on your clothes ” ., meaning the dust is messy and represents complications that will cause you to return. Exactly why they have doubled down on Ben I can’t understand. Books have been published with greater criticism. I am glad Matthew, as a blogger, was able to avoid stepping in it now.
I’m sure once they did some checking on him and found out he is gay, someone decided to go all out on him. Some countries pretend that it doesn’t exist in their country but it does exist everywhere.
Agree but I feel this may be something even more The prophetical saying came to mind because hearing it over the years I never quite understood, but it always bothered me. And I love Egypt, it can be magical but as a female I was oh so careful in all interactions.
I am really surprised that you, Matthew ,mention the “tip” problem at Cairo Airport ,as well as the blogger.
Countlesd times i have flown to Cairo and i have NEVER seen or heard about this problem.
Also, the smelling comment….
I do not know the reason behind those false comments.
Let me ask you…is it because is a Muslim country?
I would hate to label you but i guess you must educate yourself before you throw a negative comment.
Since you travelled a lot, and so do i, did you see the rats in Paris?
Egypt is a beautiful country, but the tipping is really annoying and the airport does have a strong smell in many parts like smoking. That’s just my experience…and I think it’s a constructive criticism meant not to tear down but to help improve.
As I’ve mentioned, I also quite enjoy flying EgyptAir.
I can’t believe they actually dug up CCTV footage of him at the airport. The funny part is though, you can clearly see the creepy homosexual and borderline retard walking around (In a very gay way) wearing a mask LOL.
Looks like the way I walk too, except without the mask. It’s work to review lounges and flights.
I would do it too, if I could!
Maybe he was near a Hsuan. They’re quite stinky…
Oh if you could smell me when I’m gassy…