Lap747 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2008, 45 posts, RR: 0 Posted (7 months 4 weeks ago) and read 8064 times:
In February 2012 I was surfing the web when it came to my attention that Aeroflot were selling some special fares to Japan. After more research it appeared these fares were only available on certain routings departing Paris or Rome. I got in contact with a friend and we decided to go for it!
As Paris would be easier to get to, it was chosen as the departure airport and we would be flying back into London Heathrow Airport. The dates were selected and we booked up for a total of £250 each for a return fare! The routing was to be CDG-SVO-NRT-SVO-LHR with Aeroflot and we would be taking easyJet’s morning service from GLA-CDG the day before, so we would have a few hours to spend in Paris.
At the time of booking September seemed a long time away but after all the planning of booking accommodation, deciding how to spend the 11 days we had in Japan and booking a JR Pass for the Shinkansen (Bullet Train), it soon came around. I had also spent 3 months in America doing voluntary work between March and June 2012 which made the time go even faster!
On Tuesday 4th September I took a Virgin Cross Country train from Newcastle to Glasgow Central to meet up with my friend who lives there.
We got a taxi from my friends flat at 6am and arrived at Glasgow airport at 6.30am. We had to wait a couple of minutes before we could check in and we made it through security by 6.50am.
Once airside we got some breakfast from Starbucks and waited around for an hour or so. I was obviously taking some photos however there wasn’t much to see this dull morning, just a few Jet2 and Flybe aircraft. Glasgow airport is also a lot bigger than I had expected it to be.
The time was now 8.15am and it was time for boarding for our flight to Paris CDG.
Wednesday 5th September 2012
EZY 6883
Glasgow International Airport (GLA/EGPF) – Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG/LFPG)
Departure time – 0840
Arrival Time – 1135
Duration – 1 hour 55 mins
Aircraft – Airbus A319-111 / G-EZUN / Built in 2003 – Delivered to easyJet on 22nd September 2004
Seat No. – 7A
In seat 7A
The captain announced on the intercom that flight time today would be around 1 hour 40 minutes and weather was good en-route and also in Paris.
Pushback was on time and we stopped behind a US Airways B752 getting ready for its flight back to PHL
We taxied to runway 23 for a rolling takeoff into the dull morning sky. However, once above the clouds it was a different story and as we got further south in England the weather became clear with no clouds at all – typical Scotland! I was quite tired this morning so I slept for a bit and then got woken up by the intercom. It was the captain again pointing out London on the left hand side of the aircraft. Luckily I was on the left and got a fantastic view over London, and you could even make out the Olympic park in the distance. We then flew over Gatwick Airport before crossing the English Channel where I saw this flying parallel to us.
London
London Gatwick
Air Transat A330 that I later found out was also heading for Paris CDG.
We started our descent and had a smooth touchdown on CDG’s runway 09L.
After landing we had to hold while a Delta A330 was taking off on runway 09R heading back to the US.
Turns out the TS A330 had landed before us and was crossing runway 09R at the same time.
AF A330-200
F-GFKJ in the retro livery!
We arrived at Terminal 2E and then got a taxi to our hotel at CDG for the night – Premiere Classe Roissy. It was quite a small room but for the price (50eur) it was good value for money! We then got the shuttle bus back to CDG and got the train into Paris where we spend around 5 hours, touring all the sights. We went up the Eiffel tower and went to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees. Around 6.30pm we headed back to CDG and had dinner at the hotel.
A couple of photos from Paris
Air India B77L parked up at CDG
The next morning we got up at 8am in time for our 11.45am departure from Paris to Moscow. We got breakfast at the hotel and got the shuttle bus back to Terminal 2C. Sadly I couldn’t check in online as Aeroflot does not offer OLCI from CDG for some reason. We checked in and I was assigned seat 17A for the CDG-SVO leg. On the boarding pass the flight was just stated as CDG-NRT with no mention of the transfer in SVO so I enquired whether we would receive the boarding passes for the SVO-NRT leg which the check in agent replied abruptly ‘No, you get them in Moscow.’ I also asked whether she could book our seats for the SVO-NRT flight to which she responded ‘They are the same seats, you do not change aircraft in Moscow.’ I corrected her saying that there was in fact a change of aircraft in Moscow but she wouldn’t accept that I was correct. She obviously didn’t know her stuff! I decided to just leave it and just accept whatever seat I was given on SVO-NRT, I wasn’t too worried as the majority of the flight would be at night anyway.
