Final Decision- should I take a charter?

As I've said, I've flown charters a number of times and they have been quite pleasant and uneventful, but I have friends who have horror stories. One of them was so pissed off after waiting in the airport for 16 hours and being told in two hour increments that the plane would be there "in about two hours", when in reality it hadn't even departed on it's 10 hour flight to pick him up! He ended up writing his congressmen, the FAA and every newspaper he could think of
That is not a fun way to start or end a vacation!

I know other people who take charters yearly and swear by them. Their flights have taken off on time and have been uneventful and they arrive safely and inexpensively in Greece.

That reminds me... look at the inexpensively. Compare it to the fares that you would pay on scheduled airlines. The savings can be anywhere from nothing to a few hundred dollars. Just because it's a charter flight, it doesn't mean it's less expensive than a commercial flight(although it usually is).

The other thing to consider is if you are connecting to and from a charter. If you have to fly to NY to catch the charter, you need to include the cost to getting there. You'll also want to leave plenty of time between flights because if you miss a flight that is not issued on the ticket with the flight that caused you to miss a flight you are not protected.(A missed charter is probably pretty close to a disaster since they usually fly full so there will not be any extra seats on the next day!). If the charter causes you to miss your flight from NY back home...again, you're not protected!

So....what to do? I would look at the money that you may save and ask yourself. If the flight is delayed and I end up arriving or departing 12 hours late and sit in the airport frustrated because I can't get any information on when the flight is taking off, will the money I saved be worth it?