Part 11: Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) in Aeroflot business class
SU2459 (booked as AF4916)- Airbus A319 - Seat 2A
STD 17:45pm - STA 23:20pm (flight time 3h35m)

I was the first to board and warmly welcomed by the crew. It was great to finally see some real business class seats - which was my main reason of selecting an Aeroflot operated flight instead of Air France. The seat looked great and had a towel and a pillow, and the FA immediately brought out an amenity kit and slippers. And that on an intra-European flight!





The FA who would serve me for most of the evening, a friendly guy named Sergey, immediately introduced himself while bringing me the amenity kit and offered me a PDB. Naturally, I opted for champagne. While sipping the champagne I watched the other people board the plane. As I expected, the load was very light. Business class had two other individuals, a German couple in their mid 50s and a Russian couple in their 40s with a small dog which the woman kept on her lap the entire flight. As business class stretched five rows deep it meant that none of the individually travelling passengers had a seat mate, which was a blessing. I guess that economy might have had no more than 30 to 40 passengers.


PDB champagne


Aeroflot branded amenity kit unpacked

While the amenity kit was basic by what it had inside (no branded goods), the sheer luxury of getting an amenity kit in the first place on an intra-European flight was the factor here that counts - bigly. I did like the Aeroflot bag which had a FA dressed in a retro 1980s uniform on it and could even easily see myself using it again when going on a camping trip at home or so. I did very much appreciate the slippers, which I think was a nice touch and extremely useful.

You can immediately see how great the flight will be just solely judging on first impressions of the cabin crew. While this cabin crew was far from refined (eg. f&b knowledge, the way of presenting drinks), they were genuinely friendly, eager to please and proud of their job. As Sergey saw that I snapped a picture of the cabin, he asked me if I wanted him to perhaps take a picture of me, to which I gladly obliged. I take a flight crew like this any day about an immaculately professional yet grumpy crew!

After a short while, Sergey distributed the menu and drinks list. The drinks list for Aeroflot is the same for intra-European flights as it is for long intercontinental flights, which is a nice touch. The sole difference is that some drinks and all cocktails are only available on flights longer than 5 hour.















After what seemed again an eternity of taxiing in the maze of Charles de Gaulle, we took off at a runway near Terminal 1. It did however give some absolutely stunning sunset views over the airport and some exotic airline spotting.


An Air Austral plane parked at the gate next to us. For those who don't know it, is an airline based in the French overseas territory of Reunion, an amazing volcanic island off the coast of Africa which is high on my list of destinations I want to visit. Air Austral once operated an amazingly exotic route from Reunion all over the Indian Ocean and Australia to French Caledonia - which was of course discontinued due to it being unprofitable. I would have loved to fly that route once!


Korean Air A380


An Air France flight which just arrived


Lovely sunset over the control tower of CDG











Once above the clouds the service started, with the crew distributing hot towels and coming to each seat asking for drink and meal choices. When I opted for the nelma as starter, FA Tatiana told me they loaded “French salmon” in Paris instead. I never tasted nelma before (an arctic fish which belongs to the family of salmons), so it was a bit of a pity, although Tatiana said the salmon dish was “better”.


Hot towel being distributed


The view over the French-German border region when meal service started

Table clothes were distributed and Sergey came with the bottle champagne, which is nicely poured in full sight of you into a new glass instead of being prepared in the galley. Aeroflot serves Ayala on its international business class flights. It's a relatively unknown champagne and a bold but great choice if you ask me - I very much like it. It's nowadays owned by Bollinger, but still sets itself apart from other champagnes by using a blend of 40% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir and 20% Pinot Meunier - while most champagnes just use Pinot Noir only (or blending it only with tiny bits of other grapes). Eminently drinkable and a nice change from the more common champagnes.


A second glass of champagne, with some warm nuts

Although both FAs working the business class cabin did an outstanding job, there are small aspects which can be improved. If pouring in a drink at the seat, you should show the label – and not just bring over the bottle and pour it in. But after eurobusiness on KL and AF, who cares?


Not the way how I would show a bottle of champagne, but it's forgiven ;-)

Sergey came back with a table cloth, and minutes later the newly loaded "French salmon" starter was brought on a tray. But wait, what is that what my eye were seeing? A bit of caviar and a blini – score!





The salmon tasted very fresh and was delicious too. And I just *might* have had yet another glass of champagne too with the meal ;-)

The main dish which I chose was the grouper on a bed of rice with some veggies – the fish was moist and tender and did not disappoint. The honey-miso sauce was good too. I had the Chablis white with it, which wasn't very exciting.


Aeroflot main: grouper on a bed of rice

Overall the presentation of the food was excellent - especially the starter on nice glass plates. The only small criticism I can think of is the small cup of sauce which looked a bit take-away restaurant style.

For dessert, something called an Esterhazy cake was brought to my table, which was a kind of mixture between cake and chocolate mousse. It wasn't bad at all. I had an espresso and nice Delamain XO cognac to wash it away. I adored the little chocolate which came with the coffee, which had not only a big Aeroflot logo on the front, but dozens of minuscule logos on the back too. Talk about detail! While the champagne glass had no Aeroflot logo, the cognac glass was Aeroflot branded – which is a cool touch.


Esterhazy cake, Delamain XO cognac and an espresso




[img]I love the small Aeroflot logos on the chocolate[/img]

Refills were pro-actively offered, but again the lack of refinement did show. I know that Russians do like a tipple, but if I just ordered a cognac and a coffee, why come back 2 minutes later and ask if at the same time if I also would like a refill of my champagne? Don't get me wrong – I liked the crew and their pro-active approach – but in my opinion it's just a bit weird and does not show a great deal of knowledge about eating and drinking etiquette. The question if I wanted a lemon for in my cognac was a bit weird too in my opinion.

After the meal service the crew disappeared in the galley, although they would occasionally stroll through the cabin to check if we were still doing fine and might want some more booze. I was fine with my very generous dose of cognac and just worked a bit on my laptop for the remainder of the flight (there were plugs built in the seats). I also had a look in the in-flight magazine of Aeroflot, which had some hilarious pages.


Looks more like a 1980s German schlager singer than an airline CEO!


Russia's skiing scene will soon trump the likes of France... well don't tell that to the French! Don't get me wrong, the (Russian) Caucasus is absolutely stunning, but I won't ever see it trump Val Thorens. A bit of old-style Soviet propaganda talk more ;-)

Shortly before landing, the crew gave us each a package of tea as a small gift to thanks us for flying Aeroflot, which is a very nice touch.


Small Aeroflot present to business class passengers


Shortly before arrival at SVO


SVO airport

We landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport on time, and I made my way through Russian immigration to the domestic terminal D for my flight to Irkutsk.

Bottom line: Aeroflot is no Qatar Airways or Singapore, but it outshines all other European airlines on short and medium haul routes in business class, with the possible exception of Turkish Airlines. It has a great hard product, great soft product, a nice champagne, and friendly and eager-to-please staff. The days of Aeroflot jokes and horror stories about ancient Antonov's falling from the skies are over (Aeroflot operates a modern fleet consisting of Boeings, Airbuses and a few Sukhoi superjets). Those who would still opt for Air France or KLM metal flights over Aeroflot when flying to Russia are in dire need of some re-education at a gulag – Aeroflot is the real deal now in Europe.

Next up: Transiting through Sheremetyevo Airport and its (dreadful) domestic lounge