Aegean Airlines Baggage Policy

I know that everyone wants rules and regulations that fit their situation. But I have hit the one item rule before and they are pretty strict about ONE. Not one and maybe. The rule may not make any sense to you but it doesn't have to either. It is their policy and you have agreed to comply. Of course, it gives them money from checked bags. All the airlines make a lot of money from checked bags. Actually have found Aegean air to be one of the better discount airlines but you do have to follow their rules.

There has been talk of airlines banning all hand luggage whilst the Covid situation persists but I haven’t seen this happen at present. Their rules state one bag, so that’s what you must comply with. Would your bag be checked through? If you haven’t got time to check a bag, then it sounds like too tight a connection.

We flew Aegean last year on 3 flights and they are very strict. They have staff wandering around the waiting area...at least at Athens and Santorini...looking at bags, asking questions about bags and sizing bags on the spot.

Frank, I asked a question, you didn’t need to be rude in answering it. Of course I know I have to follow their rules, that goes without saying and it was never my intention to mutiny at the gate. I also know their rules do not have to make sense, as most actually don’t. We never went through anything like this Covid 19 situation, so that’s why I asked if anybody had any information on the subject. It used to be the luggage rules we had to follow were the ones from when the tickets were purchased. I wanted to know if that applied in this situation as well. I wrote them an email and they responded personal item and carry on, which contradicted what’s written on their website.

Hi, Jennifer, thanks for the response. I was initially planning on checking my bag, but we are flying between Rhodes/ Santorini and Crete. They don’t have direct flights and I heard horror stories about lost luggage from people doing the same thing that we’ll be doing. Plus the connection time between flights is an hour, which means if the connecting flight to Athens is delayed for some reason, then it’s guaranteed our luggage won’t be following us...

Valery, thanks for responding, I heard similar stories too! We even bought carry on bags that fit their requirements so we wouldn’t have any problems... and like I said, I tried emailing them, and got contradictory information.

https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-information/baggage/cabin-baggage/

This makes it plain that due to the 'crud', only ONE bag is allowed

https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-information/baggage/baggage-allowance/

This spells out the checked baggage allowance, dependent on what fare class you have.

The rules may have changed since you bought your ticket, but the world has changed.

I will admit I am at a loss about the rationale that 'one bag is safe, but two is a covid danger'.

cellamonico you're much too thin-skinned. Franks response is not rude. It's to-the-point. You obviously don't like his tone but he's just telling it like it is. Taking offense for being told the truth is a waste of your time.

Yes, Joe, thank you, that’s exactly what I thought.

I was initially planning on checking my bag, but we are flying
between Rhodes/ Santorini and Crete. They don’t have direct flights
and I heard horror stories about lost luggage from people doing the
same thing that we’ll be doing.

If the tickets are already bought there is not much to do. But, Greek regional airline Sky Express has direct flights between Rhodes and Crete. And between Santorini and Crete there are direct ferries that take around 2 hours, which sound a lot faster than flying via Athens.

Thank you Badger!!! I’m going to try to cancel the Aegean tickets and get them through Sky Express! And definitely the ferry too. Perfect suggestion, thanks again!

Godd luck! I should maybe have added that I have no idea how the pandemic has affected the routes.

According to Joe's link above, Aegean's carry-on size limit is 56x45x25 cm or 63 liters (3845 cu in)!!! 63 L is a big enough allowance. No need for a separate personal item; just put your personal item inside the Aegean regulation carry-on.

Everything in my personal item will fit in my carry-on without the carry-on exceeding the regulation size or weight. The only reason I carry it separately is so I can put it under the seat in front of my instead of having to go up to the overhead bin.

But I am amused by Aegean's rationale, "regarding the safety and health of our passengers, only one (1) item is allowed in the cabin of the aircraft, for free [my emphasis]". Apparently, to heck with "the safety and health of our passengers" if you are willing to give them more money.

May be reading too much into "...aircraft, for free [my emphasis]"

I believe the intent is the one carry on is "free" and that a second carry on or personal in not allowed for any price.
'
Here is SAS' explanation for why SAS they have a coronavirus one bag on-board policy:
https://www.flysas.com/us-en/travel-info/baggage/carry-on/

Due to the current situation SAS has decided to temporary limit the
allowed amount of carry-on, starting on 11 May.

