UKC

Curious what the pros/cons are with a couple options I've found for travel between Athens - Kalymnos in Sept 2018. We are travelling as a family of four (2 kids). Checked out the long ferry from Athens and didn't like the long ferry and arriving in the middle of the night.

Option 1: Fly direct from Athens to Kalymnos with Sky Express for 170 EUR/person return. I read on climbkalymnos that sometimes these direct flights are delayed because of wind, wondering if anyone has found that? They also have a limit of 15kg/checked bag, not sure how strict they are? Worried about having room for a rope and draws at that rate.

Option 2: Fly to Kos with Aegean/Olympic and take ferry for about 180 EUR/person return. Their baggage allowance is 23kg. The extra money and hassle of transferring to ferry seems like a pain. Wondering if there's a good reason to do it this way?

Cheers

Trevor

In reply to tkenopic:

My flight from a different island to Athens was cancelled due to strong winds.  Make sure you have travel insurance, I missed my flight home and they paid for a new one. 

I've been delayed for three consecutive days owing to high winds. Consequently, I prefer to fly TO Kalymnos but use Athens ferry (or ferry to Kos and reliable flight from there onwards) on the return trip.

In reply to tkenopic:

Flying to Kos isn't really a pain at all.  Honest!  The local taxis do the run from Kos airport to Mastichari for the apparently standard fare of 15 euro.  Ferries are relatively frequent to Pothia, if you miss one, chill have a beer while waiting.  In Pothia, you can either collect a hire car/scooter or take one of the numerous taxis, for 15 euro.  Simples.

Not flown into kalymnos, but I gather it can be exciting.

In reply to tkenopic:

I had an Athens Kalymnos flight cancelled 10 mins before the flight

Stood in 2 hour queue for Olympos desk. Got to front of queue, she asked which flight, I said Kalymnos, she gave me 250€ in cash (thank the EU rules on cancelled flights for that) and said you're booked on the 05:00 Kos flight next morning

dossed in airport, got flight, ferry, taxi and was climbing before my mates who were already on Kaly

In reply to tkenopic:

Great info and anecdotes, thanks everyone. Guess we'll spend a bit extra and go through Kos instead...

In reply to tkenopic:

I have flown in an out of Kaly on a number of occasions - it is certainly a great way to arrive/leave. Kos is a safer bet - the runway faces the prevailing winds (Kaly's is at right-angles) and they ofen use bigger planes on that route.

Chris

PS the cost of those tickets made me catch my breath!

In reply to tkenopic: we flew to Kos, ten minutes Hoppa transfer to Mastichari (Ilos and Irene Apartments if you need an overnighter), then a ferry to Pothia. There are hourly buses to the climbing centres, or car hire is pretty cheap. I’ve heard of a few people struggling with cancelled flights from Athens.

 

In reply to Carless:

I got nothing as the weather is an act of God or something? 

https://abta.com/holiday-help-and-complaints/how-can-we-help-you/my-flights...

I got booked on to the next flight to Athens, no problem there, but had to pay for a new flight Athens to UK as I’d missed mine.  

Travel insurance paid for taxis and refreshments and new flight and travel back to my car having arrived at a slightly different place.  Several hundred pounds.  

Best £30 I spent.