Review: Aegean Airlines Business Class Bucharest to Athens (Airbus A320)

February 1, 2020February 21, 2023 Koen 0 Comments

In this review, we will take an Aegean Airlines flight from Bucharest to Athens in business class on an Airbus A320-200.

Flying to Athens

There are multiple airlines which fly the Bucharest to Athens route. Greece’s Aegean Airlines, Romania’s TAROM and Michael O’Leary’s Ryanair all operate daily flights on this short intra-European route, which means that flight prices are often low.

As I had booked a great Saudia business class deal from Athens, I had to make my way to the Greek capital from my home base of Bucharest.

Both the Aegean and Ryanair flight were priced around 30 EUR and departed within 30 minutes of each other, allowing me three hours to make the Saudia flight to Jeddah.

Choosing Aegean over Ryanair was a no-brainer as not only does the airline have a substantially better on-board product, it is also far more reliable.

As I would not be protected in case of a flight delay or cancellation with the Bucharest to Athens ticket booked separately from my Saudia ticket, I knew that flying Aegean would be the safest bet.

I have previously lived in Greece and still regularly fly the Bucharest-Athens route on Aegean, and always thought the airline runs a smooth operation with mostly on-time flights.

aegean airlines domestic flight greece rhodes athens — *An Aegean Airlines plane. ©Paliparan*

Upgrade to business class

A week or so before departure I decided to participate in the Aegean Airline upgrade challenge and put in a 60 EUR bid, which was the minimum amount to participate.

Three days before departure I received an email that Aegean accepted the upgrade offer.

Given that I only paid 35 EUR for my economy class ticket, a total of 95 EUR for a seat in business class is not bad at all.

Bucharest (OTP) to Athens (ATH) on Aegean Airlines
Flight A3 961 – Airbus A320-200 – Business class, seat 1A
Departure: 10.40am – Arrival: 12.15pm
Flight time: 1h35m – Distance: 471 miles
Costs: 35 EUR for the economy class ticket, 60 EUR for the upgrade to business class

otp-ath — *The Bucharest to Athens flight takes around one-and-a-half hours. ©Great Circle Mapper*

Boarding

Even though I arrived relatively late at Bucharest Otopeni Airport I still managed to visit the TAROM business lounge for about 10 minutes to drink a coffee.

The lounge is nothing spectacular, so in case you do miss out of it – you won’t miss much.

Boarding began exactly on time, with business class passengers and Star Alliance gold members being called forward for priority boarding.

There were a handful of Aegean Miles+Bonus gold members on today’s flight based on the baggage tags they had attached on their carry-on bags, but it turned out they were all seated in economy class.

In the end, I was the sole passenger in the small business class cabin of two rows.

aegean airlines a320 bucharest otopeni — *The Aegean Airlines Airbus A320-200 which would fly me from Bucharest to Athens. ©Paliparan*

aegean airlines boarding gate otp — *Priority boarding was neatly observed at Bucharest Airport. ©Paliparan*

Business class seats

Like most other European airlines, Aegean uses normal economy class seats for their business class passengers. The sole difference with economy is that the middle seat is blocked with a tray table.

While the means that the business class seat is not more comfortable than those in economy, you do at least have some more privacy and shoulder room.

A movable divider and curtain separates the business cabin from economy class. The divider can be moved as many rows back or forward as the airline likes given that the seats are all the same.

This way, they can adjust the business class cabin size based on demand. It is not uncommon on business-heavy routes such as Athens to London Heathrow for the business class cabin to stretch eight rows deep.

The seat itself was by the way fairly comfortable and certainly not bad for a short intra-European hop. Legroom in the bulkhead seats of row 1 was decent too.

Do note that there are no personal in-flight entertainment screens, and no power sockets or USB ports, although there are overhead screens playing the route map and some promotional videos of Greece’s magnificent sights.

There is also no WiFi available on the planes of Aegean Airlines.

bulkhead front row seats — *The bulkhead seats (row 1) on Aegean Airlines. ©Paliparan*

aegean business class seats — *Business class seats on Aegean Airlines are the same as in economy, although the middle seat is kept guaranteed empty for your comfort and more shoulder space and privacy. ©Paliparan*

Service

I was warmly welcomed on board of the flight by one of the flight attendants who even helped with stowing my luggage in the overhead bin.

