Transaero Airlines Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

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TRANSAERO AIRLINES review :  27 February 2010 : by R Morgan

LHR-DME Economy class. B737-300 looked fairly old and a little bit scruffy but worked! Flight only 40% full, so plenty of room. The Russian person next to me was talking on his mobile phone all the time until take off - not the same insistence on safety with this airline. Good three course meal on a four hour flight. It was difficult to understand the English flight announcements. DME-LHR B737-800 looked fairly old and a little bit scruffy - hopefully maintenance is performed in a better way on the crucial aircraft systems! Flight only 30% full so plenty of room. Good, if not excellent food and choice of alcoholic drink. Overall would fly with this airline again to Moscow, although not sure about an internal flight in Russia.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review :  9 January 2010 : by C Ridgers

LHR to DME. The delays of 1-2 hours for most carriers (including BMI) became unexplained 5.5 hour delay. BMI code shares this route so by all means book Transaero but always book the BMI flight. Friend had identical 5.5 hour delay experience with Transaero 2 weeks later.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review :  25 September 2009 : by Andrey Emelyanov

Moscow DME – Barcelona BCN – Moscow in economy. First time on Transaero. Mixed thoughts about the service. Tried online check-in 24 hours in advance – no luck, the call centre explained that it starts 12 hours in advance for this regular flight, but I was on my way to Moscow then and could not use it. Tried to check-in at a self-service kiosk upon arrival to DME 4 hours in advance – “Passenger info not found, please proceed to check-in counters.” The check-in agent found the booking at once of course, but the reply to my seat preference question was “Man, are you at a shop?” Nice welcome from the first person of the airline you see! Boarding and departure on time, plane old but clean 747-200 with some seats in need of repair, poor legroom, IFE dysfunctional, food average, portions of drinks (still water, cola, juices, tea-coffee) barely sufficient for the 4-hour flight, hardly any smile from the crew. Overall passable – but for the next 4 hours (!) needed to collect the baggage and leave the airport after that flight! Yes, it took 4 hours for Transaero’s ground handler at Barcelona, Newco to deliver the bags of the 30-40 unlucky ones out of 460 pax to the belt. A Transaero rep showing up in the baggage claim hall some 2 hours after the saga started said that Newco’s workers are sometimes reluctant in unloading all baggage containers from jumbo planes Transaero operates on this route, and it happened a few times in 2009 that some containers flew back to Moscow with the return flight. Oh what great news. The Transaero guy spent the next hour on his mobile, the return flight was held since they decided to re-open the baggage compartment and search for the missing container. Verdict: “Please start filling out your claims, we will find and deliver the baggage to your hotels, probably tomorrow”. OK, but it is Saturday evening, only one young lady behind the Newco lost baggage counter, taking her time doing the job, so at least 5 minutes per person to have the paperwork done. Some 30 minutes later another, more efficient lady arrives to help. Finally, all done – but guess what? Baggage eventually found! Check-in for the returnflight a couple of weeks later – Newco staff behind the counter, this time obviously trying to stick to the rules as much as possible, which for me results in a 9 EUR charge for 1 (one) extra kg of cabin baggage, although the checked bag was only 16 out of 20! Remember that Transaero is not a low-cost carrier with charges for just about anything. So incredibly cheap of them! The flight departs (and arrives at Moscow DME) one hour behind the schedule (“Awaiting important cargo that will be delivered shortly”, “Missed our slot and awaiting the next available one”); at Moscow the baggage delivery is taking almost an hour, so I am missing my train connection and needing to rebook tickets at my own expense. Conclusion: Transaero is from now on my last choice, as long as there is one.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review :  21 August 2009 : by A Kuzennaya

I would not recommend to fly with this company, unless you travel light. Luggage was lost twice in one round trip, Moscow-Montreal and Toronto-Moscow. It took 2 days and numerous unpleasant telephone conversations to get luggage in Canada. On the way back - lost luggage again, and from conversation with staff in Domodedovo there will be no happy end.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review :  11 May 2009 : by A Francis

