travelerjan

Bettina -- Here's another idea! Call the Greek National Tourist Organization Head Office in the US, in the Olympic Tower, NYC NY. Has no 800 #, but the NYC number is 212-421-5777, and the e-mail address is [email protected]. FRankly if I were you I would use the phone number, not e-mail, because e-mail can be ignored. I would advise to call in the morning but not at 9, nearer to 10 am, that's when I have been able to speak to someone. They are good at passing off inquiries, so if they ask what it's about, say that you're taking a group to Greece, and you have a concern about your flights, and are unable to find a way to contact Olympic in the US, since the 800 # does not work.

Good luck!

brotherleelove2004

There are lots of international calling services that only charge pennies (literally!) per minute if you register with them. You are issued an '800' number as well as a numerical code that is exclusively yours. After you dial in this info you're prompted to enter the phone number. You have to enter 011-30 along with the phone number to get through to Greece. I use Master Call and there are no monthly fees, I only get charged when I make a call. You can opt for receiving a bill or you can make an automatic payment using a credit card.

http://www.world-link.com

Heimdall

Good advice from brotherleelove. I have a similar low cost service here in the UK for my calls to Greece and the US.

Bettina, now that you have the correct email address, and in fact have already sent one, it will probably be a good idea to wait a few days for an answer before attempting to call. My guess is you will get a prompt reply, but I could be wrong. Olympic Air has to overcome the reputation inherited from it's predecessor, and if it is smart, will pay attention to queries such as yours. I'm counting on it - I've booked a flight from London to Athens with Olympic Air for June.

Heimdall

BTW, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a further round of schedule changes in March. Aegean Airlines, Olympic Air, Athens Airways, Sky Express, and Astra Airways have each submitted bids for all or some of the 24 subsidized air routes to the islands of Greece. Santorini isn't one of those routes, but when contracts are awarded, the airlines will have to adapt their schedules to incorporate the routes they have won. Decisions will be made in February, and summer timetables finalized in March.

Bettina222

Just to let you all know..........I heard back from Olympic Air today and they did switch our tickets to time we wanted.
Thank you all again for your help!
Heimdall, don't tell me that!!

Heimdall

Great news! As I wrote, Santorini isn't one of those subsidized routes, so you should be okay. Was it a reply to your email?

Bettina222

yes, they responded to my email

P_M

I'm glad you heard from them but I still find it very odd you have to email them in order to get service. But in any case I'm glad the problem is solved.

Heimdall

Hi P_M,

The numbers you and others gave Bettina to call were for the old Olympic Airlines, which no longer exists! No wonder they didn't answer the phone!

The new Olympic Air no longer flies to any destination in North America, so I'd be surprised if they have an office in New York or anywhere else on these shores. The do have a code share arrangement with Delta, though.

Brotherleelove gave Bettina two telephone numbers to call, and an email address. The telephone numbers were in Greece - no surprise there, it's a Greek company. Bettina chose, instead, to send an email, and got a prompt reply, switching her tickets to the time she wanted. That sounds like excellent customer service to me.

BTW, had she bought her tickets with Aegean Airlines and wanted to contact them, the procedure would have been the same - send an email or call a number in Greece.

Bettina222

Heimdall,
You are right about Aegean Airlines but they answer their email much more quickly than Olympic.
Aegean did switch the time of one of our flights and promptly made the change we requested when I contacted them.
But all has ended well here with Olympic too and I'm pleased.
Thanks again to everyone for their help and advice.

suefahy

Hi Bettina,
I was just online looking for a phone # for the same reason. It's very frustrating. I have made 4 reservations for flights to and from Athens to Santorini and Mykonos, and all 4 flights were changed. One of the flight changes leaves myself and two children in Athens for 11 hours, and another causes us to miss a connecting flight. I've found alternate flights that are very close to our originally scheduled flights, and don't know why they did not make changes to these? In any event, I have been trying to get this straightened out with Expedia (who I made the arrangements with), and they are unable to get through to Olympic either- crazy! I was given the same phone #'s as you, with the same results- one # was a busy signal, another disconnected. I too am waiting for a reply to my email, so hopefully, I will get a response like you. I am also planning on calling the phone # in Greece during business hours tomorrow....wish me luck!
....I was also told that this may happen a few more times before our trip in June...I sure hope not!

