Internal flights within Greece no *A recognition
Jun 14, 2016, 3:08 am
#16
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,567
RHO-HER is also one of them and there is certainly no competition from Ryanair or anybody else for that matter. Unless Sky Express flies the route too, but they a) don't fly it daily and b) they're usually more expensive than A3/OA.
Jun 15, 2016, 3:31 am
#17
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 775
As for inconsistency, other than LH and LX, here are four more of the *A biggies with their non-*A daughters:
SQ - Silkair (no *A miles)
TG - Thaismile, Nok air
TK - Sun Express (with Lufthansa!!!)
AV - TACA (yes, they still exist outside *A, I flew them last year)
Of course, you have the right to be unsatisfied with the service provided by A3 (I am, actually, rather satisfied, also my right
). But other than the statement that the majority of their FAs speak an incomprehensible English you really don't cite any real examples (by the way, I honestly think you're exaggerating as A3's FAs do speak much better English than most FAs at TK or TG). Indeed, A3's site isn't the best (but which one is?). Agreed, multi city is not a feature that works all the time (see the relevant thread for the explanation) and neither does open jaw, but since one-ways are usually 50% of the return tickets, this is not such a big problem. Finally, rather than complaining for shortages at *A, which really couldn't care less, you should point to A3 the problems that you've encountered. Who knows, they may be willing to improve things.
Now, back to the A3 flights operated by OA, but in reality by A3. It is a fact that, at first glance, this doesn't make much sense. Why should a flight ATH-CFU or RHO-HER be officially OA yes be flown by A3 metal? Clearly, this has nothing to do with the few miles that are saved when non-M+B *A frequent flyers don't get any. My guess is that, in contrast, this has something to do with the conditions imposed by the EU for the merger of the two airlines. Of course, I could be wrong, perhaps somebody who knows will let us know one day.
SQ - Silkair (no *A miles)
TG - Thaismile, Nok air
TK - Sun Express (with Lufthansa!!!)
AV - TACA (yes, they still exist outside *A, I flew them last year)
Of course, you have the right to be unsatisfied with the service provided by A3 (I am, actually, rather satisfied, also my right
). But other than the statement that the majority of their FAs speak an incomprehensible English you really don't cite any real examples (by the way, I honestly think you're exaggerating as A3's FAs do speak much better English than most FAs at TK or TG). Indeed, A3's site isn't the best (but which one is?). Agreed, multi city is not a feature that works all the time (see the relevant thread for the explanation) and neither does open jaw, but since one-ways are usually 50% of the return tickets, this is not such a big problem. Finally, rather than complaining for shortages at *A, which really couldn't care less, you should point to A3 the problems that you've encountered. Who knows, they may be willing to improve things.Now, back to the A3 flights operated by OA, but in reality by A3. It is a fact that, at first glance, this doesn't make much sense. Why should a flight ATH-CFU or RHO-HER be officially OA yes be flown by A3 metal? Clearly, this has nothing to do with the few miles that are saved when non-M+B *A frequent flyers don't get any. My guess is that, in contrast, this has something to do with the conditions imposed by the EU for the merger of the two airlines. Of course, I could be wrong, perhaps somebody who knows will let us know one day.
service reps on A3 is as good as many other airline call centers - I live in Greece ( not Greek) and if everything was as good as A3 this would be a fantastic place
ever think maybe we have the funny accent - try speaking Greek and tell me if they have accent
Jun 15, 2016, 6:53 am
#18
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: lounge next door
Programs: *A Gold / ST Elite+ / OWS / EK G / HH Diam. / MR Tit / Hyatt GLOB / IHG Diam. / SL Jade / GHA Tit.
Posts: 1,527
OA is not a star alliance airlines so i don't see the problem here... The same you can't credit OA miles on another star alliance program (exemple TK lists the flights with OA and mention that you can't credit).
Sounds logical anyway
Sounds logical anyway
Jun 15, 2016, 8:16 am
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 28,750
For example, if you try to book a ticket from CFU to ATH, whether operated by A3 or OA metal, you only have the choice of the two ff programmes for Aegean and Olympic. This is absurd, especially for flights operated by A3 and marketed and sold on the A3 website.
Does anyone know a way around?
Does anyone know a way around?
However, I suspect that the A3 website only allows the entering of a Miles+Bonus number when the flights in question are only available as codeshares on Olympic. In this case, the only FFP that can earn is Miles+Bonus. Therefore, there is no point in offering you the chance to add a different *A programme number - it simply will never earn.
Last edited by irishguy28; Jun 15, 2016 at 8:23 am
Jun 18, 2016, 8:22 pm
#21
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,567
When was that? All flights ATH-LCA offered through OA's booking engine are bona fide A3 flights, i.e. not even code-shared with OA.
Jun 19, 2016, 12:18 am
#24
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,480
If even that is being moved to OA, are we seeing the start of a situation where OA will be the domestic brand, and A3 purely the international one, in line with what TG have done with ThaiSmiles and SQ with Silkair?
In most situations, that would make sense - domestic prices are generally quite low, and you can see why the A3 group might want to control costs on those. Might the overall cost of servicing a *G with extra checked luggage and payment to their own FFP not be offset by the fee for lounge access (which in itself only applies to a few places)?
There has certainly also been no movement on combining the operating licences, or integrating OA into *A.
Nothing conclusive - but there is growing evidence something is afoot, for sure.
Jun 19, 2016, 7:25 am
#25
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,567
I just checked the November flights to/from HER. They're also "operated" by OA. Indeed, it seems like they're going to have OA as the domestic airline. let's see whether this will be followed by changes in M+B as well...