Flying Olympic
 

WE are flying on Olympic to Ahtens from JFK in June. Since making my reservations I've read numerous bad reports about Olympic losing luggage and being notoriuosly late. Has ANYONE had a positive experience flying Olympic??

avoid it-poor service, crowded and did allow smoking

Our experiences with Olympic (2000) may be too long ago to be helpful, but we were actually quite pleased with them. It was United that made our lives hell!

We flew Paris to Athens on Olympic and also Athens to Santorini.

The only nice thing I can say about Olympic is that it goes to Greece.





And the plane didn't crash.

This is a frightening litany of complaints on Olympic. Have there been any attempts of this airline to upgrade its service in view of the Olympics? Also, I not on a list of smoking policies, that Olympic lists itself at non-smoking. Is this correct? Is there a place to complain about breaches in smoking? Thanks.

I flew them in October last year. Strikeningly similar itineraries to Mary_B. Paris to Athens, then Santorini to Athens.

No problems. The flights were on time. Didn't notice any smoking. Snack was decent.

We've all heard of airlines losing luggage, but can you imagine when we flew from Athens to Chania on Olympic, everyone's luggage was lost? They forgot to put ANY luggage at all on the plane. How is that possible?

I have flown on Olympic many times, and more often than not it is okay. It is not my first choice because the planes seem to be aging and I worry about their maintenance, but when it is cheapest, I usually fly Olympic. For many years, there has not been smoking on board that I have observed. My baggage has always arrived on time. It is possible to have a bad experience on every airlines (mine last month on Delta was an absolute nightmare from start to finish), but Olympic is no worse than most in my experience. Since you already have the ticket, don't worry, and put yourself in a frame of mind to just roll with the punches. It makes things easier. Good luck.

Hi

Yes flew Olympic from Santorini to Athens. 30 minute flight, one hour to retrieve baggage. Waiting for luggage we amused ourselves by picturing our belongings strewn across the Aegean sea - a dolphin wearing my wife's cheeky red number. Other then that service etc. was OK. I'll use them again if need be.

If in doubt can you switch to another airline?

See ya

I've flown Olympic many times within Greece and within Europe, with no real problems (just terrible delays- NEVER on time). For short flights, I think it's fine. I have not flown long-haul flights with them, but I have heard some bad stories. The one that sticks out in my memory involved an unpleasant smell on the trans-atlantic flight due to the propensity of the passengers to discard toilet paper in the waste basket rather than flushing it. I heard that story years ago from an acquaintance who was on that flight, so I can't speak to whether it is still accurate, but I probably wouldn't risk it. That kind of problem would make for a very LONG flight.

I have only flown with them on short-ish flights and didn't have any complaints but I don't recall anything that stood out in terms of their service or anything.

I would be slightly more hesitant to fly with them for a much longer trip although there's nothing to suggest that they would be much worse than any other carrier.

As someone said, now you already have the reservations, I wouldn't worry any more about it and concentrate on planning the rest of your trip.

There have been several threads regarding this airline, and it would seem that flights within Europe or Greek island hopping are okay, but transatlantic not good at all.

Years ago we flew from SFO to JFK, changed terminals and then changed gates three times before boarding our Olympic flight, as they kept changing it. It was without doubt the worst flight we have ever taken. The 747 seemed old and rather shabby, the bathrooms were filthy and ran out of supplies, the crew was less than friendly and spent most of the time in the galley smoking.

On our flight from Athens home, there was an altercation shortly after we boarded when some passengers found a family in their assigned seats and they wouldn't leave. The cabin personnel made little or no effort to resolve the problem, and it practically came to blows. Again the bathrooms were dirty and the crew quite unpleasant.

As a previous poster noted, the best I can also say is the plane went to Greece (which we loved) and didn't crash!

We will never fly them again.

Patrick,
I was once in Rome with a group of USAir passengers about 30 of whom had no luggage. USAir had just not loaded all the carts onto the plane!

I flew Olympic in 2000 between Athens and some of the islands. This appears to be a minority opinion, but I had no problems.

The information in this topic seems to me a bit outdated. Olympic operates only new A-340's. Smoking is strictly prohibited. Security is extremely tight. Service varies.
The only other option for non stop service from JFK is Delta which flies B767's. I've used them both fairly recently and I liked more Olympic. More modern planes, free alcoholic beverages, more room in cabin, better in flight entertainment.
I experienced short delays due to security measures in both Olympic and Delta. Olympic usually takes off late from JFK due to late arrivals due to late departures from Athens because of enhanced security. The same goes with Delta's departures from Athens.
I never lost my luggage with them. (actually I've experienced that with Alitalia)

Wait long enough and you'll hear both good and bad "reports" about every airline flying as you've undoubtedly noticed on this very thread.

Well, we survived our Oylmpic flights both ways with no problems! The flight out of JFK was packed to the fullest and we were 2 hours late taking off. But, the plane was fairly new (the newer 340 Airbus), the seats were comfortable, and the food was fine. I went prepared for the worst and hoped the best and was satisfied. If the price were right, I'd fly them again.

Hi

Thanks for the feedback on Olympic. Out of curiosity, why was the flight 2 hours late? Was this Olympics fault?

Cheers

Olympic is not well organized in their boarding process which caused some delay. There were MANY people boarding in wheelchairs that it took a long time. The rest of the delay wss probably due to the traffic at JFK. We were 1/2 hr. late out of Santorini on the 1st flight out. The flight arrived late and then poorly organized boarding. Same scenario leaving Athens. But we made up time & arrived at JFK right on. The sat on the tarmac for another 1/2 until a gate opened up. Would fly Olympic again, but maybe not out of JFK!!!