LeisureFirst

According to expertflyer, I have a choice of flying on BA to ATH then taking Aegean or Olympic to JMK, flying the whole way on Aegean (still changing at ATH) or flying on BA to Bolgna and then taking Meridiana to JMK which sounds less fun.

Ba.com doesn't seem to want to sell me through tickets -does that mean I will have to get two separate PNRs if the main leg is on BA? Expedia throws up a number of unappealing alternatives including routings via Frankfurt or Madrid (as well as Athens) and the horrors of U2 which, although direct, I'd rather avoid due to limitations on luggage and legroom which I know I will hate as well as its generally loathsome customer service. It does all seem quite pricey - around £600 return which would get a chap (in economy) to Brazil and back.

RJLondonGold

Easyjet fly direct from LGW until the end of September.

BingBongBoy

Ooh! Pink paradise! Lovely place to go...

VC10 Boy

Actually, if you can get a group of six together, Netjets comes into its own. Yes it's expensive, but not prohibitively so, think full fare F to GRU.

And I know a fabulous little villa too.

dunk

LX fly via ZRH on certain days of the week but this requires an overnight in ZRH on the outbound. You can fly from LCY though and there are decent through fares.

hth

BA235

Do you have time to take the boat from Piraeus? I went last year via BA to Athens and then the Hellenic Seaways cat. It was all rather civilised (unlike the alternative EZY flight which I would pay good money to avoid if I could).

BA304

Air Berlin fly there from Munich if you want to stay with oneworld.

Swanhunter

....not yet in oneworld being the flaw in that plan!

BA304

Ah, that may be a slight problem then.

Lucifer UK

Off to super-paradise beach then?
Not been myself, but heard the ferry recommended by the Greeks in the know as the best and most civilised way to get there.

Betteronacamel

I first read this as:

Most pointless routing to Mykonos (from London)

As such I was looking forward to reading about routes via Siberia etc....

Expatbear

I've done that two years running, but friends always give me a hard time as it effectively makes a four-hour flight on EZY a two-day trip.

Last time I went out this way and back on EZY. Bearable as was with mates and we had a laugh and recapped the week on our flight home. But only *just* bearable.

LeisureFirst

I did specifically say that I didn't want to fly with them (I used the IATA code, U2, which is normally this board's standard, but for some reason everyone seems to have switched to the ICAO code of EZY: we're all going to be flying BAW and CPA next!). VC10 Boy's suggestion actually has more appeal. Not specifically Netjets, as such, but going privately. I know people who normally fly privately to IBZ and that actually has bearable direct commercial options.

LeisureFirst

I don't specifically need to stay with oneworld. But flying most of the way (to ATH) on BA has the advantage of knowing what I'm getting, and knowing that my advance seat selection effectively guarantees it will be an exit row seat (or CE). Even if not, the convertible seats on BA's planes have enough space to be much more bearable than 90% of shorthaul seating on aircraft generally.

Put another way, I'm reasonably content in ET on short journeys, but on any airline other than BA I'm scared to be in economy and avoid if it at all possible. (ATH is a bit far to count as a short journey, but the alternative isn't exactly Club World is it?).

Some shorthaul aircraft are so cramped that I actually get claustrophobia to the point where I'm visibly nervous to those around me. If I'd ever had to endure a full RJ-100 it would have been like that.

Cyba

I flew U2 back JMK-LGW a few weeks ago. I said: NEVER AGAIN! It was a horrid experience, not so much the flight itself as the 2.5hrs of queuing including 1.5hrs for check in. AND I had speedy boarding to supposedlly ease the process!

My recommendation would be to stick with A3 all the way unless you need the BA tier points. They have a very nice product, new, clean airplanes, great food and service and they have in-flight movies (at least in business, I think also in economy) and if anything goes wrong you're at least on the same airline. And *A miles if you collect those.

Hands down the most civilised option and they have great z-fares to boot if you can get them. The domestic leg will be in economy but it's only 20 mins flying (during which they offer you a drink and cookie! At any rate, i believe A3 offer the only through fares to JMK in either economy or business (unless you use exorbitant Iata fares).

NB: AFAIK, all the other flights to Europe are operated by charter carriers, or by scheduled carriers on a chartered basis. The ZRH flights for instance are operated by Edelweis. Not sure what that means but just good to keep in mind.