asnovici

Thanks Rami, but how do they enforce it? I'm Emerald traveling with two companions (non status) on the same reservation. I will bring one guests into the lounge as plus one and use Priority Pass for the other. I presume they wont let us use the van then?

Rami Tamimi

Once the gate agent sees Emerald on your BP, they will get the bus driver (who normally stands behind the desk) to escort you to the bus. Tell them that "they are with me" and I am sure they will not have a problem with that (even though it's technically 1x guest). In DME, the priority boarding and the minibus are very strictly enforced.... in the regions, it all depends on the airport.

asnovici

Rami Tamimi

Yes.

asnovici

Update on my flights with S7 from this week.

DME KZN DME in Y as J isn’t offered on the route.

Business check in at DME as Emerald pass3nger, no line. Regular security screening but also fairly quick.

I was only offered one guest to get into S7 domestic lounge per OneWorld rules (and didn’t expect anything more), we used airport business lounge with Priority Pass which actually was superior in some ways.

On on board they served cheese or chicken sandwiches that were surprisingly tasty and better then most European airlines do in coach. Tea, coffee or still water was also offered.

We decided to check out S7 lounge for a few minutes just to know what is there. The lounge has been spruced up a bit but nothing really major, food looked worse than in the airport lounge across the hall, all alcohol except one draft beer is pay for while across the hall wine, beer, martini is free. Staff at the bar was quite surly as always especially compared to lovely staff at the airport lounge.

Priority desks in KZN didn’t exist and w3 had to flight our way to the front of a very long line. No priority boarding even though the signs were there.

Overall experience was exactly what I expected.

Rami Tamimi

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, priority check-in is not exactly working in airports, which only get Y class. As much as I hate it, I guess its fair enough that they don't open a separate priority desk for the 2-3 elites who may pass by. I complained a lot about the priority check-in in LED (that was before A319s were converted to the full Y configuration), because they did have a priority desk, but it was just always full of Y pax and you were meant to cut the line and waive your card to the agent, which I don't like) and now they enforce it (the line is empty, but they call pax from the Y queues to come one by one).

Since you mentioned regular security screening, you do know that there is fast track security channel at DME, right? Takes me less than a minute to clear security there every time.

...and going back to your original question, I guess you ended up boarding via the jetbridge ex DME

asnovici

I'm aware of the fast track channel in DME that I always use for International flights but wasn't aware there is one for domestic? Where is it and would they allow Emeralds to use it? Staff manning boarding pass checks before security hardly seem to know what Emerald means and they just look for the word Business.

No buses for us luckily, but also no priority boarding even at DME and S7 ladies at the gate really didn't seem to care about anything including Priority passengers.

Rami Tamimi

Well, certainly DME domestic departures security does not encounter as many Emeralds as say LHR, or JFK do, but they got quite used to it (as they did to all those exotic boarding passes issued for DME>Domestic flights by S7's codeshare partners at their bases). I was not asked a single question by the security folks throughout the years, even though, 99% of my flights are in Y. In the "new DME layout", priority security is towards the left (from the main security channels).

Surprised about the lack of Prioirty boarding..... normally it's very strictly enforced at DME.

Concerto

A few thoughts on S7. I think their customer service is excellent, a lot better than what you get with the majors in Europe these days. Booking, rebooking, confirming and cancelling tickets, no problem, all efficient, excellent English. I booked S7 from DME to DUS in Economy Basic and paid about EUR107 for a One Way, a bargain I think. It turned out that the flight was operated by Globus LLC, although there was very little evidence to that fact except for a small mention of Globus on the inflight safety card. I was assigned 30B right at the back in the last row, and I stuck with it. This non reclining middle seat was extremely tight, especially if the pax in front reclined. Other options were RUB400, for another seat, RUB1,900 for a legroom seat and RUB8,000 for Business class. This latter does not offer extra miles or lounge access, just an expensive meal on the plane, so it is a bad deal (I might consider it up to a maximum of RUB5,000).

Inflight service was excellent, ŕ l'ancienne. Service on this 3h20 flight began with a trolley run of water (still or sparkling) and juice (orange, apple, tomato). Then a choice of hot meals were distributed, fish with rice or chicken with pasta (I had the former) along with a cardboard box containing, a slice of bread, packaged soft cheese, a roll with chicken liver paté, and a chocolate biscuit to accompany the subsequent service of tea/coffee, of which refills were offered. Really good, compared to what LX, BA or SN are offering these days.

A cabin crew member told me that you can identify S7 Airlines flights because they are operated by Airbus and Embraer, whereas Globus (GH) flights are operated with the Boeing 737-800. IS there any way to book Globus flights under the GH code?

Greenpen

I took my first S7 flight a couple of weeks ago. Everything went smoothly with good service and facilities. The lounge at DME was good with a nice selection of food and drinks available. There are seats overlooking the airport so you get a good view of activity. Meal on board was good and the service quick and efficient. Best of all they have proper J seats rather than the Y seat featured by most European airlines. I changed flight at Omsk and the onward service to OVB did not have proper J seats but that flight is less than an hour and I was happy with the rest of the quick and basic service.

I would happily fly S7 rather than BA if they started to serve European destinations from London!

Concerto

Rami Tamimi

That's right. All the 738 are operated by Globus and all the A32X and E170s are operated by S7.

Globus (GH) was established back in 2008 when S7 had huge financial problems (S7 management do deserve a praise here IMO, the lessons of 2008 have taught them a lot and that is the reason we now see a very clear and healthy development strategy).

As far as "passenger experience" goes, S7 and GH are totally identical. The ticketing rules (GH itself does not sell tickets) and service standards are exactly the same (this includes the oneworld membership).

At the same time, there are some operational differences. The cabin and cockpit crew are employed by GH and not by S7 and they don't tend to move between the two "entities". On domestic flights, S7 may (and often) does substitute A320 to B738 and v.v., but that almost never happens on the international flights because the airline has to get a permit from the governments of both countries to operate a route. So, for instance, you would never see an A320 on the DUS-DME route because S7 is not licensed to operate it.

OpenSky

I've never flown GH, I always assumed it was sort of a charter carrier, i.e Irkutsk to Phuket, something like that .
Is the quality of service amenities different on GH? In the same way that Aeroflot is not the same as Rossiaya ( in Premium cabin)

Concerto

From what little experience I have, it is exactly the same. In fact, the flight to DUS was a shade better than my MUC-DME flight last 30th October 2017. But I recall the interior aircraft design being totally different on that flight in 2017, with the toilet section bulging into the main cabin towards the rear but not all the way to the rear. Could it have been an A321? I'm pretty sure it wasn't Globus on the Munich flight.

Rami Tamimi

S7 stopped doing charters back in 2011 (or so). They said that it was not profitable and that charters did not fit into their strategy. We all know what happened to airlines that tried to do both: charters and regular flights.

The quality is EXACTLY the same. GH tends to operate the longer flights (DME-YKS, OVB-HKG e.t.c.) because of the range capabilities of the 738s. That said, with the introduction of 320 and 321 NEO into the fleet, we can now see S7 operating even longer routes, (the longest one at the moment is DME-TFS (7 hours).

SU is running a total zoo with their subsidiaries. The service standards of FV or HZ are nowhere near those of SU.