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This trip was taken on October 29 of last year on Aegean Airlines’ seasonal flight between Athens and Zagreb. It includes a short review of Aegean’s relatively new business lounge at Athens Airport, as well as the economy class service from Athens to Zagreb which also included a complimentary meal. Enjoy!
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Does that flight still exists?
ReplyDeleteOf course iit does.
DeleteIt's year round now.
The flights are not operating currently. They resume next month. The author says they took the flight on 29 October, 2022
DeleteImpressive that they serve a hot mela on such a short flight in economy.
ReplyDeleteDo they fly via Rome?
DeleteNo, all their flights are direct.
DeleteThanks for the report. That's how a business class lounge meal offer should look like. Tidy and inviting!
Delete+100
DeleteThank you for sharing this video trip report. Aegean is a fine example of airline that cares. It is positioned so to serve not only connectivity to and from Greece contributing significantly to over 20 bn EUR income from tourism, but also to provide significant connectivity to many other regions of SE Europe, Mediterranean and Middle East through their hubs in Athens, Thessaloniki and Larnaca. Living in Greece, Aegean is definitely an airline of my choice. It is usually very punctual, and departing from non-Schengen section of Athens airport is a much better experience given larger space followed expansion during the pandemic with a pinnacle the Aegean Star Alliance Lounge, and two other lounges serving various airlines. The Schengen Departing Area is much smaller and at limits at peak hours. Although renovated, the Schengen departures (B gates) Aegean Lounge is at peak wave hours at limits. The Airport has only 11 gates with bridges at the main terminal, and another 8 or 10 at satellite terminal. The latter were used primarily for bus boarding until recently mainly by low cost airlines so at one one time Ryanair was almost exclusive but since they reduced their presence, and the likes of ITA, Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian strive to reduce their cost, it became a common area of boarding by bus bypassing often the satellite facility itself. There are also two large apron sections for bus boarding, so overall, many of Aegean flights are served by buses. It is true that the seat allocation even during the check-in (online or desk) is based on random software-run principle, unless paid for. However, for Aegean Miles+Bonus Gold members seats from emergency rows and aft are free for selection on Airbus fleet, while all seats are for payment on their Olympic turboprop fleet. I think that random software-based seat allocation priorities allocation of aisle and window seats to Start Alliance Gold members provided such is operationally possible. Aegean also has a very affordable "Upgrade Challenge" solution, which unlike Air Serbia, provides for a small amount (I usually bid the smallest which on flight to Belgrade is 40 EUR and in almost all cases is accepted) baggage allowance of business class (2 x 32 kg and if Gold one more bag), access to the lounge, priority check in and boarding for non-Gold members. Aegean also offers a very competitive bundle of tickets under their "Aegean Pass" concept. It is possible to buy a bundle of 6 or 10 one-way flights on single pair of cities or a regional bundle such as one in the Balkans (BEG, BUH, SOF, TIA). It is valid for one year with a variant of 30, 7 and 0 days booking deadline in Y class, so it provides a very generous miles award (BEG-ATH 1.200 miles+20% bonus for Gold members = 1.440 miles) for a very reasonable price. I purchased a bundle of 6 segments for the Balkans for 300 EUR with reservation deadline of 7 days. At the time of booking taxes are paid in addition so in average such segment ATH-BEG is at range of 75-80 EUR. Their inflight service is very consistent and their crews are very considerate of their performance especially because at the end of each flight there is an automatic e-mail based survey about crews performance at particular flight sent to all passengers. Their care for incoming passengers leaving from airports abroad to Aegean hubs is also excellent where practically possible (Berlin stands as one of exceptions) while each flight is met by an Aegean transit ambassador helping those in transit, with short or missed connection, first hand. Overall their level of service, attention to detail, professionalism and care is at the top of world airline business and definitely the best among regional airlines that operate only short haul flights in Europe.
ReplyDeleteThanks for ur report. I love Aegean. sometimes it is expensive but every flight is worth it
ReplyDelete