Aegan Airlines compensates for its outdated business-class seats with excellent food and onboard crew service. Launge was also excellent.
For a business class, it barely met the standards of a basic economy on most carriers. The seat would barely recline; no pillow or blanket unless you ask a crew member; no leg rest (at least in the 1st row). The crew was friendly and attentive, except for one male crew member who was very inconsiderate toward many business passengers who were already sleeping or trying to sleep, slamming the doors of the kitchen compartments. He did so twice till another passenger complained to him. Overall, business class is an economy experience except for the food.
On every Aegean flight it seems, they ask people to check in carry on luggage. That seems to happen less often with other airlines for some reason. The food is very basic for a full service airline. We do not need a meal with trays, but something of higher quality (even just higher quality pies) would be better. The cabin crew was very nice and professional, though.
Seats that recline. Ice for soft drinks. No charge for did drinks. Wifi.
Internet not working during the flight - what a big miss!
Aegean Airlines was great! Great spirit, very helpful and efficient. Overall Aegean Airlines was a great experience.
The flight was full. The young man in the seat in front of me had reclined and I asked him to put the seat up just a bit because it was encroaching my space quite a lot. Turned out he couldn't because the mechanism was broken. The choice was all the way up or all the way down, no in-between.
The seat was hard as a rock. Business class seats were coach seats with no one in the middle. Service and food were excellent.
The crew was awesome. There was a school group of about 60 14 year-olds. The food is standard greek fare, Baklava was pre-packaged like it would normally be sold in a vending machine, and it was the highlight of the meal. Plane was in great shape, and seating was like a any A319 you would experience at a national-level carrier (i.e. not like Ryan Air). Like many European airports, they bused us to the plane, so the process of boarding groups is useless, and not well understood by infrequent travelers.
Departing from the Parikia apport on Paros was chaos. It is a 3rd world airport, and my home has more square footage. Olympic Air has several instances where there are less than two hours between flights leaving Paros. Further, there are two airlines at the airport, so airport resources are limited. With only one check in desk for each airline, the folks who are getting on the earlier flight are the only people who are able to check in. So, don't get there too early to check in. Also, the airport waiting area, after you go through security only holds about 1/2 of a plane's worth of people. So, the security line also has the same restrictions as the check in desks. Depending upon what time you get there, two queues will extend into the entry road. If your plan departs within the hour, go up to the front of the building and check to see which flight they are checking in or running through security.
