tmassey
Contributor
Have you considered flying through Toronto? I think Egyptair flies non-stops Toronto to Cairo. I have no idea about the price, but it could be an option.
I live near Detroit and took a trip to Hurghada this past fall. I spent *days* looking for US to Egypt flights. The best I could do was $1600, and required 12+ hour *overnight* sleep-in-the-airport layovers both ways. Yuck. Checked from NY, Chicago, Miami, DC, etc. Same deal.
Ended up getting a flight from Toronto to Cairo nonstop, and then 1-hour flight to Hurghada: 1PM Eastern to 10AM local arrival in Hurghada. $900, including *two* 50-pound bags, on EgyptAir. *Well* worth the trip to Toronto for me. *Maybe* not for you in Arizona...
Flights to Egypt from the US are virtually non-existent -- you'll need to fly to Egypt from somewhere else. If that somewhere else is Europe, given the way flights are scheduled and time zones are arranged, it pretty much forced a night arrival, and a next-day departure -- *and* a much higher flight time *and* price. Especially with baggage included. There were a few options through places like Turkey that might have worked slightly better, but still quite unappealing.
I would try to research flights from a nearby non-US city: maybe Vancouver or Mexico City? It made a *real* difference in my case.
Hope you can work it out. I did a week liveaboard with Emperor Divers. It was worth the effort.