Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Indirect flights
Still more Greek airports are accessible on
connecting domestic flights
from Athens or
Thessaloníki with Aegean, Olympic (
W
olympicair
.com) or Sky Express (
W
skyexpress.gr). If you're
travelling out of season you may have no choice
but to go indirect, and it's possible that this may be
the cheapest option at any time. Most commonly,
from regional airports
in the UK or from Ireland, this
will mean flying via London (with British Airways, or
BMI/Aegean). It can pay to think laterally however:
one of the best routings from Dublin, for example,
is on Malev Hungarian airlines (
W
www.malev.com)
via Budapest - with good prices and convenient
connections to Athens and other Greek airports.
two-stop itineraries on a variety of European
carriers, or perhaps Delta via New York; costs run
from Can$900 round-trip in low season from
Toronto to more than double that from Vancouver
in high season.
Flights from Australia and New
Zealand
There are
no direct flights
from Australia or New
Zealand to Greece; you'll have to change planes in
Southeast Asia or Europe. Tickets purchased direct
from the airlines tend to be expensive; travel agents
or Australia-based websites generally offer much
better deals on fares and have the latest informa-
tion on limited specials and stopovers. For a simple
return fare, you may also have to buy an add-on
internal flight to get you to the international
departure point.
Fares
from Australia
start from around
Aus$1800, rising to around Aus$2600 depending
on season, routing, validity, number of stopovers,
etc. The shortest flights and best fares are generally
with airlines like Thai (
W
thaiair.com), Singapore
(
W
singaporeair.com), Etihad (
W
etihadairways.com)
and Emirates (
W
emirates.com) that can fly you
directly to Athens from their Asian or Gulf hubs,
though you'll also find offers on Swiss (
W
swiss
.com), KLM (
W
klm.com) and other European
carriers.
From New Zealand
, prices are significantly
higher: rarely less than NZ$2200, rising to over
NZ$3000 for a more flexible high-season flight.
If Greece is only one stop on a longer journey,
you might consider buying a
Round-the-World
(RTW) fare, although Greece never seems to be
included in any of the cheaper deals, which means
you might have to stump up around Aus$3500/
NZ$4000 for one of the fully flexible multi-stop fares
from One World or the Star Alliance. At that price,
you may be better off with a cheaper deal and a
separate ticket to Greece once you get to Europe.
Flights from the US and Canada
Direct
nonstop
flights from New York to Athens -
daily for much of the year - are operated by Delta
(
W
delta.com), Hellenic Imperial (
W
hellenicairways
.com), both from JFK, and Continental (
W
conti
nental.com) from Newark. Between May and
October, US Airways (
W
usair.com) also flies daily
from Philadelphia to Athens. Code-sharing airlines
can quote through fares with one of the above, or a
European partner, from virtually every major US city,
connecting either at New York or a European hub
such as London or Frankfurt.
Fares
vary greatly, so it's worth putting in a little
time on the internet, or using a good travel agent;
book as far ahead as possible to get the best
price. The lowest starting point is around US$900
for a restricted, off-season round-trip flight from
the east coast, rising to about $1400 for a similar
deal in summer; from the west coast, expect to
pay ten to twenty percent more. The lower fares
are rarely on the most direct flights, so check the
routing to avoid lengthy delays or stopovers.
Remember too that you may be better off getting
a domestic flight to New York or Philadelphia and
heading directly to Athens from there, or buying a
cheap flight to London (beware of changing
airports) or another European city, and onward
travel from there.
As with the US, airfares
from Canada
vary
depending on where you start your journey, and
whether you take a direct service. Air Canada
(
W
aircanada.com) flies to Athens out of Toronto,
with a stop in Montreal, from one to four times
weekly depending on the time of year. Air Transat
(
W
airtransat.com) also have seasonal weekly
flights from Toronto and Montreal to Athens.
Otherwise you'll have to choose among one- or
Flights from South Africa
There are currently no direct flights from
South
Africa
to Athens, though Hellenic Imperial plan to
restart one. Alternative routes include EgyptAir
(
W
egyptair.com) via Cairo, Emirates (
W
emirates
.com), Etihad (
W
etihadairways.com) or Qatar
Airways (
W
qatarairways.com) via the Gulf, or just
about any of the major European airlines through
their domestic hub. Prices start at R6500-7000 for a
good low-season deal, to double that in high
season or if the cheaper seats have gone.
