Was surprised not to see any posts on Transaero (that I could find at least), so it's a nice surprise to be able to contribute something fresh, in turn

As a quick intro, for those who are not familiar with it, Transaero is a Russian airline, which has been around for 20 years, and has come a long way, to become a premium service provider (they recently won the best European airline award from Skytrax).

I used Transaero a few times in the late 90s, to do TLV-DME-OVB, and a bunch of TLV-DME and back flights - nothing too memorable or exciting, at least at the time (it was a mixture of IL and MD planes).

Any subsequent travel to Russia has usually been on Skyteam metal, KLM to be more specific, as Aeroflot has decided to part ways with YYZ over high landing fees and various other issues. Once they left, there weren't any direct flights, so I always went YYZ-AMS-SVO.

Transaero has been flying to YUL, for a few years now, and so they decided to swallow the high landing fees and step in to fill the void at YYZ, offering a direct YYZ-DME flight, a few times a week during the summer months, and once a week during the winter months.

I took a few flights, specifically YYZ-DME, DME-DOK and back, flying their business class, which on this route is not the best (still beats economy), but not the worst either. The plane doing YYZ-DME is an older 777-200, with 3 rows of 2-3-2 in business class, and 3 rows of 1-2-1 pods in first class (they call it Imperial class, but we'll get to that later).

The seats are older, manual type, not really offering a full recline, however you can catch some sleep, if you really want to, as the business class cabin is small and quiet. The time of the flight is not really "sleep" time (leaves YYZ around 6pm EST). The TV screen in the arm rest just shows you the flight map - the flight attendants hand out portable media players and headsets to all business and first class passengers, however I always find the movie selection to be quite sad.

The 2 highlights of flying Transaero business class are the amenity kit, and the food. The amenity kit has slippers - I just love them! Beats KLM's business class socks by far and wide - the slippers are just a lot comfier, more hygienic and what not (as a side note, I took at least 30 TATL flights with KLM in business class in the last 2.5 years, so I got to wear those socks quite a bit).

The food is simply excellent. Nuff said. It is a blend of typical Russian fare, with a pan-European flair. There is always good dessert following the main course, so you can really try sleeping on a full stomach

The service is exceptionally polite (haven't had any incidents, since I started flying with them). Caveat - I speak fluent Russian, so this might have something to do with the quality of service (or not).

The Transaero lounges in DME are nice and big, with a good selection of different espresso flavours, various sandwiches, nice magazines and etc. When I got there once, in the early am (5, to be precise), from PEK, and my flight home to YYZ wasn't until 2 in the afternoon, I was initially told, I cannot use the lounge, as it's "too early before my flight". This quickly changed, after I chatted with the lounge ladies for a bit, and they just let me in.

Now, this really covers YYZ-DME Business Class. Nothing much about DME-DOK - just a 737, with a small business class, some unique food (traditional russian blintzes with condensed milk - coolest thing ever), and an uneventful 45 minute flight. The VIP minivan, which takes you to VIP arrivals in DOK is pretty cool. The VIP arrivals are pretty cool too - all immigration and customs formalities are handled, while you are lounging on a plush leather couch, with a fresh cup of tea in hand.

Now, YYZ-PEK was a very different ball game - the plane flown there was one of Transaero's newer 777-300, with full recline business class seats, with privacy hoods, and touch screen remotes for the armrest TVs. I vaguely seem to recognize this plane configuration, from it's earlier days, however can't quite put my finger on it.

Anyhow, business class was pretty empty - just me and another lady, so we basically sat on the opposite sides of the plane, and each had a flight attendant to call his/her own. First class was even emptier - just one passenger.

Was able to sleep pretty comfortably, since it was full recline (just the angle was a bit annoying - I'm a tall guy). The onboard entertainment selection was vastly better than the little players they have on the YYZ-DME route. My assigned seat had a broken remote, so I was basically told to sit anywhere I feel like.

The way back, from PEK to DME was a lot more "interesting". It started when I got to the airport, and found out that the agents handling the check in, work for Air China and Air Canada, and basically don't know anything and cannot do anything about any Transaero related matters (I needed a boarding pass for my onward journey to YYZ, which I wanted to get there, as opposed to the transfer desk in Moscow).

I was then sent to the Air China lounge, which is not the closest to the gate the flight was departing from, and the lounge people couldn't find my flight, and then the guy honestly admitted he can't pronounce where is it that I'm flying to, and that he'll find me, when time comes The lounge was ok, however the amount of stalls in the washroom is a bit ridiculous - you have this big lounge, with like 2 stalls. Easier to leave the lounge and go to a regular one - cleaner, anyway

The boarding was a bit of a disaster too - they never announced business class, but then started holding everyone up, saying "you're not business class, so you have to wait!". Did the same to me, twice, until the gate lady finally decided to have a look at my boarding pass and see it was for business class.

I thought I will get the same nice full recline seats and aircraft on the way back (since it was a night flight) - no such luck - it was the same kind of a 777-200 as in YYZ, and it was PACKED. With that in mind, I still had a good nap.

Now for the crown jewel - for whatever reason, my last leg (DME-YYZ) was given to me in First Class, as opposed to Business, for the same price. When you fly their Imperial class into DME, you get a separate VIP arrivals lounge, and a Mercedes limo, which takes you into town.

The DME-YYZ leg was very nice - yes, the 777-200 is an older aircraft, however the first (Imperial as they call it) class has nice lie flat sleeping pods (all electronics work properly), which the flight attendants make into even more of a bed, when you decided to sleep. They actually put this little mattress on top of the seat, then make it up with bed sheets, a super plush pillow and a nice blanket.

