GarryG

Thanks to all for the helpful input. I'll be flying JFK-SVO Saturday, and on to OVB Monday, returning via the same route at the end of the week. So I'll have a chance to experience the current business class experience on SU. I'll also get a chance to enjoy the pleasures of both Terminals F and D at SVO. I'll try to post a report once I'm back.

One thing that seemed odd is that the business fares that SU offers on the website seemed to bounce around unpredictably. Out of LAX, sometimes they offered a non-refundable fare around $4,100, and sometimes a refundable one around $5800. Out of JFK, it was ~$5,000 or $6000. But it seemed that they only offered one or the other, never both. Maybe a holdover from more opaque times in Russia. This made a difference in the end. I finally pulled the trigger on the cheap ticket out of LAX, but the credit card payment system crashed. When I went back to try again, the cheap fare from LA was gone, but I could get the less expensive fare out of JFK.

Veteran Aeroflot flyers probably already know another of my discoveries -- it's almost impossible to reach someone in the U.S. by phone. I tried the offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, and mostly got lots of voice prompts. It seems the best way to get someone by phone is to call Moscow, and the Skype call quality was excellent.

Keter

This is common for the majority of booking engines which do not allow to select specific booking class. The only thing SU website is somewhat inferior is that it does not allow to book unrestricted fares (it technically does, but this option in sabresonicweb is disabled; it works manually though).

luitje

Well, it does in fact; when booking your flights check the "Flexible Search" box and you'll get all the fares available on your dates. Could be a bit tricky with destinations where SU operates more than 2-3 daily flights (you'll get multiple pages making it difficult to pick the flights you want). limiting the search around hours you want to fly at fixes this issue though.

luitje

Aeroflot offers a 7% discount off all its fares for booking made with Visa Gold, Visa Platinum, and Visa Infinite cards.
Getting a discount is a bit tricky though. When booking a ticket with aeroflot.ru website on the payment step you must enter a promo-code (station code) VIS01 and then your personal discount number(s).
The latter is available from Aeroflot Bonus site (go to the "My Account", select "Get Discount Code", punch in first 6 digits of you credit card number, check "accept the terms" box and hit "Continue"; this will return a unique code you must supply at the time of your booking to get a discount). Each SU Bonus member can get up to 8 unique codes to use with his/her bookings. These should be used with a credit card they have been issued for.

woody125

Any branded Gold, Plat, Infinite cards qualify for this? With their SU site not taking AMEX regularly, I'm looking for a reason to jump. A 7% discount would be reason enough I think.

Do you have such a card? If so, may I ask what bank issued it?

luitje

Positive. The best way to check is to go to their website and check whether a code will be generated from your card number.
I've got Visa Infinite from Barclays; don't use it much though (32% APR is over the top IMHO).

Keter

You are right, I just was not precise. My point was that it does not allow to select a specific booking class (but indeed allows to select from a range of classes). This however, does not apply to multi city itineraries where both things are impossible - booking class selection and selection of unrestricted fares. Selection of unrestricted fares can however be tricked manually (thank to CY website using the same Sabresonicweb inteerface).

waltinsocal

Did not know if this belonged here, or in the other forum on travel to Russia, so I posted it there and wanted everyone here to see it since it is safe to assume everyone here is going to Russia. I have, below, provided a link to a recent article concerning there no longer being the necessity to get a visa to travel to St. Petersburg for trips of 72 hours or less if you travel by AIR. I am well aware of the previous "cruise ship" exemption. This seems to be totally different. I am going to St. Petersburg in January, so if anyone makes it there on Aeroflot (or any other airline) on new this new policy, I would appreciate it if you would post. Thanks.

http://www.mn.ru/russia/20100708/187917987.html

rob_vie

As my work will require more flying to former Sovjet countries, I will be flying more with Aeroflot in the future.

I'm a LH SEN (*A Gold) and was checking if they still do a status match?

I have found several references to this, however (including the first post) when trying to locate the appropriate form the link direct me to the general Aeroflot Bonus website.

Any help appreciated.

thx,
rob_vie

Keter

You may try contacting Aeroflot Bonus by e-mail. Based on what I saw personally when meeting Aeroflot Bonus team they sometimes do issue SU Gold cards on request for marketing purposes (note, this is not a status match). However, I do not have any confirmed examples. Anyway, it is worth trying.

