Trip Report: Aegean Business Class to London

As Greece’s Aegean Airlines enters its 25th year of operation, it has expanded its footprint to serve many airports throughout Europe, and even expanding into the Middle East as well as northern Africa. The airline prides itself on having great service and is a certified four-star airline along with being the “Best European Regional Airline” according to SkyTrax.

The airline has a typical “Euro Business” seat, where it simply blocks the middle seat and slaps a business class label on it. I wanted to see if it lived up to not only the hype but also the rating.

Day of the Flight

About 24 hours before the flight, the airline did offer online check-in and I could even get a mobile boarding pass added to my wallet for the trip as well, which is nice for those passengers wanting to skip the check-in lines at the airport.

My mobile boarding pass for Aegean Air flight to London (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi

As the flight was going from Greece to London, it was considered an international flight due to the United Kingdom not being in the Schengen zone, so I arrived at the airport about three hours before departure time as I didn’t know what security and customs looked like the morning of the flight.

Upon arriving at the airport, there were tons of balloons for the 25th anniversary of the airline, as they had just passed that milestone in the days prior to taking this trip. Although I already had a mobile boarding pass and could’ve headed right to security, I went to the check-in desk anyway as I wanted to get a hard copy of my boarding pass for a keepsake, and I was able to use the business class lanes at check-in which didn’t take much time at all.

Balloons set up for Aegean’s 25th Anniversary (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi

Unlike in the United States, there is no government program for expedited security in Europe, but they do offer priority passengers an expedited security and customs line that is called Fastlane or in some cases Fast Track.

After going through security and customs I headed to the Aegean’s lounge, which I got access to being a business class passenger. As previously mentioned, London is outside of the Schengen zone, meaning I got to use the airline’s extra Schengen lounge.

Their lounge was absolutely fantastic, and it was enormous at over 1,200 sq/meters of space and windows that give passengers a 360-degree view of the airport, and featured so much food that I could hardly figure out what to get.

The entrance to Aegean’s Extra Schengen lounge (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi

Upon arrival to the lounge, you just scan your boarding pass, and as long as you are given entry the automatic gates will open to let you in. They had breakfast food in hot and cold options as well as some lunch options given we were nearing the late morning. They also had a variety of drinks, alcoholic, and non-alcoholic, and also had an area with only desserts and pastries for those who would rather have something sweet/sugary in the morning, or if you’d rather go healthier they also offered smoothies.

The massive expanse of Aegean’s Extra Schengen lounge (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi

There was also an entire wall of newspapers, not only in Greek but also in English. I ventured towards the back of the lounge where they had reclined sofa chairs that overlooked the operations of the airport, and I took a seat there.

Newspapers and magazines in Greek as well as English (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi

Nearly every seat in the lounge offered an outlet, which in this case was a European type C plug with the two prongs, but also directly under it they did offer USB-A and USB-C ports for those that didn’t have the European plug type or preferred a USB instead.

Some of the lounge chairs near the windows overlooking the airport operations (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Just some of the many drink options offered in the lounge (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi

Overlooking the airport, I could see my aircraft for the flight which was an Airbus A321NEO that carried the registration of SX-NAM and actually featured a special 25-year sticker.

My aircraft for the flight up to London Heathrow was SX-NAM, wearing the special 25Years sticker (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

There was so much food I couldn’t try everything but I did get as much food variety as I could with a tomato basil mozzarella sandwich, as well as a mini burger slider. I also had to save some room for the breakfast that I would soon be served on the flight up to London. After a quick bite to eat, the gate was assigned for my flight, and it was time to head to the aircraft.

Entering the gate area there was a short line as there was an employee checking passports and adding customs stickers as we left the Schengen Zone once we boarded the flight. It wasn’t long after getting to the gate before I got on board the aircraft.

The departure board for my flight (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

My seat for this flight would be 5A, a window in the airline’s Business Class cabin. Appearance-wise, business class is nearly identical to economy class except for the fact that the middle seat is blocked and there is a tray table where that passenger usually sits.

