Airport Pick up Time & wait?

I understand there is easy public transportation into Athens, but I scheduled a ride with Welcome Pickups. I was pleased I did. They were a treat!

I doubt you will have much of a wait time after deplaning and getting to and out of passport control. You can always decide once you are past border control.

If your flight arrives from the US at 10AM and the bus leaves at 1230, I do not see a lot of "sitting around" time.

By the time you go through passport control, hit an ATM, and a potty stop , get a snack, (so you are ready to hit the streets
for the walking tour) to me does not leave a lot of waiting time.

I'd plan on taking a taxi. With carry-on, you could conceivably be on the road by 11! The cost was not notable enough to commit it to memory.

Taxis have a flat rate of 38€ to city center. I would not wait for a shuttle two hours later after a long exhausting flight. We were through ATH very quickly a few years ago.

Metro (subway) line 3 (blue) runs from the airport to Syntagma and other central stops every 30 minutes, takes about 45 minutes. Be careful with your belongings.

Express bus X95 runs several times hourly from exit 5 of the terminal to Syntagma, takes 60-90 minutes.

Both of these will be cheaper and slower, than a taxi. You can wait to decide till you're through immigration and customs, and know how tired you are. Taxi is certainly the easiest.

Welcome Pick-ups offer a great service. Meet you outside customs hall, and you are in downtown Athens in no time. Cost was slightly more (5€, I think) than the regular taxi but truly door to door service. My flight arrived at 10.30 and I was at my hotel under the Acropolis by noon. Book and prepay before you leave home: they will meet you with a comfortable air conditioned Mercedes, a bottle of chilled water and a driver who speaks English. Much preferable to coping with train, which I have done on previous trips, or bus after an overnight flight.

I was thinking of George the Taxi driver.

LF - George the Taxi Driver is a highly-promoted fiction from a famous website... The redoubtable George -- who WAS real, but who has probably gone to his reward by now-- is the umbrella term for a large fleet of car-service vehicles. It charges a premium over the standard taxi flat-fee of €38 which includes luggage, tax & tolls. There ARE 2 well-known and well-reviewed Car services that are mentioned on many travel forums -- outfits that charge the EXACT same €38 flat-fee as vehicles in the taxi line. They are Welcome Pick-ups and City Cab. When u book ahead, a driver meets you as you emerge from Baggage claim, with a card with your name on it. Same as "George" - but from past postings I gather his rate is higher.

What is the customary policy on tipping?