TRIP REPORT
Written by George Papathanasiou
Following my previous flight from Zurich to Podgorica with Air Montenegro and a stop to visit the Ostrog Monastery, I arrived at the airport for my next flight to Athens, noticing how little and modern the terminal is.
The departure area is nice, even though there were two Ryanair flights, and it was crowded.
Aegean Airlines (operated by Olympic Air) does not offer online check-in from this airport so you have to go to the counter which opened 2 hours before departure.
After getting the boarding pass, you cannot go through passport control; you have to wait for them to announce when to start to queue to go through passport and security check.
It is a small airport and with 3 flights it was very crowded. Also, I noticed that all flights were boarded by walking up to the plane.
Our ATR72 arrived on time and two staff members were conducting the boarding process. When the doors opened, we walked to the airplane.
I was lucky to be in the 19th row which means you get to disembark first from the ATR upon arrival. We climbed the stairs and got seated. Legroom is just bearable, but what to expect from a small plane. Olympic Air does not offer business class.
I heard the ground staff speaking with the flight attendant, that boarding completed and there were 55 passengers. The crew greeted the passengers by handing out candy before departure.
The departure process started on time, with the physical safety demonstration, after which we started taxiing.
It was dark by now as we were leveling up. Our flight would be 1 hour 40 minutes.
Soon after departure they started the in-flight service. There were two choices of sandwiches. One option with roasted pepper/eggplant and the other was with turkey.
I had to take a picture of the wc before landing, which was so small that I could not upon closing the door.
Share your travel experience by submitting a trip report to exyu@exyuaviation.com
I like the ATR but 01.40 in it is just too long.
ReplyDeleteTGD is one of the worst airports I've been to. Once you pass the passport control there is only one toilet for all departing passengers. They really need to think about expanding the airport.
Yeah and they keep comparing it with SJJ and LJU who have gate tunnels, buses, much bigger terminals. It can only compare in passengers.
DeleteLJU is a whole different universe compared to TGD. It has a modern terminal and a solid offer for the size of the market.
DeleteI was once there mid summer and storms delayed several flights. There is (if i remember well) only one plug past passport control. The number of stressed passengers whose phones were about to die with their boarding passes on was huge.
DeleteLJU is a whole different universe compared to TGD because of Fraport.
DeleteAlways a great inflight service from Aegean-Olympic .
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIt's good to see there are still some Airlines left that serve decent catering to economy passengers.
ReplyDeleteDo they still offer complimentary wine on board?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteYes and it's the same wine as in BC, just in small bottles. I love their service in eco & biz respectably, A3 does it well in Europe considering that BC usually sucks. And lounges are great too !
DeleteA lot of airlines should learn from Aegean in terms of inflight service and frequently flying program
ReplyDeleteNice, Aegean/Olympic stay the best in Europe tbh when it comes to short haul!
ReplyDeleteAegean bundle didn't work for me. I had to travel with one large checked bag but didn't need any other services Aegean wanted me to pay for in a bundle, so I chose Easyjet.
DeleteImo the best way for that on Aegean - buy lite fare then bid 30-40eur (minimum) for business class upgrade. Always got an upgrade with minimum bid when I wanted it
DeleteLittle do you know that Immigration officers often indirectly control the process of passengers passage to the gates as they need break sometimes.
ReplyDelete