Originally Posted by
Concerto
A few thoughts on S7. I think their customer service is excellent, a lot better than what you get with the majors in Europe these days. Booking, rebooking, confirming and cancelling tickets, no problem, all efficient, excellent English. I booked S7 from DME to DUS in Economy Basic and paid about EUR107 for a One Way, a bargain I think. It turned out that the flight was operated by Globus LLC, although there was very little evidence to that fact except for a small mention of Globus on the inflight safety card. I was assigned 30B right at the back in the last row, and I stuck with it. This non reclining middle seat was extremely tight, especially if the pax in front reclined. Other options were RUB400, for another seat, RUB1,900 for a legroom seat and RUB8,000 for Business class. This latter does not offer extra miles or lounge access, just an expensive meal on the plane, so it is a bad deal (I might consider it up to a maximum of RUB5,000).
Inflight service was excellent, ŕ l'ancienne. Service on this 3h20 flight began with a trolley run of water (still or sparkling) and juice (orange, apple, tomato). Then a choice of hot meals were distributed, fish with rice or chicken with pasta (I had the former) along with a cardboard box containing, a slice of bread, packaged soft cheese, a roll with chicken liver paté, and a chocolate biscuit to accompany the subsequent service of tea/coffee, of which refills were offered. Really good, compared to what LX, BA or SN are offering these days.
A cabin crew member told me that you can identify S7 Airlines flights because they are operated by Airbus and Embraer, whereas Globus (GH) flights are operated with the Boeing 737-800. IS there any way to book Globus flights under the GH code?
That's right. All the 738 are operated by Globus and all the A32X and E170s are operated by S7.
Globus (GH) was established back in 2008 when S7 had huge financial problems (S7 management do deserve a praise here IMO, the lessons of 2008 have taught them a lot and that is the reason we now see a very clear and healthy development strategy).
As far as "passenger experience" goes, S7 and GH are totally identical. The ticketing rules (GH itself does not sell tickets) and service standards are exactly the same (this includes the oneworld membership).
At the same time, there are some operational differences. The cabin and cockpit crew are employed by GH and not by S7 and they don't tend to move between the two "entities". On domestic flights, S7 may (and often) does substitute A320 to B738 and v.v., but that almost never happens on the international flights because the airline has to get a permit from the governments of both countries to operate a route. So, for instance, you would never see an A320 on the DUS-DME route because S7 is not licensed to operate it.