Originally Posted by
USCGamecock
To answer that question, I'd only use Aeroflot if you needed to redeem miles to/from Russia. Their flights are Russian and, IMHO, still not up to western standards. However, the short flights within Russia and Europe are OK, but several friends of mine would rather not use them on long-haul flights unless they are up front and out of necessity. Again, just my 2 cents worth.
I did four SU segments last month:
OSL-->SVO in C on a Tu-154
SVO-->LED in Y on a Tu-154
LED-->SVO in Y on a 767
SVO-->HKG in C on a 767
Overall, the experience was good, but I did not ride in back on the sole long-haul segment (to Hong Kong).
Goods:
Aeroflot check-in and gate service
Aeroflot in-cabin service
Aeroflot in-cabin food
All WorldPerks miles promptly credited on all segments
Love the 1960's decor on the Tupolev's (really)
Bads:
Russian airport service (screener at LED stole my cheap iPod.)
Cuts Either Way
The aeroflot FA's are probably assigned by seniority, so that those on long-haul flights in the front-of-plane are older than the ones in domestic Y.
The experienced FA's unfailingly polite and competent, but if you want China Southern's beauty contest winners (as an example), then neither SU nor Delta are your airline of choice.
While sitting on the runway at SVO for departure, I noticed a landing Aeroflot jet abort (got below 100 ft above runway) because a third Aeroflot was still sitting at the end of the same runway. No real danger because there was still room to land and stop short of the third aircraft, but I wonder if the late go-around was the pilot's (wise) decision, and ATC didn't tell him the runway was not clear.
Proactive piloting or incompetent air control? Who knows?