Chr04

unusualtravelblog

Oh snap. With A3 Gold we all have access to the LH lounge but that small lounge will quickly overflow if A3 lounge is closed!

fil_87

Finally! Hope they will match the amazing look & feel of their new extra-Schengen lounge.

Knobbgb

It was only renovated about... well, I was going to say one or two years ago, but Covid has messed with my perception of time - it was about 4 years ago I think. It didn't really seem like anything was necessary yet. It was closed for a couple of months and A3 were using the lounge next door (Servisair, Goldair or something) which was better than nothing but VERY crowded. This was in the period where all domestic flights had Olympic flight numbers thus not allowing access to the LH lounge either.

I'm glad that my upcoming trip (next week) is extra-Schengen. I haven't visited the new A-Gates lounge yet.

giorginho

Crap.... There goes our lounge visit I counted on in 10 days time ​​​​​​.
The LH lounge will not only be full, but it also completely lacks lavatories ​​​​​​.
I'll ask if they can offer access to a different lounge, otherwise I'm filing a complaint this time (unlike when I missed out on the SKG lounge a year ago due it too being closed).

headingwest

In the LH lounge now, and it's completely packed. Even after renovation the Aegean lounge will be too small.

Xandrios

What lounge alternative does A3 offer? The LH lounge will not suffice (much too small). Do they partner with Goldair or others?

giorginho

Chr04 do you mind sharing the source of your information/screenshot? I tried the "i" while searching for a business class ticket out of Athens, the "news" section, the "lounges" section etc. on Aegean's website, but can't find it.

Edit: Gave them a call just now. Lounge closure confirmed (though I heard something about "from Wednesday the 12th"), current information is that vouchers for the Goldair lounge will be handed out to gold members. How much of the traffic this will help accomodate, honestly I don't know (never been to the goldair lounge, just haven't exactly read the best of reviews in here), but at least they thought about it and didn't leave it up to the LH lounge (which would have probably ended in a s$&tstorm for them).

Xandrios

Thanks for calling in. This will be a huge mess. Reason being that, especially during the peak hours the Goldair lounge is already packed to the brim. To the point of them refusing pax as the place is often too full. And that's with just their 'regular' customers (priority pass and non-*A airlines). The only thing I can imagine is that they would fully deny Priority Pass from entering (Those can also use the inferior Skyserv lounge), leaving Goldair for partner airlines (plus also A3). Still - it would be a very tight fit. I would not be surprised that during peak times they will have to refuse people at times.

It would probably help if Aegean offers a cash voucher as an alternative, for example at check-in. Getting a 10-15 euro voucher may just be enough for some people to decide to get a coffee and snack at any of the regular shops rather than entering the lounge. Having said that, I don't believe A3 has previously done this (other airlines have) and I doubt they will now. Not trying to be too negative here but I would expect them to have lounges fill up till capacity, deny access to anyone additional, and just apologise to anyone who complains.

giorginho

Yes, by the looks of it the Goldair lounge has less than half the real estate (and probably even less seats than half of those) of the Aegean lounge. The phone agent sounded quite hesitant about handing out that information (or was perhaps surprized by my question), as if he was thinking to himself "how did you hear about this, we just got the memo this morning?" and as if he implied that this is potentially not the final counter-offer Aegean will be making during this period, but rather the very first plan to be put into effect (unless he actually had no clue and just gave me that info based on past experience, which I hope wasn't the case). Not that I got any vibes that there's certainly more to follow, just saying how it sounded.
One positive side I see is that we're talking about much of the timeframe being considerably off-season, so traffic won't be as bad as during summer. Hopefully :P

Chr04

At some point they were renovating SKG lounge, and they offered a voucher for KLEA that you could get a pie or sandwich plus coffee plus water.

nieszprot

There is already info on the A3 website

Does anyone know if it is possible non-Schengen area with BP for intra-Schengen flight?

747jetter

They need to find bigger space. Totally packed between 12pm and 1pm today, people standing…slow table cleaning. Such a shame when the lounge has above average food. LH did not accept me, totally full.

Arrivals

Yesterday morning, the lounge was packed (in my eyes it could have accomodated a few more pax). They sent away most of the incoming guests handing out vouchers for the goldair lounge. I remember that the A3 lounge was closed some time and I think they handed out vouchers for the shops, but I'm not sure as it was quite a long time ago.

romans

I always have luck for LH lounge, this morning fine again