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Taken 10 February 2006 from New York, NY (John F. Kennedy International Airport) - JFK to Athens (Athinai) (Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport) - ATH

Olympic is grossly disappointing in general.

Rude, vaguely angry (disgruntled?) and poorly groomed inflight personnel, filthy lavatories, cold unappetizing food and a tired, worn-out airplane.

Couldn't help but wonder if the maintenance department is suffering from the same serious chronic problems.

As soon as we climbed out of JFK, a dead-heading F/A traveling in Y class ran up and plopped down in the aisle seat next to mine, stuffing carry-on bags under the seat in front of her.

The seat belt light was still on when she did this.

Upon returning from a trip to the smelly, dirty lavatory, I found that my 'friend' had moved her numerous carry-ons to below the seat IN FRONT OF ME!!!

I politely asked her to kindly remove them, and she grunted something in Greek under her breath, and ripped them out and stuffed them into the overhead (cramming my Burberry topcoat into a crumpled mass)and helping herself to a drink from the galley.

Reeking of stale cigarette smoke and BO, (can't say which was worse) this woman was to be my unwanted seat-mate for the long flight to Athens.

She removed her shoes ( agh...the smell!) and proceeded to scratch her feet and have an animated and spirited conversation with the on-duty F/A who was far more interested in the conversation with my seat-mate than she was about offering service to me or my fellow passengers. A passenger across the aisle made eye contact with me and slowly shook his head in dismay.

Return flight plagued by numerous minor problems and was inexplicably delayed without the benefit of any proper official explanation from crew. One lavatory was marked with a scribbled 'Out of Order' sign, but was used exclusively by crew members.

Was this the only clean one?

Far too many negatives and absolutely no positives concerning this dud of a carrier.

The Greek people are a friendly and industrious lot, and deserve a far better representative as flag carrier in the world airline marketplace.

A Greek business associate of mine explained that Olympic is the best example of governmental nepotism at its worst.

By all means, visit Greece. It's a great spot for tourists, and a fertile business climate, but try

BA via LHR, or LH via FRA or SR via ZRH.

You'll be much better off in the long run.