Living in Greece

10 Tips for flying with Olympic Airlines

October 21, 2008 at 07:08 ·

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“… because the phone is ringing all day and bothering us.”

That remark alone made my day! Thank you

i agree entirely with your remarks – the last time i flew with olympic (crete-athens) was over a decade ago. since 2000, i’ve been taking aegean. the flights are on time – always – and the staff polite – again, always.

The last time that I flew OA…let’s see…17 years ago? It was a nightmare just as you described. Our flight from Thessaloniki to Athens was on time but once we arrived in Athens…we were stuck there with an 8 hour delay. They did hand out sandwiches — wait, actually they threw them at us.

I knew that there were strikes today…is that why I had no water this morning? That’s ok…I had no electric last Tuesday. I guess they’re just warming us up for the winter festivities since all of the tourists are gone. I really feel like swearing but I won’t.

Great post Kat!

The very same advice could be said of using the services of a Greek Consuate or Embassy.

“Shut up and wait” – and when we do see you, we will be very unhelpful, and rude, and not answer the phones. We do have these things called “computers” which might make us more efficient, but we’d rather put them to a better use – like playing Greek MP3’s for us to listen to.

When we do finally get around to attending to you, we will smoke in front of you (because we can – the laws of the country do not apply in embassies), and take personal calls in while we are helping you. Yes, I am really interested to hear about your drunken antics and $ex life when I come to get my passport renewed.

I last flew with them in 2004. It was not that bad but there were some snags and I generally agree with what your write.

I do have to disagree with #6. Getting loud, demanding, and threatening should always be a last resort. Maybe later than last. The very best way to deal with the notorious Greek service industries, bureaucrats, etc is to be extremely polite and sympathetic with “their plight” while somehow sticking to your guns and negotiating as much for yourself as you can. Like most everything in Greek culture, it’s more an art than a science. Just watch a little old Greek lady and learn. They are master zen specialists in this arena.

Love the blog. Keep it up.

Perfect post, thanks a lot, indeed all of this is so true!

I remember I flew Olympic from Melbourne to Athens (when OA could afford to fly to Australia) and my chair wouldnt go ALL the way up, maybe by a few centimetres, nothing at all, until the flight attendant whacked the back of the seat:

FA: Put your seat up, we’re going to take off soon!
Me: It IS up! It won’t go up any further!
*FA starts shaking seat violently giving me whiplash*
FA: Great, you broke it.

For the rest of the flight she deliberately avoided me and another flight attendant would come especially to serve me. I changed my return flight to Singapore Airlines

And maria v you’re right, Aegean rocks! Nice staff, nice planes, no delays, decent food, and an awesome advertising campaign! *ekskiouz mi, xaou ntou ai gket tou Oksfornt strit?”

Like I said on my reply, great post! I’m a Greek living abroad and haven’t used Olympic airlines (they don’t fly here ) at all recently, but last time i did (3 years ago from Brussels to Athens) i still remember the aircraft being a wreck and the noise. Oh that noise!!!! Yankee stadium packed wouldn’t compare to this!

Great post Kat…we got out on the last flight before the strike today. I bought earphones but guess what? Today they were actually offered and bonus, there was one blanket for two of us to share. You are right about the food but at least this time around I wasn’t denied orange juice when i asked for it and finally, thanks for the meds, I spent most of the time sleeping. Why do we still fly Olympic? It’s really the only direct flight from here plus they have a bigger luggage allowance which is beneficial for us. Who knows what we’ll do next year though…ciao

My best Olympic story was in 1992 (Athens-Iraklio) when they had overbooked (common) and they had to turn away a few passengers who had tickets but no seat on the plane. These two male passengers were so IRATE that they wouldn’t listen to the gate agent, and pushed their way thru the doors and ran on the tarmac to the plane anyway.

Since this is Greece, nothing happened to them. They eventually came back inside with the security folks and then started complaining to everyone near them. They were not arrested or detained. Classic!!!

Try that in JFK and see what happens.

