Aegean Airlines Miles&Bonus - Olympic Air vs. Aegean Airlines - which to choose?

First time to Greece. About to book Athens to Thessaloniki, but I wanted to know which of the two airlines is better and reliable. The prices for both are not much different, so that's not a big factor. Just thinking of reliability and service. Thank you.

Hmm, never flown either, but I've heard better things about Aegean on FT, and Aegean can credit miles to *A FFPs

Very similar in any respect service/reliability-wise, chose according to schedule and price. As suggested, go with A3 if *A status/miles are important to you.

Very similar in any respect service/reliability-wise, chose according to schedule and price. As suggested, go with A3 if *A status/miles are important to you.
I disagree. There is a huge difference, starting with aircraft, where A3 has new clean and well maintained jets versus the older planes Olympic uses, some of which still had propellers at least a couple of years ago, delays and cancellations which are much worse on Olympic, and customer service, where at least Aegean answers their phones and tries to help when there is a problem.

I disagree. There is a huge difference, starting with aircraft, where A3 has new clean and well maintained jets versus the older planes Olympic uses, some of which still had propelled at least a couple of years ago, delays and cancellations which are much worse on Olympic, and customer service, where at least Aegean answers their phones and tries to help when there is a problem.Sorry, but you are 100% wrong! OA is a new airline that uses the old Olympic's logo and name. It was founded two (or is it already three?) years ago, it is privately owned, flies brand-new airbuses, is absolutely reliable, both in terms of maintenance and schedule, and even code-shares with A3. As a matter of fact, if the EU had given its OK, the two companies would have merged already. I don't know where you have your information from, but your post certainly shows how difficult it is to correct the reputation of brand that slowly went down the drain. And, by the way, I'm stating this despite the fact that >80% of my flights, both domestic and intra-European, are with A3 and not Olympic.

I disagree. There is a huge difference, starting with aircraft, where A3 has new clean and well maintained jets versus the older planes Olympic uses, some of which still had propellers at least a couple of years ago, delays and cancellations which are much worse on Olympic, and customer service, where at least Aegean answers their phones and tries to help when there is a problem.

If you don't like props, then you probably don't want to sly some of OA's off-peak flights to the islands. That said, I don't mind the Q400, so that isn't the reason I avoid OA.

A3 is better if you want all fan jet (instead of prop jet) equipment and also has the big plus of being in Star Alliance.

I would definetely prefer Olympic Air. Their fleet is much younger, their crew is much more fresh and well behaved, while the in fllight catering, even in short distance flights, is way beyond. Flights from Athens to Thessaloniki are operated with Airbus jets A3320 or 321. The only difference is that A3 offers *A miles. Olympic owns a very competitive ffp but is not a member of any alliance.

I would definetely prefer Olympic Air. Their fleet is much younger

Hmm... According to the planespotters database OA has a avg age of 7 years, whereas A3 has 4 years.

http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Aegean-Airlines
http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Olympic-Air

I would definetely prefer Olympic Air. Their fleet is much younger, their crew is much more fresh and well behaved, while the in fllight catering, even in short distance flights, is way beyond. Flights from Athens to Thessaloniki are operated with Airbus jets A3320 or 321. The only difference is that A3 offers *A miles. Olympic owns a very competitive ffp but is not a member of any alliance.The age of the fleet was answered earlier. the flight catering is almost identical (although I prefer A3's peanuts :p), and both fly Airbuses to Thessaloniki. What I don't understand though, is how you "measure" freshness and how A3's crew misbehaves. I fly both, dpending on schedule, thus I have nothing against OA, and I firmly believe that your opinion needs some explaning. :confused:

I would definetely prefer Olympic Air. Their fleet is much younger, their crew is much more fresh and well behaved, while the in fllight catering, even in short distance flights, is way beyond. Flights from Athens to Thessaloniki are operated with Airbus jets A3320 or 321. The only difference is that A3 offers *A miles. Olympic owns a very competitive ffp but is not a member of any alliance.

The fleet age between A3 and OA is not that noticeable to be honest. I do think OA have the edge in terms of crew however. Also the catering on short hops is better on OA , recently did a Greek domestic and OA won in terms of Y class food. Its all about personal prefference at the end of the day as both A3 and OA are very decent airlines with a good product. A3 win on Star Alliance membership of course.