Aegean Airlines short haul business class review from London to Athens
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This is my review of short haul business class on Aegean Airlines, the Greek flag carrier.
Over the past few months I’ve been taking the opportunity to review as many European short haul business class flights as possible, in an attempt to see how they compare.
This time it was the turn of Aegean Airlines, the largest airline in Greece and a member of Star Alliance. A number of you have reported positive experiences with Aegean, including in economy, so I wanted to see what the excitement was about.
Aegean Airlines invited me onboard for review purposes.
You can find out more, and book, on their website here.
Aegean Airlines departure experience
Whilst economy class passengers are directed to self-check-in kiosks, Aegean Airlines does offer staffed desks for business class passengers.
There was a short queue when I arrived at Heathrow whilst Athens was much quicker on the return.
In both cases fast track security is included – useful in Athens, although these days at Heathrow Terminal 2 the fast track channel often seems to be slower than the normal ones!
The Aegean Airlines app was very helpful and I was also sent both emails and text messages when a gate was assigned or changed and when boarding began.
The lounge
Aegean passengers are encouraged to use the Lufthansa lounge in the main Terminal 2 building. Our most recent review of the Lufthansa Heathrow Terminal 2 lounge is here so I won’t repeat it.
In reality, business class passengers are free to visit any of the Star Alliance lounges. However, the other three – United Club (reviewed here), Singapore Airlines SilverKris (reviewed here) and Air Canada Maple Leaf (reviewed here) are in the satellite terminal which is a 15 minute walk each way.
It is virtually certain that your Aegean flight will depart from the main building where the Lufthansa lounge is based.
On board Aegean Airlines A320neo
Aegean now offers up to four flights per day to London Heathrow. The airline’s newest A320neo aircraft are prioritised for this service, ensuring you get the most up-to-date cabins.
Cabin crew offer gummy sweets on arrival:
Business class is offered as a typical ‘eurobusiness’ product with 2-2 seating, leaving the middle seat free.
As I quickly found out, there are three different levels of leg room in business class. Anyone sitting in row 1 obviously gets the most, as this is a bulkead row:
The next three rows feature additional pitch (32 inches I believe vs 30 inches on BA Club Europe) as well as a table covering the blocked middle seat:
Any subsequent rows offer an 30 inch pitch (matching BA Club Europe) and no middle table. This is due to the flexible nature of the business class cabin, with an adjustable curtain allowing the airline to increase or decrease the number of business class rows sold.
It’s a shame Aegean doesn’t increase the amount of legroom to the maximum number of business class seats permitted as British Airways does all the way back to Row 12. This would avoid the problem of some business class passengers getting a ‘second best’ business class seat.
The seats are stylish and Aegean has included a number of different geometric patterns in the cabin from the stitching in the seats to the decoration on the bulkhead wall at the front.
There is a USB-A charging port on the back of the seat in front of you, as well as a literature pocket and tablet/phone stand:
Mains charging does not seem to be offered.
The tray table flips down and is relatively skinny, just big enough for the meal trays:
Wifi and entertainment on Aegean
I was impressed to see Aegean offer free wifi to all customers in one form or another.
If sitting in economy, you could get free messaging if you sign up to Aegean’s Miles+Bonus loyalty program. For business class passengers, Aegean offers free full-flight streaming. All you have to do is pop in your booking reference and surname.
I found the wifi to work very well on the flight and managed to catch up with some work. It was also more than capable of streaming video.
Even if you don’t connect to the wifi, Aegean’s wifi portal allows you to track the flight and watch a number of recent film releases. I was impressed with the selection for a short haul European flight:
Food and drink on Aegean Airlines business class
A choice of sparkling wine, orange juice or water is offered as a pre-departure drink and served in real glassware. This is better than you can expect on most European business class flights, although you only get a gulp of sparkling wine!
Large printed menus are handed out shortly after takeoff and a lavender-scented hot towel is also provided.
The onboard menu only gives a choice of two main courses but Aegean actually lets you pre-order business class meals on short haul flights, with four choices offered on my flight. You can take your pick until 24 hours prior to departure.
On this flight the menu comprised:
- Starter: Avocado cream with salmon and kohlrabi
- Main: Chicken burger with spicy pilaf in yogurt sauce
- Main: Beef filet crusted with mushroom
- Cheese: Manouri cheese and gruyere steiakakis
- Dessert: Revani with masticha cream and grated pistachio
I was able to try both the beef filet as well as my pre-ordered sea bass (I was feeling particularly hungry!). Whilst the beef was very flavourful, the sea bass came with a rather flavourless artichoke flan, although the fish itself was good.
It took a while for the meal service to get started, which was served as a single tray:
It came with a very clever little cardboard salt and pepper dispenser as well as some delicious olive tapenade:
Dessert followed separately:
Afterwards, tea or coffee was also offered with a boxed chocolate:
In business class, Aegean also offers a number of local drinks including ouzo, tsipouro and mastiha. Being unfamiliar with the latter two I thought I’d give them a try as part of a little tasting:
Mastiha, which is produced from the resin of a tree, was my favourite to sip on and had a sweeter flavour. Ouzo obviously tastes like liquorice whilst tispouro tastes like a fairly generic schnapps.
Conclusion
On longer European flights such as those between the UK and Greece upgrading to business class can often be worthwhile given the extra space and service.
In this case, Aegean offers a competitive product although it isn’t a total slam dunk. The varied leg room, for example, ought to be standardised.
The food was good although – dare I say it – bested by British Airways.
Where Aegean stands out is with its free wifi, entertainment, service and ground experience. Their lounges in Athens are very good (review to follow) whilst the app and website also work very well.
In terms of loyalty, Aegean is a member of Star Alliance and can credit your flight, or redeem for Aegean, via any Star Alliance programme. However, Aegean Miles+Bonus is generally regarded as the easiest Star Alliance programme for earning and retaining Gold status as long as you can fly the four required Aegean segments per year.
If are looking for a good Star Alliance frequent flyer programme to credit with your flight, we discuss options here. If you are looking for ways of earning Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards, we look at your options here.
You can find out more on the Aegean website here.
Head for Points made a financial contribution to the Woodland Trust as part of this trip. The Woodland Trust creates and manages forests in the UK in accordance with the Woodland Carbon Code.
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How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)
None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.
There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card.
The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.
The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.
There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.
The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.
You can apply here.
Marriott Bonvoy American Express
20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review
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