nldogbert

Wow, did not see this coming at all - but A3 is going to start a seasonal service from Eindhoven airport - and this is even with Business class service.
Looks like the service will be for the summer period from 23 June until 27 Oct - though it's only 2 flights per week, Thursday and Sunday.

Source

Hope this will be successful for them - and they will return next year.

Cheers!

Xandrios

Thanks for posting. The fares are reasonable (from 99 euro roundtrip without discounts), the schedule is a little more tricky (for me at least) as the flights back to ATH are evening only. I imagine that Aegean chose EIN as expansion at AMS is very difficult nowadays. Hopefully this will take some of the pressure off the AMS flights nonetheless.

Unfortunately summer only. For me personally its too late as I've booked pretty much all my travel until November already. Due to crazy demand this summer I've booked early. Fares are going through the roof!

Edit: oh and most flights currently seem to have I-class availability. So this is the time to apply those upgrade coupons..!

powergean

until oct 27. Is not ,,summer only" :-)

Xandrios

Yes it is. IATA Summer schedule begins on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Saturday of October.

jerry_greece

Doh, I booked the CGN flight was on offer for my August return to Western Europe but it seems that EIN would be a good choice as well. Let's see, if demand is good enough that they keep it also on winter, maybe a bit like Transavia does (few flights in November and then they add more for the christmas period) and they stop it after Jan/Feb till they restart in the summer season.

Let's see if they make a deal with the newly opened Aspire lounge (currently closes at 4pm)

giorginho

I believe the general assumption often expressed here is, that these new 2022 destinations are served by jets originally planned for the Russian (and probably also the Ukrainian) markets, so if their schedule was already seasonal, then it's probably unlikely that they will remain active in the winter.

Yreal

Somehow vouchers dont seem to be the best value here

nldogbert

Yes, from AMS indeed. However A3 being A3 to a certain extend, they really know how to limit those use of coupons at busy stations - I lost a coupon (again) this year because they were stingy to release any I inventory from AMS even for early next year. I managed to use up 2 of them for a trip early next year to SKG from DUS. AMS used to (few years ago) easy to use, but recently it's just impossible. At least they booking far in advance J-class prices are quite reasonable taking into consideration the miles received.

Cheers!

irishguy28

The 50% sale couldn't have come at a better time; I almost booked a trip on this route last night.

I booked this morning for a Flex ticket cheaper than last night's Light fares, and have now applied my upgrade vouchers. It's actually the first time I have ever managed to use any A3 voucher!

Xandrios

I-class inventory out of AMS has been limited indeed. Until recently I've found that if you book ahead - usually - you were okay. I've never had any issues in the past using my vouchers, and often gladly used the ones from friends and family as well. I've never used the waitlist and always upgraded beforehand.

However at this time I indeed struggle to find anything even for Jan/Feb. This is not a matter of flights having already been booked (As almost every single flight still has A2 (business class discounted) meaning that they are hardly being booked full at this moment), but rather of Aegean reducing upgrade availability on the route artificially. Unfortunately that seems to correlate to the fare pricing as a whole: The AMS route is more popular than ever, prices are way up, and they are limited in the number of flights they can operate. I don't think that them removing upgrade availability will make much of a difference, but they obviously do seem to think so. No I-class availability at all for Jan/Feb from AMS, while there is plenty on the (much less popular) DUS route (I4 on almost all flights!).

I guess one solution could be to book DUS instead. Maybe later in the year AMS I-class availability will open up. For me though the DUS return flight is kind of crappy on timing (Too early departure from ATH) so one way or another I'll have to fly to AMS. I guess I'm going to wait a little more with booking for winter. Who knows, maybe we'll have a better view on the next apocalypse by then as well

AlwaysFlyStar

Just noticed they seem to have extended EIN flights through the winter.

jerry_greece

Indeed, service will continue till begining of January (8th) and then they will restart end of March (summer season). Disclaimer is that if bookings don't go good, they won't hesitate to stop it early.

Xandrios

Awesome news! Happy to hear that, as it may be very useful for our upgrades since AMS offers very limited I class space.
Is this something that was stated by Aegean or an assumption? If one would be booked on such flight that then gets cancelled - what would be the best plan of action, would they allow a destination change to AMS? (Even though fares to AMS are more expensive generally). From what I remember Aegean is usually a little difficult with changing to another airport.

jerry_greece

Aegean would never state that, but it's a given for all "new" and/or "seasonal" destinations we have seen the last few years. Take for example all these new routes that announced for next summer. I am pretty sure that not all of them will make it in the end.

For your question: If A3 cancels the EIN service (we hope not, since it's conveniently in the afternoon), switching you to AMS would be very easy and i think it's the policy they follow. For example, last summer when they cancelled the PMO service (way ahead of its begin), they offered me either full refund or rebooking to another airport in Italy. I went for CTA.

NextWhiteDeath

They have to offer you options because of EU261. They just aren't on the hook for comp for last minute canx