Smirnoff

Someone in my office read something in the last few days, which suggested the Orange Ones were looking to fly to Moscow.

Has anyone seen anything about this? It would be an interesting move.

There are already low-cost carriers going into DME from Germany. Germania goes in daily from Dusseldorf, Berlin and Munich IIRC, with fares from about EUR 120 o/w.

WHBM

This would be difficult for bureaucratic reasons. Within the EC any EC airline can fly any route anywhere. But once outside the EC it's back to the days of individually-negotiated arrangements between countries.

Now Easy could prevail upon the UK Govt to lobby for a service from Britain, although as Transaero alraedy provide a low cost alternative from Moscow to London there is not much to offer in return. But the French, German, etc diplomats are most unlikely to lobby for an Easyjet service from their own countries to Moscow.

Look at the network maps of Ryanair, Easyjet, etc. It's all inside the EC.

Easy does have an independent operation in Switzerland, but that is as far as it goes.

For the same reasons there is little low-cost service except by home-country operators countries like Turkey,

Smirnoff

Just an update, as I have just received TP's and miles for the AY 6844 HEL-SVO, which is operated by SU. Don't know why, as I thought it had to be OW operated. May be a fluke. Or may be making up for the 4-5 AY flights that I never got miles for, and for which the retroactive claims were ignored.

chalf

I just went to book MOW-LON today, in J. SU was RR77,000 ($2,680), BA RR97,000 ($3,380). Either is a rip-off, but SU is a bargain compared to BA (and for a better product). By comparison, UN is RR50,000 ($1,750).

Connections on LH or AY don't work for me.

irmster

Having recently flown on SU J to MOW, I agree it's a better product than BA - at least the SU A321 is much better than the BA A320. Getting stuck on an IL96 is another matter.

csdf

Just did LHR-DME today. Didn't seem all that bad, apart from the fact that 90% of pax only had carry-on, leading to some frustrations as people couldn't store their luggage.

Smirnoff

That's perfectly normal.
I assume giving the time now you were on the 0910 flight on a 767.

I am out again tomorrow on the Airbus (the one I keep vowing to never go on again). Looking forward to the usual scrum and arguments and poor service.

chalf

Somewhat OT, but it took me 2.25 hours from Paveletskaya Pl. to SVO tonight by car. The flight had technically closed by the time I got to the check-in desk. Fortunately the supervisor had watched me standing helplessly at the customs X-Ray while a group of new Russians with far too many designer handbags than is good for one's health went through, though they made it clear that I would not have been so fortunate with an economy class ticket. They also lectured me as to why they were not giving me a voucher for the lounge (it was by this time 32 minutes before departure--I just wanted a boarding pass!).

BA (or rather DME) looks better...at least the train is a reliable 40 minutes. That said, check-in to gate at SVO (including security) was 10 minutes, whereas the security circus alone at DME is at least that long.

Smirnoff

I flew into SVO last week, and it took 2.5 hours to get into town. One hour just to exit the airport spur road out onto the main Leningradskoe Shosse.

The driver in from DME last night, by comparison took 40 minutes.

Mind you, a lot depends on the driver. If you've got one that goes through red lights, along the pavements, down tram lines, I find it definitely helps.

LHR Tim

Even DME can be bad. Back in March, laned at 16:15 and didn't get to my hotel until 19:30, so it's just Moscow traffic.

Smirnoff

Came back tonight on the 875 on the Airbus (yes I know, the one I always say I am never going to take again).

I have to mention the highlights of my trip:

Terrible traffic on the ring road, but some nifty driving down the verge of the highway, and a scary 160kh/hour sprint down the last stretch to the airport (why didn't I put that seat belt on????), gets me there on time.

The DME policy on dropping passengers off is.... you can't. And is enforced by a cop car with loundspeaker blaring at anyone that tries to stop near the terminal as well as a tow-away truck which makes a dash for any car that dares to come to a halt. I jump out the car, narrowly missing the towtruck, and getting screamed at by the cops.

Enter the terminal, mandatory sniff by the police dog. I am sure I smell better than most the passengers there.

Get to BA check-in and BIG problem. I have an onward ticket to ZRH on Monday (thanks Norodnik for telling me about ex-ZRH fares !!), and the passport/visa checkers won't let me check in because I don't have a visa for Switzerland. (I am British, in case you were wondering). 10 minutes for the morons to go off and check that I can in fact enter Switzerland without a visa.

Nice Ba lady at the check-in desk, knows me, blocks off the E seat next to me.

Upstairs to security and the full body grope from the female security lady. Best bit that was.

Into the Lounge for some stale cabbage pies (I knew the T-1 FIRST lounge was missing something!!!).

Onto the plane, and in 1-F seat (I am in 1-D) there is a young Natasha with Gucci sunglasses attached to her head for the whole flight. Also surgically attached to her Gucci. Big row about putting it up for take-off. Sends the food back and asks for Green Tea.

Anyway... back to the nice BA lady..... I mumble something about the ....ty Airbus. She tells me that they have had so many complaints about the Airbus, that it is replaced with a 767 from 17 January. It's not in the timetable yet, but that date is apparently fairly definite. So it will be 2 767's a day into DME. Yippee.

norodnik

Simon,

you are quite correct.

As from Jan 16th, LHR-DME is a twice daily 767.

Jan 15th, A320, Confutatis maledictis. Lux aeterna luceat eis.

(just goes to show what an enforced Catholic education does for you!)

WHBM

In St Petersburg we once had a bus (that's right, a BUS) overcome a complete New Year's Eve gridlock on a dual carriageway in one of the sidestreets off Nevski Prospect by getting up onto the grass/footpath/tree area in the centre reservation and driving down there, sweeping between various trees and scattering any pedestrians as it went.

jamespvg

Unfortunately no such education for me. But I am curious.

Could a learned friend translate for me?

norodnik

Its from the Requiem, which we had to translate during Latin clases.

Losely translated it means:

When the damned are cast away. May eternal light shine upon them.

Which seemed to me to be a reasonable farewell to the unsuitable A320, whilst wishing it well for other more suitable routes