Seeing a report on MS is not common. I can't blame you for picking another carrier. MS is known to be a dry airline and not the best airline in the world.

A reader asked me where do I credit my Star Alliance miles, I replied MS (I enrolled in sepo but already got 108k status). Weird choice you might be thinking.

I'm currently gold with TK but my membership ends in December and I won't renew it. I emptied my account lately. While TK is a good FFP, the miles expiration after 3 years is a pain (MS, same issue unless you hit Platinum). But the deal breaker for me is the lack of lifetime status. So why did I pick TK in the first place. Well I got status matched…

Well, here's why I picked MS and why I fly MS:
• awardwallet.com digged out the fine print of MS Plus. It turns out as couple or family you can pool the miles. Not ground-breaking I know. What is then ? The fact that you pool your miles AND Status. For example, the Silver card comes at 30k miles. If you take with your wife on a CDG-SIN-HKG with SQ you will earn 32K miles in the main account holder. The other side of the coin is your wife will never get a status. My wife calls the MS Plus, the selfish FFP….
• It takes only 60K miles to hit Gold and from that point on, you need to fly 30K within 2 years to renew… Easy.
• The lifetime Platinum card comes at 1 million and I plan to hit that level in the next 4, 5 years.
• Now why MS? While most airlines are stingy giving miles and status. MS does not fall into that category. You earn 200% in business class AND on top of that you also get a 20% Bonus for Silver or 30% for Gold or 40% for Plat, the good thing is the bonus counts toward your status. Now do the math…
• You don't have YQ with MS awards.
• Awards chart look fairly priced. I was able to snag a F seat with LH for my mom.

The trip gives me 31000 miles as a gold card member for 740€ (As I shared the details previously, MS had a great sale in J and Y for NRT for the first fight from Cairo).

But I did not buy the flight from Cairo. Instead I bought it from Tunis for 960€. Why ?
• 6800 miles added on the trip
• Cheaper to reach TUN than CAI.

960€ for 37800 miles, it's a steal ! I will report TUN-CAI later.

I know some/many of you would not fly MS even for free or I know some are afraid to take MS for security reasons. The fact that MS is a dry airline is a no-go for most of you. I also read crew smokes in the air. While It might have happened, on the last 6 long hauls with MS nothing named here happened.

While I have a QR and MH First to report on FT you can find the QR F report here :
http://www.youtripreport.com/report/flight/165
I decided to report the inaugural (once again) flight to Tokyo. Since It's a weekly flight, I have made a U-turn in NRT…. It's wild given that it's MS.

After a great cappuccino in Le Meridien Hotel, I arrived at 9pm to collect my boarding pass... Agents are still puzzled why making such a journey. Unless you are points addict it's hard to understand.

The agent told me that the flight is delayed for 9 hours…. Because of the weather in NRT.. Killing my Mileage Run. Since the flight back to Tunis would leave on Monday without me, I'm screwed. If I'm not on a tight agenda, I don't mind. But I had 2 meetings in Paris on Tuesday that could not be pushed.

The flight delay went from 9 to 13h because of the bad weather in TYO plus FYI another 5h for the NRT-CAI leg…. With no internet in the Airport…. I wandered for 3 hours in terminal 3. I asked if my flight could be set for next week. Since it was not MS's fault (force majeur), it was a long trade to put me on the next flight which is the week after. The CS Manager did not have the authority to make such a call.

It was past midnight I was tired, one of the agent (they were all fantastic for supporting my case) told me he would handle it. I went to Le Meridien paid by MS for a night, I went back to the airport in the morning to see if the request has been approved by the HQ. Few calls done by the staff, I was requested for a confirmation or should I say a ten X confirmation for the U-Turn in TYO. Then, the CS Manager came to give me the new ticket… Loyalty paid off here. The agent took my phone number and followed with me on whatsapp. It's what I call a great service!

But wait how do I get to Marseille on Monday to be in Paris on Tuesday ? I will make a specific news and report (SV), it deserves the right explanation and analysis.

Back on the report:

You can check the full review here:
http://www.youtripreport.com/report/fli ... h-egyptair

I flew back to CAI with BA. It was the best option and the cheapest using 14k avios and 117€. I also wanted to experience the CCR (I encountered the worst JERK of my life) one more time given that I usually fly from T3. A report will be made.

Nov 4th, After two nights in Le Meridien, it was time to head back to the business class counter to check in for my CAI-NRT-CAI-TUN…

Dedicated security line.





Warmly welcomed by: Mister Thomas, nice to see you again !

