hurnik

OK, first I'm posting this on behalf of my sister, I don't have all the details (I know, makes it hard), until she manages to create a flyertalk account and give all the relevant info.

OK, she booked a United Award ticket in economy for travel from DEN to Santorini. She was supposed to leave July 14th from DEN to EWR. But apparently due to weather problems on the northeast, flight was cancelled, so they rebooked her from DEN to San Francisco, then San Fran to Munich, then to Athens, then to Santorini. She will (or was) going to arrive a day late.

However, apparently she's in Athens now and the Santorini flight is delayed 5 hours, and is now cancelled due to high winds and the last Ferry had already left, so they will have to overnight.

I guess she's on Aegean airlines for this portion of the flight. Apparently the only lounges in Athens with showers are VIP lounges (Aegean, BA, Lufthansa). The other 4 have no showers. I told her to ask the airline to give her a pass to the lounge. Apparently they refused and have only given 1 meal voucher.

Any ideas/suggestions on how/what to do/handle this? I'm under the impression from other forums that Athens airport doesn't allow sleeping in the airport, not to mention now she'll be arriving 2 days late (40 hours without a shower is ugh).

If I can get more info that will help, let me know what to get. I don't know yet if she purchased travel insurance or not.

Only good thing is that she's traveling with a friend so they can suffer together.

zrs70

How old is your sister?

If I were her, I would get a hotel room in the city and explore.

With regard to the lounge - airlines don't give lounge passes for irops. If they did, the lounges would be filled beyond capacity!

Also, I take it the travel was July 14, not Jan 14!

FTstudent

My suggestion is to book her at a hotel near the airport, so she can get the first flight out in the morning. It's probably going to be 6 or 7am. She could get a taxi, then go to bed, and be able to enjoy the next day in Santorini on a full nights sleep after traveling 30 hrs. Taking the train (close to an hour) to the city and then trying to get oriented will likely be a miserable experience on no sleep.

porciuscato

Get a room at the Sofitel. It's 2 minutes walk from the terminal.

Incidentally, all the lounges are outside of security.

restlessinRNO

The airport Sofitel hotel is very nice, convenient, but will be expensive. Years ago I "slept" overnight on a seat at the airport, so I'm not sure this is not allowed, but certainly not ideal. Unfortunately the ATH-JTR flights are often affected by high winds. Also, I agree with zrs70, you likely mean July 14.

Doc Savage

I slept in the Athens airport a few years ago, no problems.

A decent, cheap hotel in Athens is:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...ns_Attica.html

http://www.economyhotel.gr/

Very nice staff there, and a great breakfast.

pewpew

Doesn't EU261 require that airlines pay for accommodations overnight, even when it's an uncontrollable delay?

hurnik

Oooh, thanks! That's a good idea

Oh jeez, yes, July 14th, sorry. Ugh, I need to get my eyes checked. LOL!

She's 40 so OK that way. More of a hassle for her and I've only flown "true" international (Mexico doesn't really count) once, and that was from JFK to Dubai and then to Bangalore, and fortunately had no problems.

But this reminds me that if I travel international in the future, to ask Flyertalk "what if" so I can be prepared for names of hotels/lounges/etc.

PBAudit

How was the taxes/fees paid for on this award ticket? Certain credit cards (i.e. United Explorer) has trip interruption "insurance". Specifically, they would reimburse (up to a daily limit), the cost of the hotel. I believe this benefit extends to award tickets.

hughw

Blue Line Ferry leaves Piraeus for Santorin about 7am. It's a long trip arriving about 3pm but the ferry is very nice. My recollection is that it's about 45 euro and about 60 euro for biz which has nice sofas and lounge areas. She could overnight in Piraeus at an inexpensive hotel. Blue Line ferries are rarely cancelled like the smaller high speed boats. They're basically seagoing boats that hold 500 cars and 2000 passengers.

jpezaris

I'm sure there are others with more experience on the forum, but I'm pretty well versed in this particular scenario. I organize a scientific conference every two years in Santorini, and most of our attendees come from the US. We had the meeting this year, and, by an unfortunate turn of events, there was an airport workers strike threatened for exactly the week of our event. So we looked at all possible alternative routings.

If she wants to take a ferry BE SURE to check the boats from Rafina to Santorini as well as from Piraeus. There are two or three per day from Rafina, and Rafina is MUCH MUCH closer to ATH than Piraeus (the primary port). Rafina is a 20 minute taxi ride. Piraeus is about an hour (give-or-take). The boats are bigger from Piraeus than Rafina. Note that Santorini is also called Thira (it has two names). Also note that some boats take a very, very long time to get to their destination, and it might not be worth taking them.

When booking a boat, a good agent to use is Aktina https://www.aktinatravelnow.gr/en/ --- They have an office at ATH. You can also book through them to pick up at the operating carrier (Blue Star, Hellenic Seaways, etc.).

If she's POSITIVE she wants to take a ferry, and has booked a ticket on a boat from Rafina, then it is worth taking the taxi to Rafina now, and fining a place to sleep there, rather than sleeping at the airport.

If she has already been accommodated on an early flight, then the best bet is to bite the bullet and get a room at one of the hotels near the airport (like the Sofitel). Not inexpensive, but highly convenient.

Unless she has an entire day to spend, it isn't worth going into Athens. Too expensive and takes too long. There are other, closer, and more charming places to visit (like Rafina).

Looking at Weather Undergound for Santorini, the forecast for the next few days looks quite good, so planes and boats should be unimpeded.

Most importantly, though, she should understand that in Greece, there is a much, much slower pace of life, and irregularities like boats or planes not going on a particular day is not that big a deal. It happens. Also, in Santorini, tourism is the largest part of the economy by a wide margin.

While on Santorini she should also, absolutely, have dinner at Selene Restaurant in Pyrgos. Also not inexpensive, but one of the very best restaurants I've ever been to. Reservations are recommended, and the front office at her hotel should be able to arrange it. You (or anyone else) can PM me for additional info on things to do and places to go. I've built up a decent knowledge base over the 10 years we've had the conference.

Steve M

Others have suggested a nearby hotel. If for some reason she wants to stay at the airport, perhaps one of those VIP lounges that does have a shower sells daypasses.

sokolov

Sofitel is pricey. I'd take Uber to a more affordable accommodation, or a hotel with a shuttle service.

There are also some airbnb offer that include airport pickup. But I don't know how fast that could be arrangex.

I kow it is too late now. But for future reference.

And, generally, urgent questions about Greece and Cyprus travel are better helped in the Aegean M&B forum, I think.

garykung

OP's sister case is an allowed exception - weather.

EC261/2004 can only do so much.

catocony

There's a Holiday Inn a few miles from the hotel that might have a shuttle.

As far as the *A lounges at ATH, there's a small LH Business lounge (no Senator at ATH) that doesn't even have a bathroom (use one in the hallway), and a larger Aegean lounge that does have a bathroom but no shower. The Aegean lounge isn't exactly smoke-filled, but it does have a smoking area that leaves the whole club smelling like an ashtray.