Globe Merchant Travel Blog

The following brief article will give you an idea of why you shouldn’t try to connect to your flight home on a Greek domestic flight on the same day as your international departure. If you miss your flight home because a domestic flight was cancelled or delayed, it can become very inconvenient and possibly very expensive. An airline is only responsible for it’s own flights and to get you to and from the destination they’ve ticketed for. If one airline causes you to miss a flight on another airline you’re out of luck!(unless all flights are issued on the same ticket!)….

Eight Olympic flights canceled

A total of eight Olympic Airlines flights were canceled yesterday due to a shortage of aircraft and flight attendants, the national carrier said. The flights – four international and four domestic – were canceled because OA did not receive delivery of two new aircraft and due to a shortage of in-flight staff, the firm said.

Here is one good reason not to fly back to Athens on the same day as your international flight….. missing a connecting flight to the US or any other destination because of a late connection could be a disaster!!

Stormy weather hits Greece
Violent storms throughout Saturday disrupted air and sea transport around Greece and obliged the fire service to pump water out of basements but did not result in any injuries.

A German charter flight that was carrying 244 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing at Athens International Airport after being struck by lightning. The aircraft had taken off from Hania, Crete. Two Olympic Airlines flights to Rhodes and Chios were forced to return to Athens because of the stormy weather over the Aegean.

Two cruise ships anchored in port on the island of Rhodes were slightly damaged when the mooring ropes of the Oceanic II snapped and the vessel struck the Rhapsody. A private catamaran also sank in the Mandraki area of the island but nobody was on board.

The fire service had to pump water from more than a dozen basements in Piraeus on Saturday after heavy rain in Attica. Firemen also evacuated a hotel on Tinos as the building’s basement had flooded.

ATHENS (Thomson Financial) – The Greek commuting public will face serious transport problems tomorrow due to the 24 hour nation wide strike called by the General Confederation of Workers (GSEE) and the Civil Servants Union (ADEDY), which may potentially grind the whole country to a halt.

The general strike was called by the unions to demand the return of money invested by social insurance funds in allegedly overpriced bonds, an ongoing case which is still be investigated that has greatly embarrassed the government.

‘We want the money to be returned, and those responsible to be held accountable,’ the unions said in a statement on Monday.

The government is purging the state-appointed heads of around a dozen funds implicated in the bond investment case, which the opposition has denounced as a major scandal.

The strikes are likely to cause particular problems for air transportation because there will be a four hour stoppage by air traffic controllers between 12.00 pm and 4.00 pm local time, forcing the cancellation or rescheduling for tens of local and international flights, especially by local carriers Olympic Airlines and Aegean Airlines.

Olympic Airlines alone said it has cancelled or changed at least 30 scheduled flights. Other carriers scheduled to takeoff or land during those hours will also face problems. Airlines have recommended that passenger contact their offices for specific flight information.

The Athens Metro and other train transport services will be shut down for 24 hours. Trolleys will have a stoppage between 11.00 am to 3.00 pm, and trams will not work between 12.00 pm to 4.00 pm.

Both public sector and private sector workers will be striking, although the level of participation is expected to be higher in the public and government controlled enterprises. Bank workers are expected to be on strike, but private sector banks are likely to be less affected. Hospitals will be working on skeleton staff.

Journalists who were also on strike last Tuesday are expected to strike tomorrow between 6.00 am to 6.00 pm. However, this is not expected to affect Thomson Financial News coverage from Athens.

May Day strike to disrupt Olympic Airlines flights, Athens

Athens, April. 30(AP): Olympic Airlines is cancelling dozens of domestic and international flights because of a 24-hour May Day strike by transport workers on Tuesday. Disruption is also expected on public transport in Athens.

The state-run carrier said 42 flights have been canceled, including nine international ones scheduled to fly to Britain, France, Germany, Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt and Romania. The departure of the morning flight to London would be delayed for nearly three hours, the airline said.

Many Olympic flights to the Greek islands and other provincial destinations have also been cancelled. Flights by private carriers such as Aegean Airlines, however, were not expected to be affected.

Urban transport in Athens was also to be disrupted by rolling strikes, including bus, trolley and metro services, while services on the electric railway were to be halted all day.

The strikes are in keeping with a tradition of labor activism in the Greek capital on May Day, which is a public holiday.

GSEE, the country’s largest labor union, has also called a nationwide strike for May 15 to protest the government’s handling of a pension fund scandal that led to the forced resignation on Saturday of Greece’s employment minister, Savvas Tsitouridis.

Public and private umbrella union organizations called major rallies for Tuesday. Police were expected to be out in force to prevent outbreaks of violence at the demonstrations.

The Greek capital has seen increased attacks by anarchists in recent days, including a grenade attack on a local police station early Monday.

