Pobeda STN flight cancelled
 

Booked with DP in March and they called telling me flights are cancelled from STN/LED. Rebooked me with Aeroflot (SU6620 operated by Rossiya) Phone agent tells me that just go check in at LGW on that date. They told me they wont have a new ticket issued for me? Is it normal?

They actually started flying since last Oct, and they axe the route since March. On DP's website, my reservation still works. But the flight on 4 March are not able to sell anymore. The phone agent asked me to send an email to request for confirmation. Let's see what they say.

What's the stratus of your current reservation?

It's still saying it's confirmed: Just received an email from them:

We have sent a request to rebook a flight at the booking XXXXXX for flight with Rossiya Airlines:SU6620 4 March London (LGW) - Saint Petersburg (LED) 16:10 - 22:25. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I called Aeroflot and it says there's no such booking for my name on that flight. i guess I have to wait a bit....

Also found the reason why they are cancellation flight. Orginally thought was low load factors, seems like a perhaps a combination of both:

Low-cost carrier Pobeda threatens to cancel all international flights from St Petersburg

n unexpected conflict involving Russian Customs officials and unused sealed galleys is threatening the smooth operation of Pobeda, the country’s only low-cost carrier (LCC), in a dispute that has already compelled the airline to cancel its international flights from St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport in this year’s IATA summer season.

Last week, the Aeroflot LCC subsidiary announced its intention to cancel all international flights from St Petersburg in the coming high summer season. The unpopular move has been forced by changes to Customs inspection procedures that have extended aircraft turnaround times, thus compromising the integrity of the LCC’s flights schedule.

The dispute comes after a series of conflicts between Pobeda’s flight crews and Customs officers over the enforced inspection of sealed galleys on board the aircraft. This led to the delays of 43 flights, according to local media reports. Pobeda insists that its does not provide catering on board its aircraft and therefore the galleys and catering holds are permanently locked and secured with special seals approved by the authorities of Bermuda, from where Pobeda’s Boeing 737-800s are registered. However, the airline has thus far failed to submit the required documentation on that specific aircraft modification and the related amended inspection checklists to aviation authority Rosaviatsiya and the Russian Federal Customs Service. The documents in question were requested as early as last summer, the authorities argue.

Northern Capital Gateway (NCG), the operator of Pulkovo, which at the end of last year proudly enthused about Pobeda’s St Petersburg expansion plans and promised to help keep turnaround times for the LCC down to 30 minutes or less, is now proposing that the airline puts together a joint working group to identify a solution to the problem.

So far, Pobeda has officially cancelled its flight to London starting March 17, but stresses its other five international flights (to Cologne, Milan, Istanbul, Pisa and Tbilisi) will also be suspended at least until next autumn.

In 2018 Pobeda carried 1.2 million passengers (0.2 million on its international flights) from Pulkovo, Russia’s fourth largest airport, a 240 per cent increase on 2017. This contribution constituted some 6.7 per cent of Pulkovo’s entire annual traffic.

Dear Tobias,



Thank you for request.

The new e-ticket with Rossiya Airlines will not be issued. The list of passengers will be sent to the airport.

We will be glad to see you on board Pobeda Airlines.



Best regards,

Got this email - sounds a bit dodgy to me..... It's inconceivable that a new e-ticket will not be issued.

Should have flown BA to LHR The LED-LHR flights are not considered by BA to be long haul (DME-LHR is Longhaul premium), and as I recall not that expensive.
Unless you really need to be close to STN


I hope you got your money back.

The first question is what is the price difference between what you had booked and what is available now on other carriers. EC 261/2004 gives you the option to cancel for a full refund without penalty. If you can fly on a real carrier for anywhere close to what you originally paid, then cancel for a refund and book a new ticket.

If you do not have a ticket and a reservation, you essentially have nothing including protection under the Regulation. All that matters is what SU says and SU says you have nothing. Thus, you have nothing.

The price difference now is almost a 60 quid more. However, the thing is there are 2 airlines that provide a direct flight to LED from LON. BA's departure is in the morning, which does not suit me. If I have to cancel it and rebook it with DP, I would have ended up with the SU same flight. I am just hesitant to think that DP says DP will send the list of cancelled passengers to SU on that day, which this seems weird to me...

To be frank, for the 60 quid, I would but the peace of mind, cancel the first ticket for a refund, and purchase a new ticket on SU. This is because SU is not confirming to you that it has anything booked for you in any manner.

Nobody here can say with any certainty that there won't be a list done and if there is, you will have spent 60 you need not have. But, it all just sounds dodgy and is a matter of risk tolerance.

If you show up on the appointed day and ask for your boarding pass and are laughed at by SU, you will have the choice of not traveling or purchasing a ticket at the walk-up price.

Given Pobeda is an SU subsidiary and it doesn't have the ability to issue etickets (they use a ticketless system), I don't think it's unrealistic that they might have come up with another mechanism to reprotect you on their sister carrier's flight.

Called the day before where SU agent still cant find me PNR - Checked in today at LGW and they give me aboarding pass with a PNR that shared with 7 passengers. The service class was N,

It's nothing to do with Russia. That's the typical procedure when the airline needs to move passengers in bulk from one flight to another.