Route: LED – SVO
Flightnumber: FV 159 codeshare SU 1420
Date: 25 december 2009
Aircraft: VQ-BAS
Ticket price (inc. Taxes): 41 euros
So this is my first trip report here so please provide as much feedback as possible so I can learn what you (dis)like from the report. Please keep in mind English is not my native language, so if there are any grammatical errors, excusez-moi.
After I picked up my fiancée at her office in the center of Saint Petersburg around 17:00 it was time for us to go to the airport. Students & budget travellers we are we opted to take a usual bus to the airport which takes roughly 30 mins, this time traffic was not so heavy so we arrived good in time at the airport.
FV doesn’t offer, as far as we’re aware of at least, online check-in, so we first sat down for approximately an hour at the restaurant of Pulkovo-1 observing some aircraft movements. Some of the most interesting were: the rather new A321 (VQ-BDA) from Ural Airlines, a three-hour delayed Yak-42 of Airlines of Kuban and the usual traffic from FV, SU and 5N.
The check-in desks in the departure hall of terminal one.
After having finished our teas we proceeded at 18:30 to the check-in desks. At LED-1 the dedicated check-in desks and gates for the Moscow Flights of FV & SU are at the far right part of the terminal, far away from the queues of other destinations. It has no sense to arrive way early at the check in as they will send you away. We gave our tickets to the friendly woman at the check-in desk and were told that the paper she needs for baggage-labels was out of stock and she had just ordered a new one which would arrive in 5 mins. She didn’t care about the fact we did not have checked baggage with us, so we were friendly send to her neighbour which checked us in in less than a minute.
Our flight was this day one of the 17 flights on LED-SVO. There were also 13 flights to DME and 7 to VKO.
We did some small shopping further and then went to security control. We, as usual on the LED-MOW flights, had the choice of taking shoes/belts/coats off, or taking the body-scanner. We opted for the last option as it safes a considerable amount of time and is just plain easier The body scanner is identified with ‘Homo Scan’ (at least that’s what’s written on it) which is rather funny for people knowing the some Germanic languages like Dutch. But we passed without hassle.
The gate for today was gate 12, a gate where the bus arrives and brings you to the aircraft. That’s something I always love as I feel it’s the proper way of entering an aircraft.
Our aircraft for the flight.
The CFM engine.
When we arrived at the aircraft I saw it was VQ-BAS, an Airbus A319 built in 2002 and arrived last summer at FV after having served at Frontier in the US. Secretly I had hoped for a last minute equipment change as I knew one of these days the AN-148 would be brought into revenue service, but this beautiful bird was parked next to our A319.
The AN-148, this one being the first for FV, currently they have two in ops.
Boarding was completed in 10 minutes with a very light load, around 40 people. One of the F/A came around with a pre-flight candy which I think is always a nice gesture.
The pre-flight candy.
ETD: 19:40
ATD: 19:37
ETA: 21:00
ETA: 20:52
Safety instructions were uneventful and soon after we taxied to the runway where we had to hold for 2 arrivals, a Rossiya (however still in Pulkovo paint) 735 from DME as well as FV 320 from I guess AER. Takeoff roll was speedy and we were airborne very quickly.
The flight was uneventful, soon after fasten-seatbelts sign was off the cabin crew started their service and landing lights were switched off so my outside light was gone as well as the landing lights were pretty bright in the thick cloud base.
Today’s ‘menu’ was a bread roll with turkey, actually quite tasty. I chose as well a coffee and a coke.
The descent was uneventful and during approach it started to snow again very hard, but hey it’s Russia and here we’re not so impressed by the snow so landing was smooth. I think we landed on 07R but i’m never good with runways so if it was 07L it could be true as well.
The end of the runway we landed on.
The aircraft was parked on a remote stand between three Nordavia (the former Aeroflot-Nord) planes.
De-boarding was quick and a short bus ride to the arrivals hall was done in a breeze.
The nice thing of FV is that when buying a ticket LED-MOW your plane ticket is also valid on the AeroExpress, an express train, which runs from all three Moscovian airports to the center. My fiancée and I opted however to take a marshrutka to our destination in Moscow.
Summarizing, I think FV’s product on the LED-MOW is pretty good in Y. A snack & drinks are for free, as well as luggage.
