Aegean Airlines Airbus A320-200 Business Class, Berlin to Athens

We were picked up at Kurfürstendamm five minutes ahead of schedule, at 8:30 a.m., in the myDriver limousine, a BMW 5 Series. After the driver had stowed our luggage in the trunk, we settled into the comfortable leather seats. The ride was very pleasant and without any of the risky maneuvers sometimes seen from taxi drivers. It was also great that, in addition to plenty of reading material and water, there was even a charging adapter for various smartphone models.

If we ever find ourselves unable to use public transport, myDriver is more than just an alternative. It's definitely worth the small extra cost compared to a taxi.

Lufthansa Senator Lounge (Berlin-Tegel)

We were driven directly to Gate A6 in a limousine. The short distances make the airport truly unique and fantastic. It will be a shame if it ever closes.

Unfortunately, the check-in counter wasn't open yet due to the preceding, delayed Germanwings flight to Düsseldorf. So we went directly to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge. Since we had already checked in online, we were able to enter with our mobile ticket.

Finally, there was time for a leisurely breakfast. The selection was good, so I put together a combination of a croissant, vanilla yogurt, and delicious scrambled eggs with bell peppers. Apple-pineapple smoothies were also being handed out.

Boarding

Around 10:40 a.m., we left the Senator Lounge and walked to Gate A6. At the Business/Star Alliance Gold check-in counter, we quickly had our boarding passes issued for our flights to Athens, Rhodes, and Thessaloniki.

Boarding had already begun, and the queue was quite long. The flight to Athens seemed to be really full today. As status customers, we would have had the option of priority boarding, but we opted to wait in the gate area and were able to photograph the A320-200 in the meantime.

Flight A3 853 to Athens

With Aegean Miles&Bonus Gold status, each member received four vouchers for a Business Class upgrade. This allowed us to upgrade our booked Economy Class flight by phone in advance, regardless of the booking class.

Aegean's business class today consisted of three rows. The middle seat always remained empty and was used as a kind of table. It was also great that the armrest of the middle seat had been moved inwards to give the passenger more space. Of the 12 available seats, only four were occupied today, including ours. We took seats 1C and 1A. Shortly after 11:00 AM, we returned from the gate. While the pilot taxied the A320 to the runway, we were served the menu and a glass of sparkling wine.

After takeoff, today heading east, the chief flight attendant served us an ouzo and a bag of roasted peanuts as an aperitif. Cheers!

After the table was set with a paper napkin, the tray with the appetizer arrived. Today's offering was Manouri cheese coated in pine nuts, served on crisp spinach leaves, with endive salad, goji berries, and a honey-mustard vinaigrette. Freshly baked rolls accompanied the meal. The Greek fresh cheese was exactly to my taste. Delicious!

For the main course, there were two options: beef or chicken. I chose the beef with artichokes in a fennel sauce, served with traditional Cretan pasta, "Striftoudi." To accompany the main course, the flight attendant recommended a Greek white wine from Malagousia (2013/14 vintage). Wonderfully fruity!

For dessert, in addition to feta and Kaseri cheese, there were various Greek sweets. Filling, but delicious! We finished the three-course meal with a filter coffee, as the espresso machine on board was unfortunately broken.

Just before the pilot began his descent to Athens around 2:30 p.m., the flight attendant wanted to do something nice for us. She suggested we absolutely had to try the Chios Mastiha liqueur. The sweet pistachio brandy was a lovely end to the flight.

The approach to Athens airport was very bumpy due to the bad weather. As soon as we broke through the cloud cover, it started to rain. Not quite how we had imagined our trip to Greece.

After arriving at the gate, we said goodbye to the crew and walked across the gangway into the terminal building to the Aegeon Business Lounge.