After I sat down, on of the two flight attendants in the forward cabin inquired whether I wanted a newspaper.

I was given the New York Times, which in Greece is distributed exclusively with the English edition of Greek paper Kathimerini.

Moments later the flight attendant also came by with a tray on which a glass each of water, sparkling wine and orange juice was placed. I opted for the sparkling wine as pre-departure beverage.

Aegean serves solely Greek wines on board of its flight. The reds and whites on the menu change frequently as different Greek winemakers are featured.

These underrated and relatively unknown wines by international standards can often be amazing, although I wasn’t a too big of a fan of the Amalia sparkling wine served by Aegean.

Shortly before departure, a flight attendant also distributed some small candies to passengers in both the business and economy cabin.

aegean sparkling wine pdb — *A glass of Amalia sparkling wine as pre-departure beverage. ©Paliparan*

Food and drinks menu

Before departure, a neat-looking business class food and drinks menu was handed out.

The menu features selected Greek wineries and winemakers as well as prominent chefs – which are rotated on regular basis. It is well worth sampling some of the Greek wines offered on Aegean flights.

There are always at least two reds and two whites featured on each flight.

Another interesting aspect of Aegean Airlines is that the company offers proper espresso, cappuccino and Greek coffee in business class.

aegean airlines business class menu — *Even on a short intra-European hop, Aegean Airlines has a beautifully printed food and drinks menu. ©Paliparan*

aegean business class menu — *The menu features several Greek winemakers and connoisseurs as well as famous chefs. ©Paliparan*

aegean wine selection menu business class — *Aegean only offers premium Greek wines on its flights – which are changed on a regular basis. ©Paliparan*

aegean drinks list menu — *The drinks list on Aegean airlines features three different beers, espresso, cappuccino, Greek coffee and traditional Greek alcoholic beverages such as ouzo, Metaxa and mastiha liqueur. ©Paliparan*

Breakfast

The 10.40am departure meant that my flight was a breakfast flight.

I always find it weird that some airlines designate departures at that hour as breakfast flight and won’t serve a proper lunch, given that most passengers are already awake for quite some hours and will have already eaten breakfast at home or in their hotel in the early morning.

Unfortunately, Aegean is no exception to the rule that airline breakfasts are generally unmemorable on short flights, even in business class.

From my previous experiences flying Aegean, the food is substantially better on lunch and dinner flights.

On this flight, the choice was between an oven baked omelette with sautéed asparagus and grilled Haloumi cheese or cheese bread with scrambled eggs.

You can pre-select your meal online in advance if you want to be ensured of your choice of meal, as otherwise there is always the slight risk that they might have run out of your preferred choice on a full flight.

Instead of pre-selecting one of these two options I opted for a seafood meal, which is one of the two special meal choices besides a vegan/vegetarian meal.

aegean business class meal selection online — *If you fly in business class, you can pre-select your meal online. ©Paliparan*

Departure

We departed spot on time from Bucharest.

There were some decent views over Bucharest Otopeni Airport upon take-off, although soon after we penetrated the cloud cover and visibility became zero.

When the fasten seatbelt sign went off, one of the flight attendants immediately closed the curtain separating the business class cabin from economy class.

aegean window view bucharest otopeni — *View from the window while still parked at the gate at Bucharest Otopeni Airport. ©Paliparan*

bucharest otopeni view — *There were some good views over Bucharest’s Otopeni Airport upon takeoff. ©Paliparan*

bucharest otopeni view aegean — *There were some good views over Bucharest’s Otopeni Airport upon takeoff. ©Paliparan*

Meal service

Some five minutes later when we crossed into Bulgarian airspace meal service started with one of the crew members inquiring what I wanted to drink with my meal.

I opted for a glass of white wine to accompany my seafood breakfast – in fact, I actually ordered both of the white wines so I could taste and compare them.

After all, seafood is best matched with a glass of white and it is always afternoon somewhere in the world!

About five minutes late the flight attendant returned with my meal, which turned out to be a prawn omelette.

The meal was presented on a tray and looked quite nice. It also contained a large fruit selection, small salt and pepper shakers, a protein bar, a cup of butter and a cloth napkin in which the cutlery was folded.

