[Anonymous]

[Vertrek]

Hello all and SkyTeam Flyers,

Another great news for SkyTeam Flyers as Aeroflot is fitting their new upcoming 777 with a fully flat bed “J”, New Y+ and New Y.

http://thedesignair.net/2012/10/24/aeroflot-launch-new-777-interiors/

[HedgeFundFlyer]

The seats would be the last thing on my mind when flying Aeroflop. I would be far too worried about the state of the pilots, the cabin crew, the wings, the engines and the place I was headed to.

[christopheL]

HedgeFundFlyer

Did you realize we are now in 2012 ? If I remember well, I was still a student when Aeroflot had their last accident involving a long haul flight. And I’m not that old 🙂

[Vertrek]

Thing has changed.

I’ve never flown with them, but once they switch to the new layout, I wouldn’t mind.

According to wikipedia, Aeroflot’s last accident was in 1996 and last incident was 1998. =)

[AnthonyDunn]

The reasons have often been unclear but Snr Management and colleagues, when flying SU from SVO-ULN have consistently ended up being diverted to Siberia (Novisibirsk etc.) in the small hours of the night for refuelling stops. Occasionally, owing to their lack of Russian visas, they have been escorted by armed Russian police to local hotels and have remained under armed guard prior to resuming the flight later. Owing to the lack of explanations, it’s a moot point whether the A321 lacked the duration/fuel, suffered technicals or whatever. The treatment on the ground has been straight out of the old Soviet handbook on how to welcome foreigners (not).

So, whether or not Aeroflot has a new cabin fit, unless it can either correctly fuel its aircraft or provide its delayed and diverted passengers with explanations for what’s going on, then these improvements don’t amount to the proverbial can of beans.

[Senator]

Whilst the thought of flying Aeroflot has not been appealing to me, I’ve had quite fuzzy friends who have sampled many carriers in Business and First who rave about the end-to-end experience of Aeroflot’s Business Class. So I may give it a try soon.

Flights from European airports to Moscow on their A320 family aircraft apparently offer true premium experience in the 2-2- configuration with US Domestic First Class type of seats. Food and Beverage have been highly recommended; Austrian Airlines level I am told.

From my Stockholm second home, I can find fares to Shanghai (PVG) for less than £1200 return in business. Seoul (ICN) comes in around £1500, and quite a few people in the Stockholm area are using the Aeroflot services to these two hubs, and buy multi-stop IATA fares for the rest of their journeys in Asia; providing real savings whilst having a great experience.

For example; an IATA one way fare from Seoul to Bangkok is around £750 in First excluding fuel surcharges and taxes. Nevertheless, it offers an abundance of stopover and routing possibilities. One theoretical route is: ICN-NRT-HKH-BKK with stopover in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

So I wouldn’t dismiss Aeroflot from your list of choices to Asia.

[Pierre]

Aeroflot is a good airline. I always enjoyed a good service flying F/C/Y, even flying old Tupolev..Aeroflot is safer than the legend tells. Congratulations to their crews for flying sometimes in extreme climatic conditions, things going on by -40C.
The nightmare in Russia are the airports/transits..
Bad point: 10 pax per row in Y. Seems becoming a trend. Worse for passengers flying domestic from Moscow to The Far East.

[Vertrek]

Morning all,

Indeed, a couple of friends who flew them say lots of good thing about them, except the flight timing.

Regarding 10 Across in Y. It does actually seems really packed, and to be honest I have never sat on one of the seat on purpose. However on my last AF flight when I flew Y+, after a chit chat in the galley a passenger invited me to his seat as he got 3 row to himself, and we ended up chatting for about an hour before landing.

Without realising the 10 across configuration, i find the seat as comfortable with ample space and I am 180. So, It got me thinking if the mind-set of uncomfortable 10 across lay out is just in our mind.

Plus, with the latest article in BT about Jet and Aeroflot joining the 10Y club, it seems like sooner or later all airlines will join it. =)

[janrotterdam]

I have been flying Aeroflot on several occasions, both for international flights from Europe via Moscow to Asia, and domestic flights. Been with them to places like Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Ekatarinaburg, Sakhalin, Odessa, Bizhek and others…….never experienced any problems.
The only thing confusing can be Moscow airport…

[stevescoots]

never flown them..and always been nervous to..but I am thinking to do UK to china on them at least once to give it a go

should I…..

[AMcWhirter]

@ vertrek

Re: Aeroflot joining the 10-across club.

It seems the airlines capitalise on the fact that many economy passengers are not frequent travellers so they do not notice the denser seating found on a 777-300ER’s 10-across configuration.

10-across seating means one extra passenger per row which means more competition for overhead locker space. Unless the seats are made narrower it also means that the aisles will be narrower which makes it more difficult for passengers and staff to move around the cabin.

Fortunately, BA shows no sign of that route while TG’s new mini fleet of B777-300ERs (which are being delivered now and throughout next year) will all be configured 3-3-3. So nine across seating with these two carriers will remain for the next few years at least.

[rferguson]

Has anyone experienced the J class lounges at Moscow SVO?

[MarkCymru]

I’ve flown them a lot over the past few years. The J class seats on the 330s look as if they should be more comfortable than the 767s: they have better seat pitch and recline to 170 degrees. However, I flew them back to back last week and found that I actually slept better on the 767 seats. The 330 seats are similar to the TAP 330s, the 767 seats are very similar to the 767s used by LOT and the 340s used by TAP (if that helps)

The lounges at SVO are nothing special. In the former Soviet part of the terminal (2F), there is a newish lounge which is better than the former offering with a lot of sofas and a decent range of food. It is, though, uninspiring and the whole terminal is smoke filled (from the “designated smoking areas”). In the brand spanking new bits, (2D and 2E), Aeroflot have tried for a retro funky look with purple lights and space chairs. It doesn’t work totally but it’s well kept and has some comfortable seats. There are separate work, TV and relaxing zones. It has both food and showers. If you have the misfortune of going to 2B (domestic), try to think of it as nostalgia.

Transit is really painless now (with a fast track in D/E) and the service throughout is pretty good: not effusive but friendly enough and efficient. For example, we were very delayed taking off from Heathrow once and they offered two rounds of little appetisers and unlimited drinks in business class. On a recent SVO – CDG flight, I said that I wanted to sleep and they offered to keep my meal and heat it up whenever I woke up — try getting that on BA medium haul in business. Aeroflot is leading the whole Skyteam service improvement initiative

Aeroflot is good value and a serious world class airline.

[christopheL]

@ LondoncCity

Ten across on B777 doesn’t seam to mean a narrower seat.
According to the latest BT Airline survey EK is ranked # 1 for width in economy while AF is # 5, wich is better than BA (# 8) and TG (# 31). SU not ranked

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/airline-survey-results-revealed

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