Review of Aegean Airlines flight Athens Geneva in Business

Airline Aegean Airlines
Flight A3854
Class Business
Seat 1A
Aircraft Airbus A320
Flight time 02:55
Take-off 09 Jun 18, 08:55
Arrival at 09 Jun 18, 10:50
A3   #62 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 199 reviews
bldavid
By GOLD 1534
Published on 22nd June 2018
I went on a two week holiday in June to:
- visit Moldova, one of the few countries in Europe where I'd never been before,
- visit Transnistria, a self-proclaimed independent country,
- visit Odessa, a city where I'd been planning to go for a very long time,
- visit a friend in Tel-Aviv,
- fly to Geneva to meet my family taking the direct Icelandair flight from Keflavík, and then spend a week in France.

I booked the following flights:
- Icelandair from Keflavík to Copenhagen, economy, successful bid to business class,
- Turkish Airlines from Copenhagen to Istanbul, business class,
- Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Chisinau, business class,
- Ukraine International Airlines from Odessa to Tel-Aviv, economy, extra legroom and pre-booked hot meal,
- Alitalia from Tel-Aviv to Athens, economy, extra legroom,
- Aegean from Athens to Geneva, business class,
- Icelandair from Geneva to Keflavík, economy, using my Icelandair miles (no review)

I got to the airport about two hours before my flight. The terminal looks nice and there are some pastry shops right outside.

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A lot of flights leave in the morning.

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There was a huge line for economy check-in but only a few pax for business class.

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I followed the signs to the lounge.

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The terminal is nice with a lot of shops but crowded at times with so many flights leaving in the morning.

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I could have gone to the Lufthansa lounge as well…

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but I preferred to try Aegean's flagship lounge where I was welcomed with a big smile.

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The lounge has three different seating areas.

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With smartphones everywhere nowadays nobody uses these computers.

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The food choice for breakfast.



Drinks



The lounge is large enough and while there were quite a few people it never got too crowded. The choice of food and drink was also quite good although I preferred to save my appetite for the flight.

I went to the gate area which was very crowded with a long line for economy boarding; priority boarding had however only a few people. Boarding was by bus anyway. The apron view from next to the plane:

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My plane was an A320-200, registration SX-DGX, age 17 but in a very good condition.

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Aegean has the typical intra-European narrowbody business class with 3+3 standard economy seats with the middle seat blocked. There were three rows of business class and the load was 11/12. I had booked seat 1A which had good legroom.

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A welcome drink - champagne for me - was offered with a big smile and calling me by my name.

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Greek and international newspapers were offered. The local edition of the New York Times had several pages about Greece.

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Boarding was completed at 08.35 and the captain announced a flight time of two hours and thirty minutes. Push-back was at 8.50 for a scheduled departure time of 8.35.

I could see during taxi that there were many private jets at Athens Airport.

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We were number three for take-off from runway 21L.

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Take off was at 09.05 with nice views immediately afterwards.



A (very) hot towel was offered 12 minutes after take-off and meal service started about 25 minutes after take-off. Here are the food and wine menus:



Both hot options were shown to me from the trolley so I could choose not only from the menu but also visually. Very nice!

I choose Crepes filled with smoked turkey. The main was absolutely delicious. The fruit was very fresh. The yogurt was also good. This was one of the tastiest breakfasts I've ever had on a plane.

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Metal cutlery with the logo: two knives, two spoons, two forks.

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I had some Apla white wine. I let the crew member choose and she explained that this was lighter and very good with my meal. I also had an apple juice.

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I should note that service was outstanding, professional, efficient and always with a smile.

The onboard magazine had 338 (!) pages. I found the introduction of Aegean's CEO interesting, trying to convince readers that a Greek airline can offer high-quality services and be profitable. I'm convinced from my side, at least for the quality of the services. The article also emphasized that the airline made the largest ever private investment in Greece.

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Aegean's domestic and European network.

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The next two hours of the flight was uneventful until we approached the Alps with some fantastic views.

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I've never been so close to the Mont Blanc!

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"Do you need anything else before landing?" I was asked with a smile. No, thank you, I'm very happy with the views outside!

Some views over Lake Geneva.

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We landed at 10.25 and parked next to this MEA flight bound for Beirut.

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The only negative was the long wait for the luggage but that's already Swissport at Geneva, not Aegen.

Thank you for reading my flight report. Please feel free to comment.
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Verdict

Aegean Airlines

8.4/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Meal/catering10.0

Aegean Schengen Lounge

8.0/10
Comfort9.0
Meal/catering9.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Services9.0

Athens - ATH

9.5/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Geneva - GVA

5.3/10
Efficiency3.5
Access8.5
Services2.0
Cleanliness7.0

Conclusion

This was an extremely pleasant flight with Aegen's business class lounge, good legroom for seat 1A, the great breakfast, nice views and most importantly the outstandingly nice cabin crew.

Information on the route Athens (ATH) Geneva (GVA)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 5 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Athens (ATH) → Geneva (GVA).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est SWISS avec 7.8/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 2 heures et 50 minutes.

  More information

4 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 451530 by
    dreamweaver888 76 Comments
    That meal does look delicious, and Aegean appears to have a solid Euro-J product!
  • Comment 451555 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Hi BLDavid, thanks for sharing this FR on Aegean's Euro-Business class. Yet another positive report on Aegean--probably one of the best ranked on intra-European flights. The lounge looks really nice. I believe it was just recently renovated as it was closed when I was in ATH in November. Catering looks very good and it was nice of the crew to show both meals to select visually. Looks like it was a beautiful day for flying, with some clear skies and great scenery. Hopefully I'll have some nice weather when I fly to Greece in a few days.

    Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 451591 by
      bldavid GOLD AUTHOR 308 Comments
      Hi KévinDC, thank you fo your nice comment. Yes, all aspects of the Aegean products are very good and the cabin crew was as good as what you would expect in a premium airline's premium cabin.

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