johnirvine

You are, in my opinion, far far too pessimistic. I flew from Heathrow this afternoon on A3601 to Athens and didn't encounter a single prying member of the police or border force. No-one, absolutely no-one, asked me why I was flying and I only had to show a Cyprus FlightPass and a passport to check in. The transfer at Athens was similarly smooth and the only problem on both flights was that all accessible *A lounges at both airports were closed.

Similarly, the two Aegean flights LCA-ATH-LHR that I took three days earlier were totally stress free. If I had not already requalified for A3*G, that would have been job done. All four flights were relatively full in economy and around half-full in business.

Let me also say that it was a delight to fly with Aegean on this trip. The new boarding system where economy window passengers are boarded by row first, followed by other economy passengers and then business passengers last, worked perfectly. This avoids the scrum that sometimes existed previously with Aegean boarding and I hope the new procedure continues post-Covid. The food and beverage service was also excellent - four course meals served on real ceramic with a choice of four wines, and dark chocolate was given to passengers near the end of the flight. Having flown twelve LH/OS business flights so far in 2021, I have a reasonable basis to say that Aegean are currently offering a superior service (although not better value for money due to higher ticket pricing).

Finally, concerning A3*G requalification strategies, I strongly believe that the Cyprus tourism market will start to reopen in late March/ early April. The epidemiological situation in the country is improving rapidly day by day. Consequently, MR trips booked for around April 15-22 should, in my view, work out and thus allow 4-sector requalification at a relatively cheap price.

NWIFlyer

You’re very kind trying to cheer me up a little, but of course as a non-UK resident you actually have a lot more freedom than me. I’ve never seen so much police enforcement activity around enforcement as in the current lockdown - it’s definitely gone from persuasion and advice to something rather less understanding, and the really pernicious stuff (in the context of being able to travel, and having to justify it) doesn’t come in until tomorrow - you got out in time! We really, really don’t know when the government will lift this - the goalposts move regularly - and what you saw when leaving probably wasn’t indicative of what’s to come.

If it really were just the UK imposing this level of restriction on travel then I’d understand A3 deciding they couldn’t make an exception, but the issue is widespread across Europe and further afield. We’ve seen in this thread that Belgian residents face similar issues. Greece itself locked down hard again in November - that in itself scuppered my re-qualification because I had OA flights cancelled. Many countries have closed their borders and continue to do so. It’s not so much that places will be open, albeit with the Kent variant the UK has become the pariah of Europe and as a 3rd country it’s going to be much easier for countries to just say “No” to admitting us, it’s that we simply can’t move around. Greece and Cyprus may well be open in April, but I very much doubt I’ll be able to leave the UK to get there.

Of course it’s A3’s commercial right to do whatever it feels is best for its business. Equally, it’s for all of us to decide if the airline, M+B and *A combination remains the right fit for us with reduced status. For me, it likely won’t be - I’d not make a rash decision, but the very high likelihood is that I’d concentrate my spend on BA, who’ve treated me very much better. That would mean burning the mid hundreds of thousands of miles in my household account, which in itself would cost A3 cash - something much more valuable to them at the moment than a liability on their balance sheet.

It’s not about punishing A3, it’s doing what’s right for for me in the medium and long term. I’m sure I can live without A3, and they without me. Individually we can all say that, pretty much. Collectively the picture is less rosy for the airline.

GVA

My status expires in April 2022, so not really concerned yet about A3 not extending status.

That said, Aegean's actions are leaving a bad taste particularly because I see the measures countries are putting in place (pretty much no travel outside your own country - if you're even allowed outside your own door). It's pretty obvious now that new variants are the second part of the war we're in and that in itself isn't at all compatible with travel. It seems quite doubtful governments will agree to see their residents fly off to Greece over the summer holiday - especially considering that people who are vaccinated could still catch a variant and/or just be vectors of it - quite possibly this mess could go on until mid-2022.