To help speed up the boarding process and reduce the risk of cramped situations onboard SAS is for the time being limiting the number of
allowed carry-on items to 1 per person. This means that you can no
longer bring an additional personal item, such as a lap top or hand
bag on top of your carry-on.

Edgar, you are right, we wouldn’t be able to carry another item with us even if we paid for it. And the excuse they produced was the lamest of the lame... if they really wanted “ To help speed up the boarding process and reduce the risk of cramped situations onboard SAS” They would space out the passengers in the plane... but that would mean they would be losing money, so they came up with this one item rule, this way the passengers are the ones taking the hit, as always.

Due to the current situation SAS has decided to temporary limit the
allowed amount of carry-on, starting on 11 May.
To help speed up the boarding process and reduce the risk of cramped situations onboard SAS is for the time being limiting the number of
allowed carry-on items to 1 per person. This means that you can no
longer bring an additional personal item, such as a lap top or hand
bag on top of your carry-on

That is a valid health measure only if they increased the free checked bag allowance by one bag for EVERY fare class. If not, its just a money grab

SAS economy (SAS Go) allows one free 23 kg/50# checked bag. That should be more than enough for the carry-on only fans.

SAS's fare classes seem confusing but I've flown SAS economy and got the one free checked bag per passenger. Between two of us, we've flown SAS with a ski box with both of our ski and poles plus a duffle bag with our other equipment in addition to the carry-on.

What isn't know is what happens when a passenger makes it to the gate with a carry-on plus personal bags. Do the gate agents "gate check" the excess (over one) bag without charge. Would the gate checked fee, if any, be different if the passenger checked or didn't check a bag?

On pass flights that were close to max capacity (pre coronavirus), gate agents would often troll for volunteers to gate check their carry-on for free and board them first to expedite loading. Believe it or not, airlines do try to expedite loading even pre-pandemic.

I'm in complete agreement with Joe.

That is a valid health measure only if they increased the free checked bag
allowance by one bag for EVERY fare class. If not, its just a money grab

Gosh, an airline doing something just to make money. Hard to believe, isn't it.

Come on, get serious. If a woman brings a purse onto the plane along with her carry-on, she drops the purse on the seat when she gets to it, then puts her carry-on in the overhead bin and picks up her purse when she sits down. How much time does that really take; not much. This is the weakest argument I've heard in a long time.

What they really want is that, in order to take her purse with her, she has to pay to check her carry-on. It's just a money grab, so obviously.

Next thing they'll do is claim your clothes are a carry-on item, so the only way you can bring on a bag is to board naked.

Yes, I suspect what SAS hopes we will believe is that it's trying to reduce crowding in the aisles as people fiddle with their carry-on items. They can control the flow of people onto the plane, but that doesn't mean knots of people won't form in the aisles. In my experience--boarding with the hordes in standard coach class--it's common for some passengers to cause such back-ups.

In addition, if you have two carry-on items with you and are not seated on the aisle, you may need to somehow get the smaller item past a person already seated in the aisle (or middle) seat and into your own seat before putting the main item in the overhead bin. That could entail leaning into the other passenger's personal space.

I think you are giving SAS credit too much for thinking! All they are thinking is, "we can take advantage of this virus crisis and say we are protecting our customers by limiting them to one item. That way if the woman doesn't want to take her purse on with her, she'll have to pay to check a carry-on bag, and we get more money".

Unlike domestic airlines, which have pretty generous "personal item" allowances (American Airlines - 2016 ci; United Airlines - 1530 ci), SAS limits the personal item to just 40x30x10 cm (about 16"x12"x4"), or 732 ci.

The carry-on allowance for SAS is a generous 3088 ci. Since my carry-on fit in an American Airlines personal item sizer last summer, it is apparently less than 2016 ci. SAS's carry-on limit minus my carry-on is more than 1000 ci. My personal item case, which holds my pad, mouse, and other stuff I want at my seat, is 8½x11x2¾ - is less than 300 ci, so it would easily fit in my carry-on without exceeding the 3088 ci limit. Of course, before I put my carry-on in the overhead bin, I will have to stand in the aisle, open my carry-on, and take out the stuff I want at my seat. Good thinking, SAS.

But I'm not likely to fly SAS. Lufthansa, my preferred airline, still allows a personal item, the same size as what SAS used to allow.

You might try packing so that your small carry-on can be stuffed in the backpack. Once you board you can take it out. The first school group I took to Europe did this as we were leaving London. At that time Delta only allowed one carryon from the UK to the USA.