- Joined
- Nov 8, 2005
- Posts
- 134
I was one of the persons to warn of S7's less than impressive history as SibAir. I thought it only fair then, to give them a look while I had the chance, and report back.
I Flew on S7 52, a bright, lime green Airbus 319 with winglets, between a spanking new Kolsovo airport in Ekaterinburg and Domodeadavo Airport in Moscow.
The Russian Airports have those new body scanners where you stand legs apart and arms up for a few seconds, and you do not have to remove your laptop from scanned hand luggage.
Kolsovo has only one Business lounge/VIP area. They very kindly let me in with their 2 business class passengers. It holds about 40 in big comfy leather airchairs. One 52" LCD at one end, and a 42 down near the bar. No food or drink was provided free, just newspapers. All top self liquor available, and good choice of food, with reasonable attempts at coffee.
The S7 plane was very clean and in good nick. Seating J 2-2, 4 rows and 3-3 in whY. The FA's were attentive and communicated well enough in english remembering I was on a domestic flight (they all understand, but some struggle to respond). Their safety card was deliberately humourous. The Flight mag was well produced but has little english translation.
Pushback right on time ar 0825, TO 0835.
10 mins after take off they pushed a newspaper trolley down the plane which had copies of The Moscow Times in english. 0900 breakfast was delivered, spaghetti and meatballs (which did not look good, but tasted great), bread roll, butter, cheese, juice, water, choc, and tea (served black with lemon)/coffee.
Un-eventful, smooth flight landed early at Domodeadovo Airport.
luggage trolleys are free here, and you can leave luggage in security for 150 rbs/day. Reasonable selection of shops, but not enough toilets. The taxi Mafia is nothing like Sheremetyevo, and you would be foolish to use them anyhow with a direct train link to one of the major Voksals, or buses to the Metro both waiting right at the front door.
So, all up a good experience and I will be very happy to use them as part of a future OneWorld exploration of parts of Russia I have yet to see like the Kamchatka Peninsular with it's active volcanos.
It will open up some interesting possibilities for entry, like Bangkok, or Beijing to Irkutsk (Lake Baikal), and Vladivostok across. Some more unusual European destinations as well.
I Flew on S7 52, a bright, lime green Airbus 319 with winglets, between a spanking new Kolsovo airport in Ekaterinburg and Domodeadavo Airport in Moscow.
The Russian Airports have those new body scanners where you stand legs apart and arms up for a few seconds, and you do not have to remove your laptop from scanned hand luggage.
Kolsovo has only one Business lounge/VIP area. They very kindly let me in with their 2 business class passengers. It holds about 40 in big comfy leather airchairs. One 52" LCD at one end, and a 42 down near the bar. No food or drink was provided free, just newspapers. All top self liquor available, and good choice of food, with reasonable attempts at coffee.
The S7 plane was very clean and in good nick. Seating J 2-2, 4 rows and 3-3 in whY. The FA's were attentive and communicated well enough in english remembering I was on a domestic flight (they all understand, but some struggle to respond). Their safety card was deliberately humourous. The Flight mag was well produced but has little english translation.
Pushback right on time ar 0825, TO 0835.
10 mins after take off they pushed a newspaper trolley down the plane which had copies of The Moscow Times in english. 0900 breakfast was delivered, spaghetti and meatballs (which did not look good, but tasted great), bread roll, butter, cheese, juice, water, choc, and tea (served black with lemon)/coffee.
Un-eventful, smooth flight landed early at Domodeadovo Airport.
luggage trolleys are free here, and you can leave luggage in security for 150 rbs/day. Reasonable selection of shops, but not enough toilets. The taxi Mafia is nothing like Sheremetyevo, and you would be foolish to use them anyhow with a direct train link to one of the major Voksals, or buses to the Metro both waiting right at the front door.
So, all up a good experience and I will be very happy to use them as part of a future OneWorld exploration of parts of Russia I have yet to see like the Kamchatka Peninsular with it's active volcanos.
It will open up some interesting possibilities for entry, like Bangkok, or Beijing to Irkutsk (Lake Baikal), and Vladivostok across. Some more unusual European destinations as well.
