Aegean Airlines Miles&Bonus - How is Aegean Airlines? Report your on-board experiences here!

I will be flying Aegean Airlines from

TLV to ATH and then ATH to Santorini and back to ATH in JUNE


how is this airline compared to US domestic line, a southwest airlines or closer to jetblue/virgin america?

I have never flown A3, however having been around the Greek Islands I can tell you not to expect too much from the Athens->Santorini leg. That will be an hop on-off kind of deal.

I have never flown A3, however having been around the Greek Islands I can tell you not to expect too much from the Athens->Santorini leg. That will be an hop on-off kind of deal.



i agree my concern was with TLV > ATH

I will be flying Aegean Airlines from

TLV to ATH and then ATH to Santorini and back to ATH in JUNE


how is this airline compared to US domestic line, a southwest airlines or closer to jetblue/virgin america?

I've never flown Aegean but have family members who have and they have said good things about the hard and soft product.

You don't mention any airline affiliations in your profile, so I do not know if you will have access to the Aegean lounge in ATH.

Their lounge is great (does not face the runway but rather the parking lot), has a couple of televisions and computers (I believe access is free but I'm not 100% positive). What I can tell you is that the food offering are much better than the LH Tower Lounge at FRA.

I flew ATH-IST in September on A3. Very similar to Virgin America.

Flew Aegean in November TXL-ATH and must say, it was a good experience. The equipment was in good shape, staff friendly.
In my opinion lengths better than domestic UA. Didn't have to pay for food and drinks, for example.

They will join *A soon and are partner of Lufthansa. People who flew them prefer them much over Olympic (or the Rest of it) and LH.

A3 has new airplanes. Free food and drinks service.On time
flights. Have you check the early morning departure from Tel-Aviv?

They will join *A soon and are partner of Lufthansa. People who flew them prefer them much over Olympic (or the Rest of it) and LH.

The old or new Olympic? I have heard good things about the new Olympic Air.

I can't compare it to US domestic flights but I found Aegean to be pretty good (three flights so far). Better than short hop BA Euro Traveller in terms of food (they don't give you birdseed - they give you something that comes on a tray even for a 90 min flight).

The old or new Olympic? I have heard good things about the new Olympic Air.

The old, the new or the very new?

From 1-1-2010 Olympic air (the new) is not flying to Tel-Aviv.
Only Aegean airlines (A3) has flights from Athens to Tel-Aviv.

The old, the new or the very new?

Olympic Air, after they changed from Olympic Airlines. The current one :P

Olympic Air, after they changed from Olympic Airlines. The current one :P

Hellenic National Airlines (Very Old)
Olympic Airways (Old)
Olympic Airlines (New)
Olympic Air (Very New)

I flew A3 Biz Class a couple of weeks ago on a short hop from Athens to Thessaloniki (SKG) Greece. Bottom line, I was very impressed.

Check-in was fast, but I was a little early. The flight continued from SKG to Stuttgaurt, so the desk was at the far end with the LH flights (I assume to consolidate the German speaking Agents). There was a separate desk for Biz/*G but wasn't needed. Lounge invite and bad tagged as priority without me needing to ask/remind.

The aircraft was an A320 and looked fresh and clean. Biz seating was typical for Europe, 3x3 with the middle seat blocked and "inside" armrests crank in towards the middle for added width. Movable curtain to adjust the Biz/Coach ratio, with 3 rows allocated to Biz on this flight. Only 3 of the 12 seats were occupied.

All announcements in Greek followed by English. Very courteous Cabin Crew. On-time flight.

Shortly after take-off, hot towels were passed out then I was asked if I wanted "service". A tray was presented with half of a cheese sandwich and half of a meat sandwich. Served some greens, a cherry tomato and an olive. Small chocolate square for dessert. I asked for a red wine and was given a small bottle (same size as avail for purchase on USA domestic flights) of a good tasting Greek variety. I usually think of those "coach sized" bottles as being lower grade wines, but this was quite nice.
:-: I know this meal service does sound simplistic, but the airborne time was only about 30 minutes !!

All gates at SKG are bussed. There are no Jetbridges and even those aircraft parking spots right next to the terminal are bussed.
Since I was in a window seat, after the seat belt sign was off, a few coach passengers were able to step into the Biz Class aisle before I got up and over to the aisle. Once the door was opened, the Flight Attendant asked those 2 folks to step into a row of seats (out of the aisle). I didn't realize it at the time, but she was clearing the way for me to de-plane ahead of them. Once down the stairs and about to step onto the bus, I turned to take one last photo of the plane and noticed no-one else was deplaning. Confused, I turned around and stepped onto the bus and only then realized it was waiting on me. That bus carried all 3 Biz passengers to the terminal, a 2nd bus (that was ready and waiting for us to leave) carried coach passengers.

