JohnAx

People here are always proposing inane surveys like this, so I thought it was time (in view of the other Aeroflot posting) to run this one up the flagpole.

My personal answer: if I wasn't forced to take anyone near and dear along, on Soviet equipment, US$5000 per flying hour; on Western equipment, $500 per hour MIGHT do it.

pynchonesque

I've flown Aeroflot on Soviet equipment, though I was too young at the time to have had a say in the matter...

It's interesting to discuss whether what you want compensated is the danger, or the bad service/attitude/etc. E.g., how much would you want to be paid if the Aeroflot plane had SQ flight attendants, gate agents, seats, and service?

Anyway, I'm very risk-averse when it comes to things like this, so I'd require substantially more than what you cited as compensation for the danger. Not sure how much, but maybe 5-10x the figures you cited. I know that no one will pay me this much to fly Aeroflot, which is why I don't fly Aeroflot.

Lastly, what Aeroflot estimates this difference to be can easily be calculated by seeing price differences between Aeroflot and other airlines. They apparently have enough takers, given their lower prices on some routes are equivalent to being "paid" to fly Aeroflot.

clacko

was on a tour in ,like 1986, where we flew from moscow to irkust,got on trans siberian rr for 2 1/2 days to kharbarosk & then flew to st pete. if you don't like int'l aeroflot, don't fly domestic. however, it worked & we got more than peanuts [but not much more]. the train ride was nice & food was good. i would not book them by choice, but for $10-15k/segment , who knows. the flights we were on are probably not aeroflot now. ibelieve it is split up.

[This message has been edited by clacko (edited 06-04-2001).]

FOH

My parents flew Aeroflot last week. I think price was a primary consideration although they're not going to Moscow so there aren't too many other options for them. The aircraft for Seattle to Moscow was a Boeing 777. They seem to be cycling out the older Soviet-built aircraft.

pynchonesque

According to a dedicated Aeroflot flyer with whom I'm acquainted (who flies them because they allow smoking), all of Aeroflot's international flights are on Boeings, and all its international pilots have undergone Boeing-sponsored training in the US.

I, however, still maintain (no pun intended) that airline safety takes a lot more than just buying a good plane.

fallinasleep

Flying what I perceive to be a dangerous (or rather less than safe) airline really depends on how badly I want to go to a certain destination. There are some places in the world that are not really accessible any other way.

If I really felt that an airline was unsafe (if they had two or three crashes in the past 12 months for example), however, I would never fly it until its safety record improved over a period of time, regardless of the payment offered or how cheap the ticket price is. What's the point? For example, as much as I wanted to see certain parts of Mongolia a few years back, I just couldn't get myself to board a domestic MIAT flight and I didn't have time to spend an additional week overlanding to see the western part of the country. At the time, a couple of MIAT planes had just crashed. Instead I focused my touring on a part of the country that was more accessible by road. I figured I was young enough to get back to Mongolia some other time.

However, for the most part, there aren't many airlines that come to mind where I would have such an objection at the moment. I would probably think twice before flying domestically within certain countries, but I wouldn't have a problem flying Aeroflot internationally to Moscow or St Pb on its newer fleet. I would, however, try to avoid older aircraft from the former Soviet Union, if I had a choice, as I would be concerned about maintenance and spare parts availability with certain cash-strapped carriers.

HKG_Flyer1

I've flown Aeroflot twice in the last couple of years, both times on Ilyushins (Seoul-Shanghai; Bangkok-Singapore) in F class. Although the aircraft seemed pretty beat-up, I found the in-flight service to be fine-- at least as good as average U.S. domestic.

duplojohn

Don't know about flying them, but, hands down the agents at the Aeroflot counter at SEA-TAC are the scariest people I've ever seen.

HKG_Flyer1

Thinking back on my experience, ck-in at both BKK and SEL was handled by third parties (Thai Airways and Asiana, I believe).

I do remember in Seoul that a menacing Russian bouncer-type employee showed up at the gate and there seemed to be a lot of angry back-and-forth between this guy and a lot of my fellow pax (all of this took place in Russian, so I don't have a clue as to what was going on).

Also, while the in-flight service was good, on my Seoul-Shanghai flight, there were a handful of semi-dissheveled guys dressed in what appeared to be Aeroflot flight uniforms (pilot, co-pilot, etc.) who were drinking pretty heavily. I assumed they weren't on duty and were just repositioning themselves to Shanghai.

The guy sitting next to me was a Russian gov't official-- he was drinking straight vodka, and lot's of it. When he found out I wasn't Russian, he became extremely friendly and wanted to introduce me to female members of the dance troupe that were sitting back in economy. Before he had the chance to make good on his offer, however, he passed out and was still asleep when I deplaned upon arrival in China.

Gaucho100K

Female members of a Russian dance troop...?
Perhaps some would say thats a reason to get you on Aeroflot...?

JonNYC

Caviar.
Lots and lots of free caviar.

MRLIMO

Patsy Cline and a bottle of wine!

If unavailable, then Cindy Crawford and Britney Spears.

[This message has been edited by MRLIMO (edited 06-05-2001).]

FOH

AFAIK, Aeroflot has its own employees at Sea-Tac. They also have a CTO in downtown Seattle.

Sthokie

Last summer when I missed my connection in ZRH to Delhi, the Swissair agent wanted to send me via Moscow on Aeroflot. I begged and almost cried, told her that I was too young to die, she had a good laugh out of it and told me that she understood why I didn't want to fly with them. Eventually she put me on a British Airways flight, I had to go back to LHR(I was coming originally from BRU) and wait about 10 hours there. So to me it was preferable to wait 10-12 hours for another flight rather than flying with them.

ROADRUNNER

I bet they could fill up their planes, if they had pricing on Travelocity, et.!

They just need better marketing!