Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport

I was transiting at the airport (Terminal F) on my route to Armenia from Bangkok and I was looking forward for 5 hrs waiting in the transit area. To my astonishment the transit area was dirty smelly and there were no facilities except a few expensive "duty free" outlets and toilets. There are no signboards or if there are they are solely in Russian. Staff are rude and English is definitely not a language you can use for communication. There are 2 Automated Currency Exchange Machines but one of them didn't work and another took my 20 USD bill and didn't return any Russian rouble. When I tried to explain this to the staff they just wave me away grinning. Credit Cards are accepted for payment it's just that CC Terminal doesn't work.

We were at the SVO airport to catch a transfer flight to Delhi (coming from Berlin). We had almost 5 hrs transit time so was very relaxed. Luckily both the incoming and outgoing flights were on time. I guess it will be tight if you have a transit time of anything around 1hr since there might be long queue at security controls and the long walk between Terminal D to F. We had to first go to the transit desk and then they guide you to passport control (transit without visa) and then proceed for security. The signs at the terminal are easy to follow and you don't have to ask anyone. Terminals D and E seems to be new and very well maintained. There are lines of duty free shops through the transit. The bad part is that the air conditioner only works in terminal D and E. You go down the stairs to terminal F and the whole terminal has no ac and it was very hot. Terminal F looks like a shopping mall and extremely crowded. So we spent our time in terminal E. Many shops there don't accept Euro / $$ or the exchange rate is extremely unfavourable. We spotted automated teller machines that converted Euro or $$ to Roubles & it had a more favourable exchange rate. The food and drinks here is actually overpriced. Luckily we did get vegetarian options at a food joint close to Gate 50 in Terminal F. Overall was a good experience.

I took the flight from PEK to LHR via SVO. It took around 45 minutes to get through the checking and the passport. When I got to information deck there were 3 women in uniform sitting and chatting and I asked in English and Russian how to get to Terminal D? Nobody even actually looked at me. It was really disappointing and not looking forward to fly via SVO.

My last week arrival at SVO was a horror story about what they call "transit between terminals". This needs to be explained here to fellow travelers who need to get to from or via this place safely and on time. The airport now consists of the three buildings. The first building consists of the terminals DEF and Aeroexpress train station. All these form a single building. They are connected between themselves both land side and airside. Terminals B and C are around 5 km from this place are close to each other with no connection between buildings. The gentleman whose report below tells that he was charged by taxi driver a horrible sum of money for the ride between D and F doesn't tell that in fact he had been driven between the two doors of the same building. The different story is the rest of the airport. Aeroflot now has own and codeshared flights operating from terminals C D E F. The terminals B and C are distant and not connected anyhow to the main D/E/F/Rail building. There is no organized transportation for transit passengers to and from B or C. It is your own risk to get to and from there. The only landside options are city bus light shuttle bus and taxi. City bus can be very crowded and cost 1USD light bus is infrequent and costs 2 usd and taxi are the horrible scam after which you will be lucky just to be overcharged. The standard taxi rate between main D/e/f/rail building and buildings C or B is usd 20. Don't pay more! Ask your friends to pick you up. If you go on connecting codeshared flight sold by Aeroflot and arriving in terminal C you're still not eligible for any free airside transportation between terminals just because it doesn't exist. Don't believe if they tell you it does. When Aeroflot tell you that they are responsible for your "transportation" only between terminals D/E/F it means that you don't actually leave the building and you "transport" yourself by walk. The only exception to the rule is airside "train to plane" service which carries passengers arriving to the airport by train. You can clear security at terminal E and then you are transported airside to the terminals C and B for free. Then after disembarkation from the bus you go landside and then again clear security for your departing flight at terminal B or C. The service is confusing infrequent and only works one way. Only actually departing passengers with tickets documents and boarding passes can go. No opposite direction! SVO is the only airport in the world that doesn't carry passengers between terminals.

I flew to Bangkok from Heathrow with Aeroflot stopping over at SVO. After landing at SVO it only took about 10-15 minutes to get through passport control and into the terminal. Made the long walk through connecting terminals and found the Irish bar and sat in there until catching my flight to BKK. On the return trip I had a longer stop in SVO of about 4 hours but passport control was pretty quick and then it was just a case of walking between the terminals until I found screens which were displaying information about my flight.

Arrived at Terminal F at 5:00am and had to go to Terminal D for an Internal / Domestic flight. The usual crowd of Taxi drivers were at the arrivals hall. One followed me up to the next tier and showed me his 'official' taxi card and prices. He drove me the 1km to terminal D at a cost of 2800 Roubles (£60) in his dirty very 'unofficial' car. Russia - where are your police and Airport security?? Why do we have to put up with scum like this at an International Airport. It is fairly obvious that tired and disorientated travellers are in need of getting to connecting flights in a hurry without the need or embarrassment of being ripped off! I visited Russia on business and am sad to say I wouldn't hurry back here! Very Disappointed!

Arrived from Brussels in terminal E and had to transfer to terminal F for my flight to Beijing. Official at transfer desk helped quickly and signposting in the airport was adequate enough to find my way. Waiting time of 3 hours was not unpleasant could spend it for the greater part in an Irish pub talking to other waiting passengers. Seating at the gate not sufficient. On the return trip the transfer to other terminal took a bit longer to insufficient security staff but again after this procedure I was friendly shown the way to the correct gate.

Yesterday I used SVO for arrival and departure. Terminal F inbound terminal C outbound. SVO is hit and miss place. Terminal F is an outdated and strangely laid out facility. However it didn;t took more than 15 minutes to pass immigration and then to collect bags that had already been on the belt. Then arrivals hall with usual taxi scam. Then easy to find train station with nice food facilities and free wifi coverage. The only minus is unclear sugnage. Walks are reasonably long. Outbound arrived to the airport by train coming to /terminal E. Transfer to terminal C was done by intercity type coach running every 30 minutes around the whole airport including its most remote places. Absence of tunnels under runways located between terminals E/D/F on one side and B/C on another side makes this ride 25 minutes long so should you need to arrive by train and to leave from terminals B or C allow some 60 extra minutes for this transfer. At terminal C security search was a breeze check in was done online immigration lines long but managed to catch my plane as the terminal is really small. Again free wifi but airside facilities are very poor with nothing to do uninspiring duty free and overpriced food options of very average quality. Staff unsmiling but not rude nothing really unpleasant. This airport is ok when you know what to do and where to go. For first time visitors it must be unbearable and very confusing.

I found my experience to be exceptionally good. Arrived at Terminal F to a Soviet-looking hallway immigration and baggage claim took no more than 30 minutes. I had decided to stay a night in Moscow and leave the next morning for Paris so check-in at Terminal D which was just as quick. On the way back I was transferring in Terminal D and again no problem. It's far from the best airport range duty free subpar and restaurants overcharging.

Terrible airport for transfer passengers. On our flight from Bangkok to Amsterdam we changed flights at Sheremetyevo. There is practically no information for transfer passengers. The monitors only informed about coming flights for the next 30 minutes and had information on them which was two hours old! Eventually we were supposed to change terminals from F (where we arrived) to E (where we would depart). The terminals are connected with a corridor but there is no signposting at all! The only information we were given is that we need to go to the 3rd floor where Terminal E would be but we had no idea that Terminal F was on the 2nd floor because it is not told anywhere! Apart from bad information and signposting the lack of English does not make it any easier for non-Russian passengers. Furthermore the restaurants and cafes at the airport are very expensive but most of them do accept euros/dollars which is handy for transfer passengers.