How horrific is this itinerary?

Hi tom.

I would. If I was sure that I had enough time between flights to make the connections. If you are on your way home you can be exhausted when you get home. $2000 will buy another ticket.

If you have the time why not? Especially if are able to catch some zzz's on the long flight.

How much longer does it make the duration of your flight? How much time do you have for your trip? How 'iffy' are your connections?
I would do it ONLY if it was not critical to arrive at the end destination on time and if it didnt make the flight too much longer. I watched a couple sweat out a delayed departure from West Palm beach as their first leg to connect to JFK - they just made it. Entire trip hinged on arrival at end point. They had allowed 7 hours between arrival at JFK and departure...

You probably have to risk missing the connections, but you will get home (eventually). A $600 or $2,000 savings is not peanuts. I took a flight once with two connections in Mexico and, due to a completely random event in Mexico City (fog that shut down the airport for hours), I missed my 2nd connection. But the airline put me up in a hotel and paid for meals (even though the delay was weather related), so no complaints for me. I opted for a two connections due to substantial savings on the ticket price. In the end, it was worth it to me. It depends how much flexibility you have and whether you're be OK with the risk of delay and missed connections. With that many connections, one delay would cascade all the way through each connecting point...but nothing is "the end of the world", right?

Consider that you will basically be up the whole night before, to get to the Cairo airport in time for that 3 am flight. And then a series of flights during the day, flying west with the sun, two of them vert short. Not very conducive to sleep..

Answers: the time lost in the 4 flight itinerary was about 6 hours vs the 2 flight.

Time: unfortunately Cairo airport is busy overnight, Swissair, Lufthansa, Alitalia leave 2-5 am. Air France and KLM after 7 but a lot more money. Also unfortunate that the 1 airline scenarios, Air France and KLM, do not fly in the winter from MSP.

Another 2 flight option is 4 separate tickets and overnight JFK each way, about $500 more. That catches the Egyptair nonstop (the one that flew into the Atlantic some years back). Also there's the Egyptair flight that crashed into the Mediterranean a few years ago also due to pilot error (stacking batteries in cockpit starting a fire), not so keen on that airline.

Strange that none of Egyptair's Star Alliance partners will route me to connect with either the Toronto (Air Canada) or JFK (United) nonstops to Cairo on 1 ticket.

Are you going to Egypt? Excellent...I loved it.

As to your flights, when are you traveling? I consider reasonable flights to be a crucial part of my trip and I just budget for it and pay it. Can you go Minn to Frankfurt to Cairo? We did that using Condor and our flights were $1100 each in Premium Econ with another $300 to Egypt Air for the Frankfurt - Cairo. Condor does fly some nonstops for you to Frankfurt.

Valerie: that's a great suggestion BUT the Condor nonstops don't run in the winter, either, like KLM and Air France just seasonal. Seattle is a bigger city than Mpls and then Chicago is just close enough to draw away airlines. Did you go to Egypt in the winter? Looking at Christmas due to school holidays and then could hook up with son who will be in Norway for his year abroad.

To add prices: the 4 hop is $900 (going out 3 flights, pretty good line up Dulles/Vienna/Cairo; 2 hour layovers.

The overnights at JFK are four flights about $1330, $1000 JFK CAI return, $330 MSP JFK return, would have to stay at airport hotel both times. Could also play with open jaw, it's only $50 more to return ASW>>CAI>>JFK.

Darn - that's too bad that you're going in winter because the Condor flights were pretty good and you don't have to connect on Egypt Air - you can do Lufthansa as well and Condor can sell it to you on a single ticket.

Yes, we went in January of this year. Great time to travel there as the weather was just perfect. PM me if you want a link to my blog for the trip - it's pretty detailed.

Look at those short, short, short connections: 1h5m, 1h35m,1h30m...

I'd say there's a high probability you will not end up in MSP when you think you will. Any of your flights misconnect, you're stuck for a while. First flight departs Cairo...at least it's on Swiss, but how much does that flight run like a Swiss watch?

If everything goes according to plan, you're looking at 16 hours end-to-end. If anything goes sideways...could become a v-e-r-y long adventure.

Personally, I've come to value more reasonable routings and stress-free connections. I hate the "are we gonna make it?" fretting.

OTOH, at least it's on your way home...if it turns into a 3-day epic travel story, you'll presumably just miss work, rather than part of your vacation. Good luck!

Unless there would be dire consequences if your arrival home was delayed a day, I'd do it.

We had a trip from Denver to Rhodes, Greece turn into 5 hops at the last minute, due to an airline schedule change. We had several very short connections but it all worked. Actually all those stops keep you awake and alert. It will be a memorable trip home.