Ben Schlappig, ‘Lucky’ at One Mile at a Time, has gone viral in Egypt for his criticisms of the Cairo airport – and has elicited a public attacks and threats from that government’s minister in charge of the airport.
Lucky described poorly organized queues, incessant requests for tipping, and disinterested staff and facilities that are overall not very nice from the physical plant to food and beverage options.
In response, Egypt’s Minister of Civil Aviation ordered thorough review of video surveillance of blogger Ben Schlappig’s journey through the Cairo airport, so that they could publish a blow-by-blow and try to refute his
- He “arrived at Terminal 2 of Cairo International Airport on November 10, 2024, on ITA Airways flight No. AZ896 from Rome, landing at 16:50. The time from his arrival until his departure from the terminal was approximately 18 minutes”
- “Afterward, the passenger proceeded to the Le Méridien Hotel, where he stayed for about five hours.”
- “[T]he passenger returned to Terminal 3 at Cairo International Airport for his onward journey. He was booked on Ethiopian Airlines flight No. ET453 to Addis Ababa, which departed at 2:50 am on November 11. His experience at the first checkpoint took approximately one minute. He then proceeded to the airline counter to complete his travel procedures, which took around 8 minutes.”
- The passenger then proceeded to the passport control counter, which took just one minute…”
- “[T]he passenger did not have any luggage, only a handbag and a small backpack. This contradicts his claims of being harassed by airport staff requesting a tip for helping carry his bags.” (No, it doesn’t.)
- “The passenger then visited two lounges in the departure hall. First, he went to Lounge 2, and later to Lounge E, where he had a drink, used his laptop, and stayed for about an hour. Afterward, he moved to Lounge G, where he had dinner and spent approximately 30 minutes.” And the government concludes – with the editorializing being quite unintentionally funny,
This indicates that the majority of his waiting time at the airport was spent enjoying the services offered by these lounges, which are known for their high quality.
This raises the question: Is it reasonable for a passenger to visit two lounges before a single flight?
- My favorite: “[B]efore leaving Lounge G, the passenger used the lounge’s bathroom without any reported issues or harassment from staff.” Also, “the photo of the bathroom he posted does not correspond to the bathroom he used at Lounge G.”
- The government also says Ben complaining about staff soliciting tips is impossible, because there’s “clear “NO TIPS” signage throughout the airport” and because he did not complain to the airport about this during his visit. Also, the airport couldn’t possibly have smelled of smoke because it has “designated smoking areas,” which I guess of course everybody observes there?
The Egyptian government threw shade at Ben for spending “approximately 30 minutes standing at the gate entrance,” and “stand[ing] for another 30 minutes by a window, taking pictures with his mobile phone of various scenes in the terminal.” What else is he supposed to do at the Cairo airport exactly, spend more time at their world’s top 10 lounges? And he’s a blogger picking up photos for possible later use.
Clearly, the reason Ben connected in Cairo was to slander the airport!
[T]he passenger’s brief visit to Egypt, lasting less than five hours, was not for tourism or any official purpose, but rather appeared to be aimed at undermining Cairo Airport, the ministry continued.
In fact, he flew to Cairo to start a trip, because it’s one of the cheapest places in the world to start a ticket from. Yet, they say, Ben’s overall claims are impossible because the airport has ‘nearly’ (cough) a 4-star rating from the rather silly SkyTrax, and because that group rates it “among the top 10 airports in Africa.”
Finally, they’re threatening to “take all necessary legal action against those who attempt to harm the credibility and reputation of the civil aviation sector through unfounded allegations.”
The Egyptian minister attempts to distinguish the airport from the airport experience pointing out at issues checking in or in a lounge (tip requests) are private not government. But Ben’s point wasn’t about apportioning blame – though the ministry is in charge of policies and behaviors within the airport! – it was about describing the passenger experience traveling through the Cairo airport.
