this is why when flying into Athens, or any European airport that we’re transiting through we take only carry on baggage and don’t check anything if we can avoid it. Luckily both times we flew into Athens it was from Bergamo, so not directly from USA but it still took our luggage more than an hour to appear the first time. The second time we did only carry on and we’re happy we did

If you do it all on one ticket US to Santorini, your luggage will be checked through, no need to get it in Athens. Have you looked at flights all on one ticket? Seems like there is a decent chance that the layover in Athens would be less than the three hours you need to allow with separate tickets.

Susan, upthread the OP stated that flights that had a connection to Santorini on one ticket were too long.

I often see the layovers accounted in the total journey (original flight, layover, final destination flight) and perhaps the OP has not seen that detail, or it is not given. Personally, this would be the way to go because of the protection it offers....

Thanks so much for your replies. Since my South Carolina to Athens, tickets are booked. I will allow three hours between arrival in Athens and my flight to Santorini. I also will carry on, of course I usually do. It’s just a matter of convincing my family to do the same.

If you are using an airline with which you are unfamiliar I recommend checking baggage restrictions. For some airlines it’s a maximum of 7kg, which try as I might I can’t travel internationally with that.

If OP is flying only to Santorini, they may be OK with carry-ons up to about 40 lbs (I forget how much that is in metric). However, if their itinerary involves getting back to Athens by plane from another island, they're wise to check ... other islands may be using smaller planes even nonjets, with limitied cabin space for carry-ons even if the weights are under the limit for a "free bag" on the premium-level ticket.

This is the way to go.

Aegean airlines has much more weight allowance than 7kg. We flew last year from Milos to Athens and it was a lot more than that.

Baggage allowance is dependent on class of travel. Usually need tip economy tickets if you require 23 KG check in.

For Aegean Airlines you need to book Economy ComfortFlex for the 23kg checked baggage allowance. That allows you to bring to the cabin one 8kg bag plus one personal item that will fit under the seat in front of you.

https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-info...age-allowance/

In our admittedly limited experience Aegean do spot check carry on luggage for size and weight.

Customs is efficient in greece as long as you have no issues. 2-3 hours would be safe

At least 3 hours for sure considering what they’re doing