However, Kat, I have to say that all my Olympic experiences were in 1990s (many, many flights from Athens-Iraklio, Athens-Chania, Athens-Rome), and although the delays were bad, I have to admit, I was very lucky, because most of my flight attendants (Female) were very kind and friendly to me. However, I think this has something to do with what we’ve discussed on previous posts as when you are young, handsome, and interesting. Now, that I’m middle aged, overweight, balding, and un-interesting, I’m sure I would be the one getting little to no-attention!!!

Good article as always!!

I prefer to fly Aegean whenever I can, BUT I keep using Olympic for my domestic flights in Greece because it now cheaper and generally provides more legspace.

L – Glad I could provide a little comic relief. We all need a little to assuage our states of irritation

M – I think the fact Aegean was privately owned, then became a publicly held company has something to do with standards and practices. Their work has paid off also — profits are up.

C – That reminds me of my friend Paul, who was given a food voucher but it could only be used at certain places, and they were all closed. Great, eh? Btw, I’ve had 3 days of no electricity in the past 14 days, and I don’t think our cuts have anything to do with strikes. It’s just Greece.

A – Funny you should mention this. I hear these types of comments from readers and friends all the time. My only exposure was to the one in NYC, and I decided to get what I needed done another way. The MP3 story you told reminds me of an ex-coworker. When we got a new Apple for the office, it wasn’t given to me (the most experienced and prolific user), it went to the girl who whined the loudest so I had to train her how to use it. And the only question she asked over and over was, “How do I load my Greek music to iTunes?”

P – In my defense, I do say, “Not always, but most of the time.” Further, not all yiayias exhibit Zenlike behavior, though I agree they are treated differently than say, a young immigrant woman such as myself. Being polite is always what I try first, but in my 11 years of doing bureaucracy and being the recipient of poor service, it has not worked once. In fact, many refuse to wait on me or are immediately rude to me without me saying a word.

If I empathize with their plight, I’m dismissed as not knowing anything because I’m not Greek. If I take a Greek male with me, they only speak with him — I’m invisible — but at least things get done. It really depends. Here’s the story about the tourist who tried being polite, but then had to resort to other methods, “Passenger waits as OA lounges.”

Pa – Thanks for dropping in today!

M – Yes, what a terrible passenger you are for breaking the seat! LOL. That’s a classic story — changing your return flight because you couldn’t take it anymore. Please keep sharing these stories with us, they’re great

C – Oh yes, and if the people who are together can’t sit together for whatever reason, never mind about changing seats. They just yell to each other from wherever they are so everyone can hear them.

R – I’m glad you got out, and I’m glad those drugs helped cushion the blow of the journey. I’ve heard you say never again, but then you booked again, so I think it just comes down to fewer options.

The S – You have some of the funniest stories. As I read about guys on the tarmac, I got this visual of them being tackled by police if they’d tried it at JFK. And regarding your overall experience, female FAs on OA are typically nicer to men; this is why I pray for a male steward because I’m otherwise ignored.

D – Hello and thanks for making a comment today! I can understand that. I’m sure it depends on destination, availability and timing.

I think i might be the only person that till now had no problems flying with olympic. What i can tell is that you just opened a big door to a discussion that cannot be done from here! some months ago my friend sofia returned from paris with OA and her luggage was destroyed, OA gave her a new luggage right away in the airport. When we returned from spain with Vueling my luggage was also destroyed ad i can tell you that we went through a lot more with Vueling than OA …You know the story…Anyway!

One last thing. The risk of danger on airlines is being counted every ten years by the number of the accident the airline had. OA has Zero accidents,Has really great pillots and the best Engineers .I know by fact that engineers from around the globe come to observe/learn from the greek OA engineers.

The only reason I could imagine someone coming to learn from OA is because OA’s planes are antiques compared to the rest of the fleets flying transcontinentally.

Thundera said :

“OA has Zero accidents,Has really great pillots and the best Engineers .I know by fact that engineers from around the globe come to observe/learn from the greek OA engineers.”

