Aegean Airlines gets quite a few mentions on US blogs for being a foreign carrier, especially one that does not service the US. But, that is because their elite program is the easiest track to achieving Star Alliance Gold status – and keeping it!
But, even though most people just look at Aegean as an easy way to get Star Alliance Gold, they actually have a very good airline as well. It is (almost) always the first airline I fly when making connections and I always find their lounges to be sufficient (better than most domestic US airline lounges) and the airline staff and service to be excellent. If you have opportunity to fly on Aegean, then you absolutely need to try it!
Great Aegean Fare Sale
Thanks to a recently announced fare sale (through 9/9), that can actually be done quite cheap! It actually beats out cheap European airlines like EasyJet and Ryanair with these prices, and it is a better airline. To be clear, not everyone will be able to take advantage of this Aegean fare sale, but if you can, it is definitely the cheapest way to add Greece as a stop on your next trip to Europe (especially Germany).
The sale is based on travel from Thessaloniki or Athens (Thessaloniki is the cheaper city) to many cities around Europe. The return is a little more expensive, but it is still quite cheap overall.
To book these tickets, head on over to this Aegean booking page and you can search by calendar for the cheapest options. The breakdown is by monthly period and city and looks like this:
- 9/22 – 10/31 – Athens from 55€ and Thessaloniki from 34€ – 20% off
- 11/1 – 1/11/2015 – Athens from 52€ and Thessaloniki from 33€ – 30% off
- 1/12 – 3/28 – Athens from 49€ and Thessaloniki from 29€ – 40% off
The sale fares are available on all direct, international flights from those cities. Returns are more expensive but not extremely so. Availability at the sale price is pretty good and you can use the calendar to find the cheapest date options. Remember, while all the tickets are cheaper during this time of year, only the direct flights from the above cities will reflect the discount of 20 – 40% off.
Example
For Thessaloniki to Munich, you can fly that for only $38! For a roundtrip ticket, it will come in at $119. Considering you are flying to a different country, $38 is not that bad at all!
Mileage Earning
For those who are curious, this is the GoLight fare category which books into P. P fares give a flat 500 miles each way on international flights so a roundtrip will net you another 1,000 miles if you credit to Aegean.
As for United, P class is not an eligible mileage earning fare, but the United page does say that Premier members will earn a 500 mile minimum on all purchased fares. So, you should earn the same as if you credited to Aegaen.
How To Make This Work
As I mentioned before, I realize this is not going to work for everyone. But, it can be advantageous for those who would like to pop around Europe a little bit and you are unable to make it work with your award ticket. For example, the US Airways off-peak awards are only roundtrip. If you use that to fly to an airport in Germany, you can pop down to Greece for a few days for only a little more than the taxes would be on an award ticket!
Another option is to use this with the fare sales being run by Germanwings and Airberlin. Between the three fare sales, you can really hit a few different cities on the cheap and earn miles while doing it!
