Aeroflot vs Delta
 

I am a Delta 1-1/2 million miler. Platinum. But used all my miles on an upcoming trip and living in SW find Delta not overly suitable for my travels, so switched to United as my "primary". However, still have occasion to fly Skyteam. I joined Aeroflot's program on a whim but noticed their Skyteam elite plus level is lower than Delta's. So anyone, should I just put my miles on Aeroflot vs Delta?

If you care about the ST E+ benefit to use lounges within the US, then maybe a foreign program with a lower qualification is ok. If you care about your elite status getting you domestic upgrades, then joining Aeroflot (or any of the other foreign ST partners) isn't going to get you upgraded on NW, CO, or DL domestic.

NW (and CO until/unless they leave ST) elites get upgraded on both NW/CO.
DL elites get upgraded on DL.
SU elites don't get upgraded on anything in North America.

Actually Mark "or any of the other foreign ST partners" is incorrect KLM elites DO get upgraded domestically on NW.

Right you are. NW/KLM have been so joined at the hip that I didn't even think of them.

Use DL....
 

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.

SU Long Haul is Fine
 

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?

If on etakes SVO and connecting there out of the equation 9which should eventually be corrected when SVO3 opens, hopefully soon), I have to admit that I am pretty impressed by Aeroflot these days (I wouldn;t fly them in the back). Most of Europe now gets A320's with (real) 2x2 seats, good legroom, and even the shortest flight gets decent food. Their long haul (767 product, I haven't flown the IL96's) is perfectly adequate, flat at an angle seats, Digiplayers rather than real AVOD, abundant food and quite frankly some the most attentive FA's I've had in years (and I fly SQ and CX regularly). Now I am basing this on ten 767 segments over the last year, and based on price they are probably the best deal out there. The caveat being once again that dealing with SVO is often a nightmare.

Have you ever flown on Aeroflot?

Their Premium Cabin product sure beats all domestic and European flights!

None of that middle seat left open crap!

Aeroflot would be worth it just to see people's reaction when you mention that they're your primary carrier. I imagine booking rewards would be quite a trip though.

When I tell people that Aeroflot probably has the best short haul biz service in Europe and is quite decent long haul they generally think I am nuts.....unless they themselves have actually tried the product.

Been flying on them since the 80's.

I am AF/KL Gold and I catch upgrades on NW. So for me, ditching DL for AF wasn't all that bad since I end up on NW somewhat often (I was NW Gold)

You said it man.^