Originally Posted by
the810
Out of my four flights with A3 so far I had a C/*G bus at BTS and once in ATH. Never on disembarking - they do police that C disembarks first (which is very appreciated when using jetbridge as pretty much no other European airline cares), but then you just wait there while they pack the bus with Y pax.
Originally Posted by
Tennen
What?
When getting a remote stand on arrival at ATH, I've never
not seen a dedicated J bus to take you to the terminal. Departing ATH is a different story, as I've never seen a dedicated J/*G bus; they
always pack the bus before heading to the aircraft. According to
Knobbgb , the arrival J bus is consistent but not 100%, and the departure J bus actually happens. I never knew! [...]
The dedicated bus on arrival is nice indeed, in part because it can help with tight connections.
I think one reason they don't consistently do it on departures is because C passengers may well arrive to the gate at anytime. They could still just do a bus at the beginning for the C passengers accumulated as boarding begins, but I can understand why they don't.
Originally Posted by
MeltingAlf
Given the Greek market profile this would actually be disastrous.
Beyond the fact that Greek income levels wouldn't be high enough to do so, one of A3's main challenges is to keep the planes as full as possible in the winter seasons where demand is much weaker.
They don't need to rely on spend itself. The planes keep itself full in the summer months; and they are probably happier letting each summer tourist pay 400 quid for a single to Greece and not providing the relevant frequent flyer benefits than otherwise.
Is it possible they could also segment based on country of residence (or rather address of M&B profile)? Some carriers offer a lower set of requirements for certain domiciles, Some even offer an entirely separate program to sidestep optical issues. I don't want to give them any ideas, but if A3 were to mimic these others carriers it would allow them to raise the requirements in M&B for say, non-Greek residents, while allowing Greek residents to retain their privileges. In a way, the optional segment-requirement is somewhat of a "residency-carve-out" but they
could segment further.