Ha-ha, very funny!!! I’m sure she was just kidding. Although the pilots might be top-rate if they trained in the USA, the mechanics I’m a bit skeptical since we know in Greece, in general, maintenance is shoddy in most things that are owned by the government. Look at any Dimarxeio and then imagine seeing duct tape on a wing as I saw in the late 1980s.

Souvlaki and tzadziki: Yes, Greeks are great!!

Aircraft maintenance: OXI NO WAY!!!

Plus, you can’t compare the limited number of flights OA does to a major carrier like Delta or others..

My experiences of Olympic are mixed, and certainly I agree that some other airlines (Alitalia, especially) are worse. The principal difficulties I have experienced are:

(1) when tickets are pre-paid from abroad for me (usually Switzerland) they refuse to issue the ticket because “the exchange rate is not right”. On the penultimate occasion that occurred, I offered to pay the different and was told that 12 cents had been overpaid so they could not issue the ticket. The last time it occurred, I screamed abuse and threatened to go to the Managing Director of Olympic about this shit. These little incidents make something that should take 15 minutes actually take 2-4 hours.

(2) Whenever there is a small problem, they make it into a disaster. I cannot reveal the details, but one instance concerns a colleague of Greek ethnicity who did not have a certain visa: they showed no flexibility at all, and (for various reasons) this was just stupid.

(3) They cancel flights as often as possible, making it inadvisable to fly OA unless you really don’t want to make the trip…

(4) Their local routes to Turkey, Italy etc. are disgustingly overpriced because they are duopoly routes. Nobody seems to worry though.

On the other hand, usually the food has been quite good in recent years, while the quality has collapsed in Economy class for all other European airlines. (It is not haute cuisine, it is true.) Also, the flight times are usually better than other airlines — probably because Olympic bagged all the best slots to stop competition…

I think the trap with most Greeks and non-Greeks is that they falsely assume that Greece is “one of the boys”, a European family member on par with the likes of Belgium, Germany, France, etc.. when in reality it is more like “stan” type of country. e.g. Kazakhstan. (Or at least somewhere in between.) Indeed many Greeks themselves often make the joke of “Athinaistan”, “Elladistan” or “Ellada City”.

As a result of the first comparison, it is constantly being compared to the big boys and comes up short, last in every category.

But if you just assume that Greece IS a “stan”, or functions like a “stan”, and compare it to other “stans”, you will be pleasantly surprised. Then it’s actually quite a developed country.

T – I would encourage making a comparison after flying internationally with a known carrier. Vueling is a troubled low cost airline, and it’s a bit unfair to compare them with Olympic. With regards to luggage, my ex-boss lost his luggage and had another damaged, and it was only until two of us helped him complain for 30 days that he got modest compensation from OA for one bag and nothing for the other. As with everything in GR, results do vary.

Regarding OA’s safety record, what you say is true about the last decade; they had their last fatality in 1998. But OA only has 36 planes (down from 42) and a total of six fatal accidents, so I’m not sure that’s anything to brag about since larger or comparable airlines boast a better record. e.g., American Airlines has nearly 700 planes and 13 accidents that were fatal. State-owned Alitalia has 173 planes and hasn’t had an accident since 1991 or fatality since 1990, and Aer Lingus of Ireland has 41 planes and had a hijacking in 1981, but hasn’t had a fatality since 1968.

Plus, OA has had several groundings due to technical problems in the last year alone.

“OA crew overlooked airplane problems” – Sept 2008
“OA lacking planes and cash” – August 2008
“Five OA flights grounded due to technical problems” – June 2008
“Singer Kostas Makedonas injured after OA helicopter develops mechanical fault” – April 2008
“OA flight safely grounded” – November 20, 2007
“OA grounds four unsafe planes; blames others” – November 17, 2007

Most people who tout OA pilots and engineers as the best are Greek. My friend Adoni was hired to be an OA engineer because he was trained and schooled in the USA, and 80 percent all of my friends who are pilots were trained in the USA as well. *Their input follows below.

