Is A3 using OA flight numbers to deny *A benefits?
Aug 11, 2017, 12:24 am
#106
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: ORD-LAS
Programs: UA MM 1K, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium Elite
Posts: 4,419
I ended up calling Aegean about the crazy baggage fees for 3 Star Alliance Gold members. We were given a refund after speaking to management.
From the sounds of it, we were not the only ones to call and complain. My suggestion keep on callling to get a refund. They know what they are doing is purely to collect baggage fees.
From the sounds of it, we were not the only ones to call and complain. My suggestion keep on callling to get a refund. They know what they are doing is purely to collect baggage fees.
Aug 29, 2017, 8:32 pm
#107
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: USA, JPN, GBR
Programs: A3, AA, AC, AS, DL, NH, SQ, SK, UA; BW, CP, HH, IHG, MB
Posts: 1,950
Forgot to post about an incident I witnessed on my last trip. At ATH check-in, a couple was already being helped when I arrived. Being one counter over, I heard some of the exchange.
The agent was all set on checking in the pax and their 2 bags. Then, she goes, "Oh... You're UA*G. You have to pay for your bags," and "Olympic Air isn't part of *A," and so on. Pax was like, "It says, 'operated by Aegean,' which is *A. This is the *G counter, and you're not giving us *G benefits?" They were still talking it out with two additional agents (including a supervisor?) when I left.
Another way to really pi.. I mean, tick off
*Gs is to deny them access to *G check-in when flying on one of these OA flights. 
It's a real mixed message they're sending - *G can use priority check-in, security (?), and boarding but not the baggage benefit or lounge access (?). I'd be 
and 
as hell.
Happy to hear that your complaints were heard; I can only hope that A3 changes their stance on this practice. At the very least, I'd hope that they'd offer full benefits when booked in conjunction with a *A flight - A3 or otherwise. Or just simplify everything and fully integrate OA into A3 and *A...
The agent was all set on checking in the pax and their 2 bags. Then, she goes, "Oh... You're UA*G. You have to pay for your bags," and "Olympic Air isn't part of *A," and so on. Pax was like, "It says, 'operated by Aegean,' which is *A. This is the *G counter, and you're not giving us *G benefits?" They were still talking it out with two additional agents (including a supervisor?) when I left.
Another way to really pi.. I mean, tick off
*Gs is to deny them access to *G check-in when flying on one of these OA flights. It's a real mixed message they're sending - *G can use priority check-in, security (?), and boarding but not the baggage benefit or lounge access (?). I'd be and as hell.I ended up calling Aegean about the crazy baggage fees for 3 Star Alliance Gold members. We were given a refund after speaking to management.
From the sounds of it, we were not the only ones to call and complain. My suggestion keep on callling to get a refund. They know what they are doing is purely to collect baggage fees.
From the sounds of it, we were not the only ones to call and complain. My suggestion keep on callling to get a refund. They know what they are doing is purely to collect baggage fees.
Aug 30, 2017, 10:54 am
#108
Join Date: May 2003
Location: DEL
Programs: Mucci du Miel d'Or
Posts: 2,374
Well to answer to answer my own Q, there was no problem accessing the TK lounge on an A3, operated by OA flight, from IST. There was no mention of the OA operation on the BP and it invited me to visit the TK lounge. : )
Aug 30, 2017, 7:54 pm
#109
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,565
You: You flew an A3 flight on a wet-leased OA plane. You get all benefits of A3 and/or *G, this is completely normal.
Others: They fly an OA flight code-shared with A3 on a wet-leased A3 plane. No *A benefits for anybody. M+B golds do get the full monty because A3 and OA share the same FF program.
Sep 8, 2017, 10:09 pm
#110
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 114
Checked in today for SKG-ATH
I used the gold check-in, and agent was very nice. Interlined my bag to my AC flight out of Athens.
She then mentioned i wouldn't gain points or use access as Olympic isn't part of Star Alliance "yet".
So, σιγά-σιγά, maybe we'll eventually get benefits?
I used the gold check-in, and agent was very nice. Interlined my bag to my AC flight out of Athens.
She then mentioned i wouldn't gain points or use access as Olympic isn't part of Star Alliance "yet".