So we passed security easily and were airside in CDG where we had something to east and just waited at the gate for our aircraft to arrive from Moscow. I was quite looking forward to flying on Aeroflot! After check in we passed through security and went upstairs to departures where I spotted this:
TN A343 going to LAX and PPT
We headed to the gate where our flight was departing from but the aircraft wasn't there yet. A quick check of Flight Radar 24 showed it was descending into CDG and would be arriving soon. We went to get some snacks before I spotted our plane taxing into the gate area.
Spotting our Aeroflot A320 turning into the parking area
VQ-BAZ arriving from SVO, one of SU’s newer A320’s.
3 AF B744’s in one photo!
Soon it was time to board our A320 to Moscow.
Thursday 6th September 2012
SU260
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG/LFPG) – Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO/UUEE)
Departure Time (she/act) – 1145/1150
Arrival time (she/act) – 1720/1710
Duration – 3 hours 20 mins
Aircraft – Airbus A320-214 / VQ-BAZ / Built in 2009 – Delivered to Aeroflot on 19th February 2009
Seat No. – 17A
After a friendly welcome from the Aeroflot flight attendants dressed in their unmistakable orange/red uniforms I took my seat in 17A.
There was no welcome from the captain, only from the purser. Everything was said first in Russian and then French and finally English. Pushback occurred on time and we were soon taxiing to runway 08L for takeoff. There was two planes to take off before us, an Air France A320 and an Air France Cargo B744. It was then our turn and we made a smooth takeoff. Around 45 minutes after takeoff the drinks and meal service started. First was the drink service where I got an orange juice from the friendly FA. This was served with a napkin and refreshing towel.
Then came the meal which was either beef or Fish. I went for the beef.
The beef was a sort of casserole served with rice and carrots with a smoked salmon salad with a bread roll, half a slice of brown bread which was quite stale and chocolate pralines for dessert.
We got served lunch over this unidentified airport
And the mayonnaise was out of date!
The meal was pretty average. The beef was quite fatty however was edible and could have been worse! The bread roll and bread slice were quite stale and I didn’t eat these.
Unidentified aircraft near us
Once the meal service was over I just spent the remainder of the flight looking out the window and listening to some music as well as chatting with my friend.
Soon it was time to descend into Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport which is located to the north of the city of Moscow itself.
Descending with speed brakes deployed
Final approach into Moscow on an overcast afternoon
Transaero B744 about to takeoff on runway 25L
We made a firm touchdown on runway 25R and after vacating the runway, we had to hold short of runway 25L for the Transaero B744 to takeoff, which rotated right in front of us and I managed to get a good photo!
We continued for the short taxi to Terminal D, passing some well known Russian metal on the way.
Aeroflot IL-96, RA-96005, at the gate
Aeroflot B763, VP-BDI, which was formerly with the UK Charter airline, Air 2000
Orenair B772, VQ-BNU, which has previously served with Air Europe Italy and Air Austral before going to Orenair in 2011.
We parked next to VQ-BBE
It didn’t take long for us to be heading to flight connections in Terminal D at SVO, which has a very pleasant atmosphere. It is very clean and was actually much better than I was expecting it to be.
We went to the transfer desk and had to show our passport and boarding pass for the CDG-SVO leg and we were issued with our boarding passes for SVO-NRT along with a red card saying TRANSIT. I noticed however that my seat had been allocated as 17F which was in the middle section of the A330. I asked if it could be changed to a window but the agent said it couldn’t, so I just had to accept it. I wasn’t too worried though because the flight was mainly at night anyway.
We then made our way through security which was quite quick and were back in departures by around 5.50pm. All in all the transfer at SVO was easy and quick with lots of signs.
Security area in SVO Terminal D
Terminal D departures (could have done with a few more seating areas)
FIDS
I then made my way to gate 30 which was where our flight to Tokyo was going to be leaving from. Our aircraft was already there getting ready for the flight. It was M.Sholohov, an Airbus A330-300 delivered to Aeroflot in 2011. This was going to be my first flight on an A330-300, my 11th A330 flight overall.