I know nothing about OA pilots/engineers or their training program, but am skeptical about the “best” claim. Why? OA pilots don’t fly as many routes or as often, and how could they with only 36 planes in the fleet? Plus, planes tend to bounce on the runway on landing and won’t land/depart in the slightest abnormal weather conditions (fog, rain, ice on wings/tarmac, wind, snow), while American pilots keep going in all kinds of weather (we landed in JFK in hurricane conditions) and ply longer routes, as do Swiss, French, German, British and Swedish pilots.

My pilot friends (MK, CB, KS and AW) say that generally there is no superior flight school/flight ops or superior airline, although many will stake that claim (i.e., France, UK, Germany are the most common). However, it really comes down to excellence of the individual instructor and talent of an individual pilot/engineer. All of them are different nationalities and work for different airlines, but all have trained in the USA, Australia and somewhere in the EU (none in Greece). Australia has the best safety record overall. Asian airlines have trouble with safety due to cultural issues (i.e., Not disclosing the flight is about to hit a mountain because of shame, etc.), while airlines in other countries may want to raise the standard but simply don’t have the budget.

A – My research shows that it’s possible, as OA leases discarded/outdated propeller planes from other airlines.

The S – Take it easy there. I don’t need this turning into an inflammatory debate. My post was meant to be both practical and comical.

X – I agree with you about Alitalia, and food on OA has improved slightly over the years although maybe that’s because the standard was quite low and it could only go up from there (haha). OA was indeed fined by the EU for violating competition rules and ordered to pay millions, which only worsens their financial troubles.

K – LOL! Oh dear.

(Note from Kat: To anyone thinking of attacking Kev again for being American, he is Greek.)

Kev: (is this really a Greek name?!) you know that the Turks still call Greece by the old name of Yunanistan? I am personally appalled by that, but perhaps they see Greece in a longer historical perspective than most Europeans do…

I can say that I suffered a bit of those statements but with different airlines.

In fact, after flying with many different airlines, I’m always ready for the worst. I don’t care if it’s Alitalia, Iberia, Olympic, Aegean, …. I’ve learned that you can always have a problem.

The worst situation I suffered was with a low cost Spanish company. I cannot talk about it because in order to get “part” of my money I had to sign some kind of Non-Disclosure Agreement and throw all my rights to the trash bin.

So kalo taksidi to all of you. And I guess the next post should be: Things you need to know before you flight.

—-Off-topic—-
Why ten? Reading Forbes I see Americans are in love with 10 things of anything. Do you know why you’re using 10 or is just genetics?

Kat Reply:
October 25th, 2008 at 01:04

Hi again Lenos/Ioannis/Jeremy — None of your comments are on topic. There isn’t a pattern, as I’ve also used four, five, seven and 12. Do you know why you’re obsessed with hating me and the USA, or is it just genetics?

Off-topic reply: we often use 10 (also in the decimal system) because most of us have 10 fingers. How many do you have, deedee??

I flew OA frequently in the early 90’s — domestic and within Europe — and never had any real issues with them. Around 1996 however, things seemed to detoriate in my personal experience. I soon swore them off, but like Kat, was lured back by a travel agent, who informed that due to my needing to fly on specific dates less than a week out, I could fly (JFK-ATH-JFK) in Business class on OA for only $100 more than coach with US/other EU airlines for my dates. Which I did. My baggage arrived the day after I did, which (as a very frequent flyer on numerous airlines) was nothing new for me.

But besides being extremely unimpressed with OA Business class, one incident has always stuck out in mind from that trip. We were 2-3 hours out of Athens, and the sun was shining through the window shades. I awoke and toke a stroll, deciding to visit the upper deck of the 747 which was Business class just as was the portion of the lower deck that I was in. At the top of the stairs was an attendant; we exchanged “good mornings” and I started to go back into the upper deck cabin. She stopped me and asked where I was going, to which I replied that I just wanted to see what the upper deck seating looked like. She told me I couldn’t, because the bright light (from the area she was in) might wake them up. So I turned and saw that the cockpit door was open and said “How about in there?” “Of course” she said. (Which I did, chatting with the pilots for a while before returning to my seat.) Although a few years before 9/11, this insight into OA’s priorities combined with what I heard (from people who had reason to know the truth) about their maintenance, as well as the experiences of numerous friends/acquaintances caused me to successfully avoid OA all but once since.

