In order to achieve Star Alliance Gold with Aegean I needed 4-flight segments. While my CDG-ATH and ATH-ARN segments would get me half way, I needed a quick and cheap way to get two more. That ended up being doing ATH-SKG (Thessaloniki) -ATH quick turn.
After a nice morning workout at the Sofitel hotel, I literally walked across the street to the airport.
There it is, and at the same time, Land Rover doing a press event with journos forthe updated Evoque.
Into the nice and new Athens airport and quickly through security, especially because all I had was my backpack for today.
Lots of great shops and places to eat.
Plenty of power outlets to sit and work while waiting.
Boarding was fairly organized and we were on the plane quickly.
A quick taxi.
And off we go.
Which also started some fantastic Greek island spotting.
A brief beverage and cookie service.
More cool sites on the descent into SKG.
Beautiful farms and beaches.
And touchdown and taxi at the tiny SKG airport.
I then took a taxi into Thessaloniki with a great driver who gave me a whole bunch of history. I walked around and had an amazing lunch before heading for my flight back to Athens. Check that experience out in Thessaloniki post here.
After really enjoying my lunch and the friendly hospitality, I had to rush and just made it back to the airport and through security as boarding had commenced.
Luckily it was not a problem since we had to board through busses.
Some fun small plane spotting.
The legroom in regular economy is fine for short flights and still better than United on transcon regular economy.
Off we went and more beautiful scenery.
And soon enough we were on descent into ATH.
And to a bus gate to head back to the terminal.
These short hop flights were a bit over 30-minutes and the service was great and friendly. I wish we had this type of service back home consistently, but it is what it is. I was definitely excited for another longer and business class flight on Aegean the next morning, but now for some work and into Athens for exploring and dinner.
- Topic
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