TRIP REPORT: Aegean, Athens - Zagreb and back

TRIP REPORT

Written by George Papathanasiou 

Flight was from Athens to Zagreb and return. The outbound section of the flight, A3780, was on an A320 and the return, A3781, was on an A320neo.

The flight from Athens was from the Extra-Schengen area of the airport. Due to the promotion of the new Aegean Airlines lounge at the extra-Schengen area, the company had offered me a complimentary entrance voucher.

Going through the passport control was slow due to the large que of non-EU passport holders. EU passport holders go through scan machines and the process is faster.

The Aegean Airlines Lounge is on the 3rd floor in the middle of the duty-free shopping area.

The entrance area is spacious

The lounge is big with 3 areas. One section with sofas and relaxing chairs, the other section with tables to eat and the third is the food/drink area.

They have two warm meal options

Boarding the plane was via the bus gates. We were called through a zone system and boarding was on time. Three busses reached the airplane and the flight was more than 70% full.

It is nice to see that Aegean Airlines has started adding male members to their cabin crew.

The A320 has frop-down screens and the safety demonstration video was played.

After departure, you could use the IFE system with your mobile or tablet. IFE has options to read newspapers and magazines or to watch couple of TV series. Also, you can see the progress of the flight.

Inflight service was basic offering a selection of turkey or vegetarian sandwich with chocolate and granola bars. Also, you could have drinks and coffee. If you want, you could have red or white wine also.

After 2 hours we reached the modern Zagreb Airport where disembarkation was done through the air bridge and passport control was very fast.

On the return flight we took the express bus to the airport from the city-bus station. The trip took us almost 30 minutes. The airport is modern with a modern design.

Passport control was very fast and then you go through the duty free area where you can buy the famous tartufi oil and the truffle flavored chips.

Waiting area is very pleasant and you have a view of the tarmac traffic.

The A320neo had 15-minute delay on arrival. Within 30 minutes boarding was completed and the return flight was similar.

Exception was that the A320neo has different IFE, as well as WiFi. There is 10 minutes of free WiFi access which is fast. There are 2 pay options for WiFi according to duration.

We arrived at ATH with that 15-minute delay as we didn’t make up the time enroute.

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