Originally Posted by
oranjemakker
Flew Aeroflot a few weeks ago from Paris to Guangzhou, via Moscow, in Y. Am an Elite Plus member of Skyteam
I was curious as to what this airline would be like.
Overall, pretty good, the seats were fine for Y and as a Elite member they let me book exit row on the long haul part (Moscow to Guangzhou). i had no one next to me in the 2-4-2 config so got the two exit row seats to myself. That was all good.
The transfer at Moscow was horrible. A very subpar security situation, pushing about four rows of transiting passengers through 2 very understaffed checkpoints. The person in front of me (a Chinese female traveler) even beeped walking through the screening but they didn't notice (or didn't care). This is a major oversight and very sloppy. it took a LONG time to get through the transit.
The lounges were also terrible, they had funky names but checked out two and they both sucked. Disgusting food and a very poor booze selection and uncomfortable seating. In their home airport one would expect better.
I also had a rather bizarre situation on the flight. Just before takeoff, I moved from the exit window to the exit aisle seat (which was literally right next to me) and as an exit i was sitting opposite the FA in the jump seat for takeoff and she was looking at me. After takeoff, she came to ma and said we were not allowed to change seats. it was so weird, since literally this was the seat right next to me. I asked politely if it might be Ok as a Skyteam premium member, and she said she needed to check with the FSM. She duly came back and said it was OK. I just found that really weird as it wasnt moving a row or anything, just the empty seat right next to me!
The other disappointing thing was the food and booze. I wasn't too worried about having to pay for alcohol (surprised maybe as it was a mainline long haul) but the choice was beer (which turned out to be warm) and no liquor. Not even vodka which i expected on Aeroflot! When I asked if they had vodka the FA looked at me like i was mad and said only in business class. And the food available to purchase was disgusting.
I flew it because it was a cheap one way, and as I said it was fine, but the connection experience at Moscow would put me off flying this airline again unless I had to.
I'll echo what a few others have said - it sounds like you may have had your hopes up to Aeroflot. Would have been better to temper those expectations slightly.
A few things worth commenting on, though:
- In my various trips to Russia, I've noticed that certain metal detectors behave differently in the country. At large metro stations, all passengers walk through them as they enter, and literally every passenger would appear to set it off; however, if you look at the reverse side, there's a series of lights. The attendants at the entrance are watching the display of the lights to determine who they need to examine further, and are paying no attention to any of the tones. While I don't know for sure, I wonder if you may have run into something similar with the passenger ahead of you setting off the tone but continuing on uncontested. Just a guess, since I've actually found Russian airport security to be rather diligent, to put it nicely.
- It's been years since liquor has been served in economy on Aeroflot. A few too many individuals lived up to the age-old stereotype a few too many times, so Y is no longer the place to get sloshed on Aeroflot.