Aeroflot?

volchitsa

Hi. Not sure this is the right place for this (if not, perhaps a kind mod would move it for me) but we are flying long haul this summer and Aeroflot are coming up as the cheapest for our dates and destination, but oddly, not when I go on the Aeroflot site itself.

When I use any one of those price sites, I end up redirected to a place called Budgetair, and get the same flights via Moscow coming up as cheaper than anything else.

When I go on Aeroflot, I get slightly different flights/flight numbers and significantly higher prices. I'm worried about buying via an intermediary (last time that happened, by accident, we needed to change the dates and it was a complete nightmare, got sent from pillar to post, so said I'd never do it again!)

Does anyone have any experience of Aeroflot generally (I know they used to have a poor safety record - is that still the case?) and why this ticketing thing happens?
Should I just go ahead and book via Budget-air?

VG31

Aeroflot have not had a fatal crash since the 90s. They have a modern fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft. They seem to get fairly good reviews:

http://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/aeroflot-russian-airlines/
https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Airline_Review-d8728987-Reviews-Cheap-Flights-Aeroflot

I would be wary of buying from those ticket sites as often the fare is not 'live' so by the time it comes to payment you can be charged a lot more than the previously listed price.

volchitsa

Thanks for that, I'm happy to hear their record is better, that worried me a little.
I did see a lot of add ons, travel insurance and the like, but it was still below the Aeroflot price, and actually one leg included another line, so maybe that's the reason for the price difference (Air France I think). I'd rather have bought direct from Aeroflot though. I'll look again this evening and decide then.

CaptainSkidmark

I fly Aeroflot all the time. Not so much this year as i go through Seoul a lot now but thats just to avoid Aer Lingus.

Aeroflot are totally fine, We always have bad weather coming into Sakhalin, thankfully most of their long haul Pilots are x military. Even on a normal day you can tell they are approaching manually. Never had any issue with them. Food is ok also. i Fly 777-300ER

I think in the last 20 years they would have a far better record than Air France for example. Seats are a tiny bit cramped. They call first class business class and business class is called economy comfort. Exxon usually book my flights and sometimes i get the economy comfort but other times i upgrade myself and usually costs 5000 rubles(about 75 euro) each way.

goingnowhere

Flown with them, lovely crew, food even on short flights. Best short haul flight I've had.

Only airline to provide proper business class on short haul in Europe.

Once you are flying in/out of Russia great, domestic within Russia is a different game. All international flights are on Boeing or Airbus. Safety record is better or as good as most major EU/US carriers. Pilots are nearly all ex military so have a lot more flight time before flying a large passenger jet.

honru

Are you referring to budgetair.ie, or budgetair.com?

I can't speak on the former. I have used the latter before (using their Irish site vayama.ie) and had no problems. As you mentioned to in your original post, I would not recommend booking with travel agents if you feel you need even the least amount of flexibility. I've had no problems when I've stuck with the booked itinerary.

Short answer for why they are cheaper on travel agents' websites: my understanding is that some tickets are sold by airlines to travel agents to sell on at a lower cost.

volchitsa

Thanks for all that, I'm definitely reassured. It's BA.ie I think, maybe I'll try .com tomorrow (problem with credit card needing to be unblocked by bank, anti fraud measures apparently) and too tired to think straight just now anyway,so I'll see tomorrow.

Doltanian

Would you need a transit visa for Russia? I know Irish Citizens need a visa to enter Russia

volchitsa

Yes that's something else I need to know, I'll have to contact the Russian embassy. But if they're selling tickets with a 24 hour layover, presumably that's not a major issue?

(Well, Budget Air are, with one leg not Aeroflot, Aeroflot themselves don't seem to, so I just hope Budget Air don't expect you to spend 24 hours in the airport!)

L1011

It's entirely plausible that they do. People do odd things to save money

volchitsa

Apparently you need a transit visa to leave the airport zone. 35€, and up to 10 days to deliver it. That's ok. There's also a faster one, 3 days, for 70€.

(But apparently you're right, wouldn't need to rock up at the customs desk in Moscow expecting to breeze through in the grounds that someone sold you the ticket!)

Dardania

goingnowhere wrote: »

Flown with them, lovely crew, food even on short flights. Best short haul flight I've had.

Only airline to provide proper business class on short haul in Europe.

Once you are flying in/out of Russia great, domestic within Russia is a different game. All international flights are on Boeing or Airbus. Safety record is better or as good as most major EU/US carriers. Pilots are nearly all ex military so have a lot more flight time before flying a large passenger jet.

Sometimes you're on the Superjet for shorthaul international, which is a cool machine. They seem quite proud of them too

Aeroflot are SkyTeam, so make sure you log your miles to, say, FlyingBlue from LKM/Air France