Aegean Airlines four flight segments was one of my main objectives to accomplish during my two week Europe trip. Aegean Miles+Bonus Tier Miles needed for Star Alliance Gold membership drops from 48,000 in my qualification year to 24,000 Tier Miles needed by the end of July 2018, 12 months from the date when I earned Aegean Silver elite.
I purchased two Aegean Airlines one-way tickets with my first day of flights Nice to Athens to Sofia, Bulgaria for $77 and two flight segments. Four days later, I flew Sofia – Athens – Prague for the other two flight segments for $55.
Nice Airport Bus €6.00
Good news is an airport train line is under construction. Until then, Bus 99 runs from Poste Thiers bus stop about 100 meters west of Gare de Nice Ville train station.
Warning: Only enter the airport bus through the front door of the bus. A man with a large suitcase entered the back door to place his luggage on the rack and a shouting argument ensued between the driver and the man and nobody was allowed on the bus until the man stepped back out of the bus with his large suitcase.
The bus ride had several stops on the way to the airport and the ride takes about 15 minutes. The bus stops at Terminal 2 first, then Terminal 1, where I needed to be for my Aegean flight.
Aegean check-in
I checked in online and requested SMS text boarding passes be sent to my phone. That method failed to work for both my ticket online check-ins, however, I did receive email boarding passes for my second ticket.
The email ticket bar code turned out to be a pain in the ass to get the electronic gates to read the bar code in Athens and at the flight gates. I needed assistance a couple of times on the Sofia-Athens-Prague flights and even the staff had some difficulty with my phone. One gate agent simply waved me through when she could not get the bar code to read either.
At Nice Airport I went to the counter and picked up paper boarding passes, which were far more convenient for the first day of Aegean flights.
Nice Airport NCE Terminal 1 Canopy Lounge
I was pleased to find the Canopy Lounge in Terminal 1, access free with my Diners Club card and for Priority Pass members.
There were TVs, food and drink in the front part of the lounge. I sat in the back corner of the lounge away from sound and grabbed a kiwi, plum, croissant and more yogurt to snack on after my light breakfast a couple hours earlier at Days Inn Nice Centre.
Days Inn Nice Centre, France conveniently cheap
I decided to try a Pelforth Brune beer as my last French beer before leaving the country. I purchased a six-pack of Pelforth lager my first night in Monaco.
Pelforth Brune is too sweet for my palate and I left it unfinished with a ‘last looks’ photo for memory’s sake.
Aegean Airlines Nice to Athens in annotated photos
I selected a window seat and had a great flight snapping photos out the window on the way to Athens.
Nice Airport
Nice annotated photo for places I wrote about in my article about a walk through Nice.
Loyalty Traveler – Nice in snapshots
One of my original objectives during my four nights and three days on Cote d’Azur was hike Cap Ferrat, a place of luxury homes and a Four Seasons Cap Ferrat hotel with a hiking trail along the coast around French Riviera mansions. I needed another day for that itinerary and it will be something I keep in mind for a future trip, if ever I pass through there again.
Aegean Airlines Heavy Make-up Flight Attendants
This was my third Aegean flight of 2017 and another flight where the young women flight attendants wore the heaviest make-up I have seen on any flight. I know next to nothing about make-up, just that it seemed to me theatrical. Their facial features were visible from a distance all the way down the aisle of the aircraft.
Turned out the next flight Athens to Sofia the same day and then SOF-ATH and ATH-PRG Prague a few days later revealed to me some Aegean female flight attendants wear far less make-up. I assumed all the make-up was a work requirement up to that point.
Aegean Food Service
About 12 hours ago, I completed a day with 13 hours of British Airways flights Prague to London LHR to San Jose SJC. Pay service food and drink on BA PRG-LHR. I was dehydrated from the lack of drink services on the 10 hour BA LHR-SJC flight. I repeatedly asked for more water on that long-haul flight.
Aegean flights NCE-ATH-SOF last week provided food service and a couple of drink services on even quick one hour flights between Athens and Sofia, Bulgaria. There was near constant drink service on the two hours from Nice to Athens, in addition to the main meal and a separate snack run.
My very own geophotography
Clear skies over Italy and Greece and a window seat allowed me to snap a couple dozen clear images of the landscape and sea islands from 36,000 feet.
I snapped several photos over Italy. A look at Google.com/maps satellite images allowed me to easily determine locations for most of my different photos from geographical features.
Nardo Ring, originally built in 1975 as Fiat’s road test track and now owned by Porsche Engineering is a 12.5 km/7.8 mi circular 4-lane speed track in the province of Lecce, Italy.
Otranto, Italy was visible as the Aegean flight path crossed over the Strait of Otranto, which lies between Italy and Albania and separates the Ionian Sea to the south from the Adriatic Sea to the north.
North to south beach resort areas of Italy seen in my photo are San Foca, Torre dell’Orso, and Spiaggi Alimini, coastal beach resort areas for Otranto region.
Othonoi, Greek Island and coastline of Albania.
Athens, Greece
Sad to know the former Luxury Collection Arion and Westin Astir Palace resorts visible on the peninsula at bottom of Athens photo all left Starwood Hotels October 2016 and currently are being renovated.
In Athens Airport I learned it cost 18 EUR to ride the Metro from the airport to the center of Athens in 45 minutes. I decided to make my virgin visit to this city with no planning or knowledge where to go. Two Metro station suggestions were given to me. I am pretty sure I made the wrong choice for my travel style on where to get out for my first exposure to the city of Athens.
Note: Click on the photos to view in high resolution.
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