The "segregated" bus service was irrelevant since I had a checked bag. Tho my bag was about the 5th onto the claim belt, the 4 prior bags also tagged as priority.

I do have pics, but this post is already pushing the limits of one that should be in the "Trip Reports" forum. I did want to "beef up" this new forum ;)

Steve

Thanks. Please, post some photos :)

Flew MXP-ATH a couple of times and the service has been literally impeccable every single time, comparable to Swiss without the disgusting food

I do have pics, but this post is already pushing the limits of one that should be in the "Trip Reports" forum. I did want to "beef up" this new forum ;)

I think we have a little leeway for 'mini-trip reports' right here.

Epic Greek literature with dozens of photos, as noted, belong elsewhere. But if you'd like to give us a flavour, go right ahead. ;)

GoldCircle
A3 forum Moderator

Here's a couple of on-board photos. I have more of the food, just can't find them at the moment....

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6059/6410585359_359f2ba595.jpg

Business Class

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6410586137_6c51f68f0c_z.jpg

Starter Salad
Business Class
London Heathrow - Larnaca

A3 is a really good carrier, among the best for intra-european flights. I usually fly them once or twice a year on the CDG-ATH segment, and I've always had a nice crew (a welcome change from the previous Olympic Airlines), on time flights, excellent catering, and even on-board entertainment. Some things you could not dream of with Air France (on the same route), let alone air baltic (awful airline, which charges you the same amount as LH for FR-like services ...:td:) . I would really recommend it personnally.

A3 was great ATH-HER after arrival from the US. We booked a connection after overnight at Athens airport. The trick was to not book on the same PNR as DL from the US, meaning that one can get seat selection and OLCI on A3 anytime within 48 hours of flight, meaning even before leaving the US. You can't make seat selections on KL connections in Europe from DL until you get to Europe (in Y). KL connections in Europe suck bigtime and AF is even worse.

Note A3 is not immune to ATC strikes in Greece. During our stay much air travel was cancelled and on return we sat on the tarmac for 4 hours before a 10 hour flight to JFK and a wonderful overnight in Queens before heading home. Yes, connecting through JFK was stupid, but so is flying on KL.

We had four flights on Aegean during the recent strikes over austerity measures. Two of the four flights were canceled. For one, from Kalamata to Athens, they hired a bus for the 240 km trip. On this occasion the airport staff, all waring Olympic Air uniforms, seemed very engaged, concerned, and helpful. For the second cancellation, from Thira to Athens, we went to a travel agent and booked and paid for alternative arrangements, involving a boat to Heraklion and and an Olympic flight from there to Athens. This time, there was absolutely no way to get any help from Aegean as they said there was nothing they could do. They did, however, provide a refund after we returned for the two canceled legs that nearly paid for the alternative Thira/Athens arrangements. The two legs we did fly were pleasant enough, with some sort of very light service.

I have flown four RTs on A3, all in their business class. The aircraft were uniformly new, clean, and fresh. FAs were polite and friendly, but sometimes lacked confidence in dealing with foreign English-speaking passengers who had unusual requests. The English announcements were sometimes a bit accented but easy to understand. Boarding seemed organized and efficient; I never observed evidence of an oversell. Even on small islands, business class seems to have a dedicated check in line and separate bus for boarding, even just for two passengers. I think the ATH lounge is very nice, although the other one I tried, I forget where, was smaller and less impressive but still adequate, clean, polite, and not overcrowded. Meals were not huge but seemed to offer quality and variety with a cuisine that seems to be a compromise between Greek and general Western international food. The wine was fine but obviously not a fancy imported label; it seemed to be reasonably high quality Greek wine from some larger producers. I never had an issue about how much luggage I checked or carried on for combined business meetings and beach resort vacation trips about two weeks long and IIRC the checked bags arrived reasonably promptly with no evidence of lost or damaged bags from my flights.

I have flown Aegean a number of times very clean planes. Good service. Good prices when booked in advance. Have not flown their business class but am next June. My opinion they are much better than Olympic.

Referring back to my original post ...
I flew A3 Biz Class a couple of weeks ago on a short hop from Athens to Thessaloniki (SKG) Greece. Bottom line, I was very impressed.
... I offer some pictures. Not as good as those from FlyingOnceMore but here they are ...

