Well i am very sorry for the comments that i have but on the post,they are my feelings about the subject but you are totally right and next time i will keep these to myself, sorry again

We're just back from Sharm and I found the airport much better than expected. The worst area seems to be the x-ray machine that you put your luggage through when you first arrive and the metal detector you walk through which seems to pick up everything. One woman had to take all her jewellery includin rings off and it didn't stop beeping at me until I took my shoes off which didn't appear to have any metal in them! We didn't have a long queue for check in. I agree with the comment on smoking, there doesn't appear to be a no smoking area.
On arrival at the airport we did have a longish wait to get through passport control and the cases took a while but no worse than other airports.

just got back and found the airport fine. hardly any queues what so ever. Only bad point is that it is a bit small and there isn't a lot to do when you're there so take a book or a travel game to pass the time!

if you have ever been in Miami airport, sharm is a breeze. on arrival the worst part was fending off the vultures trying to help you with the casess for "English paper money" universal 2 word reply sorted that out.
coming back was easier. lots of short queues but through quickly.
on arrival back at gatwick our cases had been damaged( we had been warned that at Sharm they were not all that considerate) fair do's to first Choice though we are getting replacements. seems this is fairly common.

Just back from Sharm and cant understand all the hoo hah about the airport... has anyone been to Luxor??? Now that is unorganised, basically a big tent. Ok check in is a bit different but would you not rather people's cases being scanned and extra security... We were delayed an hour coming home and other flights which were due to go out before us had also been delayed by three hours and to be honest was no more chaotic than any other foreign airport I have been in. Same with arriving, was on the bus half an hour after landing, making our way through pass port control and by passing the visa counter.

returned from sharm friday morning and have to say that the airport wasnt that bad and have been in a lot worse, as for paying to use the loo just say no and ignore the demands for money, if you take your own tissues then theres no problem,

After reading up on this website I prepared myself for the worst, but was pleasantly surprised and didnt encounter too many problems at the airport.

The one suggestion I would make is for them to have the electronic information boards as you could barely hear or understand the announcements when they were saying what flights were boarding, there was a manchester flight that boarded about 30 minutes before the gatwick flight and we bumped into a couple from our hotel who should have been on the manchester flight but hadnt heard the announcement so they had a bit of a panic when we told them that the flight had started boarding ages ago!

Also, if possible buy food in your resort rather then at the airport, I bought a small put of pringles, a bag of m&ms, a mars bar and another bag of sweets for £8.00!!!!

It is quite dis-organised and confusing, but luckily we didnt have to spend much time there so it wasnt too much of a problem for us.

Cairo Airport however was a very very different story!

We refused the trollies that were being forced on us in the airport, and dragged our cases to the coach ourselves. When the driver had loaded our cases onto the bus, he held out his hand and grabbed me so I would tip him. I just shouted... "Its your job that you get paid for! I'm not paying"!!!!!

But some people did tip, but I refused.

L
xx

chelseapremwinners

i was thinking same as you i dont mind tipping but i said to my husband im not tipping everyone as for trolleys were wheeling our own cases, as dor the coach we pay for our transfers so no way am i paying to have my case put on bus\never have never will, if it causes an argument then so be it,

Try not to have any coins in your pocket at Sharm airport. The security guards are crooks. The coins set off the scanner and when you empty your pockets the security men try to take your money. My brother-in-law lost a pound coin at the first scanner, when you first enter the airport. When I went through to the departure lounge, third scanner, a security gaurd attempted to take all of my coins...in excess of £5. I told him where to go and got searched for my trouble but didn't lose my cash.

I returned home last night and am pleased to report we had not a single problem either outbound or inbound at Sharm airport.

Having read of the experiences of some HT members over the last few months I was absolutely amazed to find both arrivals and departures perfectly acceptable.

We did encounter the trolley men but were ready with a firm 'No Thankyou' as we were with the men loading the coach..............none of us parted with the demanded English pound

On arrival we were advised we only needed a visa if travelling outside Sinai which of course we already knew but it was good to witness the not so informed travellers being given the correct advice both on the FCA flight and by the officials at the airport.

We were expecting total chaos at the luggage carousel, we found it to be a calm affair.

When we arrived at the airport for departure ( ) yesterday I'd warned all in our party of some of the possible tactics used by staff to line their pockets, again none of these problems plagued us.

We passed through the initial scanners, checked in, used toilets, filled out departure cards, went through passport control, shopped, ate, used toilets in shopping area, passed through the second scanner, waited at the departure gate, boarded the bus then the plane.....................and flew! Simple as that!

I'd envisaged a nightmare beginning and end to the holiday at Sharm airport, it was a doddle

sharm airport what can i say you were hurded like cattle in to the quere to get vises , then hurded in to a nother quere to get you passport stamp , our goddaughter had brougth us a bear with her own passport , so when it came to our turn to get our passports checked and stamped we handed in lucy,s passport as well . first of all he did not understand what was going on ,than we showed him lucy he started laugthing and stamped her passport as well what nice man was , good start to our holiday.

hi just returned home eary hours of this morning,found sharm airport very good, had no problems on our arrival, i had already told our party that we didnt need visas and to right sinia only on them, we were met by a first choice rep who told us we didnt need visa if we didnt intend going out of area, as we already knew this we went straight through got our passports stamped, said shakram(thankyou) to the guy in the booth, got a smile and went through said no to the trolly helpers got our cases and were first out of the airport, i think first choice outside were surprised that we were so quick, were directed to our bus, again said no thankyou to helpers and made sure we put our own cases on the coach, there were guys there who claimed to be working for the conrad, they wore t shirts with conrad on but we never found out if they were genuine or not. coming back home last night again no problems, a bit of a que but no more than anywhere else, no problems at all, we even had the customs joking with us about our passport photo's. we all ate visited toilets etc and had no worries at all, i have been through worse airport, maybe because i expected chaos i was prepared. the only upset was that we didnt want to come home.

Has anyone experience of landing at 9.15pm onwards on a saturday or leaving at 10.15pm on a saturday. Lots of people have written comments about arriving/departing on Mondays, just wondered if anyone could tell me if its mad busy on Saturdays.

Looking forward to the holiday but not the airport part as have heard grim things about it.

Cheers for any help Carol

Hi Carol - i was in Sharm for 2 weeks recently, travelled Saturday at those times -
there were abt 3 planes landing around the same time, but didnt seem overly busy to me. didn't have to wait too long for luggage & in hotel by 11:30pm (most of the delay was waiting for others on Libra coach!)
On departure we were delayed 2 hours and altho there were queues at checkin & passport control it was ok.
i found passport control very grumpy when we left (he looked like he really didnt want to be there!) and so a bit rude, but guess i wld be too with all those tourists....
my advice....go with the flow, smile a lot and enjoy your holiday!!
good luck

cheers for that rbrtjoiner.

will do my best - what with this miserable wet weather here it's certainly making me look forward to the holiday more than ever now.

Carol

The last time I was in Sharm in 1984 there was a beach and a grotty hotel up on a point. Now that there is an airport we should all be glad of this development and not be too critical of a developing country and its efforts to introduce us to a magnificent part of the Middle East. Remember that you are in the Middle East and not on Majorca and be more understanding. What a moaning crowd you are! I am looking forward to my first time back at Sharm. Just get used to the fact that it was we Brits who introduced officialdom and queueing to most of the Thrir World; they are just copying our ways.

What a moaning crowd you are!

Eh?