The way back to Petersburg we took the new Sapsan high speed train service, which was in operation for 5 days when we took it, reducing the travel time by train to 3 hours and 45 minutes.
Thanks for reading this trip report and I hope to be back with some other trip reports someday.
LYChemsa From United States of America, joined Oct 2009, 904 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 14076 times:
So what did you prefer? The train or the plane? Is the new high speed train nice? Russian made? After what happened 2 months ago I would be a bit nervous traveling on the train.
Giving a candy I have not experienced in 40 years. The service is a lot better than here in the US for such a short flight. Very impressive.
johnboy From United States of America, joined Aug 1999, 2472 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 13508 times:
Very interesting report......I always enjoy looking at the pics and reading about airlines that i probably will never fly on, so it's almost like being there for me.
JL418 From Italy, joined Jun 2009, 493 posts, RR: 7 Reply 7, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 13230 times:
Thanks for the report, and you shouldn't have worried about your English, really. The pre-flight candy was a nice touch, I had them just on JAL flights, but their taste was horrible - a sort of honey toffee.
Any picture of the Siemens train's interior? How was the high speed train experience? Can it challenge, in your opinion, the airplane as a fast way to move to and from St. Petersburg?
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6190 posts, RR: 79 Reply 8, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 13106 times:
Very nice review - FV reports are very rare. And good to see you even included a meal picture in your first report.
It seems the A319 is still equipped with F9 seats. Was there any kind of IFE?
Quoting Severnaya (Thread starter): We, as usual on the LED-MOW flights, had the choice of taking shoes/belts/coats off, or taking the body-scanner. We opted for the last option as it safes a considerable amount of time and is just plain easier
Interesting that you have a choice. I would also prefer the scanner.
BOACCunard From United States of America, joined Dec 2009, 784 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 13024 times:
Very nice job, and don't worry about your English, it is very good.
FV looks like a good airline and the fare is certainly fair. The pre-flight sweet and the snack are very nice for a short flight.
The FV livery is very attractive in a subdued sort of way, though it is no match for the stunning SU livery, which I suppose could replace it soon.
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 10, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 12967 times:
Hi,
An interesting read about a route and carrier not very well documented here. Good work.
By chance do you have any pictures of the cabin interior, I would be interested to see it?
Quoting SOBHI51 (Reply 5): Sorry but what is that? Marshrutka?
Marshrutkas are sort of route taxis very common in Eastern Europe. It is usually a van or a minibus that drives a certain predetermined route. You can get in by stopping the driver with a wave (or just hop on if you are at the origin), tell him how far you want to go, pay the quoted fare (if the car is packed your fellow passengers will pass the money for you to the driver and any change back) and tell him to stop when you want to get off.
Kinda like a mix between a full (usually subsidized from public funds) bus route and a taxi with no predetermined stops but a predetermined route.
Severnaya From Russia, joined Jan 2009, 1390 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 12568 times:
Quoting Ryan h (Reply 1): I think Rossiya have an interesting colour scheme.
Yeah I agree with you!
Quoting Ryan h (Reply 1): Don't worry as your understanding of English is much, much better than my understanding of Russian.
Quoting LYChemsa (Reply 3): So what did you prefer? The train or the plane? Is the new high speed train nice? Russian made? After what happened 2 months ago I would be a bit nervous traveling on the train.
I don't know what i prefer more. It depends on your purpose of visit as the time-difference is negligible as going-to-airport-flying-going to center is about the same length as center-train-center time, perhaps Sapsan is even faster. However Sapsan has currently only 3 departures/day from both Petersburg and Moscow i think at 07:00 13:00 and 19:00. Actually the train is nice, it's an almost exact copy of the German ICE trains (as it's also a Siemens one), maybe a bit more luxurious as you get free earphones & movies on the overhead screens. About safety, yeah well, anything can happen on trains and planes, and even when walking on the streets.
Quoting JL418 (Reply 7): How was the high speed train experience? Can it challenge, in your opinion, the airplane as a fast way to move to and from St. Petersburg?