Looking at Aegean Air’s Business Class on the A321nwo (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

The cabins are separated by a curtain versus a hard wall.

While other passengers were boarding, they came around with some drinks. The choices for a pre-departure beverage were orange juice, water, or champagne all of which were served in an actual glass cup, and they also brought around the breakfast menu for the flight as well.

Once passengers finished boarding, we pushed back from the gate, and after a quick taxi to the runway, we took off towards London.

Taking off from Athens towards London (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

As we continued to climb up to our cruising altitude before breakfast came around, on the left side of the aircraft we passed Aigina and the Gulf of Corinth.

While there were no IFE screens in the seat, there was a QR code on the seatback that you could scan and get entertainment on your personal device.

The seatback in Business Class on Aegean (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

There was also free internet for those sitting in business class as well as the Miles + Bonus gold members. Otherwise, it was €12 or 3600 miles. There was also a USB-A port on the seatback so you could charge your device, as well as a device holder.

Before the meal came around, they brought out a hot towel, which signaled the meal was getting closer as well as it was something that you could clean up with. At our cruising altitude of 36,000 feet/10,972.80 meters, I could clearly see all the amazing scenery that was going past us, including a couple of small mountain ranges, the Albanian coastline, and the Adriatic Sea just to name a few.

Flying over northern Greece (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Inflight

About an hour after takeoff, the breakfast was served. You did have a choice of meal and for those with no dietary restrictions, the choices were either a salmon omelet or chicken omelet and I chose the latter.

My breakfast for the flight up to London Heathrow (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

The omelet had Béchamel Gruyère sauce, Leeks, mushrooms, and thyme sauce. It also came with morning rolls, a croissant, as well as marmalade and yogurt. There was a small side dish that had some salami, a kiwi, and fruits.

This is one of the best meals I’ve ever had on a flight of this length, especially considering this flight is only about 3.5 hours long. While I was eating, I did notice a couple of aircraft going in the opposite direction, including a Lufthansa A321 going from Munich to Athens, as well as a Wizz Air A321 from London Gatwick to Athens.

We then passed over Venice, Italy, and the pilot pointed out the city as we passed it, and I could even see the airport as well.

Flying over Venice, Italy (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Once breakfast was cleaned up, I spent most of the rest of the flight either looking out the window at the scenery or watching TV and a movie on the airline’s Wi-Fi, which was decently fast.

They did come around with chocolate about an hour or so away from landing in England but other than that, and an occasional drink service, they had pretty much finished up the service for the flight.

As we got towards England and over the English Channel, we began to descend into London. Going in, I saw many of the airports surrounding the city, including London Gatwick, Farnborough Airport, as well as Blackbushe Airport.

Over England just after passing over the channel (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

We touched down at London Heathrow just after 11 a.m. local time following exactly 3.5 hours of flight time.

This is one of the best lounges, as well as onboard services I’ve had compared to flights of this stage length. As the airline enters its 25th year, it has expanded quite a bit and refurbished its fleet interiors.

On the ground in London Heathrow after my flight (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi )

Aegean definitely holds up its rating with the food, service, and especially the lounge experience in Athens.

The airline does serve Heathrow multiple times a day, and will also begin flights to London Gatwick come fall 2024.

Editor’s Note: Aegean Air provided AirlineGeeks with a seat on this flight, but this trip report is an objective portrayal of the events and is in no way swayed by that aspect.

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Joey Gerardi

Joey has always been interested in planes for as long as he can remember. He grew up in Central New York during the early 2000s when US Airways Express turboprops ruled the skies. He was so excited when he could drive by himself and the first thing he did with the license was get ice cream and go plane spotting for the entire day. He specializes in topics surrounding the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. He graduated from WMU with a degree in Aviation Management and Operations in 2022 and now works for a major airline.

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