How to fly to Greece?

Ex-RoNiN · 2 May 2006 at 21:29

I think I have two options only:

1) easyJet from Gatwick at £220, with either an A319 or B737.

2) Olympic Airlines from Heathrow at £240, with an A340 :cool:

Its more hassle (and more expensive) to get to Heathrow than it is to Gatwick, but on the other hand the Olympic flight is bound to have more legroom (its a 4hr flight :eek:

), and its a great plane too. But with Olympic's cashflow problems, maybe the plane is less well maintained :confused:

With easy I get to take my own food (which is going to suck anyways compared to Olympic's food, which is always very good), but the space issue... :S

Who would you fly with, out of these two options?

AthlonTom · 2 May 2006 at 21:43

4 hours is nothing - just take half a prescription valium...

philio16 · 2 May 2006 at 21:45

I wouldn't worry about maintenance, it wouldn't be allowed to fly if it didn't meet the safety requirements and the A340s aren't the oldest aircraft in the world!

Chronos-X · 2 May 2006 at 21:46

Pick whichever has the nicest food/movie.

4 hours = 4 albums on an ipod, cuts through the time

richieboy · 2 May 2006 at 22:01

AthlonTom said:
4 hours is nothing

Ex-RoNiN · 2 May 2006 at 22:06

So, two people saying that 4hrs is nothing, thus implying that easyJet is ok :confused:

Two are defending Olympic on the basis of maintenance and food.

Argh, decisions

Al Vallario · 2 May 2006 at 22:17

I'm not sure how bad easyJet is, but I've spent 4 hours on a ThomsonFly flight with next to no leg room and it was absolute hell. Granted I'm taller than a lot of people, but the amount of leg room was just plain abysmal.

Just thought I'd throw that in to the mix. If leg room is a priority for you, I'd highly recommend an extra £10-20 to get more of it

Lopéz · 2 May 2006 at 22:29

Al Vallario said:
I'm not sure how bad easyJet is, but I've spent 4 hours on a ThomsonFly flight with next to no leg room and it was absolute hell.

Try 9 hours to the Dominican Republic.

Thomsonfly (particularly for long haul - short haul is better with the majority having leather etc) are seriously behind the competition these days, no seat back televisions, crap Premium seats, awful seat covering, blurry aisle monitors....

easyJet is fine for what it is, but being scheduled I'd imagine you will be catered for on Olympic, on easyJet you have to bring your own or buy a roll.

singist · 2 May 2006 at 22:38

Run to Beachy Head, launch yourself at the edge, flap a lot ........ pray ..

Otherwise, get a plane like everyone else.

pyro · 2 May 2006 at 23:53

I am doing the KLM Bradford-Amsterdam-Athens, lets see if I can spend some time there

paul@ · 3 May 2006 at 00:02

4 hours is really bad..

Try doing that on a EASYJET FLIGHT from Luton to Istanbul

The space is so bad, I cannot even use the laptop properly!!

Go for the A340 route!!

McDaniel · 3 May 2006 at 00:06

4 hours is nothing

dont worry about it, take the cheaper option.

pyro · 3 May 2006 at 00:10

paul@ said:
4 hours is really bad..

Try doing that on a EASYJET FLIGHT from Luton to Istanbul

The space is so bad, I cannot even use the laptop properly!!

Go for the A340 route!!

Constantinople, surely, what's that insta-jibrish you are on about?

Scania · 3 May 2006 at 00:12

Read about somebody like Guy Gibson, who aged 24 commanded the Dambusters, flying low over Germany (average below 100ft) through flak in a "Lancaster" - or a shed by modern standards.

Read this when travelling in any modern airliner, it really makes you think.

The reason I say this? I did just the above on my Jet2.COM flight to Murcia in Spain a few weeks ago.

We've come along way in aviation, we really have.

Beansprout · 3 May 2006 at 00:29

4hrs is nothing! 30min ascending, 30min down, that means only 3hrs in the air of which at least 20min should be spent eating something, 5min drinking, 15min waiting for the loo, 20min looking at the pretty views, 60min staring at the flight attendants, 30min trying to figure out the overhead light and 30min reading. Easy peasy

For £20 I'd see what Olympus offer over Easyjet....you should be able to check the seating stats on their sites (or at least Google), and you should be able to find out if you get any food (which will reduce your time staring at the flight attendants but hey, at least the Olympus ones should have more class than Sleazy, er, Easyjet).

pyro · 3 May 2006 at 00:49

Beansprout said:
Olympus

Olympic, dude, they don't make lenses, they fly planes

Beansprout · 3 May 2006 at 00:53

It's..er..late?

Superdude · 3 May 2006 at 02:15

Whenever I travel, I always follow this rule

Will the amount of free booze / food / comfort be worth more than the money you saved.

It may sound obvious but if you are on a flight over 6 hours I nearly always go for the more expensive option, even when I don't have any extra money to spend. I often find, if I go for the cheap option, I spend just as much "recovering" in the bar afterwards.

4 hour flight tho is nothing as long as you take a book and some music.

Raymond Lin · 3 May 2006 at 02:22

paul@ said:
4 hours is really bad..

Try doing that on a EASYJET FLIGHT from Luton to Istanbul

The space is so bad, I cannot even use the laptop properly!!

Go for the A340 route!!

4 hours is a piece of cake , I take a nap. shut eye, open eye. Job done. I do that with train journeys too (my trip from home to Brighton could take as long as 5 and a half hours sometimes. Quickest was 4 and a half by train), there's never enough room on those little trays for your laptop unless you get a table seat. So just got for a nap.

Iraklis F.C. · 3 May 2006 at 08:00

OA is going down the toilet and fast hence it is not my number 1 choice for safety reasons ...i would pick any other carrier.
But then , A340 is a fantastic plane so i would be tempted

EDIT: but who guarantee you that it will be a A340? i wouldnt be surprised if a ATR72 would show up in the end , its OA mate u know what i mean