Where to Meet at DME?
 

Any suggestions as to where to meet someone at DME?

I have a colleague arriving at 6:50 pm on SwissAir from Zurich. I'll already be in Moscow. He's never been to Russia and doesn't speak any Russian, so my plan is to meet him at the airport and for the two of us to travel to the hotel via public transport (Aeroexpress) or taxi depending on how much luggage he has.

I will not have a air ticket. I've been in DME, but it's been several years and I can't remember if I can enter without a ticket anyway.

Any good places to suggest as a meeting spot?

Thanks!

Yes, yon can enter the airport without a ticket.
A reasonable but crowded place would be at the exit from the "clear" area/customs (on the left side of the ground floor).

Thanks. I'm guessing I can't miss it. I just need to line up with everyone else meeting someone?

Yeah, consider yourself lucky if you get a place in the first line :)

I typically have my colleagues meet me at the juice stand just to the left of the arrivals area. I forget what it's called, but i've found it to be the easiest place to meet. Except, of course, you're always fighting off taxi drivers ;)

Thanks! The "juice stand" it is. I'll try to remember to post the name of the juice stand afterwards in case the info is helpful to someone else.

My colleague is quite happy to have arrangements in place.

This isn't KTM or DEL. You can certainly enter without a ticket.
I don't recommend showing up with a large bag as this will need to be screened.

I would personally not meet at the exit from international baggage claims / customs. That place might as well be a mad house. I arranged for someone to meet me but never found my driver because of the chaos. Turn left and walk further down

Some suggestions

- In the middle of the airport there is a meeting area, between the Star Alliance ticket counters and S7/Transaero, aptly called "meeting point"

-Next to this area there is an elevator and a set of escalators that take you to a second level. There's a café (well , two actually) , and overpriced restaurant that still thinks its 1995. Further on the second floor : Russian Post, a megafon store, Mumu, so called "duty free stores", a thai massage place, and airline offices. Mainly SQ.

- The escalator down (right after arrivals) takes you to the car park (another possibility)

The meeting point or the café would be a good place

So...... I hope you met up with your colleague despite the fact that the juice stand is no longer there! I just landed at DME yesterday and they have renovated the public arrivals area.

Sincerest apologies -- this was my go-to meeting spot for a half dozen previous visits and it disappeared at some point over the last couple of months. meFIRST's advice is certainly more valid than mine at this point.

I used to practically live at DME, well these days in the absence of direct flights to the US ( SQ notwithstanding) less so. Since UA left, and discontinued the IAD-DME service, I moved some of my travels over to Aeroflot, thus I use SVO more now.

Its a shame the East Line Group (owners of DME) lost the most of the US traffic, including Transaero. I heard (but can't confirm ) that landing fees at DME are quite steep in comparison to European airports of similar stature / size.

BTW, Anyone interested in seeing boarding area drama should take the escalator (from the international side of DME) all the way down to the lowest level. That's where flights to Benidorm, Pula, Sharm Al Sheikh etc, all leave from.
Can be entertaining.

Best way to kill time outside of a lounge :cool:

No problem. I'll just join the scrum ... The real point of my query was to ensure I could make into an area to wait.

He's arriving in about 6 hours so I'll post here if I need fellow Flyertalkers to organize a search party for him! ;)

At least I have a plan for killing time if his flight is late!

Just wanted to post a quick follow up. I ended up in the scrum outside the customs exit. It really wasn't too bad at all. I arrived a few minutes after his flight did (it arrived early), but was there when he exited. There weren't too many people around and I easily saw him and met him right away. Eschewing the "taxi" offers, we proceeded to aeroexpress and were on our way in only a few minutes.

If I was meeting someone again, though, I would take meFIRST's advice and use the "Meeting Point" (which no one could miss) or the upstairs cafes.