St Petersburg to Moscow and Back: S7/Aeroexpress vs. Sapsan First Class

S7: LED-DME; Coach
Russian airports are filled with delays and long lines, so I decided to leave early and arrived around 12:30 for my 2:25pm flight..

The airport at St Petersburg was hectic, and like many developing world airports involved a security check before entering the terminal..

On the screens, passengers were told to go to counters #7 and 8, however, when I arrived I saw no notation of these being S7's counters. There were two long lines of people waiting but no check-in staff arrived until 1pm..

Even once the staff started checking people in, there was still no marking on the check in counter. An infrequent traveler may have had great difficulty. Also, there was no priority/ Business class check-in..

After security, I proceeded to the 'Business Lounge' based on my OneWorld Emerald status (S7 is a new OW carrier) It looked very much communist era in furnishings but the food wasn't bad especially in comparison to lounges in the US..

The terminal was a Stalinist structure and as such had no decadent frills such as gates. As a result, we were bussed to the awaiting aircraft.

Given that the plane had two staircases (one in front, one in back), you would think it would be reasonable to assume one is for the front half and one is for the back half of the plane. Not so, said the gruff 'gate' agent. The front staircase was for Business Class passengers only. In this case there was one person in Business (Biz was 4x the price). So the rest of us huddled masses pushed and shoved our way onto the plane.

Besides the poor legroom, the flight was your typical 1/1.5 hour flight with water/ juice offered by the cabin crew. It may be important to note that the FAs did not speak English, though the pilot made announcements in English.

Aeroexpress Train; Business Class

Upon arrival in Moscow, bags were out pretty quickly and I proceeded to take the Aeroexpress train to the city.

I think it was easily worth the extra $10 or so for Business Class on the train (Standard is approximately $10; Biz is $20). There were only a few other business class passengers on the 45 minute ride and we were served by a rather friendly conductor. Bottles of still and sparkling water were made available in a buffet format as were Russian papers. The seating in Biz is more comfortable than coach (2 by 2 leather instead of 3 by 3 cloth)

Sapsan High-Speed Train; First Class

It was an easy choice to to take the Sapsan high-speed train back to St Petersburg. I booked a First Class ticket for around $180 (Standard was around $110)

The seats in First were sleek but a bit narrow by American standards especially in comparison to the Acela (though that's arguably not a real high-speed train!). There were three attractive female attendants serving the car, which on this Friday evening was quite full with businessmen and a few families. .

Amenity kits with slippers, ear plugs and eye shades were placed on each seat.

Our speed throughout the ride averaged around 180km/h but went up to 250km/h at times.

On the four hour trip, First Class passengers were served a three course meal..

The first course was a choice of a meat salad, a fish salad or just a vegetable salad served with white or wheat rolls. I chose the meat salad which I thought was a bit bland.

The second course was a choice of Beef, Chicken or Fish. I selected the beef which was served in a sweet sauce and was quite flavorful.

For dessert, there was chocolate cake.

Alcohol was obviously complimentary.

All in all, I would equate the food with a relatively good Domestic First Class meal..

Entertainment was offered on the main screens but only in Russian. The film was a black and white movie which didn't seem to interest most of the passengers..

We arrived on time in St Petersburg.

Verdict:
I would highly recommend the Sapsan train. It's quick and the service is great..