After Red Sea, negative experience at Cairo International Airport

[BoltSnap]

this is first hand experience? i m living in the middle east and as you said bribing is a big no no where i live

That's not a "bribe," it is "bakshish."

 

[GreggS]

My first international dive trip was to Coz. I had packed all of my dive gear in my checked bag both going and coming home. When I got home, my reg set was missing, having been removed somewhere between Coz and home. Ever since, we always pack our reg sets, dive computers, and prescription masks in our carry ons and have had no problems at security.

But then, we've not been to Egypt, either.

 

[Etmutt]

That's not a "bribe," it is "bakshish."

ok but did you try / witness it first hand?

 

[BoltSnap]

ok but did you try / witness it first hand?

What difference does it make to you? Everyone gives a little bakshish to get things moving in Egypt.

 

[ontdiver]

It may be just a coincidence, but I am not surprised after the recent attacks involving pagers that Egyptian airport screening personnel were taking a second look at anything with batteries.

 

[AeroSpartacus]

I flew through Cairo 2 years ago with a group and had pretty much the same experience with security. We had to hang out for a while at Burger King outside security to wait for them to let us through, then just me and one other diver in the group got told to move our regulators to checked bags out of our carry-ons.

 

[Etmutt]

What difference does it make to you? Everyone gives a little bakshish to get things moving in Egypt.

well i want to know for when i will go visit egypt > is it real or should i avoid doing it

 

[divezonescuba]

On one of our trips to egypt, in the Sharm airport, the security screening guy asked to be gifted a memory card. It was handed over fearing what could happen. When the airline representative heard about it, he went over and demanded that the security guy return the card, saying that corruption was not acceptable in Egypt. In our case it was just one individual on one trip, not a systemic issue.

 

[Adr1an]

In Sharm, Hurghada or Marsa Alam airports most of the security staff can easily recognize diving gear, so even if you happen to find the odd person who doesn't there's always going to be a colleague/superior to sort things out. In Cairo things are vastly different and the odds of finding a fellow who believes a regulator set can be a fancy weapon are not to be underestimated.
This being said, the real risk of taking borderline stuff (like li-po batteries of larger mAh rating etc) in the backpack is to see them denied at the second security check, after passport control. The odds to see the fellow pull some piece of paper saying anything that is detachable and over 2000mAh is not allowed onboard of the plane aren't exactly zero.

 

[nippurmagnum]

FWIW, I've been through Cairo Airport six times without incident when carrying my regulators in my hand luggage.

HOWEVER, one time I was going through security at the airport and when I emptied my pockets, the security screener who was wearing a serious military looking uniform saw that I had removed a harmonica from my pocket. He looked very concerned for a moment (I think at first sight it looked to him like a clip for a handgun). Then he realized that it was a harmonica, and he immediately brightened, picked up my harmonica, and started playing random notes. He called over to other guards and laughed and kept playing random notes, happier than I've ever seen anybody be happy.

I told him that I would be honored if he would accept the harmonica as a gift (in part thinking that, regardless, I was never going to put that harmonica in my mouth again), but he refused. I can still picture the smile on his face though.