Anna456

Hi all,
My boyfriend is coming to visit me in Ekaterinburg where I'm living for the year.

On the way home he's flying from Ekaterinburg to SVO (landing at 7.40 in terminal B and then has a flight to JFK from Terminal D at 9.25). I recently was told that I should rebook his flight to the night before because this would be way too tight. Does anyone know what the lines for passport control are like in the morning?

I'm also thinking that since he'll go through passport control after a domestic flight it might be a short line (if it's in terminal B that is). He also doesn't have any baggage so that'll save a few mins.

Both flights are on Aeroflot, but unfortunately on different tickets. So the risk of having to pay for a few flight if he misses it seems quite high.
I'm probably going to rebook it, but am trying to avoid him having to pay a change fee.

Thanks!
Anna

Gentleman Adventurer

Hi Anna,

As someone who travels through Sheremetevo quite frequently and has even been through transit situations several times at SVO in the last month, I'd highly recommend that you re-book for the later flight to give your boyfriend more time for the flight connection. Even if he's flying the same airline (Aeroflot?) for all legs of the trip, it's still incredibly tight and risky. If he's on different airlines (or even different bookings with the same airline), I would say there is close to zero chance of managing it.

Collecting luggage, getting from Terminal B to Terminal D, checking in, clearing passport control and security and then getting to his gate will simply take too much time. If he doesn't speak Russian and is not familiar with the layout of SVO, you may find that he'd benefit from not being in an extreme rush.

What more, IF his SVX-SVO trip is on a different booking from his next flight, you will be totally screwed if he doesn't make the connection and you might have to pay for a new ticket instead of just a change fee.

The ONLY way I could envision this happening smoothly would be if all his flights are on one booking (he gets his boarding pass for both flights in advance and has bags checked to final destination in Ekaterinburg) and you arrange with the airline in advance to let him off the plan first, etc.

Temedar

Absolutely agree with the above. The connection is way too tight for separate tickets, so you should either rebook for an earlier flight out of SVX or a later flight to JFK.

hxhbk

This is my first time connecting through Moscow SVO.
My booking is in a single Aeroflot PNR: JFK to SVO then SVO to TAS (Tashkent).
The connecting time in SVO is 1 hour and 45 min.
The itinerary shows arrival in SVO Terminal D and departing SVO also Terminal D.
1) Is the connecting time adequate, assuming no delay out of JFK?
2) From my searching, it looks like I do not need a transit visa for Russia because the arriving flight and departing flight are in the same Terminal D. Is this correct?
Thanks for any help.

craz

Ive done a connection in that time frame,BUT,1- if you dont pull into a gate but to a stand and then bus to a gate, no telling if you will make the flight, 2- you no matter where the inbound plane ends up have to go thru a passport check in order to enter the departure area

On a recent trip where I was UPOPed to Biz, if I was on your itin I would have missed my connection. Turns out the bus didnt pull away till it was full and the Y folks went into the 2nd bus which left before we did. Then approaching the stop a plane was being pushed back so we sat for close to 15 mins waiting before we could proceed the extra few feet to the stop

No visa needed correct

LondonElite

Not much more to add, but you shouldn't refer to it as a connection, as on separate tickets there is none.

Eurocity

It's normal.
The risk appears if your inbound flight has half an hour delay. You can then miss connection due to issues like long taxing and very slow bussing in SVO, but Aeroflot could still pretend that you should have made it, since the aircraft touched down within minimum connection time. They sometimes refuse (unlawfully) free rebooking in such cases.
Get a seat closer to the front on the first flight, if possible.

hessbo

Agreeing with previous posters and just to add a point of reference:
Scheduled SU 2501 connecting to SU 212 on 29/12/19 (theoretical 1:05 from terminal F to F), SU 2501 was delayed by 43 minutes, landed on the new third (?) runway and then deplaned by bus to terminal F. So of course I missed the connection.

At the transfer desk was offered SU 250 with KE 601 within minutes (free of charge). Had to walk very swiftly to the gate to make it.

Finally arrived at 5PM (7 hours after schedule) in HKG and even all three bags were delivered with priority tags.

As the flight originated in EU, I've used the online feedback form to request compensation per EU 261/2004 but assume I'll have to activate a law firm.

nldogbert

Just to add another datapoint to connection time at SVO - from my experience yesterday morning, practically you will need at least 2 hours connection time to make it is in an unstressful way. With a one hour connection - you can basically forget about it unless you start cutting the queue after landing for both documents and security control. 1.5 hours might be OK - although if it is during the morning wave of flights coming in, it can still be stressful.

I really cannot understand why Aeroflot does not improve this transfer procedure after years of such madness. My experience yesterday morning was the worst I've seen. Basically the whole area was clogged up with people and there was no clarity on where lines started. As usual the ground staff was rather useless - I saw a few passengers trying to get help from them, but basically they just help you to bring you to front of the document check and the rest, you have to fend for yourself. It took me close to 1.5 hours to clear everything.

Cheers!

bankops

Unless you give the arriving and departing terminal, your post isn't very helpful.

The MINIMUM, SAME TICKET connection times can be found here:
SVO transit times from SU

Experience says that these are best case times except for the international/international which I have had take 15min at night and 30min during the day.

nldogbert

In my opinion, most connecting passengers are on the same ticket (due to the need of nearly all nationalities to have a visa to even transit).

However I can tell you during the crazy rush hour waves (like my experience during the early AM) be it the same terminal or not, those MCT times are rubbish if Aeroflot/SVO airport management cannot sort out the mess as it's just crazy. For me it was the same Terminal D, departing Terminal D, and it would still have been a mess/stressful experience.

I do agree that outside of these waves of arrivals and departures, those MCT is doable, but how often is that?

In addition, signage to the different terminals are quite terrible as some of them points you to a certain direction, but when you come to a cross junction, there are no signage and choosing the wrong one, will lead you wrong...It's just crazy how they connected all the different terminals with such bad information - yes it is an improvement from 5-6 years ago, however still lots of work needs to be done. Even CDG is much better now.

Cheers!

bankops

That is correct. Most is not all however. Just today multiple people have posted about being on separate tickets. As for transit visas, almost nobody needs a transit visa under the TWOV at SVO.

What was the issue you had then? D is a simple go upstairs, passport review (I call it review as you are NOT entering Russia) and security and then back downstairs to your gate.

This sounds more like the issue you had was you ended up going the wrong way and that caused a delay. Signage is not the greatest at SVO, but I have never gotten lost or ended up anyplace I didn't want to be. As for CDG, there is a group of us that have worked with AF and ADP to improve the signage. They ended up taking the consultancy that did AMS and they are still tweaking a few bits and bobs to make it even easier.

nldogbert

Yes I know it is that simple, but it is not about the procedure/direction, but more of the amount of people doing the transit - it becomes a zoo, lines backing up without a clear end of the line, disorganized, it is just a whole mass of people cramped into a small space.

Yes, it is the issue of me going up the wrong way and I had to backtrack and ask multiple people for directions. The next time you can see how bad it is, coming out from the security of Terminal D and if you want to go to Terminal E, if you just follow the signage to Terminal E literally, you'll end up noticing half way that it does not seem correct because there is a cross junction that should have been properly signaged.

AceReport

Hello all,

Am looking at some flight options EVN (Yervan Armenia) connecting in SVO to FCO. there is a 1 hour 45min connection (and other later flights) is that enough to transit successfully and do US citizens need a visa to transit? Thanks

dgrb

I have a flight that arrives in Terminal C from the States and a flight that takes off to the EU from Terminal C. There is exactly one hour between arrival and departure. Is that going to be enough time?