So, σιγά-σιγά, maybe we'll eventually get benefits?
Sep 9, 2017, 3:56 am
#111
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: NZ*G ELT, VA-G
Posts: 3,597
Checked in today for SKG-ATH
I used the gold check-in, and agent was very nice. Interlined my bag to my AC flight out of Athens.
She then mentioned i wouldn't gain points or use access as Olympic isn't part of Star Alliance "yet".
So, σιγά-σιγά, maybe we'll eventually get benefits?
I used the gold check-in, and agent was very nice. Interlined my bag to my AC flight out of Athens.
She then mentioned i wouldn't gain points or use access as Olympic isn't part of Star Alliance "yet".
So, σιγά-σιγά, maybe we'll eventually get benefits?
Sep 22, 2017, 2:07 pm
#112
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: LAX and LHR. UA lifetime Gold 1.9MM 1K , DL Gold Medallion, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold, Avis President's Club
Posts: 3,592
FWIW, I called Aegean today and they said the exact opposite. I am on LHR-ATH-HER and back. The London flights are A3, the domestic ones are operated by OA, even though they have A3 flight numbers. I asked whether I could get a free bag as a *A Gold on a GoLight fare and was told "only on the A3 legs, since OA is not part of *A". So I stumped up for a Flex fare, which actually isn't that much more in either direction.
Sep 22, 2017, 2:16 pm
#113
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: LAX and LHR. UA lifetime Gold 1.9MM 1K , DL Gold Medallion, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold, Avis President's Club
Posts: 3,592
I think your issue here is that there really aren't other alternatives to get to as many Greek islands as OA flies to. BA go to HER from LHR direct. LH probably have a few routes out of MUC or FRA, I guess (or are these now Eurowings?). FR offer a few options, but then you're most likely worse off than with OA, plus you can't even through ticket and get protection in the event of delays. There's the ferries, but they're slower and transfer is harder.
You might argue that it's the cause of what many see as sharp business practice - A3/OA has as close to a monopoly as is possible, so they can do what they like in a lot of cases.
You might argue that it's the cause of what many see as sharp business practice - A3/OA has as close to a monopoly as is possible, so they can do what they like in a lot of cases.
Nov 30, 2017, 4:32 am
#114
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: A3 Gold, LH SEN, DL PM
Posts: 69
Simple explanation (without starting the whole story again, i.e. just the technical part). It's a different situation:
You: You flew an A3 flight on a wet-leased OA plane. You get all benefits of A3 and/or *G, this is completely normal.
Others: They fly an OA flight code-shared with A3 on a wet-leased A3 plane. No *A benefits for anybody. M+B golds do get the full monty because A3 and OA share the same FF program.
You: You flew an A3 flight on a wet-leased OA plane. You get all benefits of A3 and/or *G, this is completely normal.
Others: They fly an OA flight code-shared with A3 on a wet-leased A3 plane. No *A benefits for anybody. M+B golds do get the full monty because A3 and OA share the same FF program.
Dec 1, 2017, 7:25 am
#116
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LHR/ATH
Programs: Amex Platinum, LH SEN (Gold), BA Bronze
Posts: 4,489
A friend of mine was trying to check in to SKG with his Turkish Elite Plus card from ATH and he was denied miles and lounge access as 'it is an Olympic flight'.
Just to add my two cents to this. Olympic's history has been very coloured, from an airline that had unlimited funds in the party days of the 90's/00's with the government endlessly bailing it out, to the suspicious take over by one of Greece's most notorious people/companies (Vgenopoulos/Marfin Investment Group that essentially bankrupted Cyprus), and then the merger of Aegean and Olympic, again done behind 'closed doors', it is very unfortunate that Olympic is not considered part of Aegean and does not earn Star Alliance benefits.
Since Olympic is part of Greece's modern history (it's founding by Onassis THE greek magnate, etc.), I doubt that the name will disappear and believe it should stay, but as a domestic offshoot of Aegean using A3 flight numbers, not as a tiny separate subsidiary. The only planes under Olympic logos these days are those small turbo prop Dash 8's.
