Best F/J redemptions from USA to Greece
Jan 26, 2016, 9:20 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2012
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What is your starting city? To me, the best flight is the one that allows me to be in a long haul premium cabin for the majority of the time I spend flying. American has direct flights to Athens seasonally on what used to be US Air A330's. Turkish has a phenomenal business class product and serves a large number of US gateway cities. From Istanbul, it is a short hop over to Athens.
Jan 27, 2016, 12:42 am
#3
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What is your starting city? To me, the best flight is the one that allows me to be in a long haul premium cabin for the majority of the time I spend flying. American has direct flights to Athens seasonally on what used to be US Air A330's. Turkish has a phenomenal business class product and serves a large number of US gateway cities. From Istanbul, it is a short hop over to Athens.
Jan 27, 2016, 5:20 pm
#5
Join Date: Jan 2012
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In your position I would fly Turkish and two hop. ORD to IST to ATH. Can be done on one award, and has almost all of your trip in a very premium lay flat business cabin. Food on Turkish is excellent, catered by the famous DO & Co, who does the food for all of the high end airlines. Beats three hopping through JFK on Singapore and having to book separate awards.
Jan 27, 2016, 5:28 pm
#6
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In your position I would fly Turkish and two hop. ORD to IST to ATH. Can be done on one award, and has almost all of your trip in a very premium lay flat business cabin. Food on Turkish is excellent, catered by the famous DO & Co, who does the food for all of the high end airlines. Beats three hopping through JFK on Singapore and having to book separate awards.
Jan 27, 2016, 6:13 pm
#7
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It is possible to book through KrisFlyer, it will actually be a little cheaper than UA miles. Do you have any Amex MR points? The best value is ANA or Aeroplan.
Jan 27, 2016, 10:54 pm
#8
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Jan 28, 2016, 7:20 am
#9
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You can transfer AMEX MR points to ANA and get a round trip on Turkish for 88k total in Business class, but ANA requires a round trip (so both award flights must be available to book it). If you prefer to book two one ways in the event that both award flights aren't available at the same time, a transfer to Aeroplan will get you the same flights for 115k total round trip (two one ways). I have never done an ANA booking, so someone with more experience there may be able to weigh in if there are any routing restrictions I've missed, but ORD-IST-ATH on Turkish can be booked easily and directly on the Aeroplan website, and best of all there are no fuel surcharges.
Jan 28, 2016, 8:59 pm
#11
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,567
Something to consider if you decide to fly from ORD, rather than JFK, is the fact that TK departs at ~9 pm, and with the late arrival at IST, you won't make it to ATH until late in the evening. In contrast, most other airlines I'm aware of leave much earlier for their European destination, allowing you to be in ATH between noonish and early afternoon. It's obviously up to you whether you want to have a full day available before leaving the US or some time left after arrival in ATH.
Last edited by KLouis; Jan 29, 2016 at 7:57 am
Jan 30, 2016, 10:59 pm
#12
Join Date: May 2001
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All of my trips to/from ORD-ATH have been in Business Class.
I've done TK for ATH-ORD 2 times. One went well and the other barely connected. No lounge time.
I fear TK on modest 90 minute connections since when things go wrong at TK they go very wrong.
I'd hate to do a TK 90 minute connection again.
I'd hate to do TK for ORD-ATH since I want to arrive way before midnight!
My best trip ORD-ATH was through FRA on LH's 748i.
Next best was OS via VIE. But I liked the LH food and seats better.
I've done TK for ATH-ORD 2 times. One went well and the other barely connected. No lounge time.
I fear TK on modest 90 minute connections since when things go wrong at TK they go very wrong.
I'd hate to do a TK 90 minute connection again.
I'd hate to do TK for ORD-ATH since I want to arrive way before midnight!
My best trip ORD-ATH was through FRA on LH's 748i.
Next best was OS via VIE. But I liked the LH food and seats better.
Feb 6, 2016, 1:08 pm
#13
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Location: Florida
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Nobody mentions the amazing TK lounge at IST?
We once purposely scheduled a MXP-IST-YYZ trip so we could check out the TK lounge at IST.
Both TK's hard and soft products are very good though if it is a full flight, the service tends to be long drawn out as they serve every course with a tiered cart allowing you to pick and choose everything. When the flight is full, this takes up a lot of time to serve the whole cabin so you lose your sleep time because of that.
We once purposely scheduled a MXP-IST-YYZ trip so we could check out the TK lounge at IST.
Both TK's hard and soft products are very good though if it is a full flight, the service tends to be long drawn out as they serve every course with a tiered cart allowing you to pick and choose everything. When the flight is full, this takes up a lot of time to serve the whole cabin so you lose your sleep time because of that.
Jun 28, 2016, 3:23 am
#14
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Best Reward Flight to Greece
I may have asked this a long time ago but am actually going to begin the planning process now. Looking to hit up Greece in June 2017.
I have a ton of UR and MR. Also have a massive load of AA, KF, and Skypesos. What's the most luxurious award flight I can book from ORD to ATH? If necessary, I'd be willing to do JFK to ATH if it gets me a better flight.
I have a ton of UR and MR. Also have a massive load of AA, KF, and Skypesos. What's the most luxurious award flight I can book from ORD to ATH? If necessary, I'd be willing to do JFK to ATH if it gets me a better flight.
Jun 28, 2016, 3:35 am
#15
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Your previous post is here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/europ...sa-greece.html
There is no direct ORD-ATH flight so you will need to connect somewhere.
Most luxurious is probably EK F via DXB. Otherwise depends whether you want to connect on another ME3 airline, via PHL/NYC on AA/DL/UA or connect through Europe.
There is no direct ORD-ATH flight so you will need to connect somewhere.
Most luxurious is probably EK F via DXB. Otherwise depends whether you want to connect on another ME3 airline, via PHL/NYC on AA/DL/UA or connect through Europe.