The amenity kit is packed in a bit of an odd way - if the business class one is this compact blue bag, which has the slippers (go back to the beginning of the story) folded, first class has basically this plush red velvet case for slippers (full length), with all of the relevant stuff inserted into the case. Now the slippers are excellent! I kept them, and I use them in hotels. The red velvet is nasty (color wise), but they are super cushy. The eye shade is the best one I saw, even better than my trusty Emirates eye shade, so it became my main one now. Excellent quality ear plugs, with their own little plastic carrying case (with a belt clip ) for future use.

The TV screen built into the pod is the same type as in business class, so flight map only, stupid media player with no movies here we come. Love my iPad

The lavatories are full of L'Occitane cosmetics, with nice things such as face mist and what not.

The flight attendants have separate uniforms (from the rest of the crew), designed by a top designer in Russia. Pretty cool looking actually.

Anyhow, the absolute highlight of the experience is the food. I've flown nearly a million kilometers (will cross the million threshold next week, when I will be returning from NAN to YYZ via LAX), with many different airlines - nothing ever came close to this celebration of culinary delight! Absolutely INCREDIBLE!

I always liked my KLM business class meals - now I can barely touch them. They suck. I can't stop thinking about those Imperial class meals

Basically, there is a famous restaurant in Moscow (the Pushkin Cafe), which makes the Imperial class food. You are presented with a menu, which has literally dozens of different items, and they were ALL available - I just couldn't believe my eyes and ears. The English menu is pretty bad (translation wise), which I told them about - they asked me to fill in a comment card - let's see if anything changes. Some things are pretty major - calling a sturgeon a whitefish, is not exactly right...

Ended up overeating royally, as I just had to try more

Now, here is the best part about Transaero - their pricing. It's just incredibly low, compared to the airlines I use most, which are KLM, Delta and Emirates, so what I am doing now, is trying to shift some of my trips to use DME as a hub, as opposed to AMS, since I'm just getting a lot more bang for my buck. As a matter of fact, I am going to do YYZ-DME-FRU-DXB-BKK-RGN-BKK-DME-YYZ next month, with Transaero as the main airline of choice (I'm flying to DME from BKK on purpose, as it let's me use them).

I didn't think to take any pictures at the time, but will certainly take some next month.



Now a funny side story - I got into DME from PEK, got my new boarding pass from the transfer desk, and took the transfer corridor, to go to the lounge. Went through security, got into the lounge, and started to relax, when I got a phone call from a colleague, saying we need to meet, since he has to give me something and discuss a few things.

Sure, I say. As he is driving to the airport, I do what a sane person wants to do, and try to go out. No such luck. Security tells me I can't go out, and I have to go see the Border people. Ok, I go where I'm told, which is basically a small area full of Tajik people (local migrant workers), who are being harassed by Russian authorities. After making my inquiry, I am directed to a sour faced young lieutenant, who is busy going over Tajik passports. He asks me for my business, and then asks me why exactly do I have to go out? Met with a surprised stare, he says, hey, let's get your friend over here, I will let you go out a few feet past the border control booths, take your stuff from him and then go back in.

Well, I said, I would really like to sit down and have coffee with my colleague. Fine, the officer says. You will then have to wait.

Then he proceeds to do nothing (quite demonstratively). This goes on for about 25 minutes. Then he looks up, and with an attempt at genuine surprise says - oh, you're still here. I guess you really need to go out. Well, you can't. Why, I say? You have a foreign passport he says, and you need a visa. I got one right here, I say. He goes through my passport (in disbelief, I must add), and then says, ok, you do have a visa. But guess what - it's not up to me (!!!). So, what in the world am I supposed to do then, I say?

He says, go back to where the transit corridor ends, knock on the door (!!!) and see if they will be nice and let you back in (!!!).

Completely baffled (and flabbergasted), I made my way to that transit corridor door, and did what he told me to (after wasting over 30 minutes of my time). Luckily for me, the border officer inside was a young, bored girl, so that one worked out well, and I was on my way to passport control. The passport business went ok, as well, with a bit of a surprise on the part of the border control officers, as I was the only passenger, and then the customs guys, who asked me where I came from, and when I said PEK, they said how come - had to tell them my story.

Anyhow, by now, you would think it all ended nice and well, right? Wrong!

As I finished my coffee with my colleague, I made my way back to passport control. DME has a nice feature, where first and business class passengers have a separate passport control area and separate security screening, so you don't have the lengthy lineups and all the regular fun of being at an airport.

Well, this time there was a lineup (around 10 people), and only one booth open. Now, I'm starting to run out of time. As in boarding will start any minute now out of time.

Ok, I wait and I wait, and then it's my turn. What's this, the border lady says? What's what, I reply? This boarding pass of yours - it's not valid! What do you mean it's not valid? It says DME-YYZ right here!

Yes, the border lady replies. But it's a transit pass. Does this look like transit to you? It most certainly does not. Alright, I say - what is it that you want me to do? Go back to check in, says the border lady - they will give you a new one.

What check in, says I - the flight will begin boarding any minute, if it didn't already. Well, you are flying Imperial class, so they will take care of you, says the border lady.

This is when I knew I'm having one of those make it or break it moments.

Look lady, I said. If you don't let me through, you are going to have to marry me. What?! said the lady (with a broad smile). To which I replied - if I don't make it home today, in time for my daughter's art exhibition, I am not going to have a home anymore, so you will have to marry me, and create a new home for me.

So, she laughed, stamped my passport and said run - hope you can make it through security. Don't worry I said, and for the first time in quite a while, I actually ran at an airport.

Security was a breeze, and then came the grand surprise - the bloody flight was delayed by 2 hours!


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