Ultimately, though, Egypt’s argument is that Ben didn’t spend a lot of time in the country on this visit and private employees not following airport rules shouldn’t be held against the airport? When in fact the minister is just describing the problem, which is the gap between de facto and de jure; that rules aren’t followed in Cairo and it degrades the experience.
Would anyone choose to connect in Cairo over generally disliked airports in Europe like London Heathrow or Paris Charles de Gaulle?
Would anyone choose Cairo over Casablanca even? And while Cairo is in Africa, it’s geographically closer to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Doha than to Johannesburg – or even Nairobi. So it’s damning itself with faint praise. And the stuff about commenting on his bathroom time? I can’t even. I’ve actually lost my ability to even.
Also: Ben’s assessment are the result of his several trips to/from/through CAI over the years. Not just this latest one.
And, yes, from a personal experience: this airport is awful.
This is beyond amazing. It’s not like his blog is The New York Times. Does the Egyptian government just casually read frequent flyer blogs? I wonder if someone internally in Egypt found the article and was using it to criticize the government. That would explain the response.
“Sclappig” is not how Ben spells his name 🙂
I suspect they know he’s right, but they aren’t going to admit it or do anything about the situation. While silence might be the simplest solution since it doesn’t keep the matter going, denial is the easiest form of rebuttal. And they threw in vague threats in case anyone wants to follow up and see if he was accurate. Anyway it makes good local press to go after “the foreigner criticizing the nation”. That also puts the matter on the person who complains, and not on the complaints themselves. It’s an old, old trick that still work.
As an actual free speech absolutist, I welcome whatever expression, including the truth, hot takes, hyperbolic embellishments, outright lies, misinformation, satire, etc.
Yet, the wealthy and powerful everywhere (not just Cairo or the US) seem to love censorship and/or algorithmically boosting their own speech over all else.
Anyways. Money is speech. Corporations are people.
I haven’t been to CAI in over ten years. Not too memorable, but the lavatory attendants were super attentive in pumping soap and handing tissues and towels, and the porters at the long check-in line immediately dragged my bags to cut to the front of the line for which I gave a small cash tip.. Unless it drastically has improved, I would manage my time and possessions in CAI as I would in any second-rate third-world airport. I feel badly for Lucky (I think he blocked me, but, whatever) as much as I would any passenger subject to surveillance, false light, invasion of privacy and harrassment without recourse to any status upgrades nor compensatory frequent flyer points whatsoever.
The amount of video surveillance is incredible. I mean, maybe not incredible in the sense that it is surprising as Egypt is a military dictatorship. But incredible in that (1) it works and (2) they had the capability to find him. Can you imagine how much time some state security bureaucrat had to spend pulling the video?
@Daniel B – thanks for flagging my typo, it has been fixed
I go in toilet stalls with lockable doors these days to keep from being distracted by attendants or even other people when I do my business. The worst was in clubs in Tijuana where attendants would put a warm damp cloth on my neck. It would cause me to lock up from a fight or flight reaction. I hate people milling around behind me in such situations.
@Gary: His forced stops at oficial checkpoints seem very quick, a crucial part of the airport experience.
“Lucky described poorly organized queues…”
Not the ones he stood in.
“incessant requests for tipping,…”
Unproven.
“… disinterested staff and facilities that are overall not very nice from the physical plant to food and beverage options.”
Has he been to La Guardia, or ORD?
He gets paid from clicks. This sounds like the typical entitled blogger’s piece put together from lies and based on an assumption that it will never get fact-checked.
Oops, the airport did fact check and Schlappig has no clothes!
Bloggers face higher standards of proof nowadys.
As I said in his two articles…this is about “saving face” which is common in the Arabic world (and elsewhere, but in my travels, they’re the most prevalent at doing it)…you can’t admit fault, or else you “lose face.”
And this entire argument about “spreading false information” from the Egyptian aviation authorities is hysterical since they’ve been doing that for nearly three decades since the relief captain MURDERED the crew and pax on EgyptAir 990.