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AviaNova customer review :  25 September 2010 by Chris McQuaid   (New Zealand)

Russian low-cost carrier which has been operating for a bit more than a year with Irish- registered one-class 180 seater A320 aircraft. Good website (Russian and English), easy to use - just make sure you untick travel insurance if you don't need it. 300 roubles per suitcase and 50 roubles for seat selection, but the fares themselves (depending on date and route) start from 1 kopeck! Their standard is 250 roubles (plus taxes). The only negative is that there is no email address or general contact phone number - I needed to change a booking and couldn't do it over the phone as the call centre staff don't speak English (however it was sorted at the airport). As well as credit cards, you can pay by cash at any of the QIVI kiosks which are everywhere in Russia. Four flights over three weeks - SVO-ROV, KRR-SVO and SVO-LED-SVO, respectively on time, 1 1/4 hours late, on time and 50 minutes late. Check-in very quick and easy - staff in Moscow and St Petersburg speak English, as does the station manager at Krasnodar who was at check-in in case anyone needed assistance. The delay at KRR meant that I was in danger of missing my flight to LED, but the station manager said that she would let Moscow know that there were people needing to make this connection. Baggage was incredibly slow to arrive at SVO, so I did miss check-in, but the AO staff made sure I got on the plane - with my suitcase as "cabin baggage!" Planes are clean, seats are wide and comfortable (although they don't recline, and one plane's interior was showing its age), and cabin crew are superb (very professional, and all the ones I spoke to have very good English). Superb in-flight magazine (all in Russian), and food prices were OK - only one trolley run, even on the two-hour flight from Krasnodar to Moscow, with two crew on each trolley. Announcements only in Russian, except on the last flight when both the captain and the senior FA used English as well. Overall superb, even allowing for the delays and the lack of contact through the website.