Flew EgyptAir Business Class MS690 (Riyadh–Cairo) on 8 August 2026. Cabin crew: Ms. Haba Mansour.
There were five passengers in the Business Class cabin. During meal service:
1. When Ms. Mansour was preparing to set up my tray table, she appeared visibly impatient and rushed me while I was simply looking to see where to place it.
2. She then handed me the tablecloth and told me to lay it out myself, without offering the same assistance she gave other passengers. I tried to understand this as being related to my window seat position, but the pattern of treatment that followed made this explanation feel insufficient.
3. She proceeded to take meal orders from all other passengers, presenting them with the menu, but skipped me entirely — I was never asked what I would like to eat.
4. After other passengers had already started receiving their meals, she returned to ask the remaining passengers what they would like to drink, and only then asked me. I requested water. The water I was given was served in a visibly old, dented, discolored bottle with a partially worn-off label.
5. I pressed the call button to request a replacement. When she responded, her tone suggested irritation, asking what I needed after she had already finished serving everyone else. I asked for the water to be replaced and told her I would not be having a meal, since I had never been asked my meal preference in the first place. Even after this, she never returned to ask what I would like to eat.
6. Following this, the Cabin/Crew Manager approached me and suggested there had been "some kind of misunderstanding." However, Ms. Mansour never personally apologized to me, and appeared to defer the entire matter to the manager rather than addressing it herself. She did not return to my seat for the remainder of the flight, and I received no further service.
As a result, I was unable to have a meal at all during this flight.
I want to be direct: the pattern of being skipped, rushed, and given noticeably worse treatment and equipment than the other four passengers in the same cabin, during the same service round, is difficult to interpret as anything other than differential treatment. I would like EgyptAir to look into whether this was linked to my nationality or appearance, and to explain what caused me to be treated so differently from every other Business Class passenger on that flight.
As a frequent Star Alliance flyer, and given EgyptAir's stated plans to expand direct routes to Korea, I think it's important for EgyptAir to know how a Korean Business Class passenger was treated on this flight — and whether this is an isolated incident or a pattern that needs to be addressed through crew training.
Recommendation: I don't recommand