BRU - ATH - BRU on Olympic

Stij · Post by **Stij** » 19 Sep 2007, 11:08

For two days work I flew Sunday evening to Athens and back on Tuesday evening on Olympic Airways.

I decided to fly Olypic instead of Bru Air because they were much cheaper and still offer a full-service.

A colleague of mine already flew to Athens on Olypic on Friday the 14th with the same flight and had horror stories about the cabin crew running out pf bread and red wine. So I was expecting the worst.

16/9 OA148 19:45 - 23:55 B734

Arrived by train at 18:23. Picked up my paper ticket at the counter and went to the check-in. There was only 1 person in front of me. An extremely friendly check-in agent gave me seat 4D.

Security went smooth, just 3 persons in front of me.

Beacuse of the horror stories I went to eat at the seafood bar. Yummie.

Boarding started punctually and we were of pretty punctual. Plane was about 50% full.

The legroom in row 4 remembered me of the good old MMore legroom on AA: great!

To my surprise the cabin crew distributed no bread, but a real hot meal, inclusing salad and dessert and plenty of wathever drink you wanted. They passed by with water and coffee regularly. Excellent service!

We arrived punctual in Athens and since I had no bags checked in, I was out of the airport 10 minutes after the aircraft came to a complete stop.

Excellent experience!

18/9 OA147 ATH - BRU B734

This flight was my 1000th flight hour according to flugstatistic

Check-in in Athens was a disaster: people were skipping the line, counters were opened and closed: absolute chaos.

I asked the check-in for seats in the front of the aircraft, she said if we wouldn't sit together, it would be possible. My colleague and I agreed. We left the check-in area and to our horror, we had seats 25 B and 25 E, the abosulte worst seats you can have in a B734. I went back, but of course nothing was possible: according to her that was the front of the aircraft. Strange person.

Later I saw by check-in sequence was 125, so probably she didn't have a lot of options, but still.

There was a line at security, but nothing special. We were then bussed to the plane. Of course row 25 was not reclining and had less seating pitch then row 4, but still more then the back of a Bru Air 737. The plane must have been 95% full.

Beacuse I was on the last row I could observe the cabin a bit and noted that for 150 pax, there were 5 flight attendants on board! Rather much I guess.

The service on board was as excellent as on the outbound flight, and we arrived punctually in BRU.

We even got our luggage in time to catch the train 30 minutes later. Way to go Aviapartner!!!

All in all:

Ground handling Brussels (Aviapartner): Excellent
Ground handling Athens (Olympic????): Disaster
The actual flights on Olympic: It's like flying in the 20th century with actual meals and drinks and even paper tickets!!!!!!!

Even if they charge 100€ more then Bru Air, I'll still fly them to Athens!

Cheers,

Stij

Air Key West · Post by **Air Key West** » 19 Sep 2007, 11:32

I agree with you. Same experience. But a word of caution : since the airline is on the brink of bankrupcy, always buy your ticket from a travel agent (I think they have some kind of insurance in case you cannot use a ticket for an airline that is grounded because of bankrupcy).

regi · Post by **regi** » 20 Sep 2007, 23:34

Question about the sea food bar: it looks great but I always refused because it is quite expensive. Wa sit woth it ( smoked salmon or oyters + 1 glass of white wine? )

On the other hand: the one at Heatthrow Term 4 is even more expensive.

Stij · Post by **Stij** » 21 Sep 2007, 13:53

6 Oysters for 11 Euros is not that expensive for an airport. The other dishes arent't cheap, but when you compare the quality and the price to the self service area, I find the price/quality ratio to be better.

But IMHO the best deal at Brussels Airport is the Pilot's Club. I find it to be OK in price, excellent quality, nice atmosphere and fast service. Unfortunately they only operate before the security check and at lunch time otherwise I would check-in a little bit earlier.

I have lunch meetings there (evenwhen I don't have to fly) because access is easy by car and train and everybody knows where Brussels Airport is.

Cheers,

Stij

regi · Post by **regi** » 24 Sep 2007, 15:18

I do use the Sheraton for meetings sometimes.

But the Pilots' Club is defintively better.