Egypt Discussion Forum

Discussions regarding holidays in Egypt.
Sharm Airport
168 Posts
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Hi Dynan

Dont think yours would change now im going 14th July and my times were changed sometime between November and January didnt notice until i made another payment and received another invoice then someone pointed out their times had changed and when i dug out my invoices mine had also changed. I hadnt received a letter from First Choice/ Eclipse saying so i was lucky as im going from Glasgow first then to Gatwick.I didnt know wheather to fly down the night before or fly to Gatwick in the morning thank goodness i chose to go the day before as i now have to check in for 10 am and would have not given myself much time for an earlier checkin.
Where are you staying ??

Debs
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I'm ging from Gatwick to and stayting at the Concorde el Salam.

Thinking about it, I don't think the flight times have changed.

I thnk you'd be best flying down the night before - more so if the check in is three hours before (7 A.M.!!!) You might as well stay in the hotel at Gatwick!!
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Hi Dynan

Yip thats what im doing staying either side of holiday now in Gatwick .
Are you going to the Concorde for your honeymoon or did i imagine you said your intended?

Debs
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Well she is my intended but this isn't a honeymoon!! Hopefully will be going there for that reason in a couple of years!
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Read lots of stuff on this site -most very useful. Just wondering if anyone can tell me if you have to walk a long way after getting off the plane to finally exiting the airport.I understand about the queues but hubby and I have walking problems and I was wondering if we need to make special arrangements. We are flying from Cardiff and can cope with the distances this end but not so sure about the other( especially after a 5 hour flight!)
Thanks
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Hi Welshlass,

Last summer, we boarded a bus as soon as we left our plane, which took us directly to the terminal, where we had about a 20 minute wait for our luggage. You shouldn't have to worry about walking long distances! Once we got our luggage, it was a very short walk out of the building to our bus to take us to the hotel.
After all the negative comments on Sharm airport, we will be delighted if we get out of the airport as quickly this year! Will post & let you all know as soon as we get back (18 July )

Tills.
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THanks Tills
We wern't sure if the airport was on the scale of Cardiff or Heathrow!
Hope your trip is as good as last time.
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Sharm Airport is probably bigger than Cardiff I would imagine (not having been there) but no where near the size of Heathrow. They do use buses for disemarking/embarking and there is a walk once inside the terminal to passport control, but no more than a few minutes. Then its onto collect your luggage and out the door to the sunshine. All the coaches are parked across the road not too far away. Hope that helps you a little.
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We never had any problems in the airport, i was expecting it from reading these forums but it was completely the opposite.

We got off our coach, walked with the rep to the part where you fill in the card for returning home, hand them in with your passport. Loos are situated in this area where you get issued with your seats. You go through to where the few shops and restaurant are, there is also a loo there as well. We sat down for an hour and a half, a tannoy told us to line up for our flight, as no tv screens telling you. It was all clean and tidy, queues for going on plane large, but normal, nothing was hectic. The toilets where the shops and food were were clean, no toilet paper as usual so bring your own. No one waiting to sell you paper at all. Plenty of security guards around. My experience there is 50 x better than Larnaca airport in Cyprus. Everything was spotless.
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Derwentrocker,

What time was your flight? (and where from?)

I'm guessing the effects of the holiday companies staggering their flights have now been taken on?

Did you have to wait long for your luggage? Did it come off where it was supposed to? As per the screens??
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We have just got back from Sharm and likewise found it totally fine. Arriving in Sharm we were fearing the worst but when we got off the plane our pram was waiting for us which was great, collected our luggage quickly and then had the nightmare of getting a taxi.
Coming back we made sure we got to the airport two and a half hours before our flight left and we were the first there so went straight through all the security and check in really quickly. We had a pizza and drink and the next minute it was time for boarding. We did have the lady in the loo selling toilet paper but we had some with us so no problem at all.

We went on a Monday so maybe other days are different.

Nicola
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Sharm Airport has to be the most dis-organised, shady, lawless airport in the world (one police officer). It was a disgrace when we arrived and was worst when we left. Too many flights leaving at the same time, airport scanner (x2) queing for 200 yards outside the terminal building in 90' heat, two scanners just inside the departure area, followed by huge queues to check in (around five check in desks) Visa control (more queues) ,one route (scanner) into the departure longe, 2000 people plus, 800 chairs. No toilets, you had to plead with the security official and then queue up to get back in.

Had a great holiday but the airport left a bitter taste in the mouth, enough to put me off returning. :evil:
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Family Todd there were two toilets in the airport.

One was situated in the main check in area before you go through the area where you can eat and look in the few shops.

The second one was in the area where you eat.
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what day did you fly on then? Monday was a breeze, one of the better airports we have been to.
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hi, just wondering if they throughly check the condition of passports in sharm airport? I'v dug my passport out and discovered that at the sides the seal is slightly comin apart about 1mm. I have been to the post office and the airport who both say they would accept at this side but im still worried because heard they're stricter in egypt. At a glance you cannot even notice so just wondering how carfully they look at each passport. thankyou.
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Got back from Sharm last night - sat here shivering while writing this - Sharm airport is great.
On arrival went through very quickly, told rep did not want a visa as not leaving the Sini this visit went straight through passport control. Waited about 10 mins for suitcases then straight out to the bus. There we had to wait 45 mins for everybody else to get through the long visa lines. Do get your visas before you go out it makes it so much quicker
return - this time took a taxi to the airpoer £8, went straight in and straight to the counter and got rid of cases, went through passport control, after having passport stamped it was not looked at again, got a seat with a table, had a cup of tea. Went shopping for cigs the loaded 30 mins early - great.

Gatwick - what a pain - arrived early had to wait for 15 mins for steps, then got a bus in and had to wait an hour for cases. So who has got it right ?????

Molly
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Glad you had a good sharm airport experience! Talking cigs at sharm airport - did you happen to notice if they sold blue L &Ms and how much were they approx? Can you buy 200 duty free and 200 from Sharm, or is the total amount 200 you can take back... I always feel this is a bit of a grey area???
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Yes they did have the light L & M for £3.50 for 200. The rule is 200 each but we brought a lot more than that back, it's the chance you take.

Have a great time
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I cant understand why people are moaning about the airport here, surely its common sense that the airport wont be the ritz, its an under developed country and they are trying there hardest to get the airport up to scratch.

People expect the airports to be like the UK airports, but lets face it, they arent, so i suggest people stop moaning and just deal with the problem and get on with it like the thousands of other people that do!
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