invisible

Hint - I left Russia in 1998. And did my fair share flying on TU-134/154 and YK-40/42s. My mother would go to church every time learning that I was flying.

mandolino

I have flown on those in Kazakhstan years ago but recent Russian flights have been on Boeing and Airbus.

theddo

I've took the transmongolian railway in college and I have to say it was awesome. Not much can happen on a train, but of course all staff was Chinese.

As I said in my post I wouldn't chose another carrier based on safety. Sure Aeroflot do have a worse safety record if you look at the total numbers of hull loses, but if you look at the last years they have Airbus planes and is safe. However encountering Aeroflot CS is horrible and their staff is rude, incompetent, lying and I'm willing to pay a lot of money to not have to deal with them.

Pargeo

If I'm sent by my company somewhere within Russia, when I have no choice, then yes; otherwise NEVER. I will never pay my money to any Russian airline.

The reason is not Russian aircraft (this reason is not valid any more, since Aeroflot, Transaero and S7 don't operate Russian aircraft anymore). The reason is what I'd call 'safety culture' - or the lack of it. If I'm not mistaken, all of the recent accidents with the loss of life were caused purely by pilots / air traffic either ignoring instrument readings (believing they know better) or otherwise failing to follow basic safety rules. There's general conviction among Russians that Russian pilots are way better than any others. These two combined is enough proof for me those responsible for safety don't really want to change anything.

They say Aeroflot is different now . Maybe, but I'll leave to others to verify if it's true or not.

I'm Russian, btw.

STBCypriot

That is a vote for S7. They were fine and I felt safe. Unlike the Aeroflot domestic, where I was close to terrified.

mandolino

My only gripe about S7 is that I couldn't get Qantas system to give me the promised partner points.

Oh, and on one flight out of Krasnoyarsk they didn't turn off the seatbelt lights for over an hour, although there was no bumpiness. Eventually I thought to hell with it, unbuckled , and made a dash for the toilet. Apres moi, le deluge . Not very often you get to lead a bunch of Russians in anarchic behaviour.

woody125

Absolutely safe. 92 to 99 not so much but concern over safety is not a factor in my mind during my very often flying in Russia. I am an Aeroflot only guy though. Woke up too many mornings while living in Russia in the 00's with news of S7 crashes.

I personally think once you know how to interact with Russians a bit and adjust your expectations accordingly that SU's service is actually quite good. It's not the syrupy southern US (I'm ATL born) kind of friendly but it's more than courteous and professional as well as helpful in my book.

As with all things YMMV...

Forrest Bump

Very well said, and my point also.
In aviation the risk is nowadays mostly behind the attitude, and the so called safety culture. Reason I try to avoid flying also North African/Middle Eastern carriers (GCC ones aside) and some Asian with 'DYKWIA' attitute in the cockpit.

pinniped

That begs the question: are Russian trains statistically safer than Russian airlines?

I've flown in/out of Moscow on western carriers. I'm not a Skyteam guy so I'd probably never run into Aeroflot, but if they were hypothetically in Star or OW I would not avoid them because of their safety record. Knowing their service reputation, they'd need to be more convenient or less expensive than everyone else to win my business.

I'd be more hesitant to fly a Russian domestic airline I'd never heard of. If I had to do that, I'd probably do a lot of research and at least pick one that seems to be a larger operation with newer Airbus/Boeing aircraft.

Earthlings

Russian carrier crashed today. Sad 50 people had to die during the landing attempt.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/17/world/...l?c=homepage-t

Airline_Brat

I flew once on Aeroflot, in either 1989 or 90. I was just a high school kid, and I'm not sure what type of plane it was. It was something I was not familiar with, I do remember it had round windows. Being the daughter of an airline pilot I had flown plenty on domestic U.S. airlines. This flight seemed so weird to me at the time. Before takeoff 2 flight attendant types passed around dixie cups of some type of juice. Then they collected the empty cups and disappeared behind a curtain never to be seen again. No safety briefing, no nothing. The whole thing did make me feel a little uneasy, and I am not a nervous flyer.

rankourabu

While I've only flown Aeroflot, I am confused about this comment.

There were THREE accidents of S7 in the 2000's. Two of them were not S7's fault (missile+bomb). That is a total of ONE crash during the entire decade (2006), how does that brand an airline UNSAFE?

t325

I was going to reply to the thread with "Not if it's a Russian plane, but I'd feel safe on a Boeing or Airbus" and then I saw your post.

But if the dashcam videos I've seen are any indication, driving around Russia wouldn't be much safer.

theddo

I would say that bombs and missiles may be reason to fear flying a Russian airline. As far as I know S7 1812 may have been an act of terrorism, nobody knows yet?

Still flying Aeroflot I felt safe and internationally I wouldn't worry at all.

warakorn

SU operates Russian-built plane.