[sparkyflier]

Athens to Tirana

The booking

I did this on their website and it was very easy indeed. Easy to select the option including hold luggage and my ticket was a ” ComfortFlex”. I inserted my Star Alliance number (UA) with no difficulty.

Check-in

I did this initially from my mobile, but I like a hard copy boarding card, and requested it to be emailed. Annoyingly what was emailed did not give much information, just a QR code, and no loyalty number showing. In my experience some airlines accidently on purpose try to not capture that information as miles have a currency (looking at you TK), and I wanted this. I then checked in via the website rather than an email link. This was easy and clear and my UA number showed.

Airport

Check-in bag drop at the airport was fine and only waited 7-8 minutes. Was efficiently processed rather than greeted. Security was easy and staff pleasant and headed to a lounge. Have no Star status and was flying economy so went to the GoldAir lounge using my Priority Pass. This was comfortable and sufficient and the lady clearing the tables etc was very efficient and personable.

Boarding

Once the gate was announced went there. The Gate Agent was scouring the space looking for oversize luggage! I was worried as although mine was not over size, did not want it to go in the hold! Credit to her she found about 7 passengers with cases way over the carry on size! Boarding was via a bus (oh well).

The bus took us to the plane and I was pleased to see it was an old livery A320. Pleased as generally older planes have more space, new ones do not. Modern does not equal more comfort!

On reaching the cabin up the stairs was welcomed by very friendly and smiling crew offering sweets.

The Cabin

Quite simply apart from an exit seat this was one of if not the most spacious Y seat I have sat in. Could just touch the row in front. I would say more than 34″. According to Aerolopa it was only 34 but felt more. And the seats felt wide too – was a busy flight and felt space between me and my neighbour. Was in 4A so benefitting from the extra pitch for that cabin but still very good.

And another Wahay was.. an inflight magazine. And an especially good one. Many articles on places both inside and outside Greece that could tempt me and were not really on my radar. The magazine had lovely production and good ads – not taken up by perfume ads etc but other products and services. Good info on the airline too. And they seem a smart outfit as well- they have a FFP especially for young people (up to mid 20s I think) with great benefits – targeting a market that might assume this non-LCC was expensive and more likely to auto-look at Ryanair, Wizz, Easy etc.

The flight

Once we took off crew came quickly with a drinks round, and I was pleased to see Mythos was the beer on offer! I was first introduced to this brand back in the old Olympic Airlines days. Soon after this the crew came again with a choice of rolls. They were very polished, well presented and warm and seemed motivated to do a good job.

Landing

Was on time. Taxied to the small but charming airport and walked into the terminal.

Summary

Very good indeed. This airline really acts as an ambassador for Greece and Greeks. It understands that small gestures make a difference and offers a quality product at what was for me a reasonable price. The sweets, catering, magazine, seating etc made them IMO superior to any EU/UK airline I have tried in recent years on a short haul flight (this one 55 minutes). The magazine made me think about flying to those places and this experience made me very happy to choose A3 in order to get there.

Once again apologies for any typos etc. Were a few in my last trip report!

7 users thanked author for this post.

cwoodward, AndrewinHK, fqtvgla, Johnnyg, GivingupBA, MarkCymru, MartynSinclair

[azidane]

I flew Aegean in biz from CPH to CAI via Athens in the summer and would definitely agree, a great little airline highlighting their Greek heritage with great service and F&B on-board and very professional ground service.

My suitcase was damaged on arrival at CAI and no ground handling agent in sight so reported it online through their website and it was 10 days from reporting the damage to the money for a replacement was in my account which I found extraordinary taking into account general customer service levels from airlines nowadays.

Will definitely be flying them when possible in the future.

2 users thanked author for this post.

fqtvgla, MarkCymru

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