Iberia

Domodedovo - BAX Barnaul return. S7 has been hyping their newer aircraft in their advertising but still use their older Soviet planes on most routes. Aeroflot is better but you have to change airports if you fly into SVO Shermetyevo to catch a domestic flight which is not for the faint of heart and not inexpensive ($40 or more) unless you know how to use the cheap bus between terminals. DME is more modern than SVO 2 (but no less a madhouse in the ticketing area) and is organized mass confusion at the domestic passenger x-ray area - keep your boarding pass and your ticket in your hand or say "e-ticket" if you only have a boarding pass and bought on-line; the international departure area is much better especially for those folks with western passports. At DME all the passengers sardined into a bus with no seats to the ancient Tupolev and had to walk up stairs. On the way back however the plane returned to a jetway thankfully. DME was a hellhole a decade ago but has been totally rebuilt (and remains under construction). Seats are extremely tight especially for my 6' 7" frame so I grabbed an empty bulkhead seat and was able to get the spacious emergency exit on the return flight with help from my Russian friend. Announcements on the plane are in Russian and heavily accented English. The emergency exits in the TU are partially blocked by the seats in front of the doors and the seat belts are not like the ones on western aircraft - some kind of loop system that is almost impossible to figure out how to make smaller or larger. The emergency exits have an obvious failure-prone system that is not idiot-proof. The TU also cannot support as much heavy or large luggage in the overheads as a modern western aircraft; they advise only using them for coats and small items. Barnaul is a small regional airport; no English announcements or signage. Upon arrival you need to enter a very small room and show your ticket with the matching luggage stickers to the attendant before you're allowed to leave with your bags. Unlike most American airlines they actually give you food during a 4-hour flight and it's not bad. Upon landing before the seat belt sign is off and even before the plane is even completely stopped at the gate Russians have already been into the overhead compartments and standing. I notice this on international flights with a lot of Russians on board too where exasperated Western flight attendants plead for people to sit down to no avail. Ticketing: they now have e-tickets since 2006. However you can't see the full terms and conditions until AFTER you bought the ticket. Almost all low fares are completely non-refundable and non- changeable when bought on-line. Even if the price goes lower after you bought they will not credit you the difference unlike a western airline.

Moscow to Novosibirsk return Economy class. Aircraft IL86 (about 350 passengers). Transfer from Moscow to the airport (Demodedovo) long but well organized (subway green line + microbus). In the airport the flight was not shown in the departure list. I had to contact the information desk. The staff in the airport is generally available in Russian only. Foreigners who are not Russian fluent may encounter problems in this matter. On the other hand flying conditions were much better than I supposed. Chair comfort fair; much better in comparison to those I encountered during KLM flights from Amsterdam to Singapore and from Amsterdam to Delhi. Meals were quite good. Aircraft clean. Foreign passengers may encounter difficulties to contact stewardesses. Only one of them was able to speak English. During the return flight old aircraft chartered form another local airline and flying conditions worse than during onbound flight. General impression: better than I supposed "three stars".

Moscow to Novosibirsk return Economy class. Aircraft IL86 (about 350 passengers). Transfer from Moscow to the airport (Demodedovo) long but well organized (subway green line + microbus). In the airport the flight was not shown in the departure list. I had to contact the information desk. The staff in the airport is generally available in Russian only. Foreigners who are not Russian fluent may encounter problems in this matter. On the other hand flying conditions were much better than I supposed. Chair comfort fair; much better in comparison to those I encountered during KLM flights from Amsterdam to Singapore and from Amsterdam to Delhi. Meals were quite good. Aircraft clean. Foreign passengers may encounter difficulties to contact stewardesses. Only one of them was able to speak English. During the return flight old aircraft chartered form another local airline and flying conditions worse than during onbound flight. General impression: better than I supposed "three stars".