London to Ekaterinburg via Moscow. For a changeable flight half the price of the same by Aeroflot we found it fine. Eat before you board, take snacks, books and expect a budget airline. No inflight entertainment but its only 4 hours to Moscow. Flying out of London was fine as it was code sharing with BMI. Transfer at Domodedovo airport in Moscow is easy and preferable to changing terminals with Aeroflot (at opposite ends of Moscow). Booking online at Transaero website was cheaper than Opodo. Flight from Ekat back to Moscow wasn't so good and toilets were very old and decrepit.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review :  15 April 2009 : by Dan Peter

Heathrow return to Atyrau Kazakhstan via DME price 430 GBP. Check in at Heathrow by bmi, quick and friendly received boarding passes through to Atyrau. Upon arrival to the gate there was a B767 upgraded from a B737. Plane in bad shape and needed a lot of work, take off on time, meal served after departure, food below standard, after begging was given 2 glasses of wine. 5 hour layover in DME not the most fun but ok. Take off on time and a small meal served on the 3 hour flight, plane was a modern B735 crew friendly, even got a smile! Return trip was different, boarding was slow, doors closed and engines started while some passengers were still finding their seats. They served candy and got half way through the plane when the flight attendants rushed to take their seats for take off. No safety demo, walk through or anything!! The first time that I have seen this food real bad. Had to wait for 20 minutes at the transfer desk for an agent to arrive in DME - this is their hub? Fight to London fine with an old B734, food was bad again, but generous with booze and a friendly crew. Landed on time, most luggage was waiting after passport control. But mine was not - the check in at Atyrau is manual with boarding cards and luggage tags hand printed. Tag must have been ripped off, was delivered 24 hours later, no apologies. All in all not the best or the worst, for the price it was ok, just that. Still have no idea what is with their 3 class system, on the wide bodies they have 4 classes??

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review :  12 February 2009 : by T Thanos

Moscow (DOM) to Ekaterinnburg (SVX) and back. Both flights were smooth. The flight to Moscow was at a very good condition Boeing 737-500. Flight attendants were friendly, polite and spoke good English. My only complaint is that the flight to SVX was on a very old Boeing 737-300 that smelt awful. On the other hand, Aeroflot has the newest planes in Russia and it is in the same price range as Transaero. If I were to fly in Russia again I would choose between Transaero and Aeroflot.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review :  14 January 2009 : by Scott Armitage

LHR-DME-OVB return. Three of the flights were fine, ample legroom, inflight entertainment, average airline food. One of the legs wasn't so good, no inflight entertainment and poor legroom. On a 4 hour flight, decent legroom is a must. Would have been nice to be on a more modern larger plane something like an A330 instead of the 737's I flew. However I was flying to Siberia and you have to adjust your expectations. To sum up, not the worst flight experience but far from being the best. I would fly with Transaero again if the price was right.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review :  20 December 2008 : by I Dinnis

London-Moscow Moscow-London. Cheap flight, cheap service. Check-in efficient. Plane seats torn. No in-flight entertainment. No magazine. No Newspapers. Drinks served twice plus the 'meal'. A true retro experience.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review :  31 October 2008 : by Yuri Kornus

Moscow-Denpasar Bali, full flight. Check in a bit chaotic but ok. Inflight very basic. No AVOD PTV but only overhead screens. Magazines are all in russian. FA's efficient but a bit unfriendly. Guess its the typical Russian attitude. Unfortunately, they are the only airline who offers direct flight from Russia to Indonesia so I have no choice to fly with them again in the future.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review : 27 October 2008 : by L McVeigh

Customer Rating : 1/5

Probably the worst food I have ever had on a flight in 35 years of flying around the world. Flights to and from Moscow (Domodedovo / London Heathrow) are terrible. Shocking meals and poor, or I should say, no in flight entertainment. Headsets not functioning, staff work well but with an attitude of 'It's the way it is' they obviously have no control over the airline and just do as they are told. Flights generally on time.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review : 27 August 2008 : by Yevheniy Kahanovych

