I flew Aegean airways for the first time. Once from Athens to Santorini and return. Return was operated by Olympic Air. Aegean is name of the sea near Greece and Aegean airlines connects Athens to various parts of Europe. Aegean is almost 30 years old airline company, with some 70 aircrafts and over a billion euros in annual revenue.
Ticket booking experience:
- I had some issue booking using my India debit card. So I had to take help of a cousin in Europe
- Athns-Santorini return cost me around 90 Euros- bit steep for off season. Ryanair flies similar distance for 20-30 Euros one way. But Ryanair has stopped flights to Santorini. Aegean was the cheapest option for my dates.
The onward journey:
Unlike Ryanair, Aegean doesn’t inform in board pass what time gates open and when gate will close. For flight scheduled to depart 9.05 PM, it said boarding 8.35. They actually started boarding by 8.45, there were very few passengers so in about 10 minutes we were done boarding (had to take bus from Athens terminal- they didn’t use aerobridge) and flight left almost on time.
I was flying in from Malta and had some 90 minutes gap. Thankfully RyanAir flight from Malta landed 15-20 minutes ahead of time, so I had adequate time to connect. Ryanair dropped us at Gate C instead of B, so I had to walk a lot and clear security one more time,
Web Check in opens 2 days in advance unlike 1 day in other airlines. But I was not allowed to change seat without paying. Got aisle seats allocated for both the flights.
Aegean airline is supposed to be full service airline. Was expecting some food but got only water bottle in first flight. During the return flight got a snacks back (2 cookies) and water.
Both flights were on time
Baggage allowance- Cabin bag was free. No constraints like EasyJet or Ryanair. Checked bag costs more.
Santorini has very few flights off season
Overall the experience was fine. No complaints, no issues. Better food and seat selection option would have been nice.
Santorini airport has limited taxies and no public transport after 5 PM so I walked to my hotel 4 kms from airport. It was a different experience.