The train experience is nice, however only on one pretty short part it drives 250 km/h, the other parts are done only with 200 km/h. I think there is pretty some room for improvement, but conditions are harsh, especially in the winter. Yes it definitely can challenge the airplane because a business day in MOW or LED can very easy and comfortably be done with arrival in the morning and departure in the evening as it removes a lot of nervous traffic jams to the airports in MOW and to LED. Frequencies are king of course with the airplane, but when the highspeed train fleet will be enlarged it certainly can challenge the airplane. MOW-GOJ will be the second line receiving the Sapsans.
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): Very nice review - FV reports are very rare.
Thanks!
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): It seems the A319 is still equipped with F9 seats. Was there any kind of IFE?
Correct, F9 seats. However no IFE besides the a Yakutian girl from about 8 years old who flew for the first time and was already asking her mother when we were taxing if we were flying .
Quoting BOACCunard (Reply 9): Very nice job, and don't worry about your English, it is very good.
Thanks!
Quoting BOACCunard (Reply 9): The FV livery is very attractive in a subdued sort of way, though it is no match for the stunning SU livery, which I suppose could replace it soon.
If ever it will change Things in Russia do not always go as announced (merger of FV & some other airlines into SU). Changing liveries in Russia is even more questionable and slow.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 10): An interesting read about a route and carrier not very well documented here. Good work.
Thanks!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 10): By chance do you have any pictures of the cabin interior.
No, but as above, the Y seats have not changed since F9. The business seats from F9 I don't know, here they were 2x2 and real business seats, not like LH, KL etc's European "business seats". etc.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 10): Marshrutkas are sort of route taxis very common in Eastern Europe. It is usually a van or a minibus that drives a certain predetermined route. You can get in by stopping the driver with a wave (or just hop on if you are at the origin), tell him how far you want to go, pay the quoted fare (if the car is packed your fellow passengers will pass the money for you to the driver and any change back) and tell him to stop when you want to get off.
Yeah that's quite correct and in most cases you don't have to tell the driver where you want to go but you'd better ask where HE is going as that's rather questionable every time eventhough he has the published route number, which is almost always a copy of an existing public funds bus route but with a prefix before it.
Sabena332 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 12165 times:
Very good report, thanks a lot for posting!
Actually I am sad to see that the Russian planes are dissapearing more and more from the Russian carriers' fleets. I should have booked a big trip around Russia a few years ago to get all these TUs, ILs and Yaks. I guess it is too late now.
Anyway, thanks again for your report, very interesting!
A342 From Germany, joined Jul 2005, 4655 posts, RR: 4 Reply 14, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 12080 times:
Quoting Severnaya (Reply 11): The train experience is nice, however only on one pretty short part it drives 250 km/h, the other parts are done only with 200 km/h. I think there is pretty some room for improvement, but conditions are harsh, especially in the winter.
I've read that in the future, the tracks will be upgraded for 300+ km/h. Do you know of any time frame when this might be done?
BOACCunard From United States of America, joined Dec 2009, 784 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 12077 times:
Quoting Severnaya (Reply 11): If ever it will change Things in Russia do not always go as announced (merger of FV & some other airlines into SU).
Indeed. Emphasis on could.
It does seem logical for the Russian airline industry to consolidate into two airlines though, SU and S7. (OK, maybe there is room for a third, for Star Alliance.)
Quoting Severnaya (Reply 11): The business seats from F9 I don't know, here they were 2x2 and real business seats, not like LH, KL etc's European "business seats". etc.
They can't be F9 seats because there is no premium cabin on F9. It's an all-Y carrier (now with some rows with extra legroom).
BrusselsSouth From Belgium, joined Aug 2001, 598 posts, RR: 5 Reply 17, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 16 hours ago) and read 11725 times:
Thank you for sharing your experience, we don't have that many russian domestic flights reports here.
Although it makes economic sense, it's a shame to see soviet planes being replaced by 737/320s. Hopefully the An-148 and Sukhoi SuperJet will break the monotony, and pave the way for future projects.
Quoting Severnaya (Thread starter): Our flight was this day one of the 17 flights on LED-SVO. There were also 13 flights to DME and 7 to VKO.
Busy route... impressive ! But the load on your particular flight wasn't that high. Does the route really warrant so many daily flights ?
