REVIEW | Aegean from Brussels to Athens and Mykonos in Economy

Maspalomas on Gran Canaria. Sitges in Catalonia. Torremolinos in Andalusia. Mykonos in the Cyclades. These are arguably the main – and cliché – resort destinations for European gay beachgoers. But that’s not why Steve and I are going to Mykonos. We’re not beachgoers, we don’t have beach bodies, we don’t enjoy going out. No, we just want to visit the archeologic island of Delos. So making the best of coveted free time during the 2023 school summer holiday, we’re off to Greece!

No business class this time. Steve and flew economy. We found a great rate on Black Friday Week Month Season in 2022. ‘Flex’. So were allowed one cabin bag (the usual cabin bag size, and maximum 8 kg) and one personal item.

Aegean Air uses Airbus A320 planes. The workhorse for so many airlines on continental flights. We have flown so many times on a A320 I will focus on particularities of our journey from Brussels Airport (BRU) to Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos (Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Αθηνών «Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος», ATH) and the short hop to Mykonos-Manto Mavrogenous Airport (Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Μυκόνου «Μαντώ Μαυρογένους», JMK)

Nifty seat

From Brussels to Athens, we had recent A320-271N or A320 Neo. I ha barely legroom. Steve had more space. The seat is hard as usual on this short-haul flights, but still, the seat deserves a special mention.

Because not only it has a little table, but it also has a two mobile phone / book holders and a USB outlet. Unusual on these short flights. Well, I say short. Brussels to Athens is three hours. Not that short.

I must say it’s quite treat to have an elaborate seat design on a short-haul flight.

Catering, yes catering!

The cabin crew works hard! Unlike other intra-European flights, the hoi polloi in economy get fed. On the Brussels to Athens flight, we got a warm meal – chicken or falafel – followed by a drink, a cookie and another coffee, tea or water. So they came by for times. The fourth time for the garbage.

I had the falafel, Steve the chicken. They were served with the same sauce. There was also a side salad.

Watch you weight

Technically not during the flight, but ground personnel at Aegean is obsessed with the weight of your cabin bag. Weighed in Athens, mine was 10.6 kg.

“You’ll have to check that in.” I thought not. I took my foldable groceries bag and put shoes, my books and my liquids in. I weighed it again and it was 8.3 kg. But the attendant didn’t notice me anymore.

There’s a little context to this ‘incident’. The flight was overbooked. The ground crew offered 250 euros plus a food voucher to take a later flight, but no-one stepped forward. I’m adamant they were looking for overweight bags to pressure their owners.

Athens Airport was so chaotic. The checking of weight was so unsystematic. It was à la tête du client, based on how you looked.

But after experiencing the same in Vancouver in June 2023, I’m wondering if this is a new trend.

One hop this time

The flight from Athens to Mykonos is so short. Under 40 minutes on an older A320. Barely at cruising altitude, and the plane starts its approach to Mykonos. In those 35-or-so minutes we still got a bottle of water. Funnily, one of the flight attendants was on our first flight as well.

Arriving at JMK, we got to walk from the plane to the airport building. Such a nice thing to do.