Customer Rating : 1/5

KBP-DME-KBP last week in premium economy. The price difference betweeen tourist economy and premium economy is the only real difference. Don't waste your money trying to get wider seat, longer legroom and better service, as they are non-existent. Curtain dividing cabin onto tourist and premium economy made only one effect: it was impossible to open at least 4 overhead bins all the way, so many bags were accomodated somewhere else. Check-in was swift, however, I had difficulties with online check-in out of Kiev. The head of their rep office told me that this function doesn't work. Overall customer service on the ground was very poor, as well as in the air. Inedible and insufficient food, indifferent, robotic crews, almost no flight information announcements, alcohol was not served,. This is not a value for money if you travel for leisure as they are horribly overpriced (USD 400 for roundtrip). Their schedule is irregular and infrequent, so no reason to fly them for business as well.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review : 16 August 2008 : by Victoria Dvoriadkina

Customer Rating : 1/5

Kiev to Toronto via Moscow. Very poor flight connection. Not enough time between planes guarantees you most instantly to miss the connection flight and/or disconnect with your luggage. You will not be placed on the next available plane flying to your destination as the company does not have an agreement with other airlines for this kind of service. You will be waiting in the transfer zone for the next 24 hours for the next day flight if you have no visa for the passing country. The staff is not trained to deal with the situations like this properly. Poor service and rude language - is what I experienced.

TRANSAERO AIRLINES review : 31 May 2008 : by S Magoo

Customer Rating : 4/5

Moscow to Amritsar return. B767 with excellent inflight entertainment, Crew speaking good english. Excellent Indian food on return flight. Would fly with Transaero again.

Transaero Airlines review by D Engl

23 May 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR–DME on a code-share with BMI. Expected more specially on a code share with a western Airlines. Very poor English from the cabin attendant. Cabin crew not at al interested in the passengers no smile or other welcoming gesture. Flight left on time though. Again as a code-share flight would expect more. Otherwise could book direct with them. Not to be recommended.

Transaero Airlines review by R King

18 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Moscow to Yuzhno Sakhalinsk. The aircraft was very old, and showing its age inside. The seats in business class did not recline very far, and were not the sort passengers are accustomed to on flights of this length (8-9 hours), which made for a fairly uncomfortable triup.

Transaero Airlines review by Gavin Stewart

18 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

DME-LHR on a code-share with BMI. Not a bad experience but the 737-400 was very inferior to BMI's A320. Grey leather seats looked and felt old. Tight seat pitch, and short backrest not the most comfortable. Zero IFE. Very poor English language announcements, perhaps to be expected but on a code- share with UK carrier one would expect better. Passengers allowed to flout minor rules eg. reclining on take-off, bins left open on landing. On arrival the pilot switched off seat belt sign before he'd reached the airbridge - pax wandering around as plane lurched onto the stand! However, excellent friendly FAs who put some effort in. Food pretty good, and repeated passes with the drinks trolley.

Transaero Airlines review by Chris McQuaid

30 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

St Petersburg to Moscow (DME) after booking through their website - easy process, instant confirmation. Check-in at Pulkovo was a breeze (e-ticket), bus from terminal gate to plane only took 2 minutes. Much better snack and service than Aeroflot, which I had used SVO-LED (good English spoken on both, but the Transaero captain also used English in his flight comments). I would recommend them, and fly with them again on routes not served by Siberian.

