Booking flights from the UK

Charter flights

Charter flights are usually cheaper than scheduled flights but they are also more basic, generally have a lower baggage allowance and you will pay for drinks. Usually, the meals are optional, in which case you will also pay for something to eat.

There used to be many more charter flights to Luxor. XL used to fly to Luxor on Mondays but went into administration in September 2008. Amongst the rest there have been lots of mergers, which have reduced the options.

Charter choices

Manos, Aspro, Panorama and Airtours were already part of MyTravel. MyTravel and Thomas Cook have also merged making all of those brands part of the same company. Thomas Cook have since closed the brands Aspro, Manos and Panorama. If you go to the MyTravel web site, or the web site of these or any of their other brands, your flight enquiry will be redirected to Thomas Cook.

First Choice have joined Thomsons as part of the Tui group. There are still flights under the First Choice brand and you might be allocated one of these if you book with Thomsons.

Cosmos Holidays (they are now reverting to Cosmos instead of Monarch for package holiday purposes) are still independent and use Monarch airlines. Their flights are booked through Avro, the charter flights part of the Cosmos / Monarch group.

Other companies go to Luxor, but they use one of these airlines. For example, VJV and Olympic have packages to Luxor, but they do not have flights of their own. They buy seats from one of these charter airlines, usually Monarch (When you book with Olympic you may think you are getting an Olympic Airlines flight, but it will be a Monarch plane).

Thomson have traditionally been the most popular choice, because their seat pitch used to be the most generous and their food was reputed to be good. However, since the merger with First Choice, many flights tend to use First Choice rather than Thomson's planes, and these are generally regarded less favourably. There is not a lot to choose between them now but easyJet are becoming the airline of choice for Luxor and usually the cheapest. There are links to companies providing direct flights to Luxor in the column on the right.

Flights Direct to Luxor
From:	Birmingham	Gatwick	Heathrow	Manchester
Chartered services
Cosmos / Monarch / Avro (whichever of these you book through you will get a Monarch plane)		Mondays (Nov - April only from 2012)		Mondays (Nov - April only from 2012)
Thomas Cook	Wednesdays	Wednesdays		Wednesdays
Thomson / First Choice	Wednesdays	Wednesdays		Wednesdays
Scheduled Services
easyJet		Mondays (Nov - April only) & Wednesdays (Sept - June only from 2012)
Egyptair / BMI (Normally Egyptair but services may be provided by either airline under a code share arrangement)			Mondays

Low Cost airlines

None of the low cost airlines flew to Luxor until 2010, when easyJet started a service (from November 3rd 2010). It goes from Gatwick on Wednesdays and returns on the same days of the week.

The flights are 'no frills', but as the charter flights are a bit crushed with payments for extras, and getting more like 'no frills' airlines than they used to be, easyJet has to be worth thinking about. If you can be very flexible with your dates you can find really good bargains. Their headline is 'from £89.99 one way' but in reality fares are typically very close to fares charged by the charter companies, sometimes less, sometimes more than Monarch, Thomas Cook and Thomson.

The easiest way to compare the flight costs of low cost airlines, including easyJet, is through a company such as flightline, which lists all available Thomson, Monarch, Thomas Cook and easyJet flights and prices.

Scheduled flights

Apart from the low cost airlines, scheduled flights are generally more comfortable and you get free meals and drinks, but they are also usually more expensive than charter flights.

Egyptair / BMI are the only (non-low cost) scheduled airlines that fly direct from the UK to Luxor. They fly from London Heathrow (terminal 3). The frequency of fights varies through the year. For much of the year there are only direct flights on Mondays. When this flight is full, and for the rest of the week, you will be offered a flight via Cairo. Egyptair and BMI are both members of the Star Alliance, a group of airlines that share some services. If you book with one, you may be flown by the other. The same flight may have two flight numbers, one an Egyptair flight number (beginning MS) the other a BMI flight number.

Other scheduled airlines fly to Cairo, possibly with another european stopover, but only Egyptair fly from Cairo to Luxor. If you want to go to Cairo for a day or two en route to Luxor, British Airways, Iberia, BMI, KLM and Al Italia are amongst your options as far as Cairo, in addition to Egyptair / BMI.

To look for a scheduled flight direct to Luxor or a flight via Cairo, click on the BMI logo to go to their web site or try one of the flight brokers. They will list the options and costs for the day of your choice. They all list much the same options, usually at very similar prices. Click the logos on the right to go to the web site or the broker of your choice.

Airport Lounges

One of the worst bits about any holiday is waiting around in the departure lounge for the flight to be called.

It isn't so bad for first class passengers, who have special lounges. But not all is lost, as some lounges are available to all travellers, including people travelling on charter flights. You just have to buy a lounge pass.

Lounges usually offer free drinks (soft, hot and alcoholic), free snacks, newspapers, magazines and internet. Check the specific lounge for details, but most of these are available at most lounges and they are usually all free. A couple of drinks, a snack and a wi-fi connection would cost a fair bit in the departure terminal, so getting all these free results in savings which reduce the effective cost of the lounge.

You have to wear smart casual dress (no shorts, baseball caps etc) and there are often restrictions on children and larger groups, so again, check the specifics for each lounge.

You can sometimes book into the lounge just by turning up, as long as they are not full, but it will cost a little more (typically 20% more). To be more certain of admission, and save some money, you can book in advance.

The cost to use lounges varies from one to another, but at the major airports expect to pay around £20 - £25 if you just turn up or £16 - £20 if you book in advance.

Web sites such as Lounge Pass list available lounges in the UK and abroad, tell you the costs and let you book in advance at a discount compared with the 'turn up' price.

 

 

updated January 2012