S7 is continuing to slip
 

There are a few cheerleaders for S7 on this board and I used to be one of them. Recently I have been having rather unpleasant experiences with the airline and have shifted my flights to Aeroflot whenever possible.

Check in
Used to be quick and efficient at Business desks in Domodedovo. Now there are lines there, no one policing who gets into premium lines, when we checked in last time we had to wait for half an hour for a guy with passport stickers to come up while economy lines were moving swiftly. Check in lady was very apologetic but there was nothing she could do after several time trying to call that guy who works for S7 also

Lounge
That nightmare used to be Transaero lounge and it did not become much better. We all knew about any alcoholic drinks being charged for except for beer on tap, but capuccino for 330 rubles? The food is as appaling is ever but the worst is no place to seat and the temperature in the lounge. They kept accepting PriorityPass people when their own business customers and Emerald flyers couldn't find a seat. When asked about lowering the temperature the lady at the entrance said the AC is working on full throttle and its so hot because of so many people.

Inflight
No more menus. Prosecco has been downgraded to demi sweet Russian sparkling that no one in their right mind would drink. Service level depends on FAs attitude which varies greatly.

Feedback
When complaining about the lounge conditions to their Facebook team, the response came that the lounge is under construction,
and that's why there is limited space although I didn't witness construction when I was there last time. PriorityPass issue was never addressed. They prefer to make a quick buck on letting PriorityPass passengers in instead of trying to make their own premium passengers comfortable.

The airline is becoming a low cost carrier with little interest of providing service to customers that pay for it. Quite unfortunate for a carrier that used to be decent.

A good friend of mine who lives in MOW, who was born in the late days of Gorbachev and probably doesn't know who Yeltsin is, to give you an idea of his age ( he is a "hipster" ) loves S7, for the sole reason that S7 produces snazzy and cool marketing campaigns.
Whatever. I should note his fashionable MSK friends ( also hipsters) love S7.

On a recent domestic flight we took together on SU, I tried impart on my friend the higher quality of SU ( even domestically). The point was lost somehow. Whatever.

Serious business travelers ( who spend money on travel) know Aeroflot is of higher quality. On my last business class flight on S7, the FA apologized for the drinks selection, apparently the cuts are so bad the crew is embarrassed to serve what is in the galley.

Sometimes there is no choice. On ex Siberia routes, you are obliged to fly S7, because its the only choice. Sigh.

It could be worse. Anyone remember the SU of the early 90s?

Count me as one of their fans!

To answer a few points:

1)Check in at DME. It is normally fast,but since they only have 3 counters (empty for the majority of time),but they get busy in peak hours. The good news is that S7 will soon acquire A LOT of new counters.They currently operate counters 109-129 and soon will operate counters 97 to 129,so that part of the airport wll be exclusively for S7.

2)Lounge. It does get busy and PP is only accepted in limited hours,but yeah I agree these limitations are not sufficient.

3)They are refurbishing the lounge.Check out the pics from 2 weeks ago. It's not perfect,but much better than the old lounge "between the floors".

4)You can get a coffee for free from the machine.

5)Menus are very inconsistent. Sometimes you get the alcohol menu and food menu,sometimes only one of the two and sometimes none at all.

It was also very hot on their planes - I took domestic and international flights earlier this year...

Same feelings here. What they serve for drinks is beyond embarrassing. Air Koryo in Business has a wider variety (actual experience).

Lounge is a disgrace as mentioned before, possibly the worst OneWorld carrier lounge.

Service onboard has no consistency. Ranges from lovely to atrocious with more frequently on the latter side.

Agree on marketing campaign, S7 is excellent in that. But Id rather take good service than bright ad.

Rami Tamimi,

Always appreciate your input, you are very helpful with S7 experiences.

Just to clarify on your responses to my comments:

1) There was no line at check in so its not an issue of number of agents. Its a complete disorganization when those visa stickers were only available from one guy who was missing and when he was available he only provided them to Economy agents. It just shows the level of chaos there. Waiting for close to 30 minutes at the Business desk for a passport sticker is truly low grade and the number of desks will not solve lack of responsibility on the part of the airline staff (guy with stickers was S7 employee, not airport)

2) This was around 9:30am so definitely a busy time for S7 departures, they were absolutely accepting PP card holders. No priority for actual Business passengers or OneWorld Emeralds

3) Will see what the refurbished lounge will look like but the current one is a disgrace

4) This maybe the only OneWorld carrier lounge in the world where one must pay for a simple cappuccino. The fact that drip coffee is available has no relation to this, one can get it at Jiffy Lube while getting an oil change

5) Precisely my point. Inconsistency. No menus on MUC or VRN flights. Then where are they available? if they did away with them, fine, but that's another level of slip in service. Same as serving that Russian sparkling wine swill in Business, simply yuck

Thanks for clarifying! Below is my opinion and I am in no way trying to "override" yours,all your points are perfectly valid.

1)Okay I see what the problem is. That visa check and stickers are so annoying,you get them whenever you fly abroad from Russia,regardless the airline. I have not flown international on S7 that much so can not comment on wheter it is a regular occurence.