M.Sholohov parked at gate 30
Air One A320, EI-DSV, next door
M. Sholohov from another angle
Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet parked over the apron
Alitalia A320 EI-DTL
We looked around a few of the shops, but mainly just sat around gate 30 and waited for 7.20pm which was the scheduled boarding time. As it turned out boarding didn’t actually begin until 7.30pm.
Russian Doll shop
Models of Aeroflot Tupolev and Air France Concorde!
Last view before boarding
Boarding commenced and I took my seat in 17F
Thursday 6th September 2012
SU260
Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO/UUEE) – Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT/RJAA)
Departure Time (she/act) – 2000/2005
Arrival Time (she/act) – 1020/1015 +1day
Duration – 9 hours 10 mins
Aircraft – Airbus A330-343X / VQ-BQY / Built in 2011 – Delivered to Aeroflot on 31st August 2011
Seat No. – 17F
Once onboard, first impressions of the A330 cabin were excellent. This was one of the older A333’s in Aeroflot’s fleet, compared to some newer ones, so it had the orange seat interior, as opposed to the newer blue leather interior. The cabin was clean, the seats were comfortable (as a first impression, I later found them to be a bit uncomfortable after a long haul flight) with a pillow and blanket, and the IFE system looked to be good with a good sized screen. Hopefully the IFE would be just as good when using it as how it looked!
We pushed back on time and taxied out to runway 25L for takeoff. Although I didn’t have a window to look out of, the nose camera was turned on the IFE system. We took off into the ever fading daylight and turned on course for Tokyo.
Shortly after takeoff, the crew came round and handed out earphones and menus for the flight. On tonight's flight we would receive dinner and then breakfast before arriving into Tokyo.
Menu
Around an hour into the flight the dinner was served. The choices on this were either chicken or tilapia (fish). I went for the tilapia to try something different and to see what the infamous Aeroflot fish tasted like. It was served with rice, green beans and carrots and was accompanied by a BBQ chicken and cheese salad and for desert was chocolate with blueberry. It was also served with the bread roll and stale bread slice again which must be standard on all Aeroflot flights! This time the bread roll was fresher but the other was not!
This meal was better than the beef on the flight from CDG-SVO but still was not up to standard with other scheduled airlines i’ve flown on.
2 hours 33 mins into the flight
I had been playing around with the IFE before we got our meal, and I was very impressed by it. There was a good selection of movies, TV shows, music and games, aswell as a very nice moving map. I had watched ‘Fun with Dick and Jane’ during dinner and was now doing a bit of virtual gambling.
Roulette on board
The remainder of the flight was pretty uneventful, I was just drifting in and out of sleeping while watching the moving map inbetween. However, the crew did not come around during the whole night portion of the flight offering any drinks of anything which I didn’t think was very good. They did respond though when I rang the call bell asking for some water.
Cabin View
Before long, the sun was starting to rise and the cabin lights were turned on in time for breakfast. By now, we were around 2 hours from Tokyo. The choices were either Crepes with apples and cinnamon with vanilla and almond OR Omelette with roasted potatoes, tomato and parsley. I went for the omelette and potatoes.
It tasted alright and it could have been a bit bigger.
Flying over Khabarovsk
It was time for our descent into Tokyo Narita airport, we made our approach into runway 34R. We made a good landing, but the brakes were applied extremely hard! I was slightly forced forward in my seat!
I was watching the nose camera for landing
After landing we had an extremely long taxi to our gate, which was made even longer by the fact I didn’t have a window to look after. In total, the taxi from the runway to gate was 20 minutes.
VQ-BQY Parked up in Tokyo
GA A332 next door
Alitalia B772 further along
After passing through immigration and baggage reclaim, which was very easy, we headed for the JR Centre in Narita airport to exchange our 7 day rail passes on the Shinkansen and then headed for the train station to get the Narita Express to Shinagawa, which took around an hour. We then headed straight to Kokura (a small city near Fukuoka on Kyushu Island) that afternoon, which took 6 hours on the Shinkansen and then worked our way back to Tokyo over the 10 days we had to spend in Japan. In total we visited Kokura, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka and finally back to Tokyo.
