Get Up to 43% Off by Combining Holiday Fares with a Savy Tactic
By Gary Walther
Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only one, the 2,500-year-old Great Pyramid, is still standing. It towers above a clutch of smaller siblings and The Sphinx in Giza, just outside Cairo. We’re coming up on the best time to visit Egypt, December and January, when the weather is mild—in the 60s during the day. And we’ve turned up a wonder of the modern world: high-season Business Class promotional fares to Cairo. But they’re not timeless—the travel window is only three and a half weeks long, so you’ll have to pull the trigger if you want to check the Pyramids off your list.
The Deals
Cheapest (but longest): You can get the cost down to $1,900 (plus taxes and fees) going via Athens and using a tactic called “breaking the fare”. This just means booking two tickets instead of one, a Business Class flight from New York to Athens, connecting in Frankfurt (on Lufthansa), Rome (Alitalia), or Vienna (Austrian). The fare is $1,500. From Athens, you pick up an Olympic Airways flight to Cairo (about $400 in Business Class and a two-hour flight).
For just $200 more: You cut out one stop (Athens). This option is good from New York on any Star Alliance carrier, with Lufthansa offering the best connections in Frankfurt and Munich.
The fare is also the same from Washington, DC on Air France (connecting in Paris), Delta (in NYC), and KLM (in Amsterdam) to Cairo ($2,100). The normal 50-day advance purchase fare on this route is $3,700, a 43% savings.
From other U.S. cities: The price goes up but the savings is still substantial. From Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, and Minneapolis, the fare is $2,900 versus the normal fare of $4,200 to $4,800. From western cities, the fare is $3,300 versus $4,300 to $5,000.
The window of opportunity: Not long: Dec. 20 to Jan. 7 outbound, Dec. 24 to Jan. 13 return.
Where To Stay
Mena House Oberoi, a palace hotel dating from 1869, is in the shadow of the Great Pyramid. The top room category is Palace Deluxe with Pyramid View followed by Garden Room with Pyramid View. Rooms in the Old Palace section are longer on historical ambience than those in the newer Garden Wing.
The Four Seasons Cairo at the First Residence overlooks the Botanical Garden. The hotel has expansive views of the Nile, and some rooms look out over the Botanical Garden to the Pyramids.
The Kempinski Nile just opened in July. The 191-room hotel is in the Garden City District of Cairo and right on the Nile.
If You’re Going This Far…
You might as well take the time to sail up the Nile and through 5,000 years of history. The most luxurious boat by far is Oberoi’s Zahra, a modern cruiser with 27 cabins, a pool, spa (the only boat so equipped), a gym, and an Egyptologist to lead tours and give lectures. Eight-day itineraries (Luxor-Aswan or the reverse) take in major sites, including King Tut’s tomb.
Unusually Low Business Class Fares from Major U.S. Cities to Cairo
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