GVA

There's also a cost and long-term commitment to building a new schengen lounge and entering into a lease. A3 is Goldair's largest customer at ATH, the deal is probably beneficial to both.

That said, if Aegean's main issue is lounge space at Athens then the recent changes in increasing Gold thresholds for non-A3 flyers and keeping Greek thresholds make little sense. You'd think foreign customers would actually be a source of revenue (if the operating carrier foots the bill for lounge access).

That has been A3's method for a while now. I'm not sure why A3 thinks 15/30/60 days notice is something they need to absolutely avoid. For all I hate Miles & More, at least they are now at something like 4-5 years advance notice for elite program changes (ok covid slightly changed things). With Aegean you never know when the changes will end, even if they announced something the previous day.

Woodbinerich

There are comparable situations all over. For the example AA don’t allow their golds to use the lounges on domestic US tickets but One World emeralds can use them freely. Same reason as here I guess .

nk15

Let's hope they don't do some big overhaul and go revenue-based. I am glad I have already qualified for next year...

Or devalue their miles, now that I finally got some.

unusualtravelblog

Was in ATH yesterday. Me and +1 are A3*G and my parents aren't. 2 extra aegean lounge dragons were outside in front of the door of the lounge to lead us to the mediocre goldair lounge. After an hour we left our parents to get some good food in the Aegean lounge and to my surprise it was packed, even with the new rule enforced. I asked the lounge rep if silvers can use their vouchers to enter the lounge (my father is silver) she said only to be used in SKG, LCA or extra-Schengen. Very unfortunate because my father only travels on ATH intra-shengen so he has no use of the voucher. To put things in perspective, not many airlines offer lounge access to silvers so it is still not bad, albeit it is always a pickle to let something go that you got used to.

Yreal

This. I never understood why lh would run a better lounge right next to a partners lounge at the partner's hub.

Phoenixtinct

I agree with you - the benefit to provide vouchers for lounge access for Silvers is a nice gesture but the benefit has to be usable. In my case, I have an intra Schengen flight in a few days and cannot use the voucher to get in. So, I'm hoping my Business Class upgrade clears, so the lounge access is no longer an issue. I have 4 hours between flights, so lounge access is absolutely necessary. For something less than 2 hours, I can manage without. Luckily for me, I should meet the Gold requirements in a few weeks and won't have to worry about it anymore. If there is a lounge space issue, sure Aegean should address it - I was very bothered they didn't even provided a full day's notice since my upcoming trip is affected. If my upgrade doesn't clear, 3-4 hours at the airport without lounge access won't be fun. By denying Golds the +1 benefit, I can't even wait outside the lounge and expect someone on my flight to guest me.

MeltingAlf

To be fair, I generally find that partner lounges (if available) at hubs tend to be better than the host lounges. Even Lufthansa can't match what Air Canada offers at FRA. Singapore Airlines seems to eke out Asiana and EVA at ICN and TPE respectively. And in oneworld, BA's offering at LHR T3 is so meh that QF, CX and even AA beats them there. A3 being beaten by LH (not by much, notwithstanding the crowds) at ATH is not that uncommon.

GUWonder

AA’s Oneworld Emerald status has never granted me access to AA lounge access on domestic US tickets, and I’ve tried and tried over the years and was why I went to BA Silver/Gold as a supplemental status to my AA status. AA Golds — which is AA’s base elite status level — get no lounge access from AA Gold Status. In that regard A3 Silvers even with these reduced use lounge access coupons are better off than AA Golds, Platinums, PlarinumPros and Executive Platinums.

Phoenixtinct

I think it's inappropriate to compare US loyalty programs to any others. They went revenue based a while ago, whereas Aegean's is still the old fashioned way - mileage based. Moreover, US loyalty programs offer complimentary upgrades but I think no other airlines do. As you point out, status on US airlines doesn't get you into lounges as they offer paid memberships, so the differences are quite a lot. Ultimately, highest status in US programs won't get you into domestic lounges, lowest status in Aegean's would - provided you still have vouchers left.

MeltingAlf

Just providing a data point, but I was travelling solo to SKG, got admitted to the A3 ATH Intra-Schengen lounge (their first guest of the day! ) and got 200 miles posted. So it seems to be universal regardless of whether you get shuttled off next door.

Additionally just wanted to comment on the passenger levels — I'm not sure if it's because 1) people are getting shuttled off to the Goldair lounge, 2) it's summer and many people on A3 flights now do not have status, or 3) A3 has more flights in the morning for domestic destinations during the summer — but I honestly feel the crowd levels are a lot more manageable now. There were a few spare seats around 7:30 when I left, and mind, I was doing the same route I did (LHR-ATH on A3609, then ATH-SKG on A3104) exactly three months ago to the day, and the other time it was so packed there were tens of people standing around hoping someone leaves.

I think also there is an element of underestimating who's in the lounge. To my surprise there were quite a number of silver tags (proudly placed on bags) at the A3 extra-Schengen lounge today (and I was there for 5 hours after they pushed me from A3117 departing at 1440 to A3115 departing at 1305), so I could see how there might be a sizeable amount of silver card holders in the intra-Schengen bit. Honestly, that would make sense, because if you're Greek or a Greek diaspora that has been on A3 forever, 8k miles + 2 A3 flights is really easy for the casual Greek traveller who has been on the program since the Blue/Gold era pre-Nov 2014. But getting from Silver to Gold (24k + 4 A3 flights) might not be easy in comparison.

Phoenixtinct

I find that interesting because according to the new rules, Silvers are not supposed to get in the intra Schengen lounge. As a compensation, they provided Fast Track vouchers.

My experience from few weeks ago (after the changes were announced) when I visited around 2pm is that the intra Schengen lounge was packed but I have nothing to compare it to since it was my first visit after the renovation. I think that's what other people have been saying, too - that around lunch time it tends to be quite busy.

In terms of the points, I can confirm as well. I got into the lounge because I was flying in Business but later on I found out I was credited miles as well. It seems like it's an automatic benefit and cannot distinguish between those who got in and those who didn't.

lio13

MeltingAlf mentioned that there were silvers at the extra Schengen lounge, not in the intra- Schengen.

MeltingAlf

Yup, it was at the extra-Schengen lounge which was actually quieter than I went in March!

Additionally since the last time I was in ATH, it seems like there are now C gates too, and these are mostly used by low-cost carriers. Where are the entrances to the C gates though, and is this a sign the airport is finally expanding?
It honestly sounds like A3 would have been able to secure a bigger lounge space much earlier if Fraport was in charge (like in SKG) and actually pushing with expanding. Shame we're having to deal with this lounge crisis at the moment.

Xandrios

Not entirely. Flew business on A3 (and obviously got access to the A3 intra-schengen lounge) and didn't get any miles. Didn't expect them, but its not fully universal.

MeltingAlf

Could it be because you're in Business?