Hey all,
I've got an A3 itinerary (all A3 metal, no OA or anything else) with JTR-ATH (A3 369) and ATH-IST (A3 994) booked (separate tickets unfortunately, A3 didn't allow a mixed class itinerary), with a
1hr15min transit at ATH.
The JTR-ATH leg is a cash booking, and ATH-IST is an award booking.
Performing a dummy booking JTR-IST prices out the same itinerary so A3 certainly seems to believe it's a legal transfer, however that's for a single ticket/booking/itinerary.
The Y segment JTR-ATH does seem to have "ComfortFlex" fare rules (one of which is "Change to an earlier or later flight within the same day of departure"), so technically we can swap over to an earlier JTR-ATH flight on the same day (from a bit of reading, this "benefit" activates as soon as the day of the flight starts at midnight Greece time, or does it activate when online check-in opens?).
Questions:
- How are the A3 ground agents at JTR? Would they entertain a through check-in so baggage goes all the way to IST?
- If baggage is successful, what about visas? This itinerary is intra-Schengen to extra-Schengen so that's another friction point. As a result, would the procedures such as customs/visa checks etc (that would only apply for international travel) take place at JTR or would we have to wait till we get to ATH for this?
- Has anyone here done something similar and have any advice to offer?
This trip isn't until the end of June so there's about 2 months to go, however we want to be prepared in case anything does go belly up. Cheers in advance for any any all helpful info.
Happy travels!