Aeroflot Russian Airlines Passenger Reviews and Aeroflot Customer Trip Reports

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AEROFLOT customer review : 15 April 2009 : by C Dunlop

Customer Rating : 3/5

Stockholm to Bombay via Moscow. The first flight was fine. The 6 hour stop over in Moscow was terrible. If at all possible would recommend not using this airport. Unhelpful staff, exorbitant prices. The 2nd leg of the journey started with Russian teenagers drinking their duty free alcohol on board and playing loud Goa trance music on their ghetto blaster. The crew did little to make them stop and we finally agreed with some of the teenagers to swap seats, after arguing with them for 10 minutes. No English or newspapers were offered. One of the 2 choices for dinner ran out half way down the plane.

AEROFLOT customer review : 7 April 2009 : by Johannes Neuber

Customer Rating : 1/5

I flew with Aeroflot from Berlin toBangkok via Moskow with Aoeroflot. In summary I can say, it was the worst long haul flight I ever had in my life. Aeroflot's quality level is far away from any Asian or European Airline. The flights from Berlin to Moskow and back were pretty ok. The service on the ground and in the air was ordinary. No luggage lost or something like that. I would give 3 stars for that. I recognized that the crew's english speaking capabilities are very poor. Terminal 2 of Moskow Sheremetyevo (SVO) Airport is really horrible. It still looks like in the early soviet 1970's: dirty, smoky, grey and depressing. The staff is very unfriendly. The security was slow and didn't speak english. The food is brackish and exorbitant expensive. But the worst thing of all were the long haul flights with the Ilyushin! This plane was very old and seemed to be unchanged since that time. It can be described as a flying sports hall. Believe it or not, but there are nothing more than seats in it! No inflight entertainment, no flight status screens, no radio program, no reading lamps, even no Fasten your seat belts signs. The crew seemed to be unmotivated and spoke only little English. We never got a smile. The food served was below grade. No other drinks than water or juice were available for free. No snacks between the main dishes were served. The air conditioner didn't work properly, so it was hot and stifling inside. A lot of the Russian passengers got drunk over the flight and at the end of the flight to Bangkok at least 3 passangers had to throw up! I never saw this on any other flight! I will definitely never fly again with Aeroflot.

AEROFLOT customer review : 26 March 2009 : by S Lau

Customer Rating : 4/5

I held a ticket between London and Hong Kong in Feb, however I have cancelled the ticket in January and asked for a refund in Aeroflot's office in Hong Kong. Staff in Hong Kong office can speak Cantonese, efficient and helpful. Unfortunately I have booked the ticket from an online travel agent in the UK, staff was only able to cancel my seats on both ways of my journeys. Then I was e-mail to my travel agent asking for a refund. They initially mentioned require maximum 3 months to have my money back to my credit card. Finally, I was only waiting for 1 week and already have my money £325 back (after deducting penalty £170). This was more efficient than expected.

AEROFLOT customer review : 10 March 2009 : by G Eames

Customer Rating : 2/5

I fly with them regularly between Moscow & London. On the ground and with ticketing they are the worst. Once an electronic ticket is bought, any changes need to be made in their office. This is a horrible experience, taking up lots of time. Average queues in their Moscow office are 1.5 hours. Ticketing conditions are about 50 yrs behind western airlines. I have a refundable ticket to travel tomorrow but cannot get a refund because I'm in the UK, where their office doesn't work at the weekend and closed early yesterday (5th March) for "technical reasons". I am £400 out of pocket. Advice - flying with them is a risk - not so much in the air but with your money & nerves.

AEROFLOT customer review : 22 January 2009 : by P Gromov

Customer Rating : 1/5

I am a frequent traveler on SU due to being based in Moscow. The service standards improved somewhat prior to SU joining SkyTeam but have since again deteriorated. Poor selection of drinks. Meals are unappetizing. The Russian bortsch is embarassing. Macaroni and cheese for breakfast anyone? Who designed this menu? Long-haul Business Class seats are dated. Everything is dated on Aeroflot. Amazing that they get away charging what they do.

AEROFLOT customer review : 19 January 2009 : by T Price

Customer Rating : 3/5

Zurich to Moscow. Good value, food average. A319 in good condition and clean. Watch out for excess baggage charges at Domodevo. No excess charged from Zurich for golf clubs as they were within 20kg allowance. On return I was charged $80; after complaining I was frogmarched to the pay desk and made to pay an extra $30 as the check-in clerk had undercharged. Soviet era attitudes still alive and well amongst some staff.