Nothing much on this one, but I'm an airliner nut, so ... waiting for boarding in ATH
Though I'm sure all the USA based A3 Elites are curious about what the planes on their #1 airline look like :p
http://www.hangar64.pair.com/FlyerTalk/A3%20ATH-SKG%2001.JPG

A general pic of the Business Class cabin...
http://www.hangar64.pair.com/FlyerTalk/A3%20ATH-SKG%2002.JPG

The inflight service.
Yes, it looks simple. But read my original post. This was an intra-Greece domestic flight. Block time was like 55 minutes while actual air time was more like 30-35 minutes. Given those times, I was very impressed with the service.
My apolgies for breaking into the napkin and taking a bite before I remembered to take a pic ;)
http://www.hangar64.pair.com/FlyerTalk/A3%20ATH-SKG%2004.JPG

Deplaning in Thessaloniki.
Note the ground crew person standing in the doorway. At this point, the 3 C-Class pax getting off in SKG are off the plane and in the bus to go to the main terminal ( a few feet away). The bus was waiting for me to take this pic and board. The employee in the door is holding back the other passengers for the next bus (which is already behind mine). I'm not a DYKWIA (gosh ... I hope not), but still, this "fast-track" for the Biz passengers impressed me.
http://www.hangar64.pair.com/FlyerTalk/A3%20ATH-SKG%2005.JPG

Steve

Thanks for the photos!

My husband and I flew Aegean from Athens to Munich on the first (of three) leg of a Business Class award ticket returning to PHL from a cruise.

Everything about the experience was first rate. The flight attendants were fabulous and the beverage and meal service was fine. This was the best intra (or is it inter-) European flight we've ever had on any airline. Kudos all around.

Flew last year in Y - excellent trip.

Already *G so used the (small) lounge at Thessaloniki and bussed out directly from the lounge the 50m to the aircraft with the 2 C-class pax.

As other have said, service on board is excellent - even a hot meal in Y!

I like A3 a lot, but they screw up special meals all the time. I usually order LFML to avoid red meat, and they almost always don't have it on board. The FAs, who are usually really nice, often act like its my fault. I can see a passenger out of TLV (which is where they cut this thread from), having an issue.

Flew LCA-LHR last week (A320 in Y)

Check-in very friendly, re-seated me and offered to block the seat next to me as the flight was 90% full (in the event I had the whole row which, as per the below, proved very good news)

Lounge at LCA is way too small and windowless which is a shame given the main lounge used by BA and other carriers is pretty good

Boarding was delayed 15 mins due to storms over the UK and resulting ATC restrictions and then proceeded with no priority boarding or row by row etc.

Aircraft was clean and bright and the crew lovely as always on A3

...Then the fun began!...:
We were informed of further ATC restrictions after the doors were closed and sat on the tarmac for 1.5 hours
After take off the Captain indicated a 5.5 flight time due to headwinds!
On arrival over London we were stacked for a further 30 mins
And finally, after landing we were infomred there was no gate available and waited a further 20 minutes before eventually parking at the farthest T1 gate (an old T2 gate)
In total, nearly 8 hours on the plane!!!! In contrast, the BA flight down had taken less than 4 hours block to block

Having said all that, none of this was due to A3 and the service throughought the flight was absolutely impeccable; Good food, regular free drinks (alcohol choice on A3 in Y is limited to Red/White wine or Beer) a movie and generally lovely cabin crew and the overall experience meant that despite being stuck on the plane for 8 hours I still felt I had enjoyed the journey!!

I like it, and go out of my way to fly with them. Not something earth-shattering about the hard product, but I have a big smile on my face when I travel with them.

My A3 review can be seen here for anyone interested :

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/199180

Thanks to all for the pics and trip report!

I'll be flying A3 from MUC-SKG in C as part of a trip from PHL and I have a question about carry-on baggage. Their website states that they limit hand baggage to 8 kg for C passengers (along with a 2nd 5-kg item).

Can anyone confirm whether they are strict with this limit, especially for intercontinental travellers in C? I prefer to use a 20" rollaboard for long flights but I could use a smaller bag if it could be a problem.

Thanks for your help!

I would expect not to be. At least they never asked me to check my hand-luggage.

Thank you for your quick response!

Hundreds of flights with A3, they've never, ever checked my hand luggage, neither in C nor in Y.

My A3 review can be seen here for anyone interested :

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/199180

Great report! I have a 3 hour ATH-FRA flight on A3 in business coming up this summer. You have me salivating for what breakfast might be!

Great report! I have a 3 hour ATH-FRA flight on A3 in business coming up this summer. You have me salivating for what breakfast might be!
Breakfast from ATH in C includes fruit, youghurt with honey, croissant and/or bread with jam, a choice of scrambled eggs or omelet (spelling?), and in case you don't like airplane coffee brews, you can also ask for an espresso (better than in the lounges in AMS ;))

Breakfast from ATH in C includes fruit, youghurt with honey, croissant and/or bread with jam, a choice of scrambled eggs or omelet (spelling?), and in case you don't like airplane coffee brews, you can also ask for an espresso (better than in the lounges in AMS ;))

Perfect! many thanks for the update.