Transaero Airlines review by Yevheniy Kahanovych

17 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Flew Transaero 4 times during last 2 weeks, between Moscow and St. Petersburg and between Moscow and Kiev. Very inefficient check-in everywhere. Online check-in didn't display boarding passes in printable format, so had to go to the airport desk where confused agent spent 20 minutes trying to settle me for my flights. Airport check-in was very slow at Domodedovo, Paveletsky station and in Borispol. Equally slow unsmiling agents, very polite in Pulkovo though. All the planes (737-400/300) were clean, but very cramped seat pitch. Broken armrests and tables on the three flights out of four. As Transaero lease their planes after different carriers, types of seats (wide, narrow, good recline, almost no recline, leather, fabric) and pitch vary from plane to plane, there is no standard across their fleet. Flight crews were moderately polite, but robotic, with no smiles and no reaction to passenger calls. The food was edible, but the portions were tiny. On the two flights out of four I was skipped during tea service, and didn't get tea even when asked. 2 star airline with cheap customer service, without well thought service procedures and high prices. However, safely delivers you from A to B and will remain my first choice for Russian domestic flights, but between Kiev and Moscow I will switch back to Aerosvit. Actually, be aware of their baggage policy. They don't allow more than 5 kg cabin baggage. It depends on the agent whether you will be charged for this or not and whether you'll be allowed to bring your laptop onboard if it is heavier than 5 kg together with the bag or will be asked to put it to checked bag.

Transaero Airlines review by Vladimir Rouvinski

22 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Moscow to Novosibirsk and return. Perfect flights, no complaints at all. In Moscow, excellent link to Domodedovo airport by "Airport Express" from Paveletsky (the airline pays the fare for you both when you leave for the airport and return from your trip!). Fast and professional check-in, smile onboard, good food and amenities. Comparable to an international flight within Europe. Surprised to see that most of the flight attendants are male. Novosibirsk domestic terminal improved a lot, very comfortable. Would fly with Transaero again.

Transaero Airlines review by Steve Johnson

5 July 2006  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Done three return journeys from Gatwick to Domodedovo, all on time, all with reasonably edible food and very pleasant cabin staff. Am I just lucky?

Transaero Airlines- by Ron Waugh

1 June 2006

My experience with Transaero Airlines is not good. I was initially attracted to using the airline when I heard that they had direct flights between Moscow and Edinburgh. I booked to travel from there to Moscow about 18 months ago, but the flight was cancelled just 48 hours before departure, and I had to fly - at my own expense - to Gatwick to catch their flight to Moscow from there. The same extra expense was involved on the return flight. Last November, I made the mistake of booking a Transaero flight from Novosibirsk to Moscow . There were "technical difficulties", and the flight was delayed for 24 hours. They did put me up in a hotel overnight, but it was a low grade hotel, the food poor, the room very basic - there were no private facilities. Due to this delay, I lost the cost of a one-night stay I had booked in a 4-star Moscow hotel. The other point I should add is that their web page has only recently improved from 'diabolical' to very bad. I can't even find a working 'phone number on their site to call their booking agent in London. Perhaps they have gone out of business. Transaero and/or, their agent in London. Well, I can dream can't I?

Transaero Airlines- by Andrew McChesney

30 April 2005

I recently flew Domodedovo-Gatwick return with no complaints. The plane, a 737-300, arrived on time both ways, the staff was pleasant, and passengers were actually fed hot meals - an unexpected gesture considering all the price-cutting going on these days. On the downside, the meals both ways were clearly barely edible - limp vegetables and tough meat.

Transaero Airlines- by Paul Witts

1 August 2004

Gatwick to Moscow. 4 hour delay going, 4 hours coming back! Going out the delay was because of the late in-bound arrival of the aircraft from Dublin. Transaero don't fly to Dublin!!! Coming back, the airport announcement said the delay was due to 'technical problems'. When we finally boarded, the captain told us it was because of the late arrival of the inbound aircraft (again)! Being delayed is bad enough, but being lied to just makes it worse. The 737 had obviously seen better days. Whilst the stewardesses were pretty enough and the food actually good, I longed for the quiet efficiency of Aeroflot!

Transaero Airlines- by Peter Schulz

8 February 2004

I flew Transaero from Ekaterinburg, Russia to Moscow, Russia this year. I must say I am impressed by the service onboard the small Boeing 737. The stewards spoke English and did not seem to be bothered by any request and they practically supplied us with food throughout the whole flight. Right after take-off champagne was served then soft drinks and a little later one of two options for hot breakfast (pancakes or omelet both accompanied by really nice salmon and wine and tea or coffee). I did not expect that much from a cheap two hour flight where I even got an amazing youth discount of 20 percent (if you are under 25).