I used the priority line and I was off to the stunning (joking) MS Lounge. It was again fairly busy even after the TK pax left.
I was warmly welcomed by 2 lounge attendants. One Recognized me from my previous flight to BKK and wished me a lovely flight.



The lounge is far from what you can expect in Europe, the catering is weak and not the best I would say below average. However the waiters are good. Don't expect to take shower because they don't have any. Wifi is more than weak. I would say if you are in Cairo and not in transit (unless you have a multi entrance visa which I have), head to Le Meridien linked to T3 and go to the bar in the lobby or by the pool. You can order a soda for 2€ and enjoy a fast wifi connection.







At 11pm I left the lounge for the gate, it was fairly busy, the flight in nearly full in both C (40 out of 49) and Y (238 pax). I'm impressed given that the flight has only been around for 1 week, it's only the second flight out of cairo. 80% are Japanese. Egyptair and the country itself can play a big part to boost tourism. I hope for both that the yield will be strong enough to make the route a profitable one.

Boarding for Business and *G begun, I was greeted at the door by the purser and was escorted to my seat. The layout is an old school 2-3-2 with a huge pitch. Unlike the Business on the A333, the seat is flat with a slight angle (I would bet 178°), you don't slide down.





As welcome drink, I had the choice between a strawberry juice and an orange juice. I picked the latter. It was not canned but freshly squeezed.



The kit handed is pretty basic and cheap.

A gift from MS. First time I get one of these. A clever way to put MS at the center if you pour your coffee or tea. It's a double-edged sword: if the flight is a success, it would remind the pax the good flight but if the flight is terrible….



After 45 min delay (luggage issue) we pushed-back for a 11H20 flight bound to NRT. Prayer to start as always and safety video.

We took off with the beautiful engine sound of the 77W.

In regards to IFE, don't expect thousands of choices but around 100 movies. Bring your own headset if you want to fully enjoy the movie. The one given is just miserable.



Some decided to try the seat

Menus were handed out. I'm confused on the pattern : Sometime you get it, sometime you don't. For example I did not get it from NRT. Go figure.



At a first glance it looks good. Check the meals for breakfast, do you know a lot of carriers offering seabass for BF in Business? It's rare to see a carrier giving a meal that is related to your landed time. I'm sorry but I'm sick to eat pancakes or omelette when it’s almost time for dinner at destination. Well-done MS !

Service begun 30 min into the flight. Once again don't expect a service a la QR. You get to see the tray with your first course. It was good but not sophisticated.



Then, for the main course, the FA bring the dolly to display your choices. I picked the beef. While the picture does not help to sell it, it was delicious. I have complained a lot in the past in business or first about the lack of success to get a good beef meal.



See how great it was. I mean it. You could cut the meal without a knife and it melted in your tongue. Yummy.


For the dessert I took an apple.

Apple strudle, so-so and a mousse which was fair. I'm complicated for deserts.




The service was wrapped-up in 45 minutes and I was ready to fall asleep. I slept a solid 6h.



While I woke up I could enjoy the view from the window..



2h prior to landing the breakfast was served. Sea bass for me. Boys… Everything was phenomenal. Damn, you really have to wonder if you are flying MS.



Bottom line:
It was once again a fun trip with MS (my 6th). Yes MS is not a leading carrier by any means. You can say the seat is from last decade, yes it's true. You have around 100 movies for the IFE. The headset is the worst I've ever received in business class.

The lounge is just bad. It reminds me the one from Air Algerie in ALG when I used to fly weekly with AF.
Instead of having a larger and better lounge, you have 3 lounges.

Aside from that, I was delighted by the catering. Once again don't expect a 5* meal a la SQ or QR. MS tries their best to offer a good meal experience. Which they did.

But to me the greatest asset of MS is their cabin crew. On all my flights they were great and on par with top carriers.

To end my report, I was not drunk nor under drug (funny enough one pax brought beers on board and opened the can for the dinner) to make such a report on MS and I was not paid either (someone asked).
MS suffers a lot from a bad reputation. While it might have been deserved, if I base my opinion on that flight to NRT and all my MS flights, I would suggest you to give MS a chance.

Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to reading your questions/comments.

Thomas

Looks like a decent flight and for the price, plus the miles earned, it looks even better.

I agree with you about the food, some airlines try to hard, food at 30,000 ft is difficult enough to pull off, without getting to fancy. Those dishes looked great, except maybe the portion size. One of the best dishes I have had in recent years was a short rib dish DL runs every now and again, beef that's had a chance to slow cook rather than a steak always seems to come out better.

