After my week in Cairo I took advantage of the free Istanbul tour from Turkish Airlines by laying over for more than 7 hours. Unfortunately that meant my flight left Cairo at 3:30am. After being dropped off at the airport at midnight, I made my way to one of the four small EgyptAir lounges.
EgyptAir Lounge at Cairo
While the lounge itself is new and nicely appointed, they are small, and the food is awful. Well at least at 1 in the morning it was. Dry sandwiches and a pasta that would give the worst airline meal a run for its money. The soup kettle was on high with loud boiling noises emanating from it. I didn’t dare stand within 10 feet in case it erupted.
Turkish Airlines A320 Business Class
Luckily my time in the lounge was short as boarding started almost an hour early. Surprisingly to me, Turkish offers two by two business class seats on their A320. I was expecting 3×3 with the center seat blocked. The seats were very comfortable with more recline and a larger pitch than their domestic USA first class counterparts.
A few minutes after take off, around 4am, breakfast was served. This would be the start of a marathon day of eating.
The first course included cheese, olives, fruit, bread, turkey and more. After completing the first course the second course was an omelette with spinach. The omelette was tasty with a good portion of olive oil flavor coming through. Overall it was a very nice (although early!) meal.
The flight attendant came through the cabin several times on this short two hour flight. The large screen IFE provided a number of on demand movies and TV shows.
One of the other business class passengers tried to make his own flat bed to get some shut eye on the short flight before landing in Istanbul:
For a flight leaving at 3:30am I was very pleased with the hard and soft product. The flight attendants worked continuously during the short flight and the food and IFE were very good. After landing I made my way to the Turkish Airlines lounge then downstairs to join the free Istanbul tour offered by Turkish Airlines.
