Trip Report: Aegean Airlines (operated by Olympic Airlines) - Athens to Chios (July 2017)

Trip Report: Aegean Airlines - operated by Olympic Air Athens to Chios

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We were flying domestically in Greece from Athens to Chios.  For our timings, the best option for us was Aegean Airlines as compared to the other domestic airlines.  Booking is also the airline with a more international presences, and is part of Star Alliance, so it has a bit more credibility and reliability versus the other airlines.  Booking on Aegean was easy and the airline provides three options for their flights – light, go, and flex.  The light option is the cheaper option as it only provides the seat; the next option includes checked baggage and the last option is the business option.  Since I was going to check bags in, I had originally looked the “go” fare which includes checked baggage.  By the time I went to book the flight, the go option had increased in price so I choose the “light” option.  The light option included the seat only and I had to purchase the bags.  The bags were 18euro each way, but the total of the light fare plus the extra baggage was lower than the go fare.  I booked the ticket and received confirmation of my booking.  On the website, I could not add my Star Alliance ff number nor could I preselect my seat, so I had to call the reservation line for both of these options.

The flight was scheduled to leave Athens at 11:25am and was operated by Olympic Airlines.  I had downloaded the Aegean app and 48hours prior to departure I received an email notification indicating I could check-in to my flight.  Through the app I was able to easily check-in and receive mobile boarding passes.  Check-in at the airport was also handled at the Aegean counters that were marked with Olympic signs. 

For both the outbound and return, the flight was operated by a Dash-8 as the flight time was 1hr.  Both Dash-8's had a 2-2 seat configuration, and the seats looked worn and torn.  On both sectors, boarding started on time and all passengers were seated prior to scheduled push back time.  Once boarding had been completed, the flight attendants came by to hand out candies and wipes.  This was a nice gesture given the short duration of the flight.  After manual safety demonstrations, we pushed back and climbed towards our cruising altitude.

Even though it was only 1hr flight time, drinks were served.  On the outbound, the attendants started to serve drinks but then turbulence forced them to discontinue the service.  On the return, there was only minimal turbulence so drink service continued.  Along with drinks, cookies and crackers are also served.  This is a lot of service given the short flight time.

Overall, it was a nice and quick domestic flight with Olympic Airlines.  The website and app of Aegean were easy to manage and the service on board was a lot given the short flight time.