Just so folks know (and they won't from reading the other thread) Olympic is a fine airline when flying C, especially if you connect through Athens. I have an Olympic FF card and they treat me very well. If you are flying in and out of the islands, Olympic is the way to go for international connections. My most recent trip was from Heraklion to Cairo with a connection in Athens. It was very smooth.

stimpy,

How is their customer service? It looks like we heard of one horror story that did not speak well for them. I have read other reports about a cavalier attitude to customers. How does their elite FF service rate vis.a.vis AA EXP or BA Gold for example? Any comments helping us understand their service better with comparative details would be great.

I agree 100% with Stimpy.

I have always found Olympic freindly and above all flexible. I don't have elite status with Olympic, but have never had cause to think they are any worse than airlines from other southern European countries (Iberia, Alitalia etc - both of which I prefer in Business Class to KLM or Sabena).

Specifically, I find seating, catering and in-flight care superior on Olympic, Alitalia and Iberia to KLM, Sabena or SAS.

Nick

Well folks - if I may add some comments...

I am an Olympic Airways Gold FF - the benefits I get from this, I have to say, are rather minimal.

Aside from lounge access (which I get anyway in Biz Class) - the only other benefit that I can use is the 'limousine' transfer between the aircraft and the terminal building (yes - a separate car picks you up rather than having to take the bus!!) - although I am not sure if I still get this now that the new airport has some air bridges.

Other than this - the supposed ability to make seat selection is the same in all classes, and I have never yet secured the seat of my choice, or been left in peace to enjoy the seat I selected (often I will be asked to move to allow the crew to have two empty seats at the back of the cabin).

I flew twice last year, long-haul between Oz and London. The food in Business was OK, but nothing special. All food is still served on plastic (hot food excepted), with the plastic wrap left on. There is no china whatsoever, except for glasses. I was only given salt and pepper shakers once, the rest of the time you have to open those little paper packets.

There were however a few benefits for choosing Olympic. The first of these is the seat pitch in Biz class which is 58 inches. Secondly, until the end of 2000, they allowed smoking on all flights, which I enjoy. Thirdly, the frequent flyer programme is reasonably generous - a return trip to Australia gives just under 37 000 miles (in Business with a 1.7 bonus). Two of these trips and I had enough for a return flight from London to Cairo, and then another flight Athens to Amman (this latter segment I combined with a free ticket from my parents from London to Athens - saving me �400 for the through LHR-AMM fare). Finally worth considering was the price - the fares used to be inexpensive from Australia (USD1650 Oz to Europe in C).

However, I have decided not to continue flying OA for three reasons in particular: the fact I can never get my reserved seat (as outlined above); that return flights to Australia (MEL) are routed via Sydney and that the only time I reserved a special meal, I was given an identical meal for both dinner and breakfast.

Anyway - to end on a positive note, my family recently travelled from Oz to Europe via Greece, and said that OA Y class was quite good - 34 inch seat pitch with personal TVs etc. Additionally they were allowed to reroute their ticket during transit in Athens so as to travel on a code-share service to their final destination, saving time by not having to take the train for the last stage of their journey.

(edited for grammar )



[This message has been edited by LHR/MEL/Europe FF (edited 06-26-2001).]

IMHO, the quality of an airline is judged both on its air and ground performance. For example, Air India's inflight service is excellent, but they are sadly let down by very substandard ground service. I personally will never fly an airline who cancels their flights, lie to you and dump you without accommodation when you are entitled for one.

Looks as though the equipment and fares are good. The shortcomings seem to be in service on the ground and the treatment of exceptions (some airlines treat any unusual circumstance as a passenger problem rather than them out).

I can go on and on about what I expect as an elite flyer at an airline. Premium seat selection in Y is a must (AA and UA both do this and most of their partners do). I fly in the last minute a lot and expect loyalty to be repaid with some perks. Recognition and "special" services are key. It seems to me that Olympic should be peered with second tier players rather than the top tier ones (OW, Star partners, NW/KLM, DL/AF).

I have found only the OW/STAR partners and a few others get the idea of FF program pioneered by AA. It is not just about giving some awards, it is about making your customer identify with your brand, take pride in it and look forward to flying with you. You find FF enthusiasts as you do Mustang fans, Mac evangelists or Sports fans. Run of the mill, "me too" programs such as Olympic's just do not seem to understand this key concept. (I am going by what LHR/MEL/Europe FF said above about Olympic and some other reported experiences)

I don't know about their customer service since I've never had a serious problem, but from my experience they treat business travelers quite well on the ground. Perhaps they don't treat coach and discount travelers very well, but that's the norm in southern Europe.

Olympic isn't part of a global alliance, so their FF program isn't especially good, but you can earn free trips.