PULKOVO AIRLINES review : 11 November 2008 : by Daniel Guenter

Customer Rating : 3/5

Pulkovo aka Rossiya Airlines. Berlin to St. Petersburg in Y class. Our aircraft was changed from Boeing 737-500 to Tupolev 154M some days before the flight. Check-In was opened on time (only one check-in counter for Y and C class passengers. Security seemed to be of a lower concern for the crew, as security display was only done in a half-hearted manner. The whole service was done with this attitude. No smiles, everything was rushed. If you had a question, nobody knew the answer. You would be lucky if the person you asked something spoke English, at least rudimentary. I had to ask my neighbour to translate my questions to Russian to get some better answers. he food was okay, it was done by LSG Catering and a better breakfast. The cabin was clean, although showed it's age. The seats had a massive pitch, were old and used, but very comfortable. The price was really low, which is the reason why I give it a 3 star rating.

PULKOVO AIRLINES review : 27 May 2008 : by K Walsh

Customer Rating : n/a

Flew to London in April from St Petersburg to London and back. Flight was good on the way over but I was not happy with the service on the return journey. Food was inedible and when I asked for a glass of water mid way during the flight, the FA told me that the service was finished. Customer service training needed.

Pulkovo Airlines review by Colin Gammans
7 August 2007

London-St Petersburg Return. Aircraft was TU-154 a workhorse of Russian aviation. It was clean well kept and appeared as well maintained as any aircraft I've travelled on. Plus the seats pitch was massive with more than 6 inches free space in front of my legs. The airline food was OK and better with the food put on at SPB.

Pulkovo Airlines review by Bjorn Sjogren
25 July 2007

Pulkovo is also marked as Rossiya Airlines. Flew St Petersburg-Stockhom Arlanda recently. Everything worked out fine. LED international terminal is very small with only five or so gates. The 737-500 a bit worn and not much space. FA’s nice and hard working. Complimentary meal - breakfast - was good and filling. Crews command of English could be improved. Apart from that good international quality of this airline.

Pulkovo Airlines review by T Frankenmolen
26 August 2006

Business class AMS-LNG-KRR and v.v.(Russian) staff at Amsterdam airport efficient, polite and helpful. The Pulkovo cockpit and cabin crew makes all announcements both in russian and english also on domestic flights. The crew tries to speak english to foreign passengers may be not excellent but for sure highly appreciated. Quality of catering is good. Tupolev 154 has no APU or A/C, so when grounded at Krasnodar having high summer temperatures the cabin changes into a sauna. Cabin crew tries to pacify the sweating passengers in their narrow seats, especially mothers with crying children. Finally after more than 10 minutes of flying the cabin temperature is normal. Because of a number of recent crashes even the Russian TV criticised the safety of the Tu 154. Overnight stay at St.Petersburg offered by Pulkovo to transit passengers - still too bad for words. All in all enough reasons for me to fly never again with Pulkovo.

Pulkovo Airlines review by B Vandenbroucke
23 August 2006

Paris to St Petersburgh return. Flight was excellent. Very kind people on= board who did all is possible to make this flight comfortable. One point : Not easy to understand the captain when he talked english. Nice welcome at Pulkovo Airport by smiling immigration employees.

Pulkovo Airlines review by Harold Daily
6 July 2006

Stockholm to St. Petersburg - had missed my SAS flight. Desk agent at airport very helpful - he found a very reasonable fare, helped me to check in, and telephoned the Viking ship in SP so that I had someone to meet me at the airport on arrival. He even refused a tip!! Plane was a 737-500 and they had about 5 FA's who fell over trying to serve us snacks. It was a pleasant and unusual experience.

Pulkovo Airlines review by Michael Ladnok
3 June 2006

Helsinki-SPB-Bishkek. Pulkovo's ground personnel in SPB's airport were totally incompetent, and the airport signage was extremely bad. Lack of formation/information, total lack of English language skills, no announcements in English (even for international flights), etc. The hostel was simply awful and the TU154 seats were very dirty. This company seems not to understand the meaning of "customer care", and I do not understand how they dare to classify SPB's airport as "international". In a brief, I fully agree with two previous reviewers: "a long way to go to being a good quality airline", and "there is still a huge job to do for the quality manager of Pulkovo".

Pulkovo Airlines review by L Carroll
18 May 2006

Almaty, Kazakhstan to St. Petersburg on a fairly new (I presume) and clean TU-154. Only complaint was the inconvenient schedule (3:45 a.m. departure) and very tight seating. Otherwise, the flight staff were pleasant and efficient, speaking English well-enough, in our opinion.

Pulkovo Airlines review by Ian Morley
15 May 2006

LED to SVO - pretty uneventful although it was hard to find the correct check-in desks at LED for the flight (why do they have separate check in desks for the Moscow flights and then not tell anyone?) No option on seat - they squeezed everyone together and most people ended up moving around. Crew nice enough although no English spoken (always makes it more fun).

Pulkovo Airlines review by R Cusato
6 May 2006

LED-HEL with Pulkovo, Economy Class, Boeing 737-500. Plane maybe a little bit old and seats a bit dirty, but very nice staff at the airport and quite smooth 40 minutes flight, with drink and snack offered. Not the best but quite good indeed.

Pulkovo Airlines review by Francesco Lulli
15 March 2006

LED-SVO, economy, Tu-154; tight seats, coffee or tea but no snack, surly staff at LED, nicer on board. No complaints but not a huge difference from other local airlines.