Overall, I think Kat’s points are right on, and #8 with Kev’s addition are useful for all matters pertaining to GR. However, Kat’s #10 is most relevant regarding OA. Adventure is one thing; paying to be aggravated and jeopardized at the same time is another.

Behind all the justified complaints lies a more serious problem: Olympic Airlines is one of the great fundamental failures of Greece.

Greece has everything in place to have one of the great national airlines of the world: a guaranteed domestic market of far flung islands and regions, a guaranteed huge domestic and international tourist market, a geographic position ideally suited to being a hub for southern Europe and for Europe/Mideast/Africa flight routes, a supply of well trained pilots and mechanics from veterans of relatively large Greek air force, and a traditional of commercial entrepreneurship. All this together means that Greece has the opportunity to establish one of the best airlines in the world: the Greek national airline should be the European Singapore Airlines. Instead, it’s a laughing stock.

And it would work, except for the “national airlines” part. When you take the labor force and nationalize it, you kill the goose that lays golden eggs. By not forcing the airline to be competitive and actually pay for itself, you have killed the forces that will cause it to excel.

In the 1970s, the traffic on Olympic was primarily a tourist crowd. But when the other international airlines like BA and TWA and even PanAm improved their services and expanded their flight range, Olympic stood by and did nothing, even losing customers even though Olympic always had the best landing times at Hellinikon. Imagine: people had to sit on a plane for 11 hours and choose to land at 1 am instead of 7 pm, just to avoid flying Olympic. I came to Athens in the middle of the night many times, and endured layovers in NY airports because my parents, greek, couldn’t stand to sit in the flying ashtray.

Does my username matter?

I know that Turks call Greece Yunanistan, in fact I think that Greece is called a stan by all the other stans, not to mention the Arab world. Fancy that, they consider us one of their own. For example, when I meet Iranians, they are so happy when I tell them my background/nationality. “Aaaa. Greek! Greek, Iranian we are same.” (And the Greek in me is thinking, uhh…no we’re not Mehran.)

When finding out I was Greek, an Iraqi guy once told me that in the Arab world they love Greece, and refer to it as “European Arabia”.

And if you’re a Swede (not that I really care what a Swede thinks per se) and you saw a Greek, a Turk, or an Arab, what conclusion would you come to if you didn’t know too much about the culture? :

Dark, hairy, generally short, angry, spazy (with a short temper)people that eat yogurt (Jajik, aka tzatiki) and lamb, and whose women get on tables and dance this exotic middle eastern dance (Chiftetel, aka Tsifteteli). On the streets of their unorganized, chaotic cities, fat sweaty, swarthy men cut large chunks off of a huge rotating piece of meat.

How is it again that you are appalled that Turkey calls us Yunanistan?

I know that many of us make a joke that we are “Elladistan”, but what I find particularly funny is how some of those same people hold elitist views toward the Balkan countries, for example.

Even with people who say things like “phga sto kentro shmera na plhrwsw to IKA kai ntan, ti na soy pw re paidi moy, Elladistan”. Or “edw sto Ellada City, ama 8eleis na ginei kati, prepei balleis tis fwnes”. Even some of those same people will say things like “E ti eimaste Beirito edw pera;” in a different situation.

And speaking of Beirut….

This is not Poseidonos st, but a street in Beirut:
http://flickr.com/photos/emilonline/126533667/sizes/l/

Not Victoria, Athens, but a neighborhood in Beirut:
http://flickr.com/photos/caudroy/150299104/

And yet more pictures of beirut:
http://flickr.com/photos/fadilb/996898020/
http://flickr.com/photos/yewco/2926901530/sizes/o/

This is not a Palestinian or Mujahadeen, but rather a Cretan “freedom fighter”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-25l8IIOFjc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smX8kiNGdIY

(Can you say “Borat’s village”?)

