I'm mulling over a flight home (to Seattle) that would have a roughly 1 hour 55 minute connection in ATH, and wondering how risky that connection time is.
This would all be on a single ticket, starting on some island (either Crete or Santorini - TBD) with that connection in ATH, then onward to North America. So a single ticket, which means if we mis-connect in ATH, they'll get us home, just not on the flight we intended. (And no, I would never accept a 1:55 "self-connection" in ATH on two separate tickets - I may be dumb, but I'm not crazy!)
I know, I know - there are strong and repeated recommendations to "finish" your Greece trip with some days in Athens, because of the unreliability of connections (mostly ferry but also to some extent flights). But we are saving Athens for a future trip, focusing on islands for this one, and I'd prefer to NOT spread our flights home across multiple days.
This would be on a weekday in mid-October (scheduled to arrive in ATH at around 10 am, connecting flight to depart just under 2 hours later). We will have checked bags (though we will be traveling on a business class ticket, so bags would be marked "priority" though that's not really reliable). The connection will be arriving on Aegean, and departing on Air Canada (they are partners and should interline checked bags, but there's that extra risk of the handoff). All that said, if our checked bags arrive home a day later than we do, it's not a disaster (I don't worry about late bags for the flight home, only for the outbound).
Some airports are models of efficiency and provide reliably low-friction when connecting. Others, not so much. I have not been through ATH before, but I am guessing that it doesn't operate with near-perfect, Swiss efficiency. I suspect there's a chance of some chaos and stress. At an efficient (say, Nordic) connecting airport, I'd feel reasonably confident of a 1:55 connection. At ATH, that seems more iffy.
Given all the considerations mentioned above, I'm guessing this is a risky connection, but not an unreasonable one to chance - it's on the edge of my comfort zone, but close enough to accept. I think... Am I right, or am I crazy?
Thanks for your insights - especially if you are familiar with connecting through ATH.