Pulkovo Airlines review by Steve Hughes
10 February 2006

Fly regularly to Murmansk from London, normally BA to Moscow then connect Air Siberia. Unfotunately Air Sib temporarily stopped this route. Flown 3 times with Pulkovo and each was a disaster - cancellations, delays, lost baggage, you name it. Am now stumping up a fortune for Aeroflot instead.

Pulkovo Airlines review by  David Wisternoff
13 September 2005

Flew Tu154 from Barnaul to St Petersburg - Getting on was a bit of a bun fight with interesting discussions about seat allocations, and there was no safety briefing at all, but apart from that, the flight was very smooth, and passed pleasantly enough with sufficient food and drink to keep me happy.

Pulkovo Airlines review by  G Chew
15 August 2005

Murmansk - St.Petersburg - not the best flight, but was acceptable. Murmansk airport was tiny (literally a check-in desk and some seats - didn't see any shops/toilets), and people go onto the tarmac to smoke (safety!?!). When the flight was called, everyone rushed forward then the dispatcher stood on the aircraft steps shouting at everyone - you couldn't hear her for the noise of the engines (would have been a nasty experience in the -30C Murmansk winter). The TU154 was very cramped, with barely any room to put the tray table down, and all the seats could easily be pushed forward completely - bizarre. Interestingly, on the safety card, it says that nylon skirts should not be worn on the escape slide. The meal was ok, but the drinks selection was very sparse, with no plain water, orange juice or coke available. Pulkovo airport in St.Petersburg had very poor signage (like most of Russia), and the luggage belts aren't easy to find. There is one door for entrance/exit to the entire domestic terminal it seemed very chaotic.

Pulkovo Airlines review by  Richard Mortara
8 August 2005

St Petersburg-London. Pulkovo airport has to be the strangest I've been to, with check-in after a security check and security control. Aircraft was a TU154, in which legroom was very tight and the seats narrow. Crew were OK, but very few if any smiles (the only one I saw was from the Captain, who acknowledged me as I walked from the 'plane. Service comprised of a around of drinks, i had a reasonable white wine, then a hot meal; a slice of cheese, salami, bread (which formed a nice salami sandwich), a fresh roll and an orange flavoured swiss roll. the main course was very tough beef with pasta and beans. More water was offered later in the flight, which was nice as this is rarely done these days on european ecomony flights. Arrival on time and baggage was out within 25 minutes. Shame they had to squeeze everyone in the front part of the cabin instead of using up spare seats further back, and the beef was a real let down. Against that time keeping was spot on and I for one disagree with many comments about the TU154. I found the ride very good and its sporty performance was a joy. Shame they are disapperaing from the skys of Europe. As for Pulkovo - a long was to go to being a good quality airline.

Pulkovo Airlines review by  Jean-Luc Louicellier
3 August 2005

I used this company for a flight (Paris-Saint-Persbourg) and return, in economy class. Good service, the staff spoke Russian but also French (with a charming accent !) Paris-SP in a Tupolev TU154M, which seemed a bit old (the seats a bit worn), but comfortable. Return with a Boeing 737. Extremely satisfied, would certainly fly with them again.

Pulkovo Airlines review by  T Frankenmolen

21 July 2005

Flew what Pulkovo calls business class, Amsterdam-St.petersburg-Krasnodar and v.v. Quality of comfort, catering service and attitude of cabin crew of same low standard as the noisy over 30 years old TU154 and TU 134 Pulkovo is flying with. On the delayed domestic stretch LED-KRR our business class seats were taken by "a friend of big boss". Cabin staff spoke fluently Russian. This can be a serious problem for foreign passengers in case of an emergency ! Overnight stay in Pulkovo hostel at St.Petersburg disastrous - with obligatory sharing of shabby rooms in dilapidated 5 story building without elevator. There is still a big job to do for the quality manager of Pulkovo.

Pulkovo Airlines review by  Boris Blasberg

4 June 2005

Pulkovo from Dusseldorf to St. Petersburg, and since i had a choice of either LH or FV i choose FV due to the fact that my favorite aircraft is the TU-154M which i was lucky to get. The flight was great with the most attractive flight attendents around and very friendly too unlike their usual reputation. There was only one downside to the flight and that was that the front lavatory had broken down inflight but it didnt bother me for it is only a 2.5 hour flight. I hope the EU will not impose the TU-154M ban.

Pulkovo Airlines review by  Michael Schade

21 April 2005

Duesseldorf-St. Petersburg-Duesseldorfin Y class. Uneventful flights with very basic service/food on a very old and tired looking Tupolev 134A. If you want to flown from point A to B,  Pulkovo is a good choice. If you prefer comfort, fly LH.

Pulkovo Airlines review by  Niko Turkka

11 April 2005

I have taken Pulkovo Airlines' flights several times on a route Helsinki - St.Petersburg - Novosibirsk - St.Petersburg - Helsinki. The international sectors HEL-LED-HEL are always great, the inflight service is fantastic, Tupolevs are comfortable and domestic flights are also ok, but Aeroflot and Siberia Airlines are better. Pulkovo crews don't make announcements in English on the domestic flights, when the purser is not fluent in English. Once I had to translate the whole safety demo to one French lady. I told that to stewardess and she said "well, you speak both Russian and English, passenger understood your translation - and by the way it is not my problem, I'm not the purser on this flight". If the purser is not able to speak English, can't somebody else make the announcement? Does it has to be the purser, like it is said in the company policy manual? where it is also said that announcements should be made at least in Russian and in English?