Any recent experiences with Olympic Airlines international flights?
 

We are planning to book a flight from JFK to Athens in the next day or two. Right now the lowest (only?) direct flight is with Olympic. I have been doing my homework by searching through posts here at Fodor's and have read some rather unflattering comments about them. However, the most recent posts are from September 2008.

Have any of you travelled with them internationally (especially on Flight 412, from JFK to Athens) recently? If so, can you give us your thoughts about your experiences with Olympic?

Thanks!

Bob (of CherylNBob)

Check Continental too. They have non stops to ATH from EWR. Earlier this week their pricing was only about $50 more than Olympic. Good luck.

Go to the Greece forum on TripAdvisor. Find "Litsa" and ask her. She frequently flies from NYC to Athens on Olympic.

My husband does a lot of business with Greek clients. Most of them avoid Olympic whenever possible due to older planes, lack of in flight entertainment, delays, and poor customer service. I'd definitely look into the Continental flight out of Newark, esp. if there's such a small price differential. If that doesn't work, our family has also sometimes flown Air France from JFK and connected through to Athens at the notorious CDG. Unbelievably, we've had good luck doing that way, and never missed our connection!

<Also check CO>

Don't know when you're going, but just note that CO's service from EWR to ATH is seasonal and doesn't run from Oct through April (I recall it's April). FWIW, I'd certainly pick CO over Olypmic.

Just wanted to add that in case the Continental flight doesn't operate when you need it, the Air France flights ( JFK-CDG; CDG-ATH) are very good, even though you have to connect through CDG!

A final thought, I promise... We have also (twice) flown to Rome on AA, then connected through to Athens on Aegean, which is an excellent airline. Flight time between Rome and Athens is short- about two hours or less.

Thanks to all of you. We are gonna take a stab at Olympic. Got our reservations in today. Greece, here we come!

It's a couple of years old. But Olympic's underlying industrial relations problems have got worse since then

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2

If you crave excitement, fly Olympic. If you want a comfortable and reliable journey, Aeroflot, Air Congo or Arianna Afghan Airlines are all probably better bets.

PS:

Scroll to the 0135 posting

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