2)They have 2 lounges in the domestic side and one in the international side. The first one is for paid access only,it's smaller (same food e.t.c.)What they should do is to send PP to the second lounge (I am surprised it does not happen already). INTL lounge has a ban on PP from 10:00 to 14:00,but that again is not always sufficient.

3)I don't think there will be any major changes, probably just a refresh.

4) They do have a decent coffee machine (in addition to a dripper),but there is also an option to get a barista made one. Never bothered really.

5) The menus are not route dependent...they are just inconsistent. 90% of my flights with them are DME-LED and there is no pattern as to when you get the menus and if you do,which ones. It's not just the menu, sometimes the main is served in Y style plates (containers,or whatever are they called) ,sometimes you even get the cheese e.t.c on a Y style plate. There is no pattern and it's highly annoying.

6)Regarding the wine. Not a wine drinker, but everyone tells me the same thing. I drink Baileys and they don't have it and it's even more annoying than the inconsistency issue.

Still I find them much more pleasant than any European airline on shorthaul. They take good care of OW elites,they are constantly developing their IT services and they always modifying the product: new plating in J +amenity kits and bottled water on all flights in J,priority boarding ,airport upgrades (also available online),Embraers...dozens of new destinations and more...all within the last 2 years.

Thanks, Rami Tamimi, just to let you know, they were certainly letting PP holders after 10am as I had that conversation with the agent at the registration desk at 10:30 and she was registering three guests all with PP cards.

Thats my point about the coffee, the machine doesn't make a simple cappuccino so I wouldn't call it decent, but the barista charged me 330 rubles for it, in my book it's quite ridiculous for OneWorld carrier lounge.

I have been in the lounge a few times in the past few weeks and they have been closing off different parts of the lounge every time...but I must say that the lounge looks significantly better now *Disclaimer: I am a big fan of S7,so my opinion is very subjective*

A few pictures supplied by a friend:

...and a few more!

I particularly love those armchairs with footrests that you can lounge on sipping your [NOT] complimentary while facing the apron. S7 would not be S7 of course, if they did not have any strange food options....I mean what can be better than a burger in the morning?

They are currently refurbishing the 2nd floor (PC+ sleeping area), so it's temporarily closed. It's not The Pier by CX, but I do give them credit for constantly [slowly] upgrading their product.

Thank you for posting these. The lounge looks a lot nicer after refurb.

However, I must disagree with your last statement. How can one give them credit for "upgrading their product" if in fact its going the opposite direction?

Onboard service: meal service gone down (no more nuts and fruit with premeal beverage, no more menus (I realize they may be outthere but I have not seen them in the past couple of years at all on any flights including international or domestic), beverage selection is now nothing less of atrocious (Russian sparkling swill is not a substitute for Prosecco for anyone with tastebuds or self respect in Business, wines are undrinkable even compared to Spanish stuff they had before), protein starter was replaced with salad (perhaps healthier but not tastier, this is clearly about cost savings).

Airport handling: lounge in OVB is a disgrace, when AC is not working at all and the girl at the entrance admits it hasn't for a while and the airline is doing nothing about it. Lounge itself boasts of old worn out furniture. I already mentioned the checkin fiasco in DME.

Aircraft: on a couple of flights recently I came into a cabin that reeks of body odor. I understand that some passengers may have different understanding of acceptable hygiene, but the airline should at least attempt at masking the smell during cleaning. Both time in Business and I had to sit with airvent pointing at me and trying to breath through my shirt.

Lounges: calling those items served in the lounge "food" is subjective at best, I wouldn't touch it and no one I ever traveled with would either. And I don't travel with people of high expectations. Again, basic coffee drinks that's not drip are charged for. Tables are not being cleaned until they overflow (constant issue in DME). Nothing free of charge at the bar except one type of crappy beer. Even AA could figure out how to do decent selection of edible healthy and hearty items and (stop the presses!) actual open bar at every lounge (not top shelf items, but drinkable at least and a selection of wines, beers, liquors and mixed drinks, all plural).

Its nice to see the new furniture and a couple of plant walls thrown into a lounge (lets see how it will look at peak hours when they still welcome Priority Pass holders despite promises not to do so) but the rest of the experience has gone downhill and continues to do so.

Do S7 serve alcohol in economy? The flight has no business class cabin. It is not a domestic flight.

No alcohol in Y at all.

thank you

Is domestic lounge in LED open 24 hrs and is there a lounge access before early morning DME(05:20) flight? With invitation from the counter? Thank you!

The lounge is indeed open 24/7 and you can get access before the S7 38. Check in will open at roughly 3:20am, but you don't need to visit the counter for an invitation (they don't exist acutally)...a BP with Emerald status on it will be sufficient for entry.

Just flew out of DME today. I'm an AAdvantage ExPlat, so OW Emerald.

Received an invitation to the lounge for me + guest. The lounge is nice, if hot. Around 11am on a weekday, it was packed with pax waiting to depart. It cleared up at noon.

