Originally Posted by
AlwaysFlyStar
Do you not check in online? If the bags are tagged all the way through, why do you need to go to the counter? You can just take your boarding pass and go straight to the non-schengen area.
Also, I don't think I have ever seen gates close 20 minutes before departure on Aegean. They usually don't start boarding until about 30 minutes before, and boarding usually takes more than 10 minutes. So if your flight lands on time, you definitely should be okay.
However, that being said, I would highly recommend taking an earlier flight if possible, if only to be able to enjoy the new non-Schengen lounge for a bit. It is a nice space and since you are flying in business, you should try it.
Thanks for that! I'll check in online of course, however will the boarding pass of the ATH-IST flight be given at JTR (I thought the visa check and customs/passport control etc would be completed at ATH given that JTR-ATH is treated as a domestic flight?)? If we can get the BP at JTR itself then that would be wonderful.
Definitely will try to swap over to an earlier flight. At this point all the earlier JTR-ATH flights on the day have seats available, however as the date approaches who knows how that will play out. We'll definitely use that "privilege" of the ComfortFlex fare to get an earlier flight and longer connection.
Originally Posted by
NWIFlyer
Unfortunately ATH isn't the best laid-out airport for Schengen to non-Schengen transfers, and personally I wouldn't want to chance a 1h15 connection on separate tickets if there were other options. Last month I had just under that time on a single ticket transfer, SKG-ATH-LHR, we landed on time (actually slightly early) and I only had about 15 minutes in the lounge before going to the gate at about T-30. That was sitting in row 12 from SKG on a fairly full flight, but the plane emptied pretty efficiently so there wasn't a lot of delay getting out.
To get from Schengen to non-Schengen you have to exit to landside and go back in the departures stream, so another security check and then through passport control (you also get to experience the frustration when you arrive at non-Schengen security of being able to see the area you've just exited). I walk quickly, I know ATH airport reasonably well, so whilst I wasn't concerned about the transfer I equally never felt I had a massive amount of time to complete it.
You will be travelling at a much busier time, queues for security and passport control are likely to be longer so I would regard your itinerary as risky. Even if A3, as is likely, through-checks your luggage you still don't have protection albeit you'd gain a few minutes if they loaded your cases simply because no-one likes doing the paperwork and lifting to remove them from the hold again if they can avoid it.
On separate tickets, I'd want at least a couple of hours between flights, preferably more. If the most important part of the holiday is ATH-IST, I'd strongly recommend getting on an earlier flight if you can.
Thanks heaps for this - you're right that things can get tricky very quickly if anything goes wrong. We'll do what we can to jump onto an earlier flight on the day (any experience with using the "change to a different flight on the same day" feature in a ComfortFlex fare? Glad to hear you made your connection, missing ATH-LHR would cause all sorts of headaches.
Originally Posted by
KATERGOO
I will fly LCA-ATH-CDG next Monday with a 1h35 minutes layover in Athens. 1st ticket is an award ticket, second was bought with the Aegean pass. I am not super confident. If the LCA-ATH is let’s say one hour late, I can always change my ATH-CDG flight to the next day for free. If I miss the flight just by a few minutes I will have to pay for another flight, I guess.
Are either of those tickets in a "ComfortFlex" fare bucket? This fare bucket comes with a certain privilege which is quite generous (see "Change to an earlier or later flight within the same day For free" at
https://www.aegeanhub.com/-/media/ab...2b_for-web.pdf). I've never used it and have been searching for other people's experiences of using it, which hopefully will be somewhere within FT's database and forums!
Originally Posted by
KLouis
The chances of an ATC strike in the public sector (including ATC) one month after elections or, even, before new elections in case the ones coming up don't lead to the formation of a new government are less than 0.001% ! No reason to scare people, after all this is about flying A3 in Greece, not LH in Germany!
Haha, I love the subtle dig at LH in Germany - they must go on strike quite often?
Originally Posted by
Eurocity
I believe you should try to take an earlier flight from JTR, if possible.
If that is not possible, try to get a seat near the front door.
Gate closing time, according to A3 dragon, is 15 minutes before departure, so chances are not that bad, but connection is still a risky one.
Concerning luggage, A3 has a "quick transfer" baggage tag, so if you make them to check it to IST, it would probably make it.
But if they refuse, most probably you won't be able to make that 75 min connection at all.
Yep, we'll definitely try taking an earlier flight if there's availability and we can use that feature of ComfortFlex to swap over. It all depends on how friendly/understanding the check-in agents/dragons at JTR will be on the day. I'm guessing they're used to a processing a lot of international transits at ATH given the usual clientele at JTR so let's see...