I was just wondering why so many people were "afraid" of Aeroflot and russian airlines in general even if they never used it or even went there. The "reputation" process is still fascinating....
Here are my humble thanks
1)I never took Aeroflot itself, just others companies from exUSSR (moldova, Russia)
I used last summer for a Moscow-Saint Petersbourg Pulkovo Airlines (1hour flight). The planes , 2 Ilyouchin, a small and a big,don't remember the numbers, were old but not older than some 727 used by northamericans companies as AA for instance. Service in coach was OK, with drinks, then coffes and cakes, even with a small wet towel. Having done a lot of US domestic flights, i don't think you get as much as that for comparable flights. In Europe, the standards are higher at least for food-drinks.
Down side: the FA are not as strict as "western" companies to enforce the security rules for passengers: seat belt and so on...
2) I think that large russian airlines like Aeroflot, Transaero , Pulkovo with a large flot, established structures are reliable.
The problem of image for aeroflot comes from that all the current airlines are daughter from the soviet Aeroflot that splitted with the USSR. The new aeroflot has still good maintenance facilities, many aircrafts, western and russian (that are actually good aircrafts, rustic but working and resistant as many things from USSR). The problem is all those little companies having just a couple of western planes for the "image", but making them rotating full time, without really maintaining them. They were those who had accidents, not the new aeroflot.
3) to finish a general comment about russia.
Russia is in a bad shape now, but i am surprised to see how many people can be sarcastic or disregard Russia and russians. Communism is one thing, but through its history Russia proved it was a great country that brought many things to the world. They will come back one day. History is a long sequence of up and downs.
Have a great weekend