air travel to athens

It depends on when you want to go. I faced this in planning a trip for the fall. Using the ITA Matrix Search (http://matrix.itasoftware.com/), the only option I found is out of JFK. It appears to be seasonal, starting with the first non-stop on May 17th to Athens and the last on October 24th. The first non-stop return from Athens to JFK is on May 18th and the last is on October 25th. The players, seemingly for the same exact flights both directions, are Delta, Alitalia, Air France and KLM.

If you are going and coming home between May 17th and October 25th, this might work for you. Check with Delta to be sure. It didn't for us. We will probably fly from Atlanta to Rome on Delta and then from Rome to Athens on Alitalia.

John, I'm not quite sure why you have been unable to spot the USAIr daily nonstop (4:30pm or so from Philadelphia, arr ATH 9:10 am next day). This flight has been on the books for at least 15 years without change; I have taken it for 8 of those years. Also, there's a nonstop daily out of Montreal, if you can get a flight from Tucson to Montreal. Others have told me that there are nonstops from Boston... and last year there was a Delta nonstop, I forget whether it was via NY or Atlanta. What search engine are you using?? I happen to like Mobissimus. If you plug in your dates & your city & your destination... up comes a long list of options-- sorted lowest-price first. I llike using Mobissimus vs. Kayak because -- once you have that list, you can RE-sort by other criteria, such as Departure time, Arrival Time, and airline. Give it a try!!

Whoops! I said Tucson, because this (dumb) rick format does not give the full thread, only the original post, and also, does not include the address of original poster (RS webmaster, pleeez change this!). I would also add -- from my extensive experiments with flights to Greece: tho they cost more, the non stops from N. America have 2 big advantages: (1) they arrive ATH in the morning, greatly increasing your onward options... i.e., if you want to reach an island the first day, via plane, you're likelier to be able to connect with a domestic flight and (2) they're almost always right on time. Why? Because even if they take off from N. America an hour or more late, they have a loooong over-ocean flight with which to make up the time. When you have a connection say at mid-day in Paris, Frankfurt, London, etc, you multiply the chances of a late 2nd take-off.... plus, you usually lose most of that arrival day, not reaching your island or ATH hotel till dinner-time .. a big loss, if your vacation is a very short one.

Finally, regretfully, I must advise against one particular Europe connection. London Heathrow can be hectic, so can Frankfurt, a Swiss connection in my experience very smooth --- but PLEASE avoid connecting in France/Chas de Gaulle if at all possible!! The airport layout is hugely inconvenient, shuttle busses from one "wing" to another take forever, airport personnel not only indifferent but deliberately unhelpful (and I speak French!). If you cannot avoid CdG, allow at least 3 hours for the connection.

Janet, thanks for the heads up about Mobissimo. I tried my dates for our fall RT from both Boston and Philadelphia to Athens on it as well as my favorite, ITA Matrix Search. Unfortunately, there were no non-stop flights listed for either route using either search engine.

John, I didn't try any other date options, but Janet's suggestions out of Boston or Philadelphia might work with your dates.

Full disclosure: We flew USAir Philadelphia to Lisbon and Frankfurt to Philadelphia in June 2011. The experience was so bad in every way possible, that we will never fly USAir again or into or out of Philadelphia again, no matter how cheap it might be.