Review: EgyptAir Gienah Lounge Cairo (CAI)

After stepping off my EgyptAir flight and then dealing with the drama at the transit desk, I was famished. Upstairs, I quickly found the Gienah Lounge, one of several EgyptAir lounges in Terminal 3.

EgyptAir Gienah Lounge Review

Rather than offer a huge, central lounge, EgyptAir offers small lounges scattered throughout expansive Terminal 3 at Cairo International Airport.

Location + Hours + Access Requirements

Access to this lounge is reserved for business and first class passengers as well as Star Alliance Gold members traveling in any cabin of service on a Star Alliance flight. EgyptAir Plus members with Gold, Elite, or Platinum status enjoy access, but not those with Silver status. The lounge is open 24/7 and located in Terminal 3, Concourse G, near Gate 10.

Seating

Upon walking in and presenting your credentials, you can turn left or right to find lounge seating. at 5:00am, the entire left side of the lounge was closed, leaving a small seating area on the right side.

A TV blared CNN (in English). Each chair had an end table within reach as well as an electrical outlet (European style 220-volt). Large round windows offer nature light during daylight hours.

This is what the other side of the lounge looked like (from my 2016 visit):

(you can see that nothing changed)

Restrooms

I stopped first at the restroom and found it clean. Showers are not available.

Food + Drink

All hot food is gone from EgyptAir lounges, at least during my November 2021 visit.

At 5:00am, the selection included:

• baked breakfast breads
• sandwiches
• sliced vegetables
• whole fruit
• cereal
• hummus
• yogurt (labneh and fruit)
• baba ganoush

There was also a manual coffee machine, a microwave, and a refrigerator with soft drinks and juices.

I great enjoyed some Arabic mezze as well as a cappuccino and warmed up croissant:

Service

While attempting to make the coffee myself, a lounge worker came over and told me to sit down and that he would make me the coffee. He also (rather forcibly) took the plate from my hand, told me to sit down, and said he would serve it.

I was one of only two people in the lounge at the time so I get that he wanted to keep busy and serve, though I was perfectly capable of carrying of my own plate.

The coffee wasn’t great and I’m not sure this type of labeling would fly in the USA:

CONCLUSION

After filling up on cucumber slices dipped in hummus and labneh, I moved onto my next lounge. This lounge hasn’t changed a bit since my last visit four years earlier. While not a great lounge, it covered the basics well and I did enjoy the food spread as a far better alternative than the food served onboard Egyptair.