For our trip to Greece, we flew LOT Polish Airlines’ Boeing 787-9 business class from Chicago to Warsaw, and then connected to Aegean Airlines’ Airbus A320neo business class from Warsaw to Athens, so I wanted to review that second flight in this installment.
Continue reading: Review: Aegean Business Class Airbus A320neo (WAW-ATH)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I really don't get the thinking behind the blocked middle seat J intra Europe. If you're not going to ever use the seat, why not remove them, just have a table and save weight? I thought Europeans were all about the environment. Or even better install 2x2 seats and make your airline stand out? Is there some particular reason preventing airlines from doing this? The blocked middle seems absolutely insane, like a stopgap measure at best.
British Airways has specifically stated they offer this blocked middle seat to provide "something" to long haul passengers that are transiting to a short haul Euro flight. I imagine it's pretty much competitive reasons they all do it now. Those tables pop out easily and then it becomes a regular seat. The "business class" section of a European plane can literally change size per flight, just move the curtain and add or remove the tables.
It's so they can vary the size of the business-class cabin. On leisure routes, it might be only 1-2 rows. On business-heavy routes (or especially flights to Strasbourg full of Euro-MEPs) it could be up to half the plane.
I presume you are Star Alliance Gold - did you see that there is a separated Gold lounge inside Polonez? Better selection of alcohols and desserts and usually it's quieter and less crowded.
I'm surprised about the no photo policy, I am there a couple times a month and never noticed that sign - i usually take some photo to post on instagram story and nobody ever said anything - but maybe for you if you would take 20+ pictures and were to post a review here for us it would be different...
Polonez is one of my favorite lounges in Europe - really great for people with lower, silver status - I'd say it's on the level of Lufthansa Senator lounges in Germany - with the selection and quality of food. Plus there are some free SPA treatments/massages as well. And like I said you get access already with the relatively easy to obtain M&M Frequent Flier.
it's what mdande7 says - you can easily adjust the number of rows in Business/Economy - I've seen them do it between flights many times - you are boarding the plane and the flight attendands move the curtain one way or another.
With the little tables I suppose it might be a bit more difficult, I'm not sure how difficult they are too remove, maybe a bit because last month I flew some Lufthansa flight and the first row of economy where I chose to sit had the tables still in - maybe they could not remove them and needed that row to be Economy. I have no idea why at this point they don't just upgrade the passengers to Business and give them that lousy salad and a glass of wine, and some feeling that the airline appreciates their frequent flier status...
A3 is one of the world’s most delightful airlines, and has one of the best typographic treatments in the Star Alliance. Now that SAS is leaving, A3’s brand consistency will be one of the finest in the Star Alliance, alongside Austrian, and closely followed by LH, NZ and potentially the renovated AI brand. On top of which the Greek language is one of the loveliest and most melodious I’ve ever heard. I can’t agree with Lucky enough.
Lucky, I think the service level is pretty much "southern European standard". You find similar service on TK (as you mention), IB and TP. They all offer printed menues, a choice of food, usually some hot meal option, wines and spirits. Unfortunatly, further north its much more frugal, even in Business.
You can take pics in Polonez, I've done it many times, no problem. It's more of a disclaimer to let them stop you if you want. But if you discreetly take pics of food or the vibe, it's absolutely ok.
Did you visit the Elite Lounge (well, sub lounge) too, or just Polonez?
The same plane may have 5 rows of J on one flights and 2 rows of J on another. That's the reason. Sometimes it can go down to zero on some airlines (LO on domestics for example).
Love a3. Breakfast is the worst meal too. The deserts are amazing these days, especially the chocolate cake.
In kind of a general perception I would agree that mediterranean carriers tend to be more generous with their service. But in my experience, this kind of more generous service is driving also the "nothern" competitors to offer a higher service level, esp. when they are competing on the same routes. I recently flew ATH-MUC with LH in C, which is of course also operated by their Star alliance partner Agean.
There was no pre-departure drink, but there was a first service round with drinks, so I had a Gin Tonic with mixed nuts, then there was a hot meal with two options, and there was a third service round with coffee and chocolate and the two more senior and very polite FA's offered several refills. Not so bad for a 2hour something flight and the here so often berated Lufty 🙂 And a quite good comparison with a WAW-ATH leg operated by Agean.