JL418 From Italy, joined Jun 2009, 493 posts, RR: 7 Reply 18, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 15 hours ago) and read 11671 times:
Quoting Severnaya (Reply 11): The train experience is nice, however only on one pretty short part it drives 250 km/h, the other parts are done only with 200 km/h. I think there is pretty some room for improvement, but conditions are harsh, especially in the winter. Yes it definitely can challenge the airplane because a business day in MOW or LED can very easy and comfortably be done with arrival in the morning and departure in the evening as it removes a lot of nervous traffic jams to the airports in MOW and to LED. Frequencies are king of course with the airplane, but when the highspeed train fleet will be enlarged it certainly can challenge the airplane. MOW-GOJ will be the second line receiving the Sapsans.
Many thanks for the links, and for the informations as well. It seems that, despite Mother Nature's opinion, fast trains are becoming a threat for airplanes on short haul flights even in Russia. We've seen it in Spain, in France and Italy and now in Russia too. Let's see what airliners will do, these routes are usually quite lucrative.
Severnaya From Russia, joined Jan 2009, 1390 posts, RR: 1 Reply 19, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 4 hours ago) and read 11288 times:
Quoting OA260 (Reply 12): Very nice report. I didnt know about the high speed train also. Is there a website?
Thanks!
I'm not sure if there is a separate website of the high speed train, but if you google on Sapsan you might get quite some results. Also the website of the Russian Railways http://eng.rzd.ru/isvp/public/rzdeng?STRUCTURE_ID=4054 (english one) has some information as well as the website i quoted in a previous reply.
Quoting Sabena332 (Reply 13): Very good report, thanks a lot for posting!
Thanks!
Quoting Sabena332 (Reply 13): I should have booked a big trip around Russia a few years ago to get all these TUs, ILs and Yaks. I guess it is too late now.
TUs and Yaks are still quite around, however the Ilyushins (except the IL-96) are getting very rare indeed, almost impossible anymore to catch on a scheduled flight!
Quoting A342 (Reply 14): I've read that in the future, the tracks will be upgraded for 300+ km/h. Do you know of any time frame when this might be done?
Correct indeed, i think the next max will be 300km/h but i'm not sure if we'll see that in the foreseeable future. Priority will be to connect Moscow with Nizhniy Novgorod (track ready, test driving is happening at the moment - planned opening is june this summer) and with Sochi (for the Olympics 2014, however this fast-rail-train-track is still unsure). Timeframes in Russia, like in many other countries is something very unsure, unfortunately
Quoting BOACCunard (Reply 15): It does seem logical for the Russian airline industry to consolidate into two airlines though, SU and S7. (OK, maybe there is room for a third, for Star Alliance.)
Eventually there will be room for a bit more than 2 airlines i guess, as it's the largest country in the world However, most airlines nowadays do not make any profits, but large losses, and no not only because of the current crisis.
Quoting BOACCunard (Reply 15): They can't be F9 seats because there is no premium cabin on F9. It's an all-Y carrier (now with some rows with extra legroom).
Thanks for pointing this out I honestly have no idea which brand/type they were.
Quoting Kent350787 (Reply 16): Thank you for the trip report - it's always interesting to read of different trips, especially with a high speed train trip involved. And there is no need to apologise for your English - it is better than that of many native English speakers!
Thanks!
Quoting BrusselsSouth (Reply 17): Thank you for sharing your experience, we don't have that many russian domestic flights reports here.
Thanks!
Quoting BrusselsSouth (Reply 17): Busy route... impressive ! But the load on your particular flight wasn't that high. Does the route really warrant so many daily flights ?
Yes i guess it does, however we traveled on a Friday evening when the traffic flows are mostly MOW->LED (and monday LED->MOW). Also many flights are feeders into SVO for SU network. And do not forget these are the 2 largest Russian cities, with >15 mln and >5 mln citizens.
Quoting JL418 (Reply 18): It seems that, despite Mother Nature's opinion, fast trains are becoming a threat for airplanes on short haul flights even in Russia. We've seen it in Spain, in France and Italy and now in Russia too. Let's see what airliners will do, these routes are usually quite lucrative.
Yeah, it's indeed an interesting development, however distances in Russia are large, so in my opinion it will stay limited to the westernmost part of the country.
