Jma12

If your flight is operated by OA then you will not get any benefits from *A unless you are M+B Gold. Last time when I went over 8kg on my carry on, they let me check the baggage for free, not sure if it has to do with my M+B membership .

Xandrios

Exactly. And the booking page shows clearly that the flight is operated by Olympic. Technically your Milageplus status isn't worth anything on non-alliance flights.

Rendar

Except the information I got from Aegean when I booked a ATH-SKG flight said "Operated by Aegean" and if you go to Aegeanair.com and search for, say, SKG-ATH, they also say "Operated by Aegean"

So the booking page, in fact, does not state that it is operated by Olympic.

This just adds to the unclear situation.

Rendar

There also seems to be inconsistencies on various policy pages on Aegean's website.

For instance, if you click on "baggage allowance" while trying to book a flight with an OA number, the policy that pops up suggests *A Gold members get an extra bag.

Yet on the baggage page accessed through the website's home page, it notes that only Miles Gold people get that benefit on OA flights.

LASUA1K

The key here is the flight is "operated by Aegean". Thats what my ticket says. Since Aegean is a star alliance airline, I should not have to pay. Yes I raised a big stink about this at check in and yes, I still paid, but the "manager" on duty flat out told me in Greek, they have done this for the pure case of getting money on baggage fees. She told me for my 2pm flight to HER, that I was the 5th person with the complaint, I asked about upper management understanding that what they are doing is against Star Alliance Rules, and again she said in Greek, they know exactly what they are doing and are again doing it for extra revenue.

I paid for 4 bags which I had no idea when booking that I would have to pay. I'll make sure I spread the word and I'll make sure I never book Aegean again!

I have saved my receipt and I will be looking for reimbursement once I get home.

Key word, "Operated by Aegean".

Air Rarotonga

See you on a next A3/OA operated flight

Your ticket says flight no OAxxx and it does not matter who the operating carrier will be... Your ticket shows OA and OA has nothing to do with *A nor their benefits!

Same if you book OS flight no op by AF VIE-CDG if you're an E+ with Skyteam... OS will not bother about the ST benefits!

Xandrios

When you buy a direct flight ATH-HER it shows as an Olympic flight 'operated by Aegean', which means no miles applicable as the flight number is not *A.



Though I do agree that this is somewhat confusing as the Aegean logo is shown with the OA flight number.

When you purchase the same flight in connection with an international sector, it shows as 'A37xxx operated by Olympic':



In both cases it is not a flight where *A benefits would apply. The above screenshots are straight from the booking page.

No, the key is that the flight needs to be booked under Aegean flight number AND be operated by a *A airline. That is one of the main *A rules. Note that 'Operated by' is not the same as the logo on the side of the plane as these larger planes are simply (wet) leased.

Basically your ticket/booking confirmation says all; as per my two screenshots above.

LASUA1K

Star Alliance Page says if operating carrier is Star Alliance you get the benefits. And again, emplouees and managers admit, this is being done for the extra revenue on bags. It says nothing about flight number just says operating carrier which the screen shots above show as Operating Carrier. Defend them all you want.

Crazy in boarding they even say STAR ALLIANCE GOLD has priority boarding.

What a shame Aegean has changed ALL domestic flights to fake Olympic Flight Numbers.

And no, I will not fly this airline again to HER. I've opened up a case with Aegean for my money back. I booked Aegean, which cost more, and I ended up paying substantial more.

LASUA1K

Operated by Aegean on domestic flights. Star Alliance rules say it all.

mogulskiir

I recently flew A3 from FCO to HER connecting in ATH. The way A3 is ripping off Star Gold customers is ridiculous. Star Alliance should put an end to this as I bought my ticket on the Aegean website with Aegean flight numbers and there was zero difference in the aircraft, crew, etc. between my FCO-ATH and ATH-HER other than Aegean treating their own Gold members differently than star gold members on the short domestic flight. Maybe UA should deny A3 gold members Star benefits on UA Express flights or LH should deny A3 gold star benefits on LH regional flights?

Now if the aircraft said Olympic like the prop planes Olympic operates and the crews and pilots were Olympic then no problem that would be clear A3 is selling a partners flight on their site and Star benefits don't apply. This just isn't the case. How can you say a flight isn't a Star Alliance flight when the plane you fly has a Star logo right next to where you board, the mints they give you say Star Alliance on them, the cup you are served a beverage in says Star Alliance, the galley carts all have the Star Alliance logo, the pilots lanyards with their ID's have Star Alliance written on them. I could keep going but I think it's obvious what is going on here.

