I have not flown overseas in many years and never to Greece. I am hoping there are those of you who have made this trip with different airlines and can make suggestions. I'm taking my family on a cruise out of Athen. Hoping for reasons to choose one airline over another. I also hate to fly to that's just an added bonus. My trip is late May, 2022 and also wondering if cruising will be safer by then.

Unless you are flying first/business class, I think the airlines you might choose for Chicago-Athens you won't find much difference among them.

But some considerations for choosing are:

-do you have frequent flyer status with any of them (you could choose that airline or one of their partners)
-do you want nonstop (American Airlines is currently flying nonstop Chicago-Athens, but that is more expensive than a one stop)
-do you want to stop and see anywhere else on the way (you might choose London, Amsterdam, Paris, Munich, etc. depending on the airline
-do you understand the airlines seat selection policy (some require you pay extra to select a seat in advance)
-price (you might watch sales or use Kayak or one of the other websites to set a price "alert" for your dates and route)

If you are the whole family one other flight search tip I have heard is to look for only one or two seats at a time. On any given flight the best prices they may have only a few seats available. If you search for 5 seats and the best price is available for only 3 seats they will bump up all 5 into the next available higher price. You can then phone the airline later after you have made the separate reservations and have them "linked" so that any flight schedule changes, cancellations, seat assignments, etc. are made by their system together.

Whatever you do have patience. The airlines and their staff are still overwhelmed from covid and the rush of travelers back to flights this summer.

Thank you so much for that information. I do have United points to use.

Best would be American on their non-stop flight. I will give a link below to the search that I did for that route. The AA nonstop is actually less expensive that the United connecting itinerary.

If I didn't choose the nonstop then I would choose a connection in Europe instead of connecting in the USA or Canada. If using United miles then I would choose the Turkish flights that connect in Istanbul instead of the United flight connections in Newark. That would be my preference for the outbound flight. I might reverse that for the inbound flight, i.e. have the trans-continental flight be the first leg each way.

Also look at the trip durations. The Qatar trip is cheaper than Turkish but the travel duration is twice as long.

Matrix - ITA Software by Google

A thought from a friend of mine he really liked the Turkish Air choice through Istanbul for Greece. It might seem like going "past" your destination and then going "back" but he liked that the first leg was a bit longer as he could get some sleep on the flight. And that the Istanbul airport is newer and easier than many.

>> If you are the whole family one other flight search tip I have heard is to look for only one or two seats at a time.

That is a great tip: your first search should be for 1 passenger to find the lowest fare. I did this once for a one-way domestic NZ flight. Searched for 1 pax and then for 2. The total for 2 was more than twice the price for one, so I booked them separately at two different fares.

For connections in Europe I find that Lufthansa via either FRA or MUC makes for an easy connection and predictable good quality. They have overnight flights from numerous US origins and connecting flights to destinations all across Europe.

Thank you so much for this tip. I don't fly very often so this is a great tip when looking for the whole family

Thank you