headingwest

Looking for flights in November but Aegean's website states...

Really!? Is Aegean a low cost carrier?

I can't think of any other airline in a global alliance that doesn't sell seats (almost) up to a year in advance.

Knobbgb

I've always assumed it's because Greece is a much more seasonal market. OK, a lot of people DON'T come here as tourists, but many do of course. And Greeks generally (I know it's dangerous to generalise) don't arrange anything more than a few weeks (or hours) in advance. Dividing the year into seasons probably makes more sense than releasing schedules month-by-month. As previous years have shown, it's a volatile market and it maybe makes sense not to plan too far ahead, only to have to change things again. Aegean are evolving quickly too with many new routes and aircraft being added each season.

Comparing flights to the domestic ferries, which many of those same tourists will use to get to the islands - it used to be that the schedules for the summer were not released until as late as March or April and so many people did not book until then anyway. That has got a lot better now. They're still not available until maybe January though. And the ones for October onwards probably won't be available until August.

In any case, those people that book 8 or 9 months ahead are usually going to be very low-yielding pax and the airline can afford to risk losing that business.

It used to be that Easyjet didn't release their flights until quite late as well though I note now that both they and Ryanair have their flights to Greece on sale right through until next February already.

headingwest

It's a good point about the 'seasonal market' Knobbgb, but you'd think that they'd sell tickets on the main routes at least. Surely while they're dilly-dallying on schedules the competition are selling tickets, and thus taking potential customers away from A3.

frenchft

Who buys plane ticket one year in advance?

NWIFlyer

Lots of leisure travellers, for sure. There's also the issue of redemptions - anyone connecting from a TATL flight needs to book a long way ahead to grab the limited availability. If revenue seats are not released, redemption ones definitely aren't.

FlyEurope

I do.

DELLAS

Low cost fares and full service carrier

A3 have that model as it suits them or has done over the last number of years. Going forward as they get much larger they may change this. Aer Lingus is another carrier that historically loads schedules late but they do load some of their main routes a lot earlier due to the code shares. LHR AMS for example.

headingwest

The early bird catches the worm.

I think as Aegean's profile increases they'd be wise to offer flights well in advance. It seems odd that if I were Greek and wanted to book flights for Christmas I'd be able to book with Ryanair or British Airways, but not with the de factor national carrier of Greece.

frenchft

Makes sense... in my case in advance is 3 weeks or 1 month max. But i'm single and no kids, so i'm flexible ))

Romanianflyer

I guess it's perhaps also a cultural difference. If I compare my native country (Netherlands) and some other Western European countries to others where I live/have lived (Romania, Greece) - I would certainly suspect it.

In NL or Germany a majority of people will/have to book their summer holidays a year in advance. Same as a lot of regular visits to friends etc. are all very much already put in their agendas weeks in advance. In Greece, everything is much more flexible, spontaneous and only tackled at the time it's needed to plan.

DELLAS

Indeed a lot of the diaspora I know in the UK,Ireland and Germany tend to book 3-4 months out max. Even me I rarely book more than a few months in advance unless its essential. Often historically I have booked things last minute or a few weeks before. This year though it is weirdly bucking that trend as I have events I need to attend so had to book. I actually do not like booking that far in advance though.

headingwest

Very true, and Aegean shouldn't (and probably don't mean to) only target their own nationals. As a Brit I know that a lot of people like to plan well in advance, mainly so they can control how much money they will spend on the hotel and flights. I don't think there are many pensioners who would suddenly book flights 2 weeks before, but to hunt down a cheap holiday for next winter would be much more probable IMO.

Anyway, how the hell are people like me who like the dirt cheap tickets supposed to find them if the schedules aren't loaded?! Most inconsiderate of Aegean

Donegal

Anybody has observed in the recent years when A3 will publish their winter schedules?

Indeed very strange that they do their planning not more ahead. People have to plan their annual leave in many German companies until March the latest - so it seems A3 is either not interested in this business or just not organised enough to get their scheduling sorted. Room for improvement in my opinion.

johnirvine

Historical precedent shows that A3 will load their fares up to March 2017 in the last week of March 2016. At this point, booking will be possible almost a year in advance.

In my opinion, the inability to book 11 months in advance for much of the year has little to do with Greek cultural preferences or the airline's rapid growth. The real reason is probably poor management and laziness of the staff concerned. We all complain about why Aegean can't get its act together to send out M&B cards out in a timely manner. Tighter management is needed to get a grip of both the M&B card issuance and flight scheduling problems.

sokolov

More than you would think. I do, but generally for business travel.

Note that not always both directions are 1 year out. Last year, I booked a TATL ticket something like 7 days out on the outbound, but 350 days out for the return. I was forced to book LH on the return :-(, because the alternative (UA) has a 330 day window only. And reasonably priced oneway TATLs are few and far between.

I have at least one annual business event that I already know dates and location for every year until 2022. Plus there are other events that I know the dates for more than 1 year in advance.

For travel within Europe, I would have probably already booked some A3 tickets for December, if only they were available.

A3's late availability is not good for Greece's hospitality industry. Last year, I went to Cyprus twice (instead of a Greek island) because A3 would not allow me to book flights within Greece (except ATH-SKG, IIRC) at the time I needed to book.