Originally Posted by
johnirvine
I asked an Aegean agent today when it would be possible to book a LCA-ATH-TXL flight on October 31st. She replied that flights after October 24th would not be released until April. This is quite astonishing and means that A3 are sometimes offering a booking horizon of just over 6 months, which is probably not in accord with Star Alliance standards. To me, this indicates severe administrative problems within A3 - they are surely losing revenue from early booking clients. Given the disorder also evident within the M&B Program, one is left wondering whether their airplane/engine servicing division is being any better run.
Given A3's last few sets of financial results, particularly when set against a national economy which is still struggling (and that's as far as I'll take the comment and relevance before both move into OMNI territory), I would say that they manage their financial affairs very well.
I'm also not aware of any *A standard on how early tickets need to be offered - that is probably not one of the criteria for entry or continued membership.
What I would categorically say is that I would have no fear or hesitation on stepping on an A3 flight. A3 maintains one of the youngest fleets in Europe, suggesting that it invests in its planes, and the EU has very exacting maintenance standards for anyone flying in its airspace that it regularly audits. There has never been any evidence that A3 cuts corners on maintenance, or the prescribed extra fuel load against distance travelled.
If evidence can be produced such as detailed in this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...rs-safety.html
... then we might all sit up and take more notice!