After a few, wonderful days in Amsterdam, it was time to jet off to our next destination. We were off to Santorini next via a pair of Aegean flights.
Booking
We booked our tickets with cash in Economy. A few months before departure I had the option to bid on an upgrade to Business Class through the Aegean site. With Business Class in Europe consisting of a blocked middle seat, I didn’t want to spend a ton so I was pleasantly surprised that my $150 upgrade bid was approved a few days before departure.
Check-In
We took the train from Amsterdam Centraal and were deposited a short time later at the Schiphol train station. From there, we made our way to the main departure hall and headed all the way to the end of the building to the Aegean check-in desk.
Desk, as in one, single desk. When we arrived, the line was out the end of the queue and there was no priority/first class lane in sight. Aegean only had one employee working the check-in desk and they were clearly a new hire due to the staffing shortages as she took a long time with each customer. To her credit, she was working as hard as she could.
While Mrs. ATX Jetsetter stayed in line, I went off to try and find a kiosk/bag drop that would let us print tags. I found an Aegean kiosk at their Star Alliance partner, LOT Polish, but it would only allow me to print boarding passes. Defeated, I headed back to the line to wait. I tried to get Mrs. ATX to go on to the lounge while I checked the bags, but she elected to stay with me.
After 52 minutes in line (according to the timestamp on my iPhone) our bags were checked on to Santorini and we made a beeline for security. Unfortunately, the security checkpoint closest to the lounge and the Aegean check-in counters were closed due to the staffing shortage at Schiphol. We finally found the proper security area and they even had a fast-track lane which got us through rather quickly. From there, we headed off to the lounge.
Lounge
We didn’t have lounge access from our tickets, but we used our Priority Pass membership to access the Aspire Lounge No. 26 which I covered in a separate post.
Boarding
After spending 20 minutes in the lounge, we headed out for the long walk to the B gates and our flight to Athens. We left 15 minutes before scheduled boarding and reached our gate when boarding was supposed to begin. Unfortunately, our inbound aircraft was just pulling into the gate.
Since we had some time to kill, I went down to the end of the concourse to do some plane spotting while Mrs. ATX Jetsetter found a spot at the gate.
Aegean Airways
A3 627
AMS-ATH (Amsterdam-Schiphol International – Athens International)
Seat: 1C (Business)
A321-200 (SX-DGT)
Scheduled: 4:40p-8:55p
Actual: 5:40p-9:42p
Boarding started 28 minutes behind schedule, and we headed down the weird submarine, porthole jetways to our waiting A321. Unfortunately, the crew wasn’t quite ready for us, so we had to wait on the jet bridge for 10 minutes before being allowed onboard.
Seat
We boarded through 1L and found our seats, 1A and 1C immediately. While European Business Class is nothing to get excited about, it’s just economy with a blocked middle seat, we had almost endless legroom on this aircraft due to the position of the bulkhead. In between the seats was a small tray that had a couple of cup holders available as well.
Departure
Boarding was quick and, because of the delay, no PDBs were offered. As soon as we were ready to push back from the gate, the FAs shut the curtain and we had a quick taxi out to the runway where thankfully we got the Kaagbaan runway instead of the Polderbaan.
We had a fast takeoff and a steep climb out through some building clouds. Our pilot was flying our A321-200 like it was his own personal Ferrari, but we quickly found our way above the clouds where we had a smooth ride..
In-Flight
Once we hit cruising altitude, the dinner service started. The FA working the Business Class cabin began by placing a paper tablecloth on the tray before serving our meals, which was presented all on one tray. I regrettably did not grab a photo of the menu, but my steak and potatoes were perfectly adequate. I accompanied this with a Greek, FIX beer.
After the meal, I ordered a cup of coffee, which was served with a small chocolate.
I spent the remainder of the flight reading, and ordered a glass of red wine an hour and a half before landing.
Arrival
Before long, we were on our descent into Athens. We parked at a remote stand which, as an avgeek, I enjoyed as it gave us an up close view of the plane.
From there, we boarded a bus that took us on the grand tour of the Athens airport before being deposited at the main terminal where we headed off to the lounge.
Summary
As far as EuroBiz flights go, this was one of the better ones I’ve experienced recently. The unlimited legroom in row 1 of the Aegean A321’s was nice and the service was very attentive. The only complaint I have from this trip is the ground experience in Amsterdam. Though, given the recent disruptions we’ve seen due to staffing, I should be happy that we even made the flight. Aside from that, while they don’t have the largest network, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly with Aegean again.
