I want to fly on Russian-built aircraft
Oct 5, 2008, 1:14 pm
#31
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: IAH mostly.
Programs: I still call it Onepass every now and then. Platinum.
Posts: 500
About 5 years ago I had the opportunity to take a trip to TOF for some volunteer work with my church. We flew on an S7 Tu-154 (back when it was still called Cибирь) and it was both the most frightening and most interesting flight I have ever taken.
I second all of the observations about the interior being a dump and the seats being bad - I mean, the cover might have been relatively new but the seat frame itself and the foam(?) padding looked and felt like it dated back to the Brezhnev era. Paper thin and extremely uncomfortable.
The food was horrible, everything was just worn out as hell, and it felt like the whole thing was going to just rattle apart at any second. It was also very loud.
What was neat though, was that it was an overnight flight going east over Russia in the middle of the summer. We left DME around 22:00 in the dusk with the sunset behind us in the west. I was on the north-facing side of the plane and watched the sunset literally move left to right on the horizon until it was in the east again and we landed in the morning.
But HERE is what I remember the most:
As we were checking in at DME, there were quite a few kiosks scattered around the concourse where you could get your luggage wrapped in plastic film for a small charge before checking it with the airline. It looked like the guys doing this were independent entrepreneur types and not part of the airport (but as with most of Russia you can never tell for sure). EVERYONE in the building - all of the Russians, that is - was lining up to do this and some of the people in our group went ahead and paid for it to. No one really could tell why it was necessary but the prevalent opinion in our group was that it might be as a theft deterrent.
After we arrived in Tomsk and retrieved our bags from the "baggage claim" (which was just an airport worker throwing luggage through an open door into the hallway) and we immediately knew what the deal was with the plastic film - many of the bags were covered with smelly sewage!
Our Russian hosts noticed the situation and expressed surprise that not everyone in our group had paid to get wrapped - they said that it had always been a common occurrence for these planes - that the lavatories had always tended to leak into the baggage hold - for as long as they had been in service and that it was just a normal part of flying in Russia.
I was lucky that I did not pay for the film but my bags stayed clean, but some of the people in our group were having to do laundry the first night we were there as the "stuff" had soaked into their luggage and dirtied their clothes.
Suffice to say, EVERYONE had their bags wrapped for the return flight a week later.
This was in 2002, and from what I understand, S7 have now phased out all of their TU's and are quickly trying to get rid of the rest of the Soviet metal in its fleet, so that's a good thing. If you still want to fly on one of these things you'll need to go further down the ladder.
I will never forget that first flight.
I second all of the observations about the interior being a dump and the seats being bad - I mean, the cover might have been relatively new but the seat frame itself and the foam(?) padding looked and felt like it dated back to the Brezhnev era. Paper thin and extremely uncomfortable.
The food was horrible, everything was just worn out as hell, and it felt like the whole thing was going to just rattle apart at any second. It was also very loud.
What was neat though, was that it was an overnight flight going east over Russia in the middle of the summer. We left DME around 22:00 in the dusk with the sunset behind us in the west. I was on the north-facing side of the plane and watched the sunset literally move left to right on the horizon until it was in the east again and we landed in the morning.
But HERE is what I remember the most:
As we were checking in at DME, there were quite a few kiosks scattered around the concourse where you could get your luggage wrapped in plastic film for a small charge before checking it with the airline. It looked like the guys doing this were independent entrepreneur types and not part of the airport (but as with most of Russia you can never tell for sure). EVERYONE in the building - all of the Russians, that is - was lining up to do this and some of the people in our group went ahead and paid for it to. No one really could tell why it was necessary but the prevalent opinion in our group was that it might be as a theft deterrent.
After we arrived in Tomsk and retrieved our bags from the "baggage claim" (which was just an airport worker throwing luggage through an open door into the hallway) and we immediately knew what the deal was with the plastic film - many of the bags were covered with smelly sewage!
Our Russian hosts noticed the situation and expressed surprise that not everyone in our group had paid to get wrapped - they said that it had always been a common occurrence for these planes - that the lavatories had always tended to leak into the baggage hold - for as long as they had been in service and that it was just a normal part of flying in Russia.
I was lucky that I did not pay for the film but my bags stayed clean, but some of the people in our group were having to do laundry the first night we were there as the "stuff" had soaked into their luggage and dirtied their clothes.
Suffice to say, EVERYONE had their bags wrapped for the return flight a week later.
This was in 2002, and from what I understand, S7 have now phased out all of their TU's and are quickly trying to get rid of the rest of the Soviet metal in its fleet, so that's a good thing. If you still want to fly on one of these things you'll need to go further down the ladder.
I will never forget that first flight.
Oct 6, 2008, 8:08 am
#32
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: MOW
Programs: KLM Flying Dutchman forever, bmi Diamond Club (is there a theme here?), LH, BA, EK, DL nobody
Posts: 1,877
Our Russian hosts noticed the situation and expressed surprise that not everyone in our group had paid to get wrapped - they said that it had always been a common occurrence for these planes - that the lavatories had always tended to leak into the baggage hold - for as long as they had been in service and that it was just a normal part of flying in Russia.
This was in 2002, and from what I understand, S7 have now phased out all of their TU's and are quickly trying to get rid of the rest of the Soviet metal in its fleet, so that's a good thing. If you still want to fly on one of these things you'll need to go further down the ladder.
Aug 19, 2009, 4:05 am
#33
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,407
Hi all
Interesting thread.
I'm currenctly in asia for a few weeks (can be in China / Hong kong / Thailand / etc) and would also like to fly on a 134 or 154.
Any suggestions?
I require a visa for Russia, as i do for india, so easier for me if I can avoid those countries. I suspect I will also need a visa for the ex soviet states.
Thanks in advance
lme ff
Interesting thread.
I'm currenctly in asia for a few weeks (can be in China / Hong kong / Thailand / etc) and would also like to fly on a 134 or 154.
Any suggestions?
I require a visa for Russia, as i do for india, so easier for me if I can avoid those countries. I suspect I will also need a visa for the ex soviet states.
Thanks in advance
lme ff