Mother Daughter Greece Trip
Jul 7th, 2019, 02:46 AM
#21
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Yes, booking two flights on the same ticket could reduce overall price as well, and you won’t know which until you try both with dummy bookings. The transatlantic part of the trip will be the most expensive. The reason I mentioned it was in the past, looking at flights from London to Athens and Athens to Paros, I found booking the flights together usually turned out to be more expensive.
One advantage of travel within the EU is there are no customs formalities when crossing international borders, so luggage can be checked all the way through to Santorini. So if you were to fly to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, or another EU Airport you wouldn’t have to pick up and recheck luggage at Athens, and perhaps can even find a flight direct to Santorini.
One advantage of travel within the EU is there are no customs formalities when crossing international borders, so luggage can be checked all the way through to Santorini. So if you were to fly to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, or another EU Airport you wouldn’t have to pick up and recheck luggage at Athens, and perhaps can even find a flight direct to Santorini.
Jul 7th, 2019, 08:50 AM
#22
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The problem with separate tickets is that your flight might be more than a little late. Mine was. I arrived in Santorini nearly five hours later than scheduled. 😀 So unless the separate tickets are a great deal cheaper, I don't think it's worth it (and I am someone always looking for the cheapest price).
Jul 7th, 2019, 10:31 AM
#25
Another option is to spend the first couple of days in Athens. That's what I plan to do. So if something goes wrong with my flight in, I'll "lose" a day in Athens. I prefer that to losing my first day in Santorini. This is my first trip to Greece but I always do that when flying long distances. Make the first night the most "dispensible" night and day. So I'm doing 2 nights in Athens, 2 nights on Santorini, 2 nights TBD and the last night in Athens, near the airport. I fly a lot and don't worry about much. I'd be heartsick if somehow I missed the first night of my trip on Santorini. It's half of my Santorini time. Way too risky for my comfort zone.
Jul 7th, 2019, 11:48 AM
#26
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The other alternative is to book a flight to Santorini with a longer layover time. You don’t have to sit around the terminal all day if you arrive in the morning. You can usually drop off your bags early with the Aegean/Olympic flights, as the counters are open all day. Once I dropped off my bags and took the metro into central Athens, returning two hours before the connecting flight.
Another thing you can do is take the bus or a taxi to Rafina and sit in a cafe or taverna overlooking the port and take in a little sea air, just the thing after sitting several hours on an airplane. Rafina is the small ferry port about 30 minutes from the airport, and has some very good fish tavernas.
The important thing is to be back in Athens with plenty of time to spare before your flight home. One night is usually enough, and it is safer to fly back than to take a ferry. Domestic flights are rarely ever cancelled, while occasionally ferries are affected by severe weather or industrial action.
Another thing you can do is take the bus or a taxi to Rafina and sit in a cafe or taverna overlooking the port and take in a little sea air, just the thing after sitting several hours on an airplane. Rafina is the small ferry port about 30 minutes from the airport, and has some very good fish tavernas.
The important thing is to be back in Athens with plenty of time to spare before your flight home. One night is usually enough, and it is safer to fly back than to take a ferry. Domestic flights are rarely ever cancelled, while occasionally ferries are affected by severe weather or industrial action.
Jul 7th, 2019, 11:54 AM
#27
Those are great ideas.
I've been following a Fodorite's trip to Spain. At best the flight would have been six hours delayed. In the end, they cancelled the flight completely, gave refunds and folks went back home. Buy trip insurance (I don't always). I travel a lot for business so I always fly in the night before and never on the last flight of the day. I just know how easy it is for things to go wrong - weather, equipment, crews not making the flight or have worked their max times and the plane can't go until a new crew is found. Not to be so pessimistic, but my stomach would be in knots if the two flights weren't connected. But different people have different comfort levels re risk.
I've been following a Fodorite's trip to Spain. At best the flight would have been six hours delayed. In the end, they cancelled the flight completely, gave refunds and folks went back home. Buy trip insurance (I don't always). I travel a lot for business so I always fly in the night before and never on the last flight of the day. I just know how easy it is for things to go wrong - weather, equipment, crews not making the flight or have worked their max times and the plane can't go until a new crew is found. Not to be so pessimistic, but my stomach would be in knots if the two flights weren't connected. But different people have different comfort levels re risk.
Jul 7th, 2019, 12:33 PM
#28
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