AEROFLOT customer review : 22 November 2008 : by J Delgado

Customer Rating : 4/5

YYZ-SVO-PKC. Check in at YYZ smooth. Comfortable seating in B767-300ER. Flight crew professional and friendly. 2 drunk passengers onboard dealt with swiftly by Aeroflot cabin crew. Flight to PKC delayed but no problems. Long flight but comfortable and food decent.

AEROFLOT customer review : 9 November 2008 : by Daniel Guenter

Customer Rating : 4/5

St. Petersburg-Moscow, and Moscow-Berlin. Checkin at Pulkovo I is a small nightmare for a non russian-speaker. Tupolev 154 on the domestic flight was not the newest of its kind and it showed. The seats were old, not too comfortable (flew with Rossiya with the same aircraft one week before and their seats were much more comfortable). Meal consisted of a croissant with cheese and meat. The flight crew seemed uninterested in the passengers needs. Transfer at SVO was interesting. We were bussed to a terminal, delegated through customs and passport control. Then we had to wait in a special room for a bus to transfer us to the international terminal. The flight to Berlin was an A- 320, which was new with new recaro leather seats and really decent seat pitch. Seats were very comfortable, the flight attendants were friendly and the food was also good. Apart from the main service there was one round of free drinks. As always on my Russian flights, any announcements made in English were hardly understandable. On the domestic flight it was like you would imagine an russian airline to be, but on the international flight it was much better than the german flag carrier Lufthansa for instance. And the price is really an argument. Aeroflot is in most cases really worth the little price.

AEROFLOT customer review : 4 November 2008 : by A Hetier

Customer Rating : 3/5

CDG-SVO, PRG-SVO, and several domestic flights. Well, Sheremetyevo 2 is a real nightmare but let's hope terminal 3 will be finished soon. Otherwise I have nothing to complain about the airline itself. No luggage lost and very little delays. I know that some people prefer Aeroflot over AF or KLM because of leg space. Maybe you don't get too many smiles on SU, but you do get proper attention. Aeroflot business class is a "real" business class in CDG-SVO, not just a "neutralised" middle seat and extra glass of champagne like AF.

AEROFLOT review : 13 October 2008 : by Michael Ryan

Customer Rating : 2/5

HKG-SVO-HKG Economy on B767. Food average on both flights - I had read most of the reviews here so was not really expecting anything from inflight entertainment to cabin crew service. On both ways we were told inflight entertainment was not working - nothing to do on a 10 hour flight but browse through an inflight magazine which is 95% in Russian! Legroom space was okay, but plane was a bit old, coupled with very strict looking cabin crews - never saw anyone of them gave a smile on the whole flight duration. The only reason I traveled on Aeroflot is that it flew direct and the timing is good and price is okay. Dont expect anything but chaos when you arrive at SVO, hopefully T3 will be finished soon. Try to avoid this airline if you have a choice.

AEROFLOT review : 18 September 2008 : by I Kaganovsky

Customer Rating : 3/5

JFK-SVO-JFK Business Class. Check in at JFK was quick and easy. The flight was delayed by 6 hours. It wasn't as bad for me as it was for economy class passengers because I was at least waiting in the business lounge of Korean Airlines which Aeroflot uses for business class passengers. Overall the seats are spacious and FA were friendly. The food was almost tasty. SVO airport was a nightmare! The line for customs was 2.5 hours and when we finaly cleared customs one of the bags was open and my clothes was spread all over the floor near the baggage carousel. Few inexpensive items were missing but I did not care as I couldn't wait to get out of the airport. Flying back home, the flight experience wasn't bad, again friendly FA and plenty of food and drinks. However, the airport was a nightmare as expected. For some reason the airport staff treat you like a criminal and I felt like I was doing something wrong. When I was asked to describe my airport experience I said I felt like I was in the movie "Midnight Express' as if I was trying to escape. I hope the terminal 3 will be a better experience but I doubt that it will be as the problem is not with the terminal but is with the people that work in it.

AEROFLOT review : 16 September 2008 : by P Cleary

Customer Rating : 2/5

JFK-SVO-JFK on time both ways. Inflight entertainment was the same both ways and poor. On the way there, dinner looked hand made and there was no moving map. Pizza hot pockets for breakfast over Sweden. Very slow food service. Took nearly 2.5 hours into the initial flight before drink service was offered. On the way back, it was a more modern plane but same poor inflight entertainment. Customer service was only good because my girlfriend speaks Russian. You really have to ask for things. I think next time I will pay the extra $100 and fly delta.

