We flew on August 30th to Chania, with Aegean Airlines en-route for Plakias our destination. Our departure was from Bristol at 1200hours, we noticed that the Kosmar brochure said we would arrive at 1930 local time. I contacted Kosmar who said "Oh yes, didn't you know that you were dropping off and picking up at Birmingham en-route" I said no I just wondered why it was taking so long. We had pre-booked our seats at a cost of £20 just to ensure we would sit together, and the check in girl said we have reserved seats 2a and 2b for you, I thought brilliant.
We went into departures and when our flight was called the Servisair girl shouted sit where you like free boarding....well it turned into a rugby scrum people jostling pushing and shoving I 've never seen anything like it. Once boarded our seats were taken by other people who promptly told us to get elsewhere as they were not gong to move, I spoke to the Greek stewardess who couldn't understand why we had pre-booked, saying "why have you paid extra money for your seats you sit where you like on our flights, why pay twice" By this time I was very upset at the attitude of my fellow countrymen and the stewardesses, eventually we landed at Birmingham dropped off and picked up, and fortunately the captain had heard all the complaints and set about trying to place people in their pre-booked seats.
We were transferred to seats 2a & 2b, for the next leg of the journey on to Crete, we had a reasonable meal and a complimentary drink, but 2 hours into the flight we asked if we could purchase a soft drink and a wine we were told Absolutely No we do not sell drinks, so for 4 hours we had one drink and a meal.After the first 90 minutes the two stewardesses promptly fell asleep in full view of the passengers and were briskly woken by the 1st officer when he came to use the toilets.The moral of this story if you fly Aegean Airlines, take sufficient food and drink with you, do not ask for a drink, and prepare yourself for a longer than normal flight to Greece. The aircraft are Boeing 737 400 series and do not offer in flight entertainment, so also take a book or newspaper. I will avoid flying with AA again if possible and stick to English carriers
The return flight was much better direct into Bristol, with adequate food and several drinks