The flight attendant also passed by with a bread basket, from which I selected a small bun.

Although I find airline breakfasts mostly forgettable even in business class, this meal was actually quite decent.

The omelette contained three big prawns inside which were nicely cooked. On the side were some hash browns as well as some broccoli. The fruits which came as dessert were fresh and tasted excellent.

Although nothing spectacular, I thought it was a solid meal for a short intra-European hop.

aegean overhead monitor — *Meal service started when we reached cruising altitude flying somewhere over Bulgaria. ©Paliparan*

aegean seafood breakfast meal — *The Aegean Airlines seafood special meal at breakfast was a prawn omelette. ©Paliparan*

Wine

The two white wines which I ordered to accompany my meal were brought to my seat one-by-one

You can see that the flight attendants of Aegean Airlines are properly trained as they first show you the bottle, then pour in your glass at your seat. This is far more classy and preferable than them preparing the drinks in the galley out of your sight.

Unfortunately the first wine, the Savatiano, was stored too cold to properly taste it. The bottle was covered in ice crystals and it wasn’t much better in the glass. While that is of course better than getting served a white wine at room temperature, it did kill off all the soft flavours.

The Malagousia (one of my favourite white wine varieties) was however chilled at the right temperature and tasted excellent.

savatiano aegean airlines wine business class review — *Unfortunately, the Savatiano was served too cold with the bottle even having ice crystals on it. ©Paliparan*

malagousia aegean airlines wine business class wines — *Fortunately, the Malagousia was much better. ©Paliparan*

malagousia wine aegean airlines business class service — *Your wine will be poured in at your seat. ©Paliparan*

Coffee

One of the great aspects of Aegean’s business class product is its coffee menu.

As one of the few European airlines, Aegean Airlines offers proper espresso, cappuccino and even Greek coffee on board.

After the meal, I ordered an espresso, which was strong and rich in taste – as it should be.

I also asked for a glass of Chios Mastiha liqueur as a digestif, which was promptly brought with two small chocolates.

For those who do not know it, Mastiha is a resin obtained from the mastic tree. These trees are only found on the Greek island of Chios and on Turkey’s Çeşme Peninsula at the other side of the sea from Chios.

Mastiha has a sweet pine and cedar taste and is absolutely delicious. If you ever visit Chios or Çeşme, be sure to also try mastiha ice cream, mastiha chewing gum and all other foods in which the resin is used.

aegean espresso mastiha upgrade bid challenge business class — *An espresso and glass of Mastiha liqueur on my Aegean Airlines flight. ©Paliparan*

Wonderful Greek views

One of the best things about flying to Greece is to see the country’s gorgeous coastline from above.

I adore Greece. It is by far my favourite travel destination in the world and I even called the country home for a while in the past.

Seeing the azure blue sea, the reflection of the sunshine in the waves, the mountains, the towns – it all brings back fond memories.

aegean window view — *Flying just to the east of Thessaloniki, the first glimpses of the Aegean Sea became visible. ©Paliparan*

aegean islands greece — *Some Greek islands as seen from the window of my Aegean Airlines flight. ©Paliparan*

aegean plane window — *View from the plane window with a Greek island seen in the distance. ©Paliparan*

greek coastline — *Greece’s Aegean coastline. ©Paliparan*

greek island view greece — *Greek islands just look like little jewels in the shining sunbeams reflecting the sea. ©Paliparan*

aegean wing view engine — *A view of the wing and engine of the Aegean Airlines Airbus A320. ©Paliparan*

aegean view town greece — *A seaside town seen from the window as we slowly descend into Athens International Airport. ©Paliparan*

Arriving at Athens Airport

Views on the slow and gradual approach to Athens International Airport continued to be amazing.

We finally touched down at one of the two runways of Athens Airport precisely on the dot.

After a short time taxiing around the airport, the pilots parked the Airbus A320 at a remote stand on the tarmac.

athens arrival view aegean plane — *View from the window just seconds before touching down at Athens Airport. ©Paliparan*

touchdown athens airport — *Touchdown at one of the two runways of Athens Airport. ©Paliparan*

athens airport — *Arriving at Athens Airport. ©Paliparan*

olympic air planes athens — *Olympic Air turboprop planes parked on the tarmac of Athens Airport. ©Paliparan*

Athens ground services

Aegean Airlines’ ground service at Athens Airport is superb.

