Aegean Airlines Economy Class Review Krakow (KRK) to Athens (ATH) and then Athens (ATH) to Tbilisi (TBS)

I have flown with Aegean Airlines before and they are the closest to a LCC that Star Alliance has. The product is as basic as it gets and many routes don't even have business class seating. Plus bags are not included in the fares and the food is not edible.

Unlike most Star Alliance members, this airline has no long-haul planes and almost no feed from Star Alliance partners into Athens to codeshare with.

However, Aegean does have a few things going for it. Athens Airport is in a great location for regional traffic to many Middle East and European destinations, the company has a low-cost structure that is likely not much higher than Ryanair and it is also able to operate very punctually.

The Priority Pass Lounge at Krakow Airport is as good as it gets; it's modern and has decent food and fast WiFi.

The 'gate police' were out and measured and weighed each of our carry-ons (we had already checked in online) but let us pass.

The Aegean plane at Krakow convinced with 33 inches of legroom. The flight itself was perfectly on time; it seemed like there was a big bonus involved for taxiing, departing and arriving on time. I found the low speed at take-off rather odd, though - that's rare to see.

Priority Pass has three different lounges at Athens Airport - the Swissport Executive Lounge, Skyserv Aristotle Onassis Lounge and the Goldair Handling Lounge. Goldair runs a huge amount of airport operations and the company also runs the best lounge, with great food and good drink selections.

Tbilisi Airport has an odd policy of minimal landing and departure fees at night and much higher during the day. This has to led to almost everyone flying in and and out of Tbilisi in the middle of the night. Our flight would depart Athens at 12.25AM and arrive at 4.10AM into a crowded Tbilisi Airport.

Both flights were completely full. The only difference I could spot was that the second flight had a business class section.