Okay, but don't let it put you off, just keep telling yourself that the
diving is worth it!

Outbound flight was OK, only delayed an hour or so and we managed to get row
1 in the nose which had loads of leg room, all in all not too bad.

Coming back was a bit of a disaster, we boarded the plane about an hour late
but they were still refuelling the aircraft, that refuelling proceeded to
take another 2 hours!! The external air conditioner must have been working
in reverse as it was 35 degrees inside the plane and a lot of people were
very uncomfortable. Extra water had to be bought to the plane to give out as
it seemed like the cabin crew didn't have any spare...

The air crew did come down from the cockpit several times to talk to the
refuellers and it seemed that as there was only 1 smallish fuel truck, it
had to keep going back to the depot to be refilled before it could continue
pumping fuel into the 747. It could have been that they were trying to take
advantage of the cheaper fuel in Egypt and filling the tanks to the brim but
it was unbearably hot on the plane even the cabin staff were soaked in
sweat.

Consequently, we arrived back at LGW in the early hours of the morning and
had to wait about an hour for the bags to turn up, far from the best charter
flight experience but I've had worse so I guess it wasn't all bad.

Guy sat next to us worked in sharm and said that it was pretty common for
the plane to be delayed and sometimes it didn't even go on the day it was
supposed to and everyone gets put up in a hotel for a night.

Next time we're going to fly the EgyptAir flight that goes direct to Sharm,
may cost a bit extra but it's worth it not to have to experience the charter
flight hell! Egypt air are very generous on luggage allowance as well!

Good luck with your trip, it probably won't be this bad but have lots of
water with you and a sense of humour and it'll be fine!

Ian

Not sure if we were on the same flight as Ian but.....

the diving is worth it!

Outbound flight was brill, but then we had paid the extra for the 1st class
seats upstairs with a 40 (yes 40) kg luggage allowance.

Sorry to plagerise but

Coming back was a bit of a disaster, we boarded the plane about an hour late
but they were still refuelling the aircraft, that refuelling proceeded to
take another 2 hours!! The external air conditioner was not working
as it was 35 degrees inside the plane and a lot of people were
very uncomfortable and very vocal. They eventually opened the aircraft
doors! to let in any breeze, and people did start to crowd around them
(braver than me) it must have been really uncomfortable.

Consequently, we arrived back at LGW in the early hours of the morning and
had to wait about an hour for the bags to turn up,  but We've had worse
charter
flight experiences to Sharm.

Pay for the premium seats if you can and if they are still available, belive
me its worth  it. It still was not comfortable after a long sit on board but
while those downstairs were very uncomfortable we were being served
champagne and iced water upstairs.

Good luck with your trip, it probably won't be this bad but have lots of
water with you and a sense of humour and it'll be fine!