My husband and I are travelling to Greece next month and we are planning on catching a flight to Santorini from Athens immediately after we land .
How much time gap should we keep from the time we land to catching the flight to Santorini on time ? I will be on a visitor visa. Our flight is expected to land by 12.30 pm and I see a flight available for 4 pm . We also need to grab a quick lunch at the airport. Is this enough of a time gap or is it better to catch the next flight at 5pm.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11179 posts
IF your flight is on time and you have no checked luggage, you could do it (the4PM).-- not really my comfort zone
If you have to retrieve checked luggage and then recheck it onto Santorini, the 5 PM is the wiser choice
Posted by
OP
114 posts
I will book the 5 pm to be on the safe side.
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3122 posts
There's "safe" and then there's "unnecessarily safe". 2 hours between flights is all you really need. The airport is small and efficient. The 4pm flight will give you ample time to make your connection to Santorini, especially if you're flying Aegean/Olympic to Santorini so you can print your boarding passes before you leave home. Then all you have to do is take any luggage that needs to be checked upstairs to the special luggage drop-off desk and then go find your departure gate.
Posted by
2497 posts
I agree with lee. I had 2.5 hours between my flight and flight to santorini because I was meeting my husband and son coming in on a later flight. I had tons of time to kill. And I had checked bags on both flights.
I would go through security for you flight to santorini and find a place to eat.
Beth
Posted by
Alpharetta, Ga, USA
265 posts
Also agree with Lee. We did this in April, arrived 9:15 from JFK, had 11:45 to Santorini. Had plenty of time and then turboprop to Santorini was 45 minutes late. All our bags were carry on, but baggage claim seemed like no big deal. Know that you will ride shuttle bus at Athens and santorini to planes.
Might be busier in August though
Posted by
OP
114 posts
Since we do have to check in the bags for Santorini and grab a quick lunch I was leaning towards the 5 pm . Thanks for the heads up everybody let me check on the availability for 4 pm .
Posted by
2497 posts
Everyone has their comfort zone but I did want to tell you that The first time I had been to Athens airport I arrived at 12:45 pm after two flights from US and caught a flight to Samos at 4:30 pm. This was only choice. I had checked luggage so had to retrieve and recheck. I had lunch after I went through security. I had hours of extra time. I even went back out of security to a travel agent to discuss ferry rides and back in through security again.
A week later I flew back to Athens airport at 8:30 am and to santorini at 11 am. I knew the routine by now but met my husband and sons’ plane after it came in at 9:30 am. They had checked luggage, so had to wait for it in first flight and check it in again. We went through security, bought some food close to gate and loaded on plane. I had boarding passes for everyone.
There are kiosks where you can print your tags for your luggage and then you drop it off. There were people to help if you need it.
I would take the 4 pm flight.
Beth