Food is free and a nice spread that changed from breakfast to lunch. There are self-serve free coffee machines and a pay one behind the bar. Plenty of Russian language press but nothing in English. Oh, and wifi requires a phone number to register :td:

They normally have the Moscow Times.

The new furniture is really nice, but the total capacity has reduced as a result...I had the same issue 12 hours earlier than you...lounge was packed and then it emptied out and became very very pleasant.

The wifi issue is a new government requirement to identify wifi users, but it's free and any international number works.

The refurbishment is now complete in the domestic S7 Lounge. This is no CX First Class, but trust me: this is 100x times better than the setup this lounge had when S7 first got it from UN and million times better than the old lounge "between the floors"

What sort of service can I expect in Y on S7 Airlines? I have a MUC-DME coming up followed by a shorter domestic connection. Do they actually serve you something or is it BoB service?

At online check in, are they known to offer upgrades, like POUGs at British Airways? And how the heck can I find the booking subclass? I booked a flex Economy fare.

MUC-DME will get you a lunch box with a hot meal (normally 2 options)...something like this. On the shorter flights, you will be served a cheese/chicken sandwhich +hot/cold beverages. No alcohol...No BOB.

POUG are pretty cheap and range between 4000 and 10000RUB.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/russ...t-upgrade.html

Since MUC is in Zone 3, it would cost you 8000RUB, which is about 118EUR, but it can vary by a few (5-10) Euros if your ticket is priced in EUR. It's available when OLCI starts (T-30) and there are no stupid restrictions like on BA...it totally depends on availability in J cabin. Also, note that POUG does not get you lounge access/extra baggage or miles (unless you are S7 FFP member).

As a BA Bronze/ oneworld Ruby, you can get an extra 1PCS@23KG even if you are on the Hand Baggage Only Fare+extra space seats (bulkhead/ emergency exit row seats) and a pretty good chance to get an op up+ the standard Ruby benefits.

Finding the booking designator is indeed a headache and the only place it will appear in is your Boarding Pass. If you are really curious though you can call/email S7 and ask them.

I will answer over in the thread you referenced above, because that is about upgrades and this thread is about declining standards at S7.

I quite enjoyed my Economy trip on S7 Airlines the other day and the price was certainly right! The A321 plane from MUC to DME was almost empty, about 35 passengers. So it was possible to move about. A choice of hot meal was served and I was able to try both because there were so few people. It wasn't great cuisine but better than nothing. The meal tray also had a shredded carrot salad, some rye bread, a nice chocolate bar (the Russians make great chocolate!) and a sweet jelly with fruit bits in it. Drinks were less spectacular, with somewhat watery fruit juices. I recommend the sparkling water and rather good tea with lemon.

The inside of the cabin, with its jolly multicolored headrests, had a slightly budget feel to it. All in all, a good experience though. The next flight, DME to KUF, was almost full and seat pitch was not good plus the seat gave me some back pain. The same drinks were served and a generous double pack of chicken sandwiches. Landing in the fog and rain at KUF was slightly nervy.

So I guess you did not end up buying an upgrade?

S7 is certainly not a luxury airline, but what I like about them is the efficiency and constant product development ... and they take good care of me as an FFP.

Not a fan of the Alyonka (Алёнка) that they give onboard... the original one which retails for 50RUB in the supermarkets is much better :D

Definitely not worth the upgrade for the EUR120 they were offering at check in. No lounge and no miles?? Come on!!!

I think you folks are bring unrealistic. The nice service within Russia / from Russia is on SU ( which i happen to like). If that is what you want please fly SU ( not subsidiary's) and please also be willing to pay the fares SU is asking.

S7 offers convenient connections / access to parts of the world east of the Urals, and places like VVO, besides snazzy ad campaigns. Acceptable service, not super luxury.

Each to his own I guess. As an RJ Emerald, I get treated really well by S7... this is something that S7 does much better than SU:

-Extra Space Seats (SU only gives those to their own elites);
-First Class lounges...yes they are not everywhere, but as a regular on the HKG route, access to The Pier/ Wing F is a big deal for me. Much better than the Skyteam lounge;
-Moscow lounge. Again, the refurbished (see my pics in the post above) S7 lounges are very pleasant, spacious, airy and offer decent catering. SU lounges are always overcrowded;
-LED lounges. This is where SU beats S7 since they have their own lounge, which is much better than the airport lounge used by S7.
-Op-ups. They don't upgrade me as often as they used to since 738s got J capacity reduced from 12 to 8 and A319 from 8 to 0, but these are still much more common than op-ups on SU.
-IT. SU's IT is just awful
-Priority security in DME. I would almost always clear security within a minute.

Again, I can see why some people choose SU and I have nothing against their opinion, but for me, my travel patterns and my personal needs, S7 beats SU.

Does S7 offer van transfer for lounge guests on domestic flights departing DME? my guess is no, bit this Emerald would like to know since they advertise "separate transport to the aircraft" for S7 lounge guests.

Ruby and above and J pax do get a van and priority boarding on ex DME flights and it is strictly enforced, but the other lounge guests (Priority Pass, paid entry etc) don't.

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?

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.

Yes.

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.

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 :D

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.

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.

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, à 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?

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!