eastave

We are looking at flying Olympic Air from Larnaca, Cyprus to Santorini, through Athens. We have a choice of a 55 minute layover, or a 3 hour layover. Obviously, I would prefer the 55 minute layover if things went smoothly. For those of you who know the Athens airport, is 55 minutes risky? Thanks!

brotherleelove2004

Nor me, not risky, not if both flights are on the same airline. Your luggage will be transferred for you. The airport itself is well-designed and you will have plenty of time to catch your ongoing flight.

brotherleelove2004

What's the worse thing that can happen? If you don't make it the airline will be obligated to put you on the next flight.

eastave

Thanks for the response. I have never been in the Athens airport, so I have no idea how easy this might be. Both flights are on the same airline. My fear is missing the connection and then getting bumped much later if the next flights are full. But, I am inclined not to plan for a 3 hour wait.

brotherleelove2004

The airport is not spread out and is well-designed so the chances are good that your connecting flight will be from a gate close to the one where you arrive.

Heimdall

If you book the flights together, have boarding passes in hand for both flights, and your baggage is checked through to Santorini, then all you have to do is go through passport control and walk to the Santorini departure gate. The walk will take about 10 minutes, and passport control is usually fairly quick.

A 55 min layover is enough provided the flight from Istanbul arrives on time. Just out of curiosity I checked real time flight information on http://www.olympicair.com/en-gb/e-se...formation.cmt: if I read it correctly, yesterday's morning flight arrived 31 minutes late and today's 21 minutes late. I, personally, don't like the stress of tight connections, so would opt for the 3 hr layover.

eastave

Since we are coming from Cyprus, do we need to go through passport control?

Heimdall

I believe you will. Cyprus is in the EU, but not part of the Schengen zone (similar to the UK).

Heimdall

My apologies — I confused you with another thread on Istanbul. The Olympic website hasn't updated real time flight information for flights from Larnaca, but the Athens Airport website shows this evening's flight from Larnaca arriving on time. The bottom line is the same, though — you are depending upon on-time arrival in order to make your connecting flight.