„ It’s not like European airlines generally run out of overhead bin space.“
Oh Ben, you have no idea. I‘m flying regularly European shorthaul and haven’t been on a single flight this year that had any free space in the overhead lockers. It’s just crazy…nearly all flights throughout Central Europe are fully booked these days…
About handling agents caring about the hand luggage... The airlines are indeed running out of overhead bin space, if the flight is full and every passenger has and will take a trolley, given the airlines policy of charging for the luggage. And since a lot of passengers are just dumb and put even the small bags or backpacks in the bins instead of by their feet, because a 1-2 hour flight will be for sure awful if they cannot stretch their feet, this leads to a delay since all the late boarding passengers will not find space and therefore all these trollleys will need to be put in the aircraft cargo hold, which creates further delay. And by the way, all airlines have a list of delay codes, and one of them is about boarding. Since the handling company tries to ensure a punctual departure, to avoid having/giving a delay code about the boarding, the agents must and do care about the hand luggage.
Where do Mediterranean carriers, AF,AZ, EN, OU fit into this paradigm? Asking for a friend. thx
"The flight to Warsaw was nearly full..." I think you mean the flight from Warsaw.
I'm leaving for Greece on Wednesday & have 5 segments on Aegean. Just got upgraded this morning on 2 segments so looking forward to it. Nice review!
On an Aegean flight between Mykonos and Athens, which is over in the blink of an eye, the captain kept apologising that service would not be possible given the sustained turbulence but each passenger was offered a packaged biscuit on disembarking with a sincere apology. The service was immaculate and so very friendly - love this European carrier.
I have been on a business class flight with only one row, so, at best, they could remove 1B and 1D.
Yeah I get that they can easily change the # of J vs Y, but what they can't do is charge any kind of significant premium for J over Y. Who is going to pay 2x-3x more for that? It's basically J in name only. Are European airlines unable to do the most basic route planning, and assign J heavy config to premium routes? Any airline that installs a real J product on their fleet would have an insurmountable competitive advantage.
Why should I, as a person who only takes a tiny backpack on board, limit my legroom because of people who need to bring their kitchen sink into the cabin? They are the problem, not me, so why should I be punished and they enjoy full legroom?
Carry-ons are the worst evil in European aviation. I actually prefer flying with low-costs like Ryanair, easyJet or SAS that are charging for them, which in turn makes fewer people bring them. It's not enough though, ideally checked bags should be the cheaper option and carryons more expensive, since the space for carryons is limited, while the space in cargo hold pretty much never runs out, except on some small regional planes.
So you want them to remove and install seats between every flight? Do you genuinely believe this is a worthwhile idea for any commercial airline anywhere in the world?
Missing the point about flexibility,Mantis.
Forward cabin can be swiftly reconfigured to cater for low biz/high eco demand (and vice versa). Try doing that if you remove the centre seats!
I have a little comment about a tray on the center seat. I do not like it because it is not allowing to use the space properly. If you are tall, you do not benefit from the blocked space. In case, there is no second passanger, you can not stretch your legs as the seat is blocked.
Boarding aside, supee flight. Love the headrests, food and great to see the magazine, too.
TK base is IST which is on European side of Istanbul, therefore is entitled to be classified as European
Ooh, contract workers! I got into it w/a contract dragon at AMS 5th Feb. 2006 flying BA AMS - LHR. She tried to charge me thirty five euros to rebook my ticket because my debit card # was changed (I'd left it at a restaurant). This woman was HATEFUL! When it was obvious I wasn't going anywhere she finally backed down and issued the change (why a change was necessary I had no idea).
When I went to check in an it glitched I told the very sweet check in lady that the dragon could come over to where I was if she had any further questions. "I don't think she wants to talk to you," the check in agent said ever so softly. I appears I'd mown down the biggest beeyotch on their staff.
I don’t like having a stranger sitting immediately next to me. In that respect, on short flights on which the admittedly uncomfortable seats don’t matter too much, I prefer the empty middle seat arrangement to the 2-2 seating on some of the American carriers. It gives me greater privacy. Strange, that nobody ever seems to acknowledge this.