There were some newspaper articles a month or two back which mentioned that Aeroflot had started a new FFB program, in an attempt to revitalize its service. Does anyone have any details on this program? I can't seem to find anything on-line.

Thanks.

Frequent Flyer Benefit from Aeroflot???
Its called landing isn't it.

Is this a serious post? I took one Aeroflot flight about 5 years ago. Nothing I have read on this message board comes close to an Aeroflot flight. To talk about improved service is a joke. Unless major changes have been made in the last few years, which with Russia's financial problems is highly unlikely, I wouldn't take Aeroflot even if their frequent flyer program was one free ticket after every flight. It would just increase your chances of crashing. To give you an idea how bad it was, the flight I was on was oversold; but no problem. Passengers were seated in the restrooms, on the floor in the aisle and my personal favorite, a couple of wives/girlfriends were sitting on their husbands/boyfriends laps. Given the quality of the planes Aeroflot uses, I was relieved when we were able to take off with the extra weight. I couldn't agree more with the previous post. Landing safely is the best FFB Aeroflot could offer.

[This message has been edited by FFLASV (edited 03-20-99).]

My first post was indeed serious. There was actually a newspaper article in the Financial Times on Aeroflot introducing this program. I was just hoping someone knew more about it. A colleague is going to St. Petersburg on Aeroflot next week, and was hoping that she might be able to get some credit somehow for it.

With respect to Aeroflot's service, one must distinguish between domestic and international routes. Internationally to the US, Aeroflot flies 777 and 767 aircraft, and newer Russian aircraft to elsewhere in Europe. While all else being equal I would prefer another airline, given enough of a price differential and a convenient itinerary I would have no qualms about flying Aeroflot. Domestically within Russia, however, is an entirely different story, and I too would hesitate--but not be overly scared.

While I personally have not flown Aeroflot in 7 years (my usual route of Boston-Moscow is better served by Delta, Swissair, and Lufthansa), colleagues and others who travel frequently to Russia from New York and Chicago have reported favorably on Aeroflot's service in recent years. Their biggest complaints are that there is still a smoking section and that many of the passengers drink excessively--though I hardly think that one can blame this latter fact on the airline, having witnessed the same on many other flights on reputable airlines.

Admittedly, Aeroflot has a bad history (I too remember the near-crash landings in rickety Soviet aircraft), and Russia's financial state has done little to engender confidence, but for international routes I think one should not be too quick to write off Aeroflot. After all, it does offer non-stop service from DC, NYC, Chicago, and LA in the US to Moscow--quite useful and convenient for persons who live in those locales, as only JFK has a non-Russian airline competing with Aeroflot on a non-stop basis (Transaero, another Russian airline, formrly flew to LAX, but has been experiencing financial difficlties and may have stopped)--and Aeroflot is the only airline offering non-stop service to St. Petersburg (from JFK) from the US.

[This message has been edited by chalf (edited 03-20-99).]

Maybe we could do it as an "other" program for airlines maybe people don't fly as much
like Aeroflot.



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CATMAN

It's been several years since I flew Aeroflot, but back then, I flew it regularly. I'm not a white-knuckle flyer, except on aeroflot. In my experience, their pilots had been trained to fly fighters and had never been retrained. The comments about people in the aisles and bathrooms were absolutely true. I wouldn't buy a ticket on Aeroflot if they paid me to take it. I'd rather fly to Paris and take the train to Moscow. And I certainly wouldn't fly them inside Russia. And I speak the language. The FA's wouldn't listen to me, either.