Moscow DME to Nizhniy Novgorod. Check-in at DME fast the agent couldn't really handle my swiss passport and was unable to find my e-ticket in the system and called someone else. In the end 3 people were searching me in the system. After a few minutes some staff member took my passport and disappeared - eventually she came back saying "everything's ok" and gave me the passport and the boarding pass. My Russian is as bad as their English so it was a bit hard to communicate but they were very friendly and not at all "sovietish". A fourth young employee came and asked if I spoke French so we could speak to each other. Basically everything was settled. I don't think that people working on check-in counters of Russian domestic flights need to speak English so I wasn't disappointed or stressed by this fact. Flight was on a relatively old B737-500 with new style interior. My seat was a bit broken it automatically reclined. Security instructions professional in English and Russian. Security card original looked like a folded menu card in a restaurant. Service prompt and friendly. Served a drink of choice and no meal as it was only a short one-hour flight. Flight price was about USD 40.00 booked conveniently online.

Moscow DME to Nizhniy Novgorod. Check-in at DME fast the agent couldn't really handle my swiss passport and was unable to find my e-ticket in the system and called someone else. In the end 3 people were searching me in the system. After a few minutes some staff member took my passport and disappeared - eventually she came back saying "everything's ok" and gave me the passport and the boarding pass. My Russian is as bad as their English so it was a bit hard to communicate but they were very friendly and not at all "sovietish". A fourth young employee came and asked if I spoke French so we could speak to each other. Basically everything was settled. I don't think that people working on check-in counters of Russian domestic flights need to speak English so I wasn't disappointed or stressed by this fact. Flight was on a relatively old B737-500 with new style interior. My seat was a bit broken it automatically reclined. Security instructions professional in English and Russian. Security card original looked like a folded menu card in a restaurant. Service prompt and friendly. Served a drink of choice and no meal as it was only a short one-hour flight. Flight price was about USD 40.00 booked conveniently online.

St. Pete to Novosibirsk on a Tu-154 and apart from the fact that the plane was old everything about the service from the food to the quality of the inflight magazine shows how Russian airlines have progressed of late. Novosibirsk airport is a small gem with its final stages of reconstruction now underway. From Novosibirsk to Moscow then on an Airbus A319 S7 Airlines really shows many other airlines what they should be. Despite discounted airfares full service provided here as well including drinks full meal and a glass of water at the end of the flight. Service was also very friendly and attentive and unique compared with many of the quality legacy European carriers where staff no longer seem as committed to their work as in generations past.

St. Pete to Novosibirsk on a Tu-154 and apart from the fact that the plane was old everything about the service from the food to the quality of the inflight magazine shows how Russian airlines have progressed of late. Novosibirsk airport is a small gem with its final stages of reconstruction now underway. From Novosibirsk to Moscow then on an Airbus A319 S7 Airlines really shows many other airlines what they should be. Despite discounted airfares full service provided here as well including drinks full meal and a glass of water at the end of the flight. Service was also very friendly and attentive and unique compared with many of the quality legacy European carriers where staff no longer seem as committed to their work as in generations past.

FRA-DME-OVB. FRA to DME was very good staff could have spoken english. This is the only gripe I have with the FRA-DME leg of the trip the DME - OVB leg however was worse. DME airport was packed I was charged for overweight baggage - even though I was within the limits. Their staff at DME don't speak English and I had to run to the gate. The flight was delayed by an hour because the FRA-DME flight was delayed (and customs took well over an hour). The plane to Novosibirsk was scary to say the least. The only way I can describe it is as a flying train. No overhead bins in the middle aisle staff didn't speak english seats were all torn and well past their life.

FRA-DME-OVB. FRA to DME was very good staff could have spoken english. This is the only gripe I have with the FRA-DME leg of the trip the DME - OVB leg however was worse. DME airport was packed I was charged for overweight baggage - even though I was within the limits. Their staff at DME don't speak English and I had to run to the gate. The flight was delayed by an hour because the FRA-DME flight was delayed (and customs took well over an hour). The plane to Novosibirsk was scary to say the least. The only way I can describe it is as a flying train. No overhead bins in the middle aisle staff didn't speak english seats were all torn and well past their life.

Domedovo-Khujand return. The plane wasn't new but seemed sturdy! I don't think much English was spoken in the plane but in the airport it was fine helpful (if slow) assistance in the transit area of DME. Lots of pushing on and off the planes but seems unnecessary as there are seats for everyone. Watch out for the surprise 20 kg weight limit per passenger (INCLUDING HAND BAGGAGE) when leaving Khujand. ($5 per extra kg - maybe if you speak Russian you can talk your way out of this one.)