September 2005 (Main Lobby / Check-in counters) – We were supposed to take 3 flights on the day we ended up sleeping in athens airport. The first one was from Larnaca, Cyprus to Athens, Greece. About 15 minutes or so into this flight the cabin crew start running to the cockpit with oxygen bottles and come through the cabin saying “do up your seatbelts tightly”... then we started heading rapidly towards the ocean…
we didn’t know what was going on but we knew there was something wrong. the plane seemed to be under control but we were going down very fast. we honestly thought were would end up in the ocean. i coudn’t believe i was actually going to be in a plane crash. eventually the cabin crew came and told us that there was a slow loss of conpression indicated and we had to quickly drop below a certain level so that if the cabin lost pressure it would be safe for us!
anyway, obviosly i lived to tell the tale. we made a very fast landing in Rhodes and proceeded to be stuck there for 5 hours which meant we missed our 2nd flight from athens by 3 hours. when we eventually got to athens we couldn’t get onto another flight that day but we thought it would not be so bad cause cyprus airways should pay for a hotel for us… we thought. but no. appanently because it was an emergency it wasn’t their fault and they offered us nothing.
the next flight we could try to get on was at 6.15 am the next day so we had to sleep at the airport so we could be there at 4.30 to check in. i searched every inch of the airport for sleeping places. we slept in the only area with a few seats without armrests. it was underneith mcdonalds. there were bright lights, noisy security guards, noisier and constant announcements, the airport never stops all night and the shops are open 24 hours nearby.
if you have a sleeping mat there are better places to sleep but you need a mat cause the floor is hard, cold, marble. you can find little spots like under the stairs and stuff which are less bright and a bit more out of the way and peaceful.