giorginho

DUS-ATH
​Some of the published rules regarding boarding procedures did apply and others didn't. Passengers were called to board the aircraft not by "window-middle-aisle" seats but according to their rows (I think the order was something like 29-38 first, then 19-27, 11-18 and 3-10), business class boarded last. People already on board caused a few bottlenecks (and thus congestion) for reasons that to me seemed very silly, to say the least. Deboarding again according to rows (front and rear doors opened), multiple busses came to the aircraft so at least "some" distancing was possible in the busses.

Edit: About 16 hours post-flight and indeed like we previously discussed/assumed here my M&B account got credited with the miles for the re-booked class (Y), even though I originally only paid for a P fare (so I got around 60% more miles) 😊😁👍😎. Like I said, if you subtract all taxes and airport charges, I paid for the pure ticket + fuel surcharges about 12€ (including a payment method discount applied by the OTA) and got flown across Europe, was given a nice little snack and got 1558 status miles... 😲😳

freed0m

data point.
it took a whole month for miles back to my account after I requested refund as the flight was no longer operating. Tax and fees are still pending...

jerry_greece

I put it here as I could not find any other thread relevant:

the plusgrade offers for domestic flights start from 30 euro now and for my FRA-ATH flight I think it was something around 60 euro. Lowest I have seen.

flyertalker0039345

I guess the "service differentiation" for business has kicked in. And Flex now seems to offer free seat preselection for non-premium seats.

Alexandros Bravos

Lounge access for business class pax has also been added to the list of perks

It also looks as they have increased ticket prices. I hold a domestic business class ticket for August which has been booked in booking class C i.e. in the most expensive booking class available for this flight. When I tried to change dates it asked me for an extra of EUR 3 in order to rebook me in booking class C.

Xandrios

Interestingly, they now allow a 13KG carry-on for business class - rather than the 8KG previously. And in business one can bring the additional 'personal item' again.
While good for business class pax...it does seem to suggest that this means that the second hand luggage piece in economy would likely not come back.

jerry_greece

I am also not sure how strict they are with the only 1 item in cabin. I saw many people carrying a trolley and a backpack recently.

Anubis13

Although the pre-covid business was 2 hand-luggages one of 8kg one of 5kg and one personal item.

romans

was really sad to see a lot of people got angry because only one carry in bag per person during Boarding A3860 to Vienna (but lot of people had 3 and so on which is crazy).

Alexandros Bravos

Aegean started offering business class tickets in respect to its fleet of Q400s flying to Myconos (JMK) and Santorini (JTR)

flyertalker0039345

That is quite interesting! COVID-19 has made them explore new revenue possibilities. A3 flights to/from BEG used to be all-economy (JU offered business from the get go), but now Aegean has also started offering business class on BEG flights.

powergean

The same to Bud.

headingwest

Taking advantage of (exploiting!?) people's fear of catching COVID-19 by offering them the possibility to pay more to have the next seat empty. Quite clever really. Aegean knows that they have lost the vast majority of business travellers, so the are increasing the number of business seats available and reducing the fares. There are a lot of people who are very uncomfortable with the thought of sitting next to someone for 2+ hours on an aircraft, Aegean are probably hoping that they can claw back some revenue that way.

I was tempted to book the cheap MAD-ATH in J, but I can't bring myself to pay €100 for a flight featuring a snack in a bag!

giorginho

I've been reading comments regarding prices and service for quite some time now and it can't be just my own impression, that there are people here that are impossible to get a grip on. I've been comparing prices across half the globe and I still find Aegean's pricing to be on the very competitive end (it's only "expensive" if you're flying with a small bag or looking to fly high-season - "high-profile" routes, which can get ridiculously expensive, because they are always full and yet I still almost always find a way to get a cheap seat on these). So now they finally introduced cheapo-business fares (I can't remember flights over 1200 miles costing less than 300€ one-way in Aegean's business in the last 8 years, so those 100€-something tickets now are absolutely insane, included baggage alone normally sells for over 60€!) and even increased the miles earned for these(!), but no, because the 20€ meal is temporarily absent it's still not good enough. I guess a 100€ (including taxes!), 1500-miles long flight should also include a **restaurant-class menu, vineyard and coffehouse offerings, 5000 status miles, a lie-flat seat/bed and a chauffeur with min. 200km range (the list probably goes on...) to be good enough.
"Exploit fears"? Wow! As if they were suddenly making a gas mask mandatory and force-selling it on board or at the gate for 300€ or something... But only if the meal was there, visiting covid-plagued Madrid would suddenly be super-attractive.
Sorry if anyone feels insulted by this comment, but some kind of reality-check is needed.

headingwest

You're entitled to your opinion, giorginho, just as much as I'm entitled to mine. There's no need for the melodramatics!

I never said that €100 is a bad price. In fact in another thread I actually commented that it is a very good price. Although from my perspective (as a *G who always travels HBO and gets the benefits like lounge anyway, and doesn't need miles), it isn't with the current food offering an attractive offer for me. Perhaps you find that strange, others might not.

Regarding the exploitation remark, I stand by my original comment that Aegean is most probably taking advantage of people's fears by ramping up the J seat offering. That's not such an inconceivable thought at the moment, and if I was running a business where loads were well down, I'd also be trying to find ways of increasing revenue from the number of passengers that I already have (i.e. charges for standard seats, forcing people to pay more to rebook to a LOWER fare class!). I'm sorry if you feel that my comment is unfair, but I stand by it 100%!