AEROFLOT review : 3 September 2008 : by E Ruud

Customer Rating : 1/5

Shanghai from Stockholm return since they have a good connection in Moscow and the price was good. I normally fly Finnair on this route and use that for comparison. On both trip (outbound and inbound), there were a number of very drunk Russian passengers on the flight, drinking their duty free vodka bottles, up to the point where it was uncomfortable and unsafe. The staff did nothing to put a lid on it, except to ask these people to go back to their seats when they were wandering around on the plane harassing women. Finnair also sees some drunks on their flights, I have experienced that close up (4 seats away) when the Finnair airhostess immediately seized all his drinkables, and passport and issued warnings which scared the poor guy so much he sat quiet for the rest of the flight. Whatever other views you may have on Aeroflot, for safety reasons alone they only deserve one star. I will not go into the risks and challenges you may have in the Moscow airport which is to be avoided at all costs.

AEROFLOT review : 7  August 2008 : by Yeoh Huici

Customer Rating : 1/5

Moscow-Singapore- uala lumpur. Worst airline I've ever taken. Crews were unfriendly, the ground staff were rude and corrupted. I was asked for bribe in custom because the custom told me my "departing Visa" of one stamp. I was threatened and my baggage was taken out from the flight 15 minutes before the departure until I paid ~ 2500 rubles - 5 minutes before the gate closed only I was allowed to go onboard. Terrible experience.

AEROFLOT review : 3 August 2008 : by V Neagu

Customer Rating : 3/5

KBP-SVO-HAV return in Economy Class. All flights on time. The service was average on all 4 segments. KBP-SVO and SVO-KBP offered a snack consisting of a roll and juice. The aircraft was a TU 154 - limited legroom and overhead luggage space, but I guess that makes up for the fun of flying in one of these Soviet aircraft. SVO-HAV-SVO 2 hot meals were served each way. Food quite good, although the selection of refreshments on the way out of HAV was horrible. Cuban-made juices taste like rotten fruit. IFE was broken on the HAV-SVO segment, which made the 12 hour flight seem like an eternity. All-in-all, Aeroflot is not a bad airline. The only problem remains the attitude of flight attendants - very Soviet, unfriendly and unhelpful, no smiles and no courtesies. The "I am doing you a favour" attitude could be easily read on the faces of those FAs. They should try to be more welcoming and friendly if they want to retain loyal customers.

AEROFLOT review : 22 July 2008 : by D Scheller

Customer Rating : 1/5

IAD-SVO. 8 hr delay, pax were invited to leave the cabin after boarding. No hotel accommodation was offered, just tiny vouchers for junk food available at the gate. No relevant info during the waiting time, then 2.5 hours delay at the baggage belt for about 50 passengers (after midnight). "Let me inform you about restrictions on compensations", said the airline agent at the arrivals with a smile. Never ever with SU!

AEROFLOT review : 3 July 2008 : by A Khousnoutdinova

Customer Rating : 1/5

JFK-SVO-JFK. Avoid if you can help it! I've been flying with Aeroflot on and off over the last 13 years. The fact that in the past flights were consistently delayed and no good explanation was ever provided, I often blamed on the Soviet mentality and hoped that things would improve as time went on. Seeing how company started offering tickets on-line, I decided to take a chance again and booked the ticket. It was somewhat cheaper than other airlines, but I guess in the end you get what you pay for. My advice to anyone who decides to fly - find any other option and only use Aeroflot if no other airline is available. You will end up paying the difference one way or another. Just this summer, during one trip I got to experience: delayed flight; "friendly" customer service, when airport workers are nice to you only when they are officially on the clock (in other words, before the check-in, do not hope for a friendly reply or really any reply at all), and of course, the classic "right hand has no idea what the left one is doing". That's on top of all around lateness, and if in other companies employees at least pretend to run around, Aeroflot's employees for the most part look barely awake when it's time to work and get irritated if you have the nerve to interrupt what always appears to be a very important personal conversation. Of course, things do get figured out, people reach their destinations, but at the cost of customers' nerves. Because of the 5 hour flight delay, 4 hour rule for luggage transfer at Sheremetyevo and the shuttle between terminals which was supposed to arrive every 30 minutes but ended up being late 25 minutes, I ended up losing a day of my already short visit to see my family.