CG

Most airlines allow bookings 330 days out, but I'm unable to book a July 2015 ticket and appear to only be able to go as far mid-March. Do they have a shorter time period, or just batch their later flights in sometime later in the year?

DELLAS

..........

MidnightLight

You're looking for Aegean's summer schedule (April to October), which they generally release around October the year before. So you'll probably have to wait another month or so.

Also, they usually release their winter schedule (November to March) around April.

sokolov

Ye enlightened A3-fans,

when will A3 flights beyond October 24, 2015, be released for booking? Or when have winter flights been released in recent history?
TNX

NWIFlyer

Mod note: this post was moved from a standalone thread. Please post a revised answer to sokolov's query if more up-to-date information is available. Thanks.

NWIFlyer

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.

NWIFlyer

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!

johnirvine

The norm among Star Alliance airlines is to allow booking up to around 355 days in advance. Running booking schedules of less than 200 days in advance means that Aegean cannot participate effectively in code-share operations or RTW schemes. For sure, it reduces their revenue - this week, I booked three LCA-TXL tickets for Nov/Dec on other airlines that would otherwise have gone to A3.

KLouis

You still didn't explain how you jump to the conclusion that A3's maintenance schedule for its planes is compromised by the fact that you can't book a flight with them for Nov-Dec.

NWIFlyer

I think you have to balance this against the shifting nature of A3's route offering - they are opening up many new routes without really expanding the fleet (the OA planes largely just serving the destinations they always did), so by implication something has to go to balance the available fleet inventory.

That would be a very sound financial reason not to sell tickets so far in advance - pulling a route to introduce a more profitable one is good business, but not if you've got to pay to re-route already booked passengers on other carriers when you cancel their flight, aside from the public relations disaster of doing so ...

johnirvine

If you re-read what I actually said, you will see that I did not actually jump to any conclusion. I said `given the current disorder (evident in scheduling) and also within the M&B Program, one is left wondering whether ..... Organisations which have problems in one sphere of their operations frequently have problems in others.

NWIFlyer

I have no wish to start to argue semantics over what was intended by whom, however clear or otherwise anyone believes the implication on maintenance was.

This could be an interesting discussion on how A3 sells and markets its flights against a changing route map given the different selling period compared to many other airlines. Let's please now try and restrict ourselves to subjects that fit that topic more closely in this thread.

Thanks

NWIFlyer
Moderator
Aegean Miles&Bonus

johnirvine

If you look at the organisational management literature, you will see that problems frequently arise when firms try to expand too quickly without setting in place the administrative, engineering and IT systems necessary to operate at a larger scale. Additional planes will surely be needed to operate A3īs rapidly expanding LCA hub. I do not accept the argument that Aegeanīs current opening up of new routes justifies the fact that they can`t get it together to offer a flight program allowing booking up to 355 days in advance. TK is expanding even more rapidly and they have no such problem.

NWIFlyer

TK is, however, operating in somewhat different markets to A3 - it already has a more extensive route network and several wide body long-haul planes.

It would probably now be extremely difficult for A3 to make substantial inroads into those type of long haul markets - so it looks like they're concentrating on a European route network, building steadily and within their means and capabilities - perfectly sensible, and a good way to manage free cash flow.

That, in turn, might mean that there's really no need to offer bookings further out than 6 months - intra-Europe bookings are mostly done a relatively short time ahead compared to long-haul, so A3 may not see the need for anything else.

I'll agree it's unusual not to offer 355 days plus, but not unique. What does FR, now a fairly direct competitor to A3 on domestic routes, offer?

johnirvine

A study reported on www.cheapair.com found that the median date that airlines open up their booking is 331 days in advance. If so, A3 is way out of line. My guess is that Aegean`s short booking horizon is less likely to be a function of corporate strategy and more the result of deficiencies in IT and scheduling capacity.