Pobeda Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | On 22nd December 2018, I check-in online on their web site for the flight Pisa to Moscow. Immediately after having finished the check-in and being assigned the seat, I have been trying many times to print the boarding pass but the link to open the Pdf document was not operating. and there was no way to print it. at Pisa Airport I had to pay 25 euro extra penalty to print the pass. I am badly surprised about this company.

✅ Trip Verified | Istanbul to St Petersburg. Charged us €75 to check in, even though we tried multiple times to check in online, but could not. The other €45 in fees, I still don’t know what it was for. Their cabin luggage policy is the most ludicrous thing ever. Nothing over the size of a shoe-box. We travel a lot so we have our luggage nailed - not for them. Couldn’t even get our iPad Pros or laptops in the box. Don't fly them - any saving is not worth the extra stress.

✅ Trip Verified | Bergamo to Moscow. For some reason system didn't allow me to check in online and I was advised to do it at the airport. When arrived to airport had to pay 25 euro to check in! I was of course told that I should have done it online and my explanations were dismissed.

Not Verified | St Petersburg to Istanbul. Tried to check-in 4.5 hours before flight, but the website gave an error. Went to the airport, where we were charged 25 euros each for not checking-in online (which is 30 percent of the ticket price!). The atmosphere was really aggressive at the counter since a lot of customers were not informed about this policy. Our luggage was checked for multiple times on size. Would prefer to never fly with this airline again.

✅ Trip Verified | Milan to Moscow Vnukovo. Cunning company that applies a nonsense hand baggage policy charging a fee higher than the cost of the ticket. I made a complaint and the response was purely copy and paste. Totally unprofessional, will never fly anymore. Other companies have same prices and, at least, normal service.

✅ Trip Verified | Krasnodar to Saint Petersburg than from Saint Petersburg to London and from London to Glasgow. From Saint Petersburg till end I must use Pobeda airlines. But because of weather in Krasnodar flight was very delayed. It means I was late to my next flight with Pobeda airlines to UK. When finally I came to Saint Petersburg I tried to reach office to Pobeda for Exchange my tickets. As tickets already was paid and because of weather was not my mistake that I late. But in Pobeda office in Saint Petersburg airport was open light but none open door for me. Than I didn’t had any other choice how to buy new ticket to I’m with another company for same date. Than when I did request for refund my money from Pobeda airlines they Told it’s not them problem and none gave me money back. I had very sad mood and really broken vacations plus money spends for nothing. I’ll never again buy tickets from this company and will suggest to all other people be aware from Pobeda.

✅ Trip Verified | Stansted to St Petersburg. Overall very fluid experience, definitely exceeded expectations. Being someone who lives in the UK who flies regularly to Europe for weekend breaks, I'm no stranger to low cost carriers by the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet, this week I decided to try out Pobeda's new route from London to St Petersburg, and I was genuinely surprised by its efficiency and overall value. Flying direct to Russia in the past usually meant going on Aeroflot or British Airways, both which offer pretty average service and almost always cost upwards of £150 return, for £50 return on most days Pobeda makes flying on this route much more attractive for tourists like me. A bit of a hack but if you're booking directly from their website, always search in Rubles instead of Pounds/Euros/Dollar as not sure why but the difference in price is quite significant (even including all the exchange fees your bank might charge). Anyways since I was flying from outside Russia, much like other low cost carriers, online check in was a must if you wanted to avoid paying extra. This took less than a few minutes after which I loaded my boarding pass onto my phone. At the airport, having no checked bags, I walked straight to the security checks, and 10 minutes later I was at the gate waiting to board, While boarding a noticed several passengers repacking their stuff, so they are definitely strict with their bag policy. In short, you are only allowed to bring one handbag or backpack with you on board; anything larger than the dimensions described when booking such as suitcases, camping bags or duffel bags must be checked in. This is a tad less but not too different from other low cost carriers as of November 2018. Checked baggage is priced reasonably if prebooked; £9 each bag each way for 10kg and £11 for 20kg. Because of the restrictive bag policy, boarding was insanely fast as passengers no longer had to fight for overhead space. On board, the legroom was decent, better than some low cost carriers such as Wizz Air but for sure no worse than most, and much like the rest, it did not recline, which was fine as I was flying during the day. The plane was also brand new and the cabin was very clean. Food was however unavailable on board, which was a little disappointing, though you are welcome to bring your own food, and water is served for free. By the time we landed in St Petersburg to my surprise we were half an hour ahead of schedule, and it didn't take much longer before we were past immigration and outside the airport. One of the best flights I've had with a low cost carrier, quick and efficient and didn't encounter any problems at all. As with all low cost carriers, as long as you pay attention to the bag policy and remember to check in online when flying from outside Russia, you shouldn't have any issues, very good value for the amount you pay.