A3/OA essentially had the monopoly domestically, but the arrival of Ryanair has changed things a lot as A3 had to lower their prices significantly due to the new competition. One hopes Aegean is forced to give Star Alliance benefits and make Olympic a subsidary with the same benefits as Aegean.
Just to add my two cents to this. Olympic's history has been very coloured, from an airline that had unlimited funds in the party days of the 90's/00's with the government endlessly bailing it out, to the suspicious take over by one of Greece's most notorious people/companies (Vgenopoulos/Marfin Investment Group that essentially bankrupted Cyprus), and then the merger of Aegean and Olympic, again done behind 'closed doors', it is very unfortunate that Olympic is not considered part of Aegean and does not earn Star Alliance benefits.
Since Olympic is part of Greece's modern history (it's founding by Onassis THE greek magnate, etc.), I doubt that the name will disappear and believe it should stay, but as a domestic offshoot of Aegean using A3 flight numbers, not as a tiny separate subsidiary. The only planes under Olympic logos these days are those small turbo prop Dash 8's.
A3/OA essentially had the monopoly domestically, but the arrival of Ryanair has changed things a lot as A3 had to lower their prices significantly due to the new competition. One hopes Aegean is forced to give Star Alliance benefits and make Olympic a subsidary with the same benefits as Aegean.
Dec 1, 2017, 5:00 pm
#117
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Amsterdam
Programs: A3, BA, OZ,
Posts: 1,099
Have these plans disappeared? When I first heard of this programme, I thought it sounded perfect for Olympic. On a related note, I was very hopeful that this would generally be more widely adapted and airlines would use for their low cost subsidiaries. Eurowings, Tigerair, Scoot, etc. Especially as it is becoming harder to avoid them. I really kind of (naively?) thought that this was the purpose of that whole programme.
Dec 2, 2017, 2:08 am
#118
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Wedged somewhere between BTS and VIE ✈
Programs: Star Alliance Gold (A3 Gold), Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,338
I doubt OA will join Star Alliance as a connecting partner. To date it seems that there is only one airline that has joined this scheme, so it looks like it's not exactly full throttle!
http://www.staralliance.com/en/cp-overview
As mentioned earlier, I don't think Aegean is particular keen to pay out for Star Alliance benefits on domestic flights.
http://www.staralliance.com/en/cp-overview
As mentioned earlier, I don't think Aegean is particular keen to pay out for Star Alliance benefits on domestic flights.
Jan 6, 2018, 7:19 am
#119
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Cyprus
Programs: LH SEN, A3*G, TK*G E+, ALL/Accor Plat
Posts: 644
The very recent decision of Aegean to rebadge all LCA-ATH-LCA flights as Olympic answers the question posed by the OP - they really are using the strategy to deny *A benefits. This multi-daily routing is already like an overcrowded rural bus service and A3 are facing massive competition from several cheap charley airlines (the latest being Tus Air). If A3 do not offer lounge facilities to connecting LH Group passengers, they will lose much of their higher revenue traffic from code-share bookings. To me, this smacks of desperation and suggests the A3 strategy of developing LCA as a hub has failed: Blue Air, Cobalt and Tus are the winners to ATH and the LH Group will wipe the floor with A3 on longer distance European routings. This is a pity since A3 made such a promising start in their LCA operations and they are a good airline.
Jan 7, 2018, 2:59 am
#120
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LHR/ATH
Programs: Amex Platinum, LH SEN (Gold), BA Bronze
Posts: 4,489
The very recent decision of Aegean to rebadge all LCA-ATH-LCA flights as Olympic answers the question posed by the OP - they really are using the strategy to deny *A benefits. This multi-daily routing is already like an overcrowded rural bus service and A3 are facing massive competition from several cheap charley airlines (the latest being Tus Air). If A3 do not offer lounge facilities to connecting LH Group passengers, they will lose much of their higher revenue traffic from code-share bookings. To me, this smacks of desperation and suggests the A3 strategy of developing LCA as a hub has failed: Blue Air, Cobalt and Tus are the winners to ATH and the LH Group will wipe the floor with A3 on longer distance European routings. This is a pity since A3 made such a promising start in their LCA operations and they are a good airline.