SOBHI51 From Saudi Arabia, joined Jun 2003, 3009 posts, RR: 17 Reply 20, posted (3 years 3 months 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 10975 times:
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 10): Marshrutkas are sort of route taxis very common in Eastern Europe. It is usually a van or a minibus that drives a certain predetermined route.
Thank you very much FlyingFinn76.
In some areas in the midde east e have the same , they are usually called Service or Tuktuk.
BOACCunard From United States of America, joined Dec 2009, 784 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (3 years 3 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 10954 times:
Quoting Severnaya (Reply 19): Eventually there will be room for a bit more than 2 airlines i guess, as it's the largest country in the world
Well, I suppose I should revise that: two "major" or "full-service" airlines.
The number of countries that seem able to successfully sustain more than two such carriers is rather small. Actually the only ones I can think of are China (3), India (3) and the USA (4+ depending on how you count), all of which have a lot more people in them than Russia.
The enormous distances in Russia will indeed make air travel very difficult to replace, but the Russian airline industry is too fragmented right now IMHO.
crosswinds21 From Netherlands, joined Jun 2009, 684 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (3 years 3 months 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 10914 times:
Great trip report...otlichno!
Anyway, I have a question...I was curious how, with the recent rise of capitalism in Russia along with liberalization in air travel there, the train routes from LED to MOW have been impacted. I know how that going back to 10-15 years ago, just about all travel between these two cities was done by train. What is the case now? Judging by how you said there are almost 40 daily flights in each direction between these two cities, it would seem that most people fly now. Is that true? Has the amount and frequency of train service between MOW and LED decreased?
JL418 From Italy, joined Jun 2009, 493 posts, RR: 7 Reply 23, posted (3 years 3 months 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 10832 times:
Quoting Severnaya (Reply 19): Yeah, it's indeed an interesting development, however distances in Russia are large, so in my opinion it will stay limited to the westernmost part of the country.
Yes indeed, I was rather thinking about European Russia.
Severnaya From Russia, joined Jan 2009, 1390 posts, RR: 1 Reply 24, posted (3 years 3 months 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 10294 times:
Quoting BOACCunard (Reply 21): Well, I suppose I should revise that: two "major" or "full-service" airlines.
Yeah I agree with you!
Quoting BOACCunard (Reply 21): The enormous distances in Russia will indeed make air travel very difficult to replace, but the Russian airline industry is too fragmented right now IMHO.
Correct, most are making huge losses, including FV which is seen by many in Europe as quite successful.
Quoting crosswinds21 (Reply 22): I was curious how, with the recent rise of capitalism in Russia along with liberalization in air travel there, the train routes from LED to MOW have been impacted.
I'm not so sure if there has been done some kind of research however i think that the trains haven't really felt the rise of flying as most trains are still packed.
Quoting crosswinds21 (Reply 22): I know how that going back to 10-15 years ago, just about all travel between these two cities was done by train. What is the case now?
Now of course flying is also an option, however it depends very much on your purpose of travel. Trains & planes both serve their markets and are actually the only ways of transport between the cities as the motorway is not an option for a businessday in MOW or LED.
Quoting crosswinds21 (Reply 22): it would seem that most people fly now. Is that true? Has the amount and frequency of train service between MOW and LED decreased?
No most people still go by train, i guess it has increased even more with longer trains etc as the demand for travel has exploded.
Всяк глядит, да не всяк видит.
25 Severnaya: For the people which are interested in the Sapsan highspeed train connection between LED and MOW, the RZD (Russian Railways) has increased the number
26 ba319-131: Thanks for posting, we don't see enough domestic TR's in Russia, nor intl ones for that matter! - Interesting to have a chouce. not seen that before.
27 mtaabq: Severnaya: I found your command of the English language to be commendable. Well done! Yours was also a delight trip report featuring two airports rare
28 AntonovA330: I took this route 2 years ago, however in a FV TU154. I really loved every moment in it! Haha, I remember that.. ehm.. machine. I'm still nowadays jok
29 Severnaya: Thanks! Indeed, it served its purpose Thanks! Oh that would have been better on one hand to fly the TU5, but FV took them out of service in autumn 20
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The body scanner is identified with ‘Homo Scan’ (at least that’s what’s written on it) which is rather funny for people knowing the some Germanic languages like Dutch. But we passed without hassle.
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