I for one will not give Aegean future business unless I have no other choice for the reasons above and also for the fact that my flights on them were some of the most uncomfortable flights I can remember because they keep the cabin too warm. Every other Airbus I've flown on when the engines start the air vents blow a reasonable amount of air, not on A3. Maybe it somehow costs them less to not cool the cabin.

I just hate being pinched for every penny. Typically I just pay for business or first but when I bought my ticket first was sold out on my FCO-ATH flight and wasn't offered on the ATH-HER flight. This would have been one of the few times when I actually wanted to use the Star Gold benefits and I was denied them by A3 for the domestic parts of my itinerary because of the games they are playing.

I have flown many Star carriers and really enjoyed the flights. A3 and Olympic not so much. Hopefully Star Alliance steps in and either makes Aegean either provide benefits on these flights or requires them to remove all Star Alliance logos from the planes and other items used on these flights as from a customers perspective this is nothing more than A3 ripping off Star Gold while still taking care of their own. That isn't what an ALLIANCE is supposed to be IMO.

RedChili

While I completely symphatize and understand the anger of gold members who were charged for a bag on OA flights, there are far worse examples within the Star Alliance network.

Looking at the Star web site, it actually says concerning the gold baggage benefit: "Some airlines do not offer this benefit on individual flights but only on connecting Star Alliance flights. Within Europe on "Light" fares offered by Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss and "Check&Go" fares offered by Brussels Airlines, the extra baggage allowance is not offered."

The flights that we're talking about here are flights where both the flight number and the operating airline are Star Alliance.

If Star Alliance should force Aegean to offer this benefit, they would also have to force other airlines to do the same.

First has been sold out for a very long time ... it's been sold out on all Aegean routes ... always.

mogulskiir

Please excuse my typo in the US on a two cabin plane the front cabin is typically called first so by habit that is what I wrote here. Business was sold out.

I agree with your comment on the other carriers light fares and don't think A3 is doing anything different with them regarding their light fares.

My issue isn't with the light fares not having a bag it's with the lounge access and extra second bag or additional weight allowance when buying a regular fare. I didn't buy the go light fare on A3 I bought the Flex economy fare. Being denied lounge, early boarding, business check-in and the extra second bag for the OA flights with A3 numbers, which doesn't happen on any other star carrier that I'm aware of when purchasing a regular fare is what I was making reference to being displeased with. Especially because I bought them on the A3 website with A3 flight numbers and flew on A3 and Star Alliance painted planes. My opinion is they are playing games and denying benefits to Star Gold's while making exceptions for their own members and to me that isn't fair and isn't what an alliance is supposed to be.

In the end it was a lesson learned for me and I will make future airline purchase decisions differently when traveling to the Greek islands.

NWIFlyer

I think your issue here is that there really aren't other alternatives to get to as many Greek islands as OA flies to. BA go to HER from LHR direct. LH probably have a few routes out of MUC or FRA, I guess (or are these now Eurowings?). FR offer a few options, but then you're most likely worse off than with OA, plus you can't even through ticket and get protection in the event of delays. There's the ferries, but they're slower and transfer is harder.

You might argue that it's the cause of what many see as sharp business practice - A3/OA has as close to a monopoly as is possible, so they can do what they like in a lot of cases. It's interesting that SKG was pretty much the last to go, where there is direct competition in the form of FR into ATH.

What I find most bizarre of all is that A3 is putting money into refurbishing the SKG lounge - which presumably is now going to be considerably less full given non-A3*G passengers no longer have access to it.

Knobbgb

Well there are actually quite a few direct routes and carriers to the more popular islands. Easyjet fly internationally from 12 Greek destinations other than ATH. As well as HER, BA also serve Corfu, Mykonos and Santorini from London. Alitalia, Iberia, Volotea, MEA, Norwegian, Germanwings and Vueling are just a few of the scheduled operators that I can see serving Mykonos and/or Santorini internationally today alone! In the summer there are many former 'charter' operators with scheduled flights from all over Europe as well as Israel, Russia, North Africa etc. directly to just about every island with a big enough airport. And don't forget Sky Express - they now have 14 domestic routes from ATH as well as many inter-island routes too. I get what you're saying in principal, but A3 hardly have a 'monopoly'.


It will be interesting to see what difference these changes make at SKG. I would suspect that, of all the non-A3 *G travelling to Greece, the majority are travelling either just to ATH or to the tourist hot-spots such as Crete, Rhodes, Santorini, Mykonos, Corfu etc. A LOT of Greek A3 Golds use those ATH-SKG flights - it's amazing how the ATH lounge suddenly almost empties when those flights board.

NWIFlyer

Fair point that - although presumably the frequencies on lots of those routes are not as extensive as OA? I think many of BA's routes are seasonal as well, although for most tourists that probably doesn't make any difference.