Hello everyone. We are arriving at Athens via British Airways on Saturday, June 21 at 1:30 p.m. There's a flight going to Santorini at 3:45 p.m. which we want to make. Can anyone tell us if 2 hours and 15 minutes gives us enough time to catch this flight considering we have to pick up our luggage (from BA) then go through passport control and then head over to the boarding desk at Olympic Airways? If we don't take this flight the next one is at 5-ish with Aegean Airways. We have a 2 year old so we prefer not to delay at the airport if at all possible. Does anyone have any insight or experience that might help us? We'd like to buy our tickets to Santorini as soon as possible. Many thanks for any advice.

jar,

Are you sure you won't be able to check your luggage through to Santorini when you check in for your BA flight? I would check with the airline. If you can, you should be fine. You will have to go through immigration in Athens though.

To avoid getting stuck in the event that you miss your Olympic flight, you should have your entire itinerary issued on a single ticket. Otherwise, Olympic does not have to accommodate you at no extra charge on a later flight should you miss your connection.

Also, I would avoid booking the last flight of the day to Santorini, as this dramatically increases the likelihood of your getting stranded overnight in Athens.

Hope this helps,
Andre

As long as your BA flight arrives on time, you should be able to make the Olympic flight at 3:45 p.m. The new airport is fairly efficient, and the aircraft you will be boarding for Santorini only carries about 50 passengers, so check-in lines shouldn't be too long.

By the way, there is another Olympic flight to Santorini at 6:40 p.m. If you want additional reassurance, why not contact Olympic Airways direct for their opinion?

I agree with trying to get your luggage checked all the way through and it usually can be done IF BA has a "luggage agreement" with the connecting airline..we've done this sort of thing before when we've checked in with our originating airline and had a separate ticket for the connecting "leg." We just showed the agent our connecting tickets and they were able to tag the bags for an all the way through transit for the luuggage. Can't hurt to ask.

Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions.

We had asked BA if they can send luggage through to Santorini. and 2 got 2 different answers from 3 different reps. The first one said "yes", the other 2 said "no" because they didn't partnership w/ OA. I called OA and one guy said BA should be able to tag it, another rep said he wasn't sure. Both airlines thought 2hrs and 15mins "should" be enough time to connect, however thought I'd check if anyone had bad experiencs w/ delays at passport control, etc. before booking the 15:45 flight to santorini. Since it seems like we might have a good chance of making the connection I think we'll chance it and hope for the best. I'll post our experience on our return.
Thanks again for all your help.
JAR

2.25 hours is enough time if you have to collect and re-check you bags. The new airport is very efficient and easy to move through.