I really wonder why Aegean is taking so long to extend status by another 6 or 12 months. People not traveling right now is literally costing them zero and some sort of a promotion could be drawn up to incentivise those who can fly. Other than annoying previously loyal members and ensuring they don't return I really don't understand Aegean's position.

KLouis

I was glad when I read johirvine's post: finally a positive touch! But then the next two were competing ofor the most pessimistic outlook. Let me very briefly describe my own thoughts about the future, and I am very much aware that many will disagree with me. Still, my opinion is not only based on my (generally) optimistic nature but also on my line of work (before retirement).

Mankind has gone through lots and lots of mega- or gigadisasters, all of which sooner or later disappear from every day life (e.g. wars, epidemics, economic crises, you name it). I don't know whether I'll be around to witness the "end" of the present C19-linked world-wide semi-chaos but I can list several cases of recent epidemics and, even, pandemics that other than their individual victims or professionals involved nobody thinks of. For instance, do you read anything about AIDS in your newspapers? Still, that disease killed ~700000 in 2020!

Things will get better, no doubt about it, but whether this will be in less than a year as many predict or in 2-3 years, only the Oracle of Delphi would dare providing an estimate...

NWIFlyer

Would she be at all interested in a position with one of the science groups advising various governments in Europe? .

It’s certainly true that none of us knows how long this will last - although I think we can be confident it’s not all going to magically unravel by April and most probably May!

headingwest

I agree with a lot of what you say, but I think AIDS and Covid-19 in this sense are very different. In the Western world most people can avoid AIDS by practicing safe sex, but Covid-19 is something that you can pick up at your local supermarket. That, understandably, causes a lot of fear and it's no wonder that some people will change their holiday habits. It is true to say that the majority will have to learn to live with it, but things will not be going back to normal anytime soon.

Carpacchio

This - and the fact that AIDS seems to be "manageable" in a way today that it doesn't congest the hospitals and ICUs, which seems to be the real major consequence of Covid.
The deaths (albeit significant) are in the range of other more "accepted" causes of mortality (AIDS, flu, cancer, car accidents, etc etc), so a different handling approach shouldn't be required.

johnirvine

EC140 leaves Budapest-Keleti at 08.40 each morning and reaches Wien Hbf at 11.21. There are three non-stop trains each day which take only 2 hours and 41 minutes. So Powergean is not too far out in his claim although, as he says, it will not be possible for him to work during the journey.

powergean

I did it, was no problem at all!

headingwest

Yes, but then you have to get from Wien Hbf to Vienna Airport, it's at least another 20 minutes. So a minimum of 3 hours in total.

yauee

Agree things will not be going back to normal anytime soon. we can't turn back time, we can't expect other government have the ability to do the like of Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand government doing. As a results of low casualty low spreading.

headingwest

Big schedule changes folks. Since yesterday I have noticed that 4 of my flights have been cancelled, and another 2 with schedule changes.

How on earth can Aegean expect people to requalify for status without having to book unnecessary flights to/from Greece!?

yauee

Likely will ask this question after 24/5/2021. Last A3 metal was 450 days ago.

IIRC they do have options to requalify without flight to/from Greece?

headingwest

Yes true, but you would need 24,000 miles instead of 9,000 miles, if you can't get the 4 A3/OA sectors.

NWIFlyer

Which - for most leisure travellers in Europe, with long haul closed off and generally very poor earning intra-Europe even when travel was possible for a few months - isn’t at the impossible stage but certainly extremely difficult and impractical.

There’s a UK announcement due on the predicted roadmap out of national lockdown. The general expectation is that foreign travel won’t be permitted until after May, so if that’s what emerges then it’ll be time to write to A3 pointing out my failure to re-qualify was due in large part to their cancellation of flights, having made just about every effort possible on more than one occasion but been prevented by legal travel restrictions. The flight cancellation was outside A3’s control as Salonica airport was closed at very short notice, but if they hold that up as an excuse then it’s certainly a very one-sided view of the relationship.

If in the circumstances they don’t extend then they’re really no longer the sort of airline or alliance I want to give business to, that’s the bottom line.