Heimdall

Hi suefahy,

The fact is, Olympic Air is a Greek company, and doesn't fly to the U.S. The numbers floating around are for the old Olympic Airlines, which had an office in New York, but ceased operations last October. You have to call Greece to contact Olympic Air.

BTW, I booked my Olympic Air London-Athens flight with Expedia UK, which still has it listed as 'Olympic Airlines'. Maybe Expedia hasn't gotten the word yet. I just checked my credit card account, and the charge has gone through to United Airlines, believe it or not. Now I am worried too, but in this case the finger should be pointed at Expedia, not Olympic Air.

Bettina222

Heimdall and suefahy,
The number I received from Olympicair email to call Greece from abroad is +30 210 355 0500
I haven't tried it because things did get straightened our via email.
The person who responded to my email was
Maria Papanagiotou
reservations@olympicair
Hope that helps.

basch0902

OMG...after reading this string of notes I am concerned. The Olympic Air flight we have from Athens to Santorini has already been changed once. Now we don't get to Santorini until 10pm. Orginially we were scheduled to get in to Santorini in the early evening.

I just spoke with Expedia about changing to an earlier flight but they said our tickets could not be changed. That I understand but more concerning is they said I need to be at the airport 3 hours before our flight. ?????

Should I cut my loses and just look into other more reliable options? Is there a ferry that doesn't take all day to get to Santorini? If I have to sit at the airport for 3 hours for a 40 minute flight is it worth it?

Bettina222

basch,
I would try going through Olympic Air directly, instead of Expedia, to see about changing your flight to a time that works better for you. They did change ours at no charge (because they had changed our original flight time and it was just not going to work for us).
Also, I've only been to Greece once before but never had to be at any of the airports that early.
Maybe some with more Greece travel experience can comment.

Bettina222

one more suggestion, look up the flight schedules for Olympic and see if there is one that works better for you.
That way you can give them the flight number that you want to be changed to.

brotherleelove2004

I agree, go through Olympic Air, not Expedia. They will change your tickets with no charge to you. That's good advice about looking up the new flight times and requesting the one that works best for you.

Checking in 2 hours before your flight is enough.

Heimdall

For domestic flights in Greece you need to be at check-in only an hour before the flight, although a little earlier wouldn't hurt. The three hours suggested by Expedia sounds like what is recommended for international flights to/from the U.S.

For what it's worth, I've always had good service from Expedia UK, and also through Opodo, which is sort of a European version of Orbitz. I book my Greek domestic flights directly with the airlines, though.

basch0902

Thanks Bettina for the helpful suggestion!!!

I called Olympia who said yes, I should be able to change since they (Olympia) changed our flights (as long as it is for the same day of travel)however I would need to go back through Expedia to make the change.

Called Expedia, the representative said no, I requested a supervisor and then waited for the supervisor for close to 20 minutes.

The supervisor was helpful, understood the situation and then stated she had to call Olympia for the change codes.

After several minutes she came back on the line and stated the number she had did not work. I gave her the number provided by Bettina (THANK YOU). After a couple of minutes she came back on the line, and said she did talk to the airline but they did not have the codes and we would need to call back during normal business hours.

She updated my record and gave me a reference number and suggested I call Expedia on Monday before 9am Eastern time, ask for a supervisor and provide them with the refernece number and they should be able to change the flights.

Will post what happens tomorrow.

Bettina222

wow, I've been given so much help on the Fodors website
that it's exciting to help others.
good luck basch!