maa3

I'm looking into a flight that arrives into ATH on Delta from JFK and connects to Aegean to go on to LCA. Do we have to go through passport control and/or reclaim our bags in Athens? What's the minimum connection time recommended? If we happen to get through faster than expected will Aegean allow you to change to earlier flight to LCA (there will be 3 passengers 1 adult and 2 children)? The ticket can be booked with the DL and Aegean flight on one Delta ticket or as two separate fares on one PNR or two PNRs for less money if bags have to be reclaimed in ATH anyway. Thanks!

NWIFlyer

ATH is a very efficient airport, and I'd expect to transit it in comfortably less than an hour - in fact, more like 20 minutes on an extra-Schengen to extra-Schengen itinerary as yours is. Your route will be arrivals area-immigration-gate area. There's no need to collect your bags, and you'll depart from the A gates.

Of course, the minimum connection time will be set much longer so a protected single ticket will reflect that.

Europe does not operate a standby system, so you should expect to travel on the booked flight over to Larnaca.

CoHiba Gent

Hi NWIFlyer,

I have a similar scenario. I am flying on two separate tickets.

MIA - VIE - ATH arriving at 12:05pm. My connection from ATH - JTR on SkyExpress (yes I know not A3 this time) departs at 2:00pm. Is it possible in this time to pass through immigration, collect luggage, and make the departure? I should add it is two well traveled and quick moving adults.

Or should I simply plan on taking the A3 3:40pm departure (ATH - JTR) due to the prior time constraints?

Many thanks,

Andrew

NWIFlyer

Well, it's perfectly possible and indeed plenty of time if your incoming flight is on time. However, if it's not you might have a problem and you'll be buying another ticket because there's no way Sky Express - given it's one of A3's competitors - is going to move you for free if you miss the flight, and nor will you get interlining between the two. Given later available flights, I would personally be allowing more time to allow for IrOps, but it all comes down to your personal assessment of risk.

I have a similar situation where I'm connecting from Star Alliance to oneworld on separate tickets in ARN next month, and I have about 90 minutes between flights on an HBO basis. I have no other option because of available last flights, but I can assure you it's not something I'm doing by choice!

CoHiba Gent

Thank you for the swift response.

I think I will simply buy fully refundable tickets on the A3 3:40pm flight and cancel if need be. As cheap as they are it would be foolish not to.

Knobbgb

You mention clearing immigration at ATH but both your incoming and outgoing flights are intra-schengen so there is no immigration to clear. You will arrive and depart from the same gate area with no need to even re-clear security. There's no way you can plan for a delay on your VIE-ATH flight of course, but you will have LOADS of time if it is not delayed. Even if you deplane at a remote gate and take a bus to the terminal, you will be at your departure gate no more than 10 minutes after stepping off your incoming aircraft. ATH really is that efficient now!

EDIT: Ah, I missed the fact that you have to re-check luggage. In that case it will take a little longer - you need to exit, re-check and re clear security. Still no immigration and you should easily make a 1hr55 connection with time to spare for the lounge. I see where you're coming from though. I would probably just book the A3 flights and know I could relax.

NWIFlyer

It might be prudent for you to know that A3's definition of fully refundable is different to most other people's!

You will still have to pay an admin fee of, I think, €20 to process the refund. It's pretty well hidden in the small print, and rather a lot of people have been caught out by it.

CoHiba Gent

We changed itineraries and snagged a more direct route: (AA) PHL - ATH and (A3) ATH - JTR.

We have no checked baggage - only carry on.

In this case I presume we would need to clear immigration -- or not? The flight arrives around 9:10am and the departure on A3 is 10:55am.

LondonElite

Yes, you clear Schengen in ATH, then recheck. I see you've been warned about separate tickets!

GVA

I'd say doable but tight. An hour delay would leave you with 45 minutes to pass immigration and run over to the schengen gates and board.

Note that the AA PHL-ATH is on time 69% of the time with a 46 minute average delay. Based on averages this would leave you an hour.

The advice would be to OLCI the A3 flight and have your boarding pass available (printed or phone) to avoid any loss of time. Of course if your AA flight goes tech or is delayed by more than an hour you will most likely be out of luck.

CoHiba Gent

Thank you GVA.

I actually noticed when booking the ATH - JTR that it departs at 10:10am not 10:55 as I thought. The next departing flight is at 11:55am.

My idea is to book a flex fare for the 10:10am and 11:55am.

If I had great luck and made the 10:10am then cancel the 11:55am.

However, if I miss the 10:10am does a flex fare allow for me to cancel after departure? It's been hard to find this information. I believe I did see a cancellation fee, but can't discern if refund is possible after departure.

-Andrew

NWIFlyer

I believe not - you would need to cancel before departure time, otherwise you'd be regarded as a no-show. You'd probably get taxes back, but essentially they won't be worth claiming.

Given the cancellation fee on a flexible ticket anyway, I'd think it would be more sensible to just book two cheaper non-flexible tickets and throw one of them away, the cost of which you'll need to balance against arriving at destination a couple of hours or so later.

Arrivals

I agree to your advice! The cancellation fee for a domestic flight is 45 € (flex). The fee for reimbursing taxes is 20 €. You could also book two business flights and cancel one of them before the departure of the first flight.
So booking two light tickets is most probably cheaper. Or, of course, decide now.

makin'miles

Just a quick question:

On a TLV-ATH-JMK flight, all A3 and single ticket, will I collect my checked bag when I clear immigration customs in ATH, or will it be checked straight through?

I'm thinking of ditching the second flight, but before making any plans want to ensure that it'll be as easy as grabbing my bag and leaving the airport.

I see the Extra Schengen - Intra Schengen guide on A3's site, but not sure what it exactly means for bags, so a real world experience would be much appreciated.

https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-info...ng-passengers/

Thanks.

xichang08

In May we flew TLV-ATH-BUD on A3 and our baggage was checked all the way to Budapest.

The agent in TLV placed a Transfer tag on our bag so we were not required to claim it in Athens.

I do not recall being given the option in TLV to only check the bag to ATH.