In contrast to the above, this is a picture of clockwork Copenhagan.
http://flickr.com/photos/kap_cris/23346562/sizes/o/

And this… is concrete loving Tehran, Iran:
http://flickr.com/photos/youngrobv/2470379323/sizes/l/

(Kind of looks kind of like Ilioupoli with a tower)

So how are we not a “stan”?

Of course Olympic airlines functions the way it does. Would you be surprised if you found out that Iranian and Lebanese airlines do too?

Yes, I know a lot of these examples are out of context, but I’m just trying to make a point.

p.s. — notice how on the youtube videos, the poster is a guy named “Moustakaskriti”. I think that speaks volumes in itself.

X – I know Kev will speak for himself, but I made that warning because Greeks tried insulting him in the past based on his name and the context of his comment, and he was forced to state his ethnicity. Because readers are encouraged to use whatever name they feel comfortable, I believe that readers should make no assumptions and be respectful of other people’s views no matter what their ethnicity or citizenship.

If someone is ignorant, that’s one thing; the ignorant and narrow minded open themselves to criticism and should be set straight. Kev is clearly not ignorant, he’s just not a nationalist cog, and there are Greeks out there who apparently don’t like that.

G – Yes, I agree that no airline is perfect. The post was truthful, but also meant to be comical.

T – Interesting how you got lured back as I did for a last-minute flight. Good point in the last sentence. I enjoy your commentary and stories, as they are always well stated and contribute to the discussion.

B – True. There are so many great things about GR’s position in EMEA, and this country could be a major player in many industries based on this fact alone. If only…

A – Ah, Ellinkon. I remember standing in the airport talking with Scottie Pippen, and he looked around and asked me, “Is this seriously the airport?” LOL. He couldn’t understand why it wasn’t air conditioned in 38C weather, and there were only two baggage carousels. His next inquiry was, “Tell me again why you left California and moved to Greece.” Love your, “Flying ashtray” reference.

* Btw, Olympic will be on strike (again) Thursday, October 30. In fact, they already walked out earlier this evening.

Those pictures of Beirut don’t look like Athens at all. There aren’t any cars and motor bikes parked on the sidewalks.

True.

The nearest city to Athens that I have visited is Pristina in Kosovo, where the pavements and road are full of holes and the cars are parked everywhere. Of course, the holes are caused by bombs, so it is not exactly the same. Also, Pristina has a very trendy design of a university building, whereas Greece prefers the public toilet model.

First of good day to everyone.

To Kat : I agree with most of what you said but with a few remarks. The problem with noise is not just with O.A. flights but in every flight with greeks on board! I had a nightmarish experience when I was coming from Prague to Thessaloniki with Czech airlines, where I was seated next to a group of greeks returning from Prague. So best advice: arm yourselfs with patience and earplugs (as you said).

To Kev: I don’t think Greece really relates to Stan countries. From my experience(always) as a student abroad I think we have much more in common with other Mediteranean people than with Arabs. I could really relate more with Italian Spanish and Portuguese than with Arabs. (although both greeks and arabs are big spenders). On thew other hand it is remarkable how many similarities you can find (mentality wise) with countries that have been occupied by Ottomans. I was really surprised to discover that Hungarians are very loud, and how Budapest streets are like Athen’s streets. I really felt like home!!!

To the Scorpion: I think it is unfair to make these kind of generalisations. The assumptions you are making are far from true!! In fact the excessive maintenance of the aircrafts was one of the reasons the led the company into bankruptcy!

Meanwhile I see that Olympic went on strike again last week. According to a Reuters story, thousands of Olympic employees closed Athens airport by swarming onto the runway chanting “Never! Never! Never!.” (The story didn’t explain why they were shouting this, but I assume it was in response to suggestions that they take their jobs seriously.)

Anyway, the strike didn’t really matter, since the metro and trains were also on strike, so no one could get to the airport anyway.

AHHA!! what a bunch of idiots, as if striking is going to solve anything? wow, i guess greece is really a 3rd whole country.

Brilliant! I flew Olympic in 2000 and have never before or since been treated so badly by an airline. I have been lucky enough to avoid flying them again, so perhaps they have improved? I still won’t take a chance tho! Thanks for the great story