Originally Posted by ghia74
Thanks,
(1) By any chance will my Delta Gold Status get me on any shorter lines whether it is immigration on the way out or security on the way back? And am I less likely to face a delay on a weekend than a weekday?
No.
You must excuse me laughing but Delta Gold status is as relevant to the Immigration and Security as your dog's name or your mum's star sign. It is Russia and EVERYONE is treated with equal inefficiency and incompetence, ESPECIALLY at SVO.
Forget about Immigration - consider yourself lucky if Delta Gold gets you to go to lounge even if you are entitled to this...
The ONLY way to avoid the immigration queue is to be invited to the country as a full-fledged VIP (currently available to most Thirld World dictators and ageing Western pop stars such as Paul McCartney).
Originally Posted by ghia74
Some searches in the Skyteam forum are making me feel better about using Aeroflot so the excursion is much more likely.
Err, I would not be so optimistic, but yes, Aeroflot is better than they used to be. You may find that the flight from/to JFK (where they carry "proper capitalist foreigners") is treated differently from a flight to India ("underdeveloped brown people").
I am yet to meet anyone who would say they LOVE Aeroflot the same way people speak about Cathay Pacific or Emirates or Swiss International. Mostly people say - "well it was not as bad as I thought".