I have miles with United (1K) & AA and points with Starwood (Platinum), Hilton, CLub Carlson, Marriott, Hilton, planning a 10-14 day trip to Greek islands. I don't know where to begin since the country is spread out and transportation means is by water for inter island.

This is our first time to Greece. Ideally we wanted to see Athens for 3 days and head towards islands like Hydra, Santorini, Mykonos, Crete and if possible depart from either Athens or from Cyprus. We are flexible and this is for 2014 anytime from June to September.

I see there are quite few SPG properties in Athens and very expensive ones in Santorini (Is there any other option to use points from other hotel chains?). How about accommodation in Mykonos, Crete, Hydra etc? Can we use points?

If we don't want to go through this process, do you recommend any travel tour packages? Can you provide more details?

I'm in the planning stages of a trip to Athens/Crete. I plan to stay at the Grand-Bretagne (SPG property) in Athens on C&P since it appears to be a good value on C&P for the dates I'm looking at. Then on Crete we are doing the vacation rental. Too many good, inexpensive choices compared to the resorts. Starwood does have the Blue Palace on Crete that is 20k points per night but I can get much better value using my points elsewhere.

Aegean is in the Star Alliance, as you may know, and is probably who you want to try to get to Athens/Crete with. You can get there on AA but it's not as convenient.

Lastly, I've used these websites a lot to help me out: www.greektravel.com www.athensguide.com

I'm planning a trip to the Greek isles that includes Turkey as well. Our plan is to fly one of the USA-IST non-stops (probably from IAH or JFK) on TK using UA miles, spend a few days in Istanbul, then book a cheap flight to Mykonos. From there we'll bounce around to Santorini and finally Athens. Flying home, we'll fly ATH-somewhere in Europe-USA.

I'm assuming with 1k UA miles you want to fly business or first. One of the main reasons we aren't taking direct flights to/from Athens is because US is the only *A that I could find flying those routes, and our trip won't be until 2015 meaning I would not be able to book with UA miles. I just looked, and that route is served once daily in the summer by an A330-200 (A332), so if you have locked-in dates you won't need to change, that could be a good option to/from Athens. If you go with TK, an option is to fly into IST on lie-flats and connect from there to some of the islands. I know some get *A flights from IST. Just avoid IAD-IST in biz...that would be most convenient for me but it's angled lie-flat and a very early afternoon departure.

As far as hotels, despite this being an awful sin on FT, I'm trying to stay mostly away from chains for this trip. However, if you do choose to go to IST on the trip, there are a number of chains. For Carlson points, both Radisson Blu Bosphorous and Pera look nice. I haven't read great things about any of the Hilton properties. If you have Hyatt points, the Park Hyatt and Grand Hyatt are both supposed to be excellent there, but the PH is supposedly out of the way.

In Athens, we will probably stay at the Athens Hilton on points to save the cash for the islands. I read that it is nice enough but nothing special. In the islands, I'm looking to visit at least one Grecotel property, most likely the Mykonos Blu. They have quite a few properties scattered throughout the islands but aren't affiliated with any US chains. I've read nothing but good reviews about their hotels.

I hope this is helpful. I'm jealous you get to go a year before me. Unfortunately work schedules don't allow for the 2 weeks we want to spend there until June of 2015.

I suspect you mean would not be able, because of US leaving Star Alliance?

Sorry, yes, that's what I meant. I've edited my post.

My family and I have now been to Greece twice, both times on *A business in June. First time we stayed in Boutique hotels, second time, just this June we stayed at Hilton, Holiday Inn, and Sheraton.

First things first, find a way over the Atlantic. This is the worst part. First time we flew ORD - IAD (UA), IAD - VIE (AS), VIE - ATH (AS) stop over 3 days, ATH - HER (A3) destination 5 days, HER - ATH (A3), ATH - MUC (LH), MUC - ORD (LH)

This second time we flew ORD- YUL (UA), YUL - ZUR (LX), ZUR - ATH (LX) stopover 3 days, ATH - RHO (A3) destination 6 days, RHO - FRA (LH),
FRA - ORD (LH).

I found each of these routings myself using various search sites and fed them to UA segment by segment for ticketing.

We stayed with points at the Athens Hilton, highly recommended especially if you can get the Executive Lounge. The Sheraton on Rhodes was lovely with 3 pools and a private beach.

On Crete we stayed at the Nymphs (you need a car and not for the faint of heart driving up a literal goat path - but oh so worth it when you get there), we also stayed at the Knossos Beach, incredible to have large patio overlooking the water in the evening.

Each trip was booked ~280 days out.

Not sure what other info you want or need. Fire away.

Wow, that YUL-ZRH route is a gold mine for LX business availability. Searching for two passengers, I found a plenty of days with Saver space 8-9 months out. 10-11 months out was Economy only. I'm not sure if that's a result of it when the space is released or that fact that it's prime travel season so LX holds it back.

It seems like business availability is at the 9 month mark or so. No more of the 330 days out. At least that has been my experience the last few flights we have had. We fly 3 and once brought my son's friend and even found 4 seats available. Now I do have to say that LX is not as nice as either LH or AS, but still infinitely better than coach. Also, I like the LX arrivals lounge in Zurich for breakfast.

Here's a promo SPG is running for 7 of their top resort properties, including Mystique in Santorini. You save 35% on award stays vs. the regular redemption rate (39k pts per night vs. 60k pts per night), including 5th night free. Still need a good deal of points, but in case you do: http://www.spgresortredemption.com/

I was a little underwhelmed by LX J, but definitely prefer it over LH (haven't flown new J on LH though).

Also, think you mean OS (vs. AS) FWIW (AS = Alaskan, and I don't believe they fly TATL )

You are right. I do mean OS. I think AS because of AuStrian.

I'm surprised you prefer the LX J over LH J. I found LX very underwhelming. Service not as good. Seats hard as stone. Food OK, but not up to OS or LH. But, again better than Y.

Fully flat trumps all for me Followed by food and AVOD. Service is nice, but it's pretty far down my list. I thought the food was pretty good, haven't tried OS yet - but am eager to based on all the trip reports I've seen.

The GB keeps dropping in category because it's on Syntagma Square.

Customer satisfaction suffers when tear gas blows through the building.