Customs/Baggage Claim in Athens Greece Question
 

We are flying non-stop from Chicago to Athens. We arrive in Athens at 9 am on Sunday September 19. We then need to travel to Mykonos. The only flight we can find leaves Athens at 11 am on the same day. We are wondering if we have checked luggage, what are the chances of us making the connecting flight? Do you need to claim baggage before going through customs? We are considering going carry-on if that would save us time. Thanks for any help you can give us.

What airlines are you flying?

You should be able to check your bags all the way through to Mykonos, and so you would not go through customs until then. You'd only need to pass through immigration aka passport control at Athens.

That is what we had heard but we weren't sure...we are flying US Air. We actually start in Grand Rapids, MI so would we give the information regarding our connection in Athens to that agent? I have a friend who has flown a lot internationally and he has suggested if at all possible to not check any baggage...any thoughts on that?

I didn't know USAir flies non-stop from Chicago to Athens. I'm not seeing any Chicago to Athens non-stops on any airline. Are you sure?

Regardless, yes, you will give your connecting flight info to the USAir agent at checkin. Assuming the connecting flight is in Olympic Air (USAir doesn't fly to Mykonos) you will be able to check your bags through. I think the same is true for Aegean. I'm not sure why your friend suggests not to check bags through, but to each his own.

Another thing to be aware of. Did you purchase your flights all on one ticket, Grand Rapids to Mykonos, or did you mix and match and buy separate tickets? If the latter then you may be out beaucoups bucks if your incoming flight from the US is delayed and you miss the connecting flight. Ditto for the return.

If you bought all the flights on one ticket then you will be protected if any of your flights are delayed. The airline(s) will be responsible for putting you on the next available flight should there be a problem.

How much time do you have connecting on the return in Athens, and is it enough to meet USAir's checkin requirements

USAir and Aegean are both members of the Star alliance so if those are your airlines then you should be able to checkin and get boarding pass all the way through from Grand Rapids.

You still haven't told us which airlines so without that info it's hard to give you better answers.

You are right...we aren't flying nonstop from Chicago to Athens...we have a connecting flight in Philadelphia...:(! The flight out of Athens would be with Olympic Air. My friend wasn't suggesting to not check the bags all the way thru...he was suggesting not to check any luggage at all..to just be traveling with carry-ons so traveling would be faster and easier. We haven't bought the ticket with Olympic Air yet. We just have the ticket from G.R. to Athens. I believe our plan on the return is to take a boat from mykonos to Athens and we would be doing that Saturday early afternoon and our flight leaves Sunday afternoon so there would be plenty of time.

Hi! Are you attending the Cocoa Daisy event? If so you might want to revisit the carry-on only idea as you will not be able to bring aboard the various supplies. FYI; my wife is attending the event.

Hi, I am about to do the same this October and was wondering if you ended up getting the 11am flight to Mykonos and if you made the flight. Thanks!

This thread is <u>seven</u> years old . . . and the OP posted and never returned.

you are right, for some reason I thought the post was from 2015, my bad. Thanks!

Well I wonder if she made it!?

In all likelihood the OP did make it, as will @gilas. I've done similar transfers several times in Athens, and I always had plenty of time, but I haven't been to Greece for 5 years. It's a small and efficient airport. However, I was NOT able to check my bags all the way through. I had to stand in line and re-check them each time, but it was not a problem. There's been considerable change and consolidation in airlines since then, but the airport is built for transfers, so I am always confident that 2 hours is enough time (and international flights are often early).

Thanks for the feedback @doug!