25 replies to this topic

[Hooly]

The rumours that Aegean were planning to fly from Stansted to Athens have been confirmed with flights starting on 15th May.

Aegean news

Looking at the website they seem to start at €51.00 plus €27.92 taxes, so about £60ish, for a one way flight. At least it gives the anti easyJet brigade a small iota of solace.

[househunter]

Could be completely wrong here but...

Crete seems to be a hard place to find direct flights to, except in summer.


Have tried a few searches from Dublin and Belfast to Heraklion with no success, should I be looking at Dub/Belfast>Athens>Heraklion instead?

Direct flights seem scarce.

Or, would I be better going to UK and flying direct from there during off-peak season?

All advice welcome. Will research more when I get time.

Cheers.

[Emma1310]

I don't think there are any direct flights to the islands in the winter and you have to go through Athens. I even found direct flights from my region to Athens were rare and had to fly via London.

Hopefully someone has better information but I got the impression that only internal Greek flights were operational during the winter months.

[househunter]

Thanks Emma.

Looks like I can invite those "uninvited guests" during the off peak times and be very busy during the spring/summer...... then they can't say we never invited them!

I can always travel to Athens and hire a pedalo to get to Crete!! or might just use my private jet or yacht (if Simon is not playing with them!!)

Haven't researched flights very much yet but any that I tried gave me "nothing available on those dates"...... have tried Dub>Heraklion and Belfast>Heraklion for all airlines, direct/indirect flights etc up to end of March.

[Hooly]

hh, out of season you will have to fly via Athens if you want to go from the UK & as far as I know even European carriers like Air Berlin also do not fly to Crete during the winter. The ultra optimistic think there's a chance easyJet might take a punt on perhaps a couple of flight a week in the winter, if the summer service runs well, but the pessimists reckon thet after they've run the 2008 flights they are contracted to under

The seasons are generally, taking the old GB service as an example, from around the last week of March through to the last week of October, but with the odd charter carrier who flies either earlier into March or for the 1st couple of days of November.

I don't think he posts on here but on some of the other forums a guy with the moniker "filippos" has a website attached to his profile which lists pretty well all the carriers & where/when they fly from. I won't link it on here as some forums are a bit touchy about that sort of thing.

Pete

[DaveW.]

I have only travelled to Crete once 'out of season' and that was in a November. I couldn't find any direct flights. I umm'd and haaa'd around for a while looking at Easyjet to Athens and then either Aegean or Olympic over from there. I asked for advice from Forum members and eventually decided to fly with one airline changing at Athens. I had no problems on the outward journey but the return was another matter. The flight from Chania to Athens just didn't turn up which meant that I missed my onward connection to Heathrow. Now I realise that there is no legal obligation on an airline to get you on the next available flight if you miss a connection, but when something like this happens I believe that there is a moral obligation and fair's fair, Olympic did that for me and placed me on the next flight ( several hours later!). Now my point is that if I had booked with separate airlines there would not have been this 'obligation' and if my flight from Athens to Heathrow had been with another carrier that they would not have had this obligation and I would probably have had to pay for a single ticket.
Hope this helps.

[lshall05]

When we've been out of season we have had to fly to Athens. The first year we had to fly Edinburgh - Gatwick - Athens - Heraklion but then we moved to London so the journey last year wasn't so bad!! This year though because we're over for Greek Easter we managed to get a direct flight with flythomascook which was cheaper than what we'd seen for GB

[Hooly]

Ooops went a bit wrong there & should read

"The ultra optimistic think there's a chance easyJet might take a punt on perhaps a couple of flights a week in the winter, if the summer service runs well, but the pessimists reckon that after they've run the 2008 flights they are contracted to under.......... the takeover of GB then we'll see no more flights to Crete by easyJet at all. We'll just all have to hold our breath on that one."

[househunter]

Wow, thanks everyone, looks like I'll try Belfast or Dublin to Athens and then to Crete, although the few searches I did came up with nothing for direct and indirect flights.

Would stay with the one carrier, as advised.

Thanks again.

[Ros21]

I normally fly direct as it's usually been during the "summer" season. However last year at the end of October I flew Heathrow-Athens-Heraklion with Olympic. The return flights were £250.

I'm travelling over to Crete the 1st week of March Gatwick to Athens with Easyjet, Athens to Heraklion with Aegean Air.
The total cost of both return flights worked out at around £116.

I shall also be over for Greek Easter weekend & originally booked my flights with GB Airways at £105 return, although these have been transfered to Easyjet now.

Ros.

[Caroline]

This is good news. My experience of Aegean Airlines is limited, but very good. I wish they'd fly from Manchester or Birmingham too for us Northerners. Stansted is an awful airport. Just my opinion of course!

[househunter]

Thanks for info, can get to Gatwick easily and try a route like that, unfortunately it is more tricky with family in tow, have been trying internet searches with no luck so far, reckon the quickest way to check options is a visit to travel agents first as searches take so long trying route after route.

At least I can get list of possible carriers to start with!

[Ros21]

Househunter,

If you can get to Gatwick easily then Easyjet are the only airline that fly to Athens & you would have to get either an Aegean flight on to Heraklion or an Olympic flight.

If travelling from Heathrow you can use British Airways & then Olympic or Aegean, or you can fly booked all the way through Heathrow-Athens-Heraklion with Olympic.

With the new Aegean Air flight starting from Stansted it should now be possible to fly Stansted-Athens-Heraklion with them, but you will dtill have to book the flights seperately.

Forgot to mention Luton, Easyjet also fly to Athens from there.

