Aeroflot from London to Delhi via Moscow

anna

Hi,
We start out trip to India in January with a flight to Delhi via Moscow for a bargain price!. We've heard very mixed reviews about the airline Aeroflot and of course had the rounds of jokes from our friends about flying with them Does anyone have any recent experience with aeroflot and any problems they have encountered/delays etc. Any other handy tips or hints would also be very welcome.
Anothe teeny question was about buses between Jodhpur and Udaipur, how long they take, frequency and any recommendations whether to take public or private bus, I had a look on the Rahjastan buses website but an error always comes up for timetable queries
Thankyou!

beach

Welcome to IM

Hold on.There are many people here who are experts on the questions you've asked....

aghori

Imho, Aeroflot is better then for example Delta in States.
There should not be delays unless because of weather conditions.
Well, I heard some complanes that some people don't find chairs being very comfortable. And there might be problem with vegetarian food, but I had the same problem on Delta and AirFrance.
Anyway in Russia there is only one plane for both Aeroflot and AirIndia half-half. Imho, the worse part that the flight arrives at 1AM or in better case 3.30AM. What to do in Delhi at this hour.

volga_volga

some more tips on Aeroflot:

(1) watch out for the transit time in Moscow. If you have longer than simple change of planes you will not be able to leave the airport zone unless you have a valid Russian visa - there was a thread a month ago or so on LP TT about being in transit in Moscow and whether you need a special transit visa or not. check it with the Aeroflot!!

+ usually cheap tickets require inconveniently long stopovers

(2) check out airports - there are two international airports in Moscow, Domodedovo (in the south) and Sheremetievo (in the north). the transit time between them could be hours - approx like between Stanstead and Heathrow!!

(3) if you do have a stopover in Moscow may I suggest you take something warm, it's has been below zero C since early November and sometimes up to -15C

(4) seal your luggage with some tape or wrap it in cellophane - theft from the luggage is not unknown in Russia. think the same security concerns as for India.

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jobu

i have had 8 hour stopover in Sheremetjevo airport. Good thing is they are giving some food coupons which give you free dinner in a diner. Food is nothing to get excited about, but it is funny to sit in this canteen and look the babushkas trying to cheat on foreigners - menu is in russian and there suppose to be 3 course meal, but these ladies there try to do everything that people wouldn't get all the food. They have small sidebusiness of selling juice etc leftovers to russians - as this airport is bloody expensive. That was in 2001. Maybe things change.
On the plane - if it happens to be Iljushkin 96 etc - this plane looks quite different from boeings etc. Anyway while taking off some screws started to fall from the ceiling...Certainly they were not any vital parts of plane but still makes you wonder..
generally i would fly with aeroflot again - because it can be so cheap.And I believe that drivers are good and i somehow believe that if something will break somebody on this plane will be able to repair it with hammer and nails... If is going about enjoyable service I wouldn't fly with them. From one can of coke the stewardesses know how to serve 5 people..

aghori

Aeroflot flight is from Sheremetievo 2, it is not likely that one need to change airoport, esp. in light of visa thing. Since lately it is not that easy to get Russian visa, many documents esp. from doctors.

(4) seal your luggage with some tape or wrap it in cellophane - theft from the luggage is not unknown in Russia.
Locking a bag with a key is enough. I never do more then that and never had any problems.

generally i would fly with aeroflot again - because it can be so cheap.
It is the most expensive option that we have in Russia. For example, flight Moscow-Kiev-Delhi is 300$ less.

jobu

that's no secret that aeroflot is only cheap if you start your flight outside Russia. For example it is much cheaper to have ticket from Berlin (with stopover in Moscow) to Singapur than just Moscow-Singapur.

dace

I flew Aeroflot from Seattle to Mumbai via Moscow. I thought it was really nice. I liked the colour scheme (blue and orange). both planes were very under filled, so I could spread out. and the food was really good. The Russian airport was neat too.

katora

i travelled to delhi via moscow twice on aeroflot (including the last ever smoking flight- gone are those days ) and both times there was delays.
the service was fine but its quite tedious if u get delayed for too long. when i flew in march the journey ended up taking more than 48hours! when i was supposed to leave heathrow, the conditions in moscow were to foggy to attempt to fly and land, so we got put up overnight in a hotel near the airport.
the next morning we flew, but by the time we got to moscow our connection had long since left. this meant staying in a hotel (novotel) in moscow for 20 hours. it was a good enough hotel, though we were not allowed to leave the floor we were put on. it was guarded by big goons, who escorted us to meals twice!
eventually we made it to delhi, but by then i was exhausted. all in all if your on a tight budget and have flexible plans it should be no problem.

vaclav

Have flown Aeroflot twice some time ago (to Kathmandu and to Lima). Food is not much, soda drinks may run out, no movies, smoking flights - but the flights are OK for the price. Unusually big leg-space in the cabin, especially on Iljushin.
In case you need to wait overnight at Sheremetevo airport (quite typical) beware that there are almost no chairs and no carpet to sleep on. Take a mattress with you to have something to sit or sleep on.
As far as I am concerned, the food at the airport is too expensive even for free - take your own food.