✅ Trip Verified | Istanbul to Moscow. Pobeda supposedly started their online checkin procedure several days ago (today is 30 October 2018). Only problem - it doesn't work. I arrived at the airport today to find it was "my fault", and the fault of every other Pobeda passenger at the check in. Due our "fault" we all had to pay 25Euro check-in fees, but they only take Turkish Lira for credit cards at their cashier. They then charged 200 Turkish Lira (32 Euro), but said that if we go file a complaint "in person" at a Pobeda office in Moscow, they will reimburse us (25 Euro). No apologies at all. This was my first and last time to fly Pobeda. I flew Pobeda from Moscow to Istanbul 5 days ago. While it was not chaotic, their customer service was poor. None of the seats recline. If you pay more to board early, they simply let you board the bus to the airplane first; you don't get to the airplane any more quickly!

✅ Trip Verified | Stansted to St Petersburgh via Moscow. Pobeda cancelled my flight back from Moscow for my trip in October 2018 without giving me a reason despite me asking why it was cancelled. I had already incurred visa and hotel costs based on them providing an acceptable service therefore a refund was not acceptable. I can also not take a refund and book another flight as I booked well in advance and flights are now 4-5 times the price. I also cannot travel on another day as my visa expires and I have important plans the day before. Compensation is also not an option as apparently I would have to send a letter in the post to Russia and wait for a reply in the post. Knowing the time it takes to post things to and from Russia, and the time it takes Pobeda to handle even the simplest requests I would be lucky to hear back from them before Christmas. Therefore I asked them to find a flight for me provided by one of their other group members as any other respectable airline would and eventually after multiple expensive phone calls they reluctantly put the request through. Aeroflot has multiple flights on that day available. However after 10 days I have received no updates. Figuring that 10 days was more than enough time to process such a simple request I rang them once again to find out what was happening. They could still not tell me why the flight was cancelled and apparently it was impossible to find out what was happening with the request or how long it would take. When I asked to speak to someone who could sort the situation out, as their call centre was useless, they promptly hung up on me. I then contacted Aeroflot about the situation and they were quick to deny any liability as Pobeda "is not their problem", despite it being their direct subsidiary. I couldn't possibly imagine receiving that response if I rang Lufthansa up with a complaint about Eurowings for example. This has been the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

✅ Trip Verified | Travelling by Pobeda from Moscow Vnukovo to Krasnodar on Sep 15th. Vnukovo Airport is easy and comfortable. This is also the main hub of Pobeda. Pobeda, being a lowcoster, does not use jetways and they bring the passengers to the plane by bus. No problem with if it is managed professionally. I was boarding the bus at 16:05 (not the first one) and leaving the bus to board the plane at about 16:45. So rather than efficiently managing the boarding, they simply bring people to the bus far too early and let the passengers to wait there for next 40 min. (or more). As you know, there is a very limited number of seats in airport buses. In an overcrowded bus there were elderly people and mothers with a small kids standing all that time and waiting. Pobeda, by managing the boarding in this way, demonstrates its unfriendly customer attitude. They clearly missed the fact that the whole experience from the flight does not start when boarding the plane and when leaving the plane.