The above airlines are the only ones that fly to Athens from either Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton or Stansted.

Ros.

[househunter]

With the new Aegean Air flight starting from Stansted it should now be possible to fly Stansted-Athens-Heraklion with them, but you will still have to book the flights seperately.


Seems like a more expensive way of traveling compared to a through fare with a stopover in Athens.

Two separate flights!

Thanks Ros for info.

Reckon it will be summertime before we can all get to Crete and endure the heat, the beaches, the relentless search for property, the restaurants, bars etc, but we have to accept what life throws at us!!

[Ros21]

The two flights with Aegean should still be cheaper than the "through" fare with Olympic, as that is also priced as two flights. The only difference being that with Olympic you are checked through to Heraklion & don't have to collect your bags at Athens & check in again for your onward flight to Heraklion.

My through flight with Olympic in late October last year was £250, wheras my Eayjet/Aegean combination for this March cost £116.

Ros.

[Wim]

With the new Aegean Air flight starting from Stansted it should now be possible to fly Stansted-Athens-Heraklion with them, but you will still have to book the flights separately.

Are you sure Hunter, is it Aegean Airlines that fly from Stansted to Athens? Could not find Stantsted as an airport of departure neither as arrival in their schedule ??

Was curious about flying Aegean from Amsterdam to Heraklion/Chania they do though but only for E 580.= Including a step over in Frankfurt and Athens, the last one being logical of course.

So I tried flying from Amsterdam to Athens through Stansted but could not find a flight by Aegean flying from this port

[lshall05]

Wim, you need to look under London - Stanstead

[Wim]

Anyhow here is the link for Aegean Airlines
I tried again Ishall, but there ain't no flight available to Athens in the 2nd and 3rd week of April. I checked out all the flights and found out that the 1st flight to Athens is at May 15 at 10.20.

Here are the figures.


Departure


London - Heraklion
Thursday 15 May 2008, 10:20, Flight A3601

1 Adult x EUR 118,00 EUR 118,00
Total EUR 118,00
(without taxes and charges)

Return
Heraklion - London
Friday 23 May 2008, 15:00, Flight A3317

1 Adult x EUR 125,00 EUR 125,00
Total EUR 125,00
(without taxes and charges)

Taxes & Charges EUR 78,30

Internet service fee EUR 0,00


Total Price EUR 320,30 which is 287.37 UK P.

(all inclusive)

So it is possible to book a return ticket Stansted-Heraklion v.v. but you have to wait till the season starts.


This is what Transavia charges for the same flight from Amsterdam-Heraklion v.v.

heenvlucht
donderdag 15 mei 2008
vluchtnummer: HV 653
van: Amsterdam
vertrek om 05:15 u (lokale tijd)
naar: Heraklion (Kreta)
aankomst om 09:45 u (lokale tijd)


ticket 1 volwassene:€ 145,00
belastingen en toeslagen € 51,93
luchthavenveiligheids- toeslag€ 10,84
passagiers-servicetoeslag€ 12,09
geluidsisolatietoeslag€ 2,00
molestheffing en brandstoftoeslag€ 27,00
totaal heenvlucht: € 196,93

terugvlucht
vrijdag 23 mei 2008
vluchtnummer: HV 642
van: Heraklion (Kreta)
vertrek om 21:25 u (lokale tijd)
naar: Amsterdam
aankomst om 00:10 u (lokale tijd)


ticket 1 volwassene:€ 135,00
belastingen en toeslagen € 39,00
molestheffing en brandstoftoeslag€ 27,00
passagiers-servicetoeslag€ 12,00
totaal terugvlucht: € 174,00

administratiekosten: € 4,00
€ 374,93

So Aegean is about € 50,= cheaper not included the flight from Amsterdam-London v.v.

And this is the same flight by Aegean.
Departure
Amsterdam - Heraklion
Thursday 15 May 2008, 11:05, Flight A31403

1 Adult x EUR 209,00 EUR 209,00
Total EUR 209,00
(without taxes and charges)

Return
Heraklion - Amsterdam
Friday 23 May 2008, 09:50, Flight A3307

1 Adult x EUR 209,00 EUR 209,00
Total EUR 209,00
(without taxes and charges)

Taxes & Charges EUR 107,75

Internet service fee EUR 0,00


Total Price EUR 525,75
(all inclusive)



Quite interesting. Isn't it?
I presume there are more English visitors to Crete than Dutch. But I can't understand it makes that much of a difference in the Aegean prices. € 200,- for the same flight is a lot of money. Also flying from Bruxelles is about the same price as from Amsterdam.

Conclusion: Aegean Airlines is a no go for the Dutch.

[househunter]

Have found this return fare for Dublin to Athens but only after 30th March.



Price for this Journey Prices are shown in Euro

1 Adult 52.00 Taxes and Charges 65.10 Total Price €117.10





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also Amsterdam to Dublin return

Price for this Journey Prices are shown in Euro1 Adult 18.00 Taxes and Charges 62.90 Total Price 80.90



This is €70.00 return fare plus two lots of taxes



So you could go this ridiculous and longer route for less Amsterdam>Dublin>Athens for €198.00 return, and probably/possibly less if you do a multicity route choice as you'd probably only be charged taxes once...

[Wim]

Which airline is that Hunter?

Are you sure it will arrive

Thanks anyhow makes me think of "doing Dublin" first and afterwards go for Athens/Crete. Can you copy/paste the airline scheduler please, so I can figure out the possibilities other than the 30th.?

Thanks!