Aeroflot Russian Airlines

NYC-SVO-KBP on A330-300 and A321. Prior to the flight newspapers were distributed. We were then stuck in a jam while taxiing prior to take-off. Service onboard was plain and overall very correct. I have low interest in IFE though the little I tried seemed quite correct. We were served dinner and breakfast the former with wine. We arrived on time. The transfer went smoothly and the second leg was as pleasant as the other. The fare was 30-40% cheaper than on other airlines doing the route. Great value for money and solid level of quality.

BUD-SVO-DEL with quite new A330-300. All flights were on time. Onboard service was great. Comfortable seats and great entertainment lot of movies music and games. Meals were lovely on BUD-SVO flight - cold meal with two drinks juice and coffee/tea. On SVO-DEL flight warm meal was served - they gave us menu before dinner so we could choose. Lot of drinks served. Cabin staff can be more polite.

Madrid-Moscow-Shanghai. Madrid-Moscow flight new and spacious A321 no inflight entertainment food ok but drinks only served before the meal and not with the meal. Good connection in Moscow. Moscow-Shanghai on Airbus 330-200 good inflight entertainment best row is 24 with more leg space. The seats on the side are more expensive but the ones in the middle are free of charge. Same problem with drinks here. Return flights the same I would recommend - good value for money.

LHR-SVO-PVG returning PEK-SVO-LHR. Nice A321 to Moscow with good meal. Sheveremeteyvo Airport Terminals DE and F now interlinked though website states still bus link. B767's are old and on boarding it was noticeable that the interior had not been refurbished. Once airborne the service and food excellent. The seats were comfortable and the overhead TV had some good films. Return flight from Beijing on new Airbus A330-300 very pleasant and comfortable. Good personal seatback entertainment system with very wide screens for economy class. Lots of choice though some movies not up to date. Food good again. A321 to LHR only half full cabin crew pleasant and attentive food fine and only problem was that cabin lights not dimmed for night flight.

Return flight London Heathrow to Moscow Sheremetyevo. The outward flight started off good. We left on time and the plane was new and comfortable. The food is of a good standard. However once we landed at Sheremetyevo it was a whole other story. Due to weather we had to wait just yards away from our gate because there was ice on the ground. The plane was very stuffy and I think it took an extra half an hour until we finally stopped at our taxi gate. On the inward flight it was much better. Very quick and comfortable.

JFK-SVO-CDG and SVO-JFK. A330 New York-Moscow excellent new and seats were good (2x4x2). Travelling with my wife it was convenient to have the seats to ourselves without someone else next to us. A320 Paris-Moscow just okay nothing extraordinary but not bad (3x3 seating LCD screens in the row). Personal IFE with good selection of movies in Russian and English on JFK-SVO. They served a hot meal with alcoholic beverages plus usual assortment of soft drinks even on flight Moscow to Paris. As someone who'd flown Aeroflot over the past 20 years they have changed for the better over the last couple of years - and are by far the cheapest option to fly from NY to Moscow.

SVO-LAX NYC-SVO. Both A330's interior looked run down and seats were dirty. Toilets were not cleaned during the flight. The food almost the same as I had two days before on a SVO-MUC-SVO.

Peking-Munich in Business. A good experience. New A330/A 319 planes clean and good seats. New lie-flat seat on 330 wasn't really flat but perfectly fine for a daytime flight. The real surprise was the 319 which has "proper" business class seats even on this short three-hour flight (i.e. four seats in a row rather than the usual six seats with the middle seat kept free). Good selection of food and drinks. Plenty of IFE (about 50 movies to choose from and on-demand even on the short-haul sector). Most staff didn't speak too much English but perfectly fine to get the job done. The only letdown was Moscow airport. Yes the terminal building has been refurbished to international standards but the many uniformed people barking at you in Russian and the organisational chaos are still a nuisance. No customer service culture there. I chose Aeroflot on price and got very good value for money.

I booked a London to Tokyo flight via Moscow as it was the cheapest fare and the journey time was good. We booked vegetarian meals and confirmed these via the booking agent Opodo. However when checking in it became apparent we had no vegetarian meal. The stewards on the first leg were great and rustled up a vegetarian meal for us they were good and I started to wonder what all the bad reviews were about. However during the next leg it was obvious - the staff never smiled and were not helpful with our vegetarian request. The inflight entertainment was not great a few new movies - it was a laugh to see movies from the 70's though. The return leg was not great we didn't even bother asking about the vegetarian meal as I couldn't face the stern expression on the steward. It was not a pleasant journey. Aeroflot is much cheaper than other airline and I would recommend it as it did the trick we arrived safely. So if you are happy to forego smiling staff have a passion for old Russian films and do not want vegetarian food you will love Aeroflot!

BRU-SVO-LED PEK-SVO-BRU. Short haul flights with A320. Lots of legroom new planes. Long haul flight with new A330-300 legroom ok but bad seats who got pretty painful after a while good IFE with pretty good selection of movies. General comments : staff is good but not too enthusiastic. Food average. You have to pay for alcoholic drinks on long haul flights (alcohol banned on some flights).