If you are unlucky enough to arrive at a remote stand instead of a proper jetbridge, you should not despair.

Business class passengers have their own dedicated airport bus which brings them immediately to the terminal building before economy class passengers are even allowed to disembark.

Within 10 to 15 minutes after we touched down on the runway, I already found myself in the arrivals hall of Athens Airport as there was no queue at all for passport control for EU passengers.

athens airport aegean airlines business class bus ground service — *Business class passengers get their own bus on arrival at Athens Airport in the case your plane does not get a jetbridge gate. ©Paliparan*

Conclusion

Having flown Aegean Airlines multiple times in both classes, I can conclude that the airline certainly belongs to the upper category of European airlines.

Highlights of flying Aegean Airlines in business class are the nice selection of Greek wines, proper barista coffee and good quality meals – even though these breakfast flights aren’t as good as lunch or dinner flights in this regard.

The airline is also among the most reliable in Europe. Aegean certainly runs a smooth operation from its Athens hub.

Of course, the biggest negative of Aegean’s business class is that the seat is nothing to write home about.

Like most European airlines, Aegean has the exact same seats in business class as in economy class, with the sole difference that the middle seat remains guaranteed empty.

That said, the Aegean flight attendants try to do everything to make the business class experience the best you can possible get in such a seat.

I can certainly recommend flying Aegean Airlines and will be happy to do so again on my future flights with them.

Trip report index

This article is part of the ‘Lazing in Laos and Gallivanting a Wee Bit Around Asia‘ trip report, which consists of the following chapters:

1. Review: Aegean Airlines Business Class (Airbus A320) Bucharest to Athens (current chapter)
2. Review: Goldair Handling Lounge (Non-Schengen) Athens Airport
3. Review: Saudia Business Class Athens to Jeddah (Airbus A320)
4. Review: Saudia Alfursan Lounge Jeddah Airport South Terminal
5. Review: Review: Saudia Business Class Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur (Boeing 787)
6. Review: CitizenM Hotel Kuala Lumpur Bukit Bintang
7. Kuala Lumpur in One Day: What to See and Do in 24 Hours
8. A Batu Caves Half Day Trip From Kuala Lumpur By Public Transport
9. Review: Plaza Premium Lounge Private Resting Suite Gateway KLIA2
10. Review: Air Asia Kuala Lumpur to Vientiane (Airbus A320)
11. Review: Hotel Khamvongsa, Vientiane, Laos
12. Destination Trip Report: A Day in Vientiane, Laos
13. Guide: Domestic Bus Travel in Laos and How to Book a Ticket
14. Review: Simon Riverside Hotel, Vang Vieng, Laos
15. Trip Report: Vang Vieng – Worth a Stop on Your Laos Itinerary?
16. Review: Villa Ban Phanluang, Luang Prabang, Laos
17. Luang Prabang: The Stunning Pearl of Indochina
18. Guide: Luang Prabang Morning, Food and Night Markets
19. Kuang Si Falls: A Gorgeous Luang Prabang Day Trip
20. Review: Thai Smile Economy Class Luang Prabang to Bangkok (Airbus A320)
21. Review: Ibis Styles Bangkok Sukhumvit 4
22. Review: Air France/KLM Business Lounge Bangkok Airport
23. Review: Garuda Indonesia Business Class Bangkok to Jakarta (Boeing 737-800)
24. Review: Sapphire Plaza Premium Lounge Terminal 3 Jakarta Airport
25. Review: Garuda Business Lounge Terminal 3 Jakarta Airport
26. Review: Review: Japan Airlines Business Class Jakarta to Tokyo Narita (Boeing 787-8)
27. Review: Capsule Hotel Transit Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
28. Tokyo Stopover: What to See and Do in the Capital of Japan for a Day
29. Review: ANA Business Lounge Tokyo Narita Airport
30. Review: United Club Tokyo Narita Airport
31. Review: Turkish Airlines Economy Class Tokyo Narita to Istanbul (Boeing 777)
32. Review: Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles Lounge Istanbul Airport
33. Review: Turkish Airlines Economy Class Istanbul to Bucharest (Airbus A330)