hugolover

We will just have to agree to disagree.

Dover2Golf

hugolover, doesn't A3 get a name? ;-)

yurtripper

Maria would probably make most sense, being the most common, but I think I prefer Eleni.

Anyway, this is Hugolover's territory so I will let him decide

unusualtravelblog

Breaking news:
Just saw CAI-ATH fares for 467� RT, same price as EgyptAir. As it is a red eye flight you even get an amenity kit with Aegean!

East_and_West

Or perhaps MA3? Reading it in Greek sounds kind like Maria

johnirvine

Aegean still do not get it with the pricing of business class fares. Even the dimmest employee in their revenue management section must surely understand that, in the early period after flight lockdown ends, it will be necessary to fly with middle-seat blocking in economy class. Business service will also likely be curtailed, with meals pre-loaded using single packaged trays (similar to kosher meals). As a result, the price differential between economy and business class will clearly need to be reduced to attract customers, at least up to late summer this year. LH Group understand this well but of course Aegean are again behind the curve. Yesterday, I tried to book a return business class fare from LCA to BER for May 29th - June 4th (the earliest dates that I believe flights will operate). Aegean demanded a whopping €946 while Lufthansa wanted only €378! Since at present, I am only willing to sit in seat 1A or 1F of intra-European flights (wearing a mask and gloves), the Lufthansa fare makes it economically viable to do this. I would not give Aegean a cent of taxpayer's bailout money unless they first learn how to take better advantage of market opportunities to earn their own money!

giorginho

HUABL...

johnirvine

And the meaning of this acronym........? Please be so polite as to spell it out.

Xandrios

The 300-something euro LH fare is not something special though. It's the typical promo business fare (P class) that seems to have availability for your dates. A3 obviously does not.. But perhaps their cheaper business fares (A class) simply have been sold already.

You cannot judge pricing without knowing the load factors. Aegean very well may have fully booked flights for summertime when we would be able to travel again... While LH may not have. Or it may just be on those specific flights that you looked at. Keep in mind that the difference between a cheap and expensive business fare generally is only a few seats being sold.

The economy middle seat empty thing is very unlikely to happen. It happens now on the very empty flights, but, once restrictions are lifted and flights are booked full I don't believe this to be the case. I very much doubt that any European airline will actually offer such seat blocking for all economy class passengers over the summer. They will do their best to keep middle seats empty, but if they can sell more fares - they will.

johnirvine

I fly two 4-sector returns in LH-Group P class every month and therefore am very familiar with both their prices and availability. The normal cheapest P fare from Cyprus has been rather more than €378 over recent times and I believe that LH have reduced their prices. In addition, LH has specifically notified passengers that they are trying to keep middle economy seats free. I am expecting some governments to impose such a restriction for flights during the remainder of 2020. Please check Expertflyer and you will see that almost all A3 business seats from ATH to TXL are available for I class bookings - their very high business fares appear little to do with load factors.

Dover2Golf

Why do you bother checking Aegean fares?

If an airline disappointed me as much as Aegean seem to disappoint you I would just take my business elsewhere permanently.

johnirvine

Only the fares disappoint me, not the service. Every time that I book a ticket, I compare the LH-group and Aegean fares for the dates I want to travel (which are always some time in the future). Having done this perhaps 100 times, I have yet to find even once a lower A3 business fare on the route LCA to TXL: Aegean are simply uncompetitive if you want to fly business. With economy, the situation is different and A3 often has very competitive fares during the November to March period.

KLouis

In other words, it looks like the "the dimmest employee in their revenue management section" put down 2+2=4 and decided to keep business to a minimum number of seats because, I assume, they make more money this way!

irishguy28

I don't understand why you keep returning to this topic. If you like Lufthansa's price, then fly with Lufthansa.

It may have escaped your attention, but most airlines are currently serving the same "meals" in business class that are offered in economy class. Referring to meals, etc, as justification for the price of business class - in your context, that this should lead to a reduction in price - is not likely to ever be borne out in reality.

On the basis of everything you've written in this thread, you should move all your business over to Lufthansa, and never again darken the door of Aegean.

irishguy28

A better strategy is to become an infrequent flyer; in the current circumstances, there should only be a tiny minority of people who genuinely have an essential need to travel frequently (and the vast majority of those are, I hope, the people required to operate those flights!)