For the medium-haul trek back from Dubai, I found exceptional value with Aegean Airlines, no doubt in part due to the less-than-desirable midway stop in Athens as well as having to put up with the comfort of a bog-standard intra-Europe A320.

But we’d done Aegean Airlines previously, just from Athens, and found them to be one of Europe’s most pleasant carriers – so I felt confident I knew what I was getting us into, even if, at home, it did not go down particularly well at first.

Aegean Airlines offers the usual plusgrade ‘bid to upgrade’ opportunity and although I had secured the emergency exit seats, the minimum upgrade bids for both sectors were incredibly reasonable – more details to come in a follow-up post – and it felt almost rude not to bid, when my bid total and the cost of our flights was still less than both BA and Emirates wanted just for a standard economy seat.

As luck would have it, we both received the treasured upgrade successful e-mail a few days before our flights – allowing me sufficient time to select our seats and relax, knowing we’d be traipsing back home in relative style.

Check-in was a prompt affair at Dubai’s Terminal 1, and we were quickly sent – as I covered in my last post – to the very enjoyable Ahlan Business Class Lounge to while away a brief hour.

The gate area was as busy as you might expect for a reasonably busy A320 service, and boarding, with no notification, was delayed ultimately in the order of about half an hour while refuelling and reloading activities took place.

Business Class passengers were offered priority boarding, and we quickly found our seats in the business cabin; which is of course comprised of the same seats as economy, but with the middle seat blocked off with a cocktail table, and slightly more legroom than down the back of the bus.

Nothing to get too excited about, although Aegean do present their cabins tastefully and they always look clean and fresh, with the seats modern and relatively well-padded, which is more than can be said about the worn-beyond-repair aesthetics of many European carriers and their ironing-board slimline seating.

Arguably the biggest drawback of flying two sectors of this length and distance on Aegean Airlines, aside from the lack of any kind of lie-flat seat experience, is the lack of at-seat in-flight entertainment. There is wifi available for business class passengers, and everyone is able to enjoy in-flight entertainment through the wifi portal – but that’s not really the same, is it?

We were slightly delayed at take-off, but this proved not to be an issue later on, thanks to a quite streamlined connections experience at Athens Airport.

We were treated to lovely views across Dubai in the moments after take-off, before drinks service commenced and menus were quickly distributed.

As with my previous experience with Aegean, on-board dining was fresh, tasty and very enjoyable even in a situation, most unusually, like this where neither of us were drinking.

The one big issue on this flight to Athens, perhaps driven by the lack of entertainment and flight duration, was that the meal service was drawn out over several hours; ultimately leaving not much time to try and sleep, if you wished to do so. Indeed, many passengers forewent dessert in favour of an afternoon nap.

As I say, our arrival into Athens was uneventful notwithstanding the wonderful views as we approached over the coast.

We were quickly through transit formalities and back to what must be one of my favourite lounges in all of Europe – the ‘extra-Schengen’ Aegean Airlines Business Lounge.

There’s so much space in this lounge, it never feels cramped, the choice food & beverages is sublime, and it’s just such an enjoyable space to spend a few hours in.

Before long, we were back downstairs at our gate for Dublin. I’ve reviewed the Aegean Airlines business class experience back to Dublin previously and not much has changed – right down to the meal choices.

It was however interesting to note that where amenity kits were proffered before departure in Dubai, a glass of champagne instead was on offer before departure when bound for Dublin.

We departed Athens right on-time and were back in Dublin and disembarking exactly on-time, once again finding my way to the car park and extracting the car before midnight struck (not bad for an arrival at 23:20).

Overall, Aegean Airlines offers fantastic value on this lengthy multi-sector route. Sure it doesn’t have snazzy lie-flat seats or – more annoyingly – real in-flight entertainment, but they do their best and offer a very respectable proposition for the price we paid.