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Current situation at Athens Airport?

A few questions about arrivals and departures at the Athens Airport:

1) Arrivals:

7 people booked the same flights in two different ways, and we're unsure of what to expect when we arrive in Athens. Six of us booked via United to Mykonos, and will be transferring to Aegean Airlines in Athens. One booked the two flight legs separately. Will we all have to go through customs (with or without checked luggage?) in Athens, or only the odd man out? I assume that person will have to exit security to recheck their bags with Aegean? Is 3 hours enough time to do it?

2) Departures:

One traveling companion has heard (and is now insisting) that we must arrive at the Athens Airport 4+ hours ahead of our flight back to the US (in July) due to extraordinarily long lines and prevalent airport strikes in Europe. Is there any truth to this?

Pre-Covid, I found that arriving 3 hours early to a European airport resulted in having to wait 90 minutes just to check one's luggage! (And having flown two dozen domestic flights in the last two years, if there are delays or cancelations, arriving earlier is of no consequence.)

So, how early should we plan to get to the airport?

Thank you in advance to all seasoned travelers for helping me figure out logistics for my trip (we leave in 9 days!).

Posted by
1016 posts

You will all have to go through immigration in Athens, as that is your port of entry into the Schengen Zone. If your flight originates from a non-Schengen country but are connecting via a Schengen airport to another Schengen airport, you must clear passport control at the first airport you travel through within the Schengen area.

Customs may be different, as the majority's bags will be tagged through to Mykonos, and Mykonos is an international airport with customs officers present. The odd man out will likely have to get his bags in Athens, clear customs there, and check in for the flight to Mykonos as if he was originating in Athens.

3 hours should be sufficient time.

Posted by
2267 posts

the connection would be a lot easier for that 'odd man out' if they don't have to collect and recheck bags in Athens. If the group of 6 has extra luggage allowance between you, you might consider checking the bag in the name of one of the six, leaving the solo traveler to fly "hand-baggage only".

Of course, I would only do this with a close friend or a family member. I wouldn't travel with the bags of someone I didn't know well and trust.

Posted by
2767 posts

I was just there.

For 1, I had a similar situation as the odd man out. I had to go through passport and customs,collect my checked bags, recheck them at the sky express airline counter, and go back through security to get to my domestic flight gate. Much easier than it sounds - no lines in the bag check or security. Passport control had a line, but not a horrible one.
Those of you on one ticket, I’m not sure what the procedure is.

For departure look at when your airline opens its check in desk. Mine (Emirates) was 3 hours ahead of the flight. So getting there 4,hours early would be useless. In Athens airport I saw very few lines of any note and 3 hours is more than enough. One could do it in less, especially if they aren’t checking a bag, but I’d suggest 3. 4 is overkill at Athens. It’s a surprisingly small and efficient airport for such a major destination.

Posted by
2462 posts

I was at Athens airport 3 hours early because of wanting a cushion since returning a car. We checked our luggage without much line and then went through security in only a few minutes. We then waited. And waited. Two hours would have been more than enough and was what we did in 2018. My son and girlfriend arrived at airport more than three hours early fir their flight and had to find a coffee house to sit because couldn’t check baggage yet.

I would not arrive more than three hours early.

Posted by
3311 posts

BTW, when listing what one must go thru at airport, do not use the word "customs" because that is not even a thing -- there is a desk one walks by, but the only people who stop are businesses that are bringing major merchandise in.. for the rest of us, nada. The line you wait in is for "Passport control" ... one line for EU/Shengen, the others for all the rest. I believe United arrives in the morning, along with the few other nonstops from N AMerica, and they are spaced out (Delta, AA, UAE, Canada air). Line normally about 20 minutes. In 2019, last time I came, it was longer because a big jumbo jet from China came in same time... but as u know, no tourism from china now.

Posted by
14803 posts

Customs is a thing but it relates to your goods, not you. Immigration/Passport Control is where you get your passport stamped. Customs, for those not declaring anything, is just a walk through. But, they can stop you.

Unfortunately, many Americans call the whole process "customs" when it is really two different things.

Posted by
383 posts

I flew out of Athens on June 7 and found 3 hours advance arrival plenty. For an international airport, it’s not large.

Posted by
1353 posts

We have just returned from Athens in early June. We were on Air Canada which arrived a bit late and we had 55 minutes to catch our onward flight which was on a separate ticket.
Fortunately there was a group on the flight which had booked their second flight o n one ticket so Air Canada announced everyone was to stay in their seats and let the people with short connections an opportunity to get ff the flight first.

We had checked bags so we nipped over to the baggage carousel and waited about 5 minutes before it started to move. Our bags came quickly. We went through passport control which took no more than 5 minutes then took the escalator up to departures level. Arrivals and departures are all in the same terminal building so its very quick to go from Arrivals to departures. Aegean allows us to check in 48 hours prior to departure so we had our boarding passes before we took off from Vancouver.

We went to the Aegean counter and dropped off our checked bags and headed to security. Athens airport has about 10 screening stations and is very efficient. We were in the departure gate with 15 minutes to spare.
While you are on a Sky express connection here is what they say about their process
How do I check-in online?

  1. Enter skyexpress.gr 48 hours before your due departure time. Online check-in will be available up to 3 hours prior to your departure.

  2. Select ‘Check-in’.

  3. Enter your booking code and your surname.

  4. Print your boarding pass or download it to your mobile device.

  5. Once at the airport, drop off your baggage at the SKY express check-in counters and head to your gate at least 20' before your scheduled departure time.

  6. If you do not have any baggage to drop off, go straight to your gate at least 20' before your scheduled departure time.

  7. Make sure you have the necessary travel documents and that your hand luggage does not exceed the baggage allowance of your fare, in order to avoid extra charges.

For our return flight Athens airport was as crowded as i have ever seen it. Fortunately we had priority seats so our luggage drop off had no more than a 5 minute wait. The regular passengers had a very long line up as there was one line for two flights one to Toronto and one to Montreal.

Passport control had a long line up but it moved steadily and we were through in 16 minutes. The line up for security was huge but it kept moving and we got through in 19 minutes. I would say you probably would want to be at the airport 3 hours before your return flight.