Very well written. I too have seriously considered enrolling on MS FFP, due to generous mileage earning rates among *A carriers, relatively low redemption rates on partners, and also as you said only 30,000 miles required in 2 years time frame to renew the gold status. I'm surprised that not many have talked online and even went to FlyerTalk for any input but no one was able to comment and it remained quite mysterious. In the end, I ended up continuing with TK FFP as I think they are the second best when it comes to generosity (and yes, MS FFP is still the best!). The only problem is, I wasn't sure if the mileage posting on partners are done properly or if redeeming on them were easy.

Anyhow - thanks for sharing the report! As NRT is my home base airport it was pleasure reading your article. That little mug-cup gift is great! Glad the tourists are coming back to Egypt. The meal looks pretty good, if not the right presentation. I wonder how much you paid for the loyalty lol Once again, enjoyed the reading.

Hirofumi

jetwet1 wrote:

Looks like a decent flight and for the price, plus the miles earned, it looks even better.

I agree with you about the food, some airlines try to hard, food at 30,000 ft is difficult enough to pull off, without getting to fancy. Those dishes looked great, except maybe the portion size. One of the best dishes I have had in recent years was a short rib dish DL runs every now and again, beef that's had a chance to slow cook rather than a steak always seems to come out better.

Thanks for your comment. It's hard to get a real steak cooked the way I like (rare), the Best I had was with EY, CX and SQ in F.

If you can try MS, I'm sure you'll be pleased. If you are still hungry, you can ask for another meal.

hirofumi wrote:

Very well written. I too have seriously considered enrolling on MS FFP, due to generous mileage earning rates among *A carriers, relatively low redemption rates on partners, and also as you said only 30,000 miles required in 2 years time frame to renew the gold status. I'm surprised that not many have talked online and even went to FlyerTalk for any input but no one was able to comment and it remained quite mysterious. In the end, I ended up continuing with TK FFP as I think they are the second best when it comes to generosity (and yes, MS FFP is still the best!). The only problem is, I wasn't sure if the mileage posting on partners are done properly or if redeeming on them were easy.

Anyhow - thanks for sharing the report! As NRT is my home base airport it was pleasure reading your article. That little mug-cup gift is great! Glad the tourists are coming back to Egypt. The meal looks pretty good, if not the right presentation. I wonder how much you paid for the loyalty lol Once again, enjoyed the reading.

Hirofumi

Well, It's MS and it's not the easiest to redeem and few years back when I wanted to enroll, I was scared they go out of business... If you need more info, feel free to send me a mail. I'll be happy to help.
FYI, miles posted in your account less than 48 hours for MS and my *A flights.

I charge a lot for my loyalty.

Thanks again for your kind.

YTR wrote:

Well, It's MS and it's not the easiest to redeem and few years back when I wanted to enroll, I was scared they go out of business... If you need more info, feel free to send me a mail. I'll be happy to help.
FYI, miles posted in your account less than 48 hours for MS and my *A flights.

I charge a lot for my loyalty.

Thanks again for your kind.

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like the program is well maintained. Now that I'm close to renewing another three years of Elite with TK I'll stick to this for a while but will have the option open for MS too.

My mother / sister flew MS / Misrair in the 40s and 50s when they operated the Viking and DH 86. Would like to fly them but somewhat nervous. They still don't know the cause of the Pars to Cairo crash. Heard they were great though.

I flew them to Beijing in business class in 2013 and I'll never do it again. There were only two pax booked in J and we were seated together. I asked if I could move to a free double seat because my seat mate was really fat and obviously sick, but the purser said, "more passengers coming" -- yeah, from economy. Soon the whole cabin was full of friends of the crew and I was stuck next to this disgusting obese Egyptian who had coughing fits every two minutes the whole flight.

Also the lounges at Cairo are a disgrace, I had to send an email and I spent my entire transit time assembling one working PC from the three or four they had (but one had a broken keyboard, one had a broken screen, one wouldn't boot up at all etc). On the shorter leg from LHR to CAI, similar lack of care, I know it's small stuff but I had a cup of tea with a sachet of sugar on the side, and no teaspoon. Was I supposed to stir it with my finger? Obviously they ignore call bells so I had to get up and go to the galley to ask for a spoon (and if memory serves stand there for some time while they carried on their chats). Oh and security at CAI is a joke, guys in military uniforms so ridiculous they looked like high school band leaders walking back and forth setting off metal detectors, no one looking at the screens, everyone smoking (I think the Metrojet crash in the Sinai could be down to a number of factors but if it was a bomb, I promise you getting it on board would have presented no problem at all).

From start to finish, not a single person involved could care less. It was just after Egypt ousted Mubarak and I was really hoping it was a good flight because I thought Egypt deserved a break and I could cheerlead for their national carrier but honestly, never again. Worst flight ever.