GarryG

Just back from my JFK-SVO-OVB round trip in business. In sum, the experience was, if anything, better than I expected from everything I've read on-line. As others have reported, the biz experience in the A320's and A330's is very good overall. In particular, the flight attendants were friendlier and smiled more than I was expecting based on other flyers' reports. The meals were good -- the fish entrees were better than average for airline food. The only negative about the A330s is that the seats are just short of lie-flat -- they retain a slight tilt even in full recline, so that I always had a slight feeling I could slide down. On both the A320's and A3330's, there was power at the seats, which is one of the amenities I care most about.

Coming into Moscow, I found SVO Terminal F pretty easy to navigate. Immigration was reasonably quick and, once I figured out I had to go upstairs to head for the Aeroexpress train into Moscow, it was easy to get there on the skyway (though it's not a short walk). The train is a quick and comfortable way to get to Moscow's Byelorussky station, from which you can access the Metro or grab a cab. The Metro works well, but it helps a lot to read some Russian -- there no signs in English.

Checking in a day later at Terminal D for my flight to OVB, everything was smooth except for getting through security clearance, which was a chaotic madhouse. Huge crowds, competition for the scarce plastic baskets that you have to use, and no instructions about procedures. I spent some time observing the Russians. I'm not sure I ever got it exactly right, but the deal seems to be to put shoes, jackets, belts and any metal objects into a basket, and don a set of plastic booties for reasons unknown. Apparently it isn't necessary to pull laptops out of your briefcase, but don't hold me to that.

I got more confused on the return trip when I needed to transfer from D to F. First, I had to ignore the signs in D about international transit, and instead follow the signs pointing to the exit. Then, once outside security, I had to find the elevator up to the 2d floor, to get to the skyway. After hiking over to F, I was puzzled for a while about the absence of check-in counters. When I had checked in at D for my flight to OVB, all the check-in counters were out front where you expect them to be, but it took me a while to realize that check-in in F is behind customs, and that you have to read the big sign in the center of the terminal to determine whether to go left or right to enter customs.

As to the SVO lounges, I liked the Classic lounge in F much better than the lounge in D where I spent an hour or so before my red-eye to Novosibirsk. The D lounge was overcrowded (Aeroflot seems to run a lot of red-eyes), and the furniture in the work area in the far back corner was clunky -- heavy uncomfortable chairs that were hard to move. Classic, on the other hand, is much roomier, and more comfortable. The transition from the light color scheme in the front to the dark, men's club tones in the back is a little odd, but I found it a pleasant spot to spend a couple of hours. Wi-fi worked fine in both lounges.

I was also happy to find that there was free Wi-Fi at the coffee shop near the Aeroexpress terminal, which enabled me to send email home after the overnight flight from JFK while waiting for the train to Moscow. On the other hand, I wasn't able to get Wi-fi on the main floor at Terminal F. The only option was a paid service that you could sign up for with a working cell phone, which I didn't have.

woody125

And OVB? What did you think of our fair airport?

toyotaboy95

Aeroflot is increasing SVO-HKG to daily A330-200 from 27 March 2011.

http://airlineroute.net/2010/10/27/su-hkg-s11/

GarryG

I spent very little time there, and on my return I think maybe I missed the business class lounge by checking in on a coach line (I didn't realize until too late that business had a separate check-in line on the far right for my flight). I tried unsuccessfully for wifi at the coffee bar on the first floor. Then I spent about 45 minutes parked in the second floor waiting area, where the seat was wobbly and the amenities seemed spartan. When boarding began, I found myself in an empty business class section. Then, about fifteen minutes later, the rest of the section arrived in a group.

OVB is a fairly long ride from downtown Novosibirsk, but the airport is easy to get around and wasn't very crowded. Getting through security was a much more relaxed experience than it had been in SVO on the way out.

Did I miss some of the highlights of the OVB experience?

chalf

I was flying SVO-LHR on SU this week, and the agent hesitated on seeing my Flying Blue Platinum card before printing a lounge invitation voucher. She mentioned that transit passengers with "those cards" do not get lounge access, suggesting that even SkyTeam Elite+ passengers transiting through SVO would not receive lounge access by virtue of having E+ status. Can anyone confirm this?

I was originating in Moscow and traveling J, so it was academic for me, but it may well affect my decision to connect in Moscow on Aeroflot in the future.