A quick recap on how we used points and miles to reach the Land of the Pharaohs.
Bueno, we will start off by saying that there are more direct ways to get to Egypt than the route we took. You can fly EgyptAir direct from 4 cities (IAD – ORD – JFK – YYZ) using Aeroplan miles. Yes, EgyptAir is a “dry airline” (osea no bubbly served onboard) pero they have newer planes serving these routes and the service we were offered on our flight was great! Honestly, the YouTube reviewers that dump on the airline are not being honest. Anyway, here is a quick breakdown of how we flew to Egypt on points and miles.
We split our flights to Egypt into two segments. For the first segment, we flew to Casablanca on Royal Air Maroc business class. We used 88,000 Etihad Miles to book the seats, which we transferred from our AMEX Gold card. This is the cheapest miles redemption you can pull off for a trans-Atlantic flight. Our flight was 7.5 hours long, featuring their lie-flight seats (always clutch for an overnight flight). Unfortunately, their customer service could have been better and so could have been the food. We wanted to try some Moroccan dishes but instead we got some not-so-good American food. Our fellow traveler friends suggested that we fly Royal Air Maroc FROM Casablanca, as that would mean we get some good couscous and service. Pa’ la proxima! Ok, so after a 2 hour layover in Casablanca, we flew on EgyptAir business class for 5 hours to arrive in Cairo. We used 72,000 Avianca LifeMiles to book these seats, which we purchased when they were on sale during the November Travel Tuesday sales. We were so tired that the second we got on the plane we fell asleep! The business class seats on the EgyptAir flight were NOT lie-flat, instead more like Alaska Airlines First Class. Pero they were comfortable to sleep on, and when we woke up, the flight attendants saved us our delicious dinners!
For hotels, we stayed at the Marriott Mena House during our time in Cairo. We used 65,000 Marriott points for our 3-night stay, and our Platinum status granted us an upgrade to their Junior Suite. We also had our breakfast included for our stay. Y bueno, we had the most AMAZING breakfast with a view in our lives!
Do keep in mind that for the Marriott Mena House, you will be super close to the Pyramids (literally a 5-minute drive or 15 minute walk), but it will take you about an hour to get to the hotel from the airport as you do have to drive right through the heart of Cairo and its crazy traffic!
After three night in Cairo, we flew on EgyptAir economy to Luxor, which we did pay using our AMEX Gold card. We decided to stay at the Hilton Luxor and we also paid our stay, also using the AMEX Gold card (by mistake we will add because we our AMEX Offer did not go through). The room that we were offered was not to our liking, as it was rather old-looking and tight-spaced, but the hotel grounds were very nice! The pools were great (especially after all the walking we were doing) and watching the sunsets on the banks of the Nile River was simply breathtaking.
After 3 nights in Luxor, we flew back to Cairo on EgyptAir to connect to our next flight to Abu Dhabi!
Vamos viajando. The world needs to see us!
Latinos With Passports 