MAY DAY

Flights, public transport to be disrupted as staff walk out

Flights and public transport will be disrupted on Tuesday as staff stage strikes and work stoppages to participate in traditional May Day rallies. Olympic Airlines will be conducting just one flight per destination as civil aviation staff strike. Passengers due to travel with OA should call 210.966.6666 for details. The Kifissia-Piraeus urban electric railway (ISAP) will not operate at all, as staff stage a 24-hour strike. Buses and trolley buses will stop running from the dawn shift until 8 a.m. and from 10.30 p.m until the end of the night shift. The metro will suspend services between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. The airport bus service will run as normal.

General Flight information on Athens International Airport(Eleftherios)

An 11% growth on a year-to-year basis has been presented by Athens International Airport with the launch of its Summer 2007 Timetable. Analytically, in the Summer 2007 Timetable, 66 airlines will be operating 1,045 weekly scheduled flights, connecting AIA to 82 international destinations (88 airports) in 50 countries.

In the domestic sector, scheduled services out of Athens also present a 6% increase on a year-to-year, with 903 weekly frequencies.

New “arrivals”:

Athens International Airport welcomes 10 new airlines operating scheduled services during Summer 2007: Carpatair, Continental Airlines, Ilyich-Avia, KrasAir, US Airways, as well as the low cost carriers Aer Lingus, Air Baltic, and KDavia. In addition, Finnair and Saudi Arabian Airlines are reintroducing scheduled flights out of Athens.

Moreover, Athens International Airport`s network is expanded with 9 new destinations:

Philadelphia / USA (US Airways), Riga / Latvia (Air Baltic), Lviv and Marioupolis / Ukraine (Donbassaero and Ilyich-Avia, respectively), Kaliningrad / Russia (KDavia), Timisoara / Romania (Carpatair), Jeddah and Riad / Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabian Airlines), and Gothenburg / Sweden (Sterling),

And 3 new airports:

Newark /New York (Continental Airlines), Paris Orly (easyJet), and Moscow`s Domodedovo (KrasAir)

Additional frequencies to destinations already served at Athens International Airport:

Moreover, during the 2007 Summer Period, the following airlines have added new destinations to their scheduled services: Aegean Airlines to Bucharest and Cairo, and Donbassaero to Odessa, as well as low cost carriers easyJet to Paris, Germanwings to Stuttgart, and SkyEurope to Vienna and Prague.

Olympic Airlines increased their frequencies to the USA and Canada, as well as to all their Balkan destinations. Aegean Airlines increased their frequencies to Sofia, and will be flying directly to Frankfurt and Munich (previously via Thessaloniki). Also, Aegean Airlines, Air France, and Lufthansa added one daily frequency compared to the previous summer period, to Milan, Paris, and Frankfurt, respectively. Moreover, 15 other airlines also increased their frequencies to/from Athens International Airport.

The even stronger presence of low cost carriers at Athens International Airport highlights the 2007 Summer Period, with a 23.1% increase compared to last year. The low cost market presents the strongest development at Athens International Airport during the last 5 years, with an average annual passenger growth of 30%. With only one low cost carrier at Athens International Airport in 2002, Athens will now be connected during Summer 2007 to 27 European destinations, by 15 low cost airlines.

The top destinations served out of Athens International Airport during the 2007 Summer Period:

In the Summer 2007 Timetable, AIA`s top international routes are Larnaca with 89 and Paris with 70 scheduled weekly frequencies, followed by London, Rome, Frankfurt, and Munich, with 67, 64, 49, and 46 weekly flights each. The top domestic routes are Thessaloniki with 143 and Heraklion with 91 weekly frequencies, followed by Rhodes, Santorini, and Mykonos, with 70, 65, and 60 weekly frequencies, respectively.

From the Travel Daily News

Have you heard about British Airways imposing a bag fee. Well it’s true February 2007. Even if you are under the weight limit, but have more than one check in bag, you will be charges through the nose.
This is pasted from the BA website:
Excess baggage charged at a fixed fee Longhaul Shorthaul UK Domestic £120 per bag or £84 per bag if paid online (includes 30% discount available when travel is completed by 30 September 2007). £60 per bag or £42 per bag if paid online (includes 30% discount available when travel is completed by 30 September 2007). £30 per bag or £21 per bag if paid online (includes 30% discount available when travel is completed by 30 September 2007).

Have you all got that?
In short words in says FLY WITH ANOTHER AIRLINE!
£84 per bag- that’s $163 PER BAG!!

This is on top of the long list of catastrophic trade relations: a strike whenever there is a holiday weekend, missing bags (by the tens of thousands), catering strikes, broken luggage belts, misinformation,
and the reward for the chairman of this heap of ####,? Why a Knighthood from Tony Blair, of course. Seriously. Rodd Eddington, the outgoing Australian chairman got one. The mediocrity in charge now will no doubt get a peerage and a knighthood. Not only did Eddington make a sow’s ear of the job, that he got a big fat government report about road traffic. His solution to the jams? Whjy price them out of existence by charging by the mile for each road. It will involve fitting every car with a GPS sensor that will automatically drain your bank balance was you drive. This is already on top of the highest taxed petrol in Europe, the road tax licence disc,insurance, and the test report every year for cars over a certain age.
Britain needs people like this…….. in Iraq.