A few photos from Japan
Kokura Castle
ANA office in Hiroshima
A-bomb dome in Hiroshima
Golden Temple in Kyoto
Arashiyama, Kyoto
Bamboo Forest
Shinkansen
Osaka
ITM
Osaka at night
Sake
Our Shinkansen to Tokyo
Sunset over Tokyo viewed from the Tokyo Skytree
Tokyo Skytree at night
Shibuya Square
Sushi in Shinjuku
Shinjuku at night
Rainbow Bridge
Are we in New York now??
After an absolutely fantastic 10 days in Japan it was time to head home. I managed to check in online this time and secure a window seat for the flight from Tokyo to Moscow, however I was unable to book seats for the SVO-LHR leg of the journey.
We left our hostel at 8am which was located in Asakusa, in the north east of Tokyo. We got the subway to Ueno and then got the Keisei Skyliner back to Narita. One thing I noticed in the train station was that US Airways were listed on the airlines and terminal list
We arrived at around 9.30am and checked in for the flight back to London Heathrow via Moscow. We received our boarding passes with the booked seats. Also, this time we received the boarding passes for both legs of the journey instead of just NRT-SVO and then having to pick up the SVO-LHR passes in Moscow. Made the process a little bit easier.
Narita Airport Terminal 1 check in area
FIDS in T1
Right after I passed through passport control a LH A380 was taxing by for takeoff.
Also had a walk over to the AF A380 departing back to CDG
We spend our time spending the remainder of the yen we had left and I was snapping photos at most gates I walked past.
KE 737-900
Two GA A330's with the AF A380 in the background
Aeromexico B762 in Skyteam livery
Eva Air A330
Virgin Atlantic A346 shortly departing for LHR
We then just sat down at our gate which had a good view of departing aircraft taxiing by.
AZ B772 next door heading to Milan
VQ-BPJ arrived from SVO slightly late. I was actually hoping for this aircraft as it is only 2 months old!
JL Dreamliner departing for Boston
An Airline I had never heard of -
‘SU263 to Moscow is ready for boarding’
Monday 17th September 2012
SU263
Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT/RJAA) – Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO/UUEE)
Departure Time (shed/act) – 1205/1205
Arrival Time (she/act) – 1710/1640
Duration – 9 hours 35 mins
Aircraft –
We have clearance, Clarence. Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?
Lap747 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2008, 45 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (7 months 4 weeks ago) and read 8059 times:
Seated in 26H
Pushback was on time despite the late arrival of the aircraft from Moscow and the late boarding announcement. We had a short taxi out to runway to runway 16R for departure
Turning after departure to the north towards Russia
AF A388 taking off after us
Overview of NRT
Cruising – Note that Aeroflot chose not to have fuel dump valves on this A333
Crew starting the drinks and meal service
We did not get a menu on this flight compared to the one coming to NRT, so we just had to wait for the crew to come around to see what the options were. It turned out the options were either chicken or seafood. I went for the chicken option
It was served with rice and veg and came with a salad complete with sushi. Dessert was an orange sponge cake. This meal was actually a lot nicer than the one ex SVO. Obviously the catering that SU gets at NRT is better than at SVO!
Cruising high above Russia
During this flight I didn’t watch any movies, just six episodes of the Simpsons, watching the moving map and listening to music. The flight actually went pretty fast.
Flying over some Russian mountains
Later on we were served with some Green Tea Ice Cream which was actually quite good.
Around an hour and a half before landing in Moscow, we were served with another meal. This time the options were either beef or seafood and I went for the beef.
It was served with noodles and veg and accompanied with a sort of battered fish salad. Dessert was melon jelly. This meal was average and not as good as the first one. The fish in the salad was not to my liking.
Descending into SVO, trying to beat the sun.
Rubbish photo of Moscow on approach
We came in for a ‘firm’ touchdown on runway 25R and this time we had some more ‘normal’ braking compared to landing in NRT. We had landed 30 minutes early.
Taxing to the gate with lots of Aeroflot metal
Looks like the same Orenair aircraft parked up!
We taxied to the gate and deplaning was quite quick. We made our way to flight connections again where there were scenes of utter chaos. A flight bound for Yerevan was on last call and some passengers from our plane from Tokyo were booked on that flight. It meant that they were fasttracked to the front of the queue for the transfer desk, passport control and security. To be honest, I don’t know how they were expecting to make the flight had we landed on time at 1710, because the flight to Yerevan was scheduled to depart at 1720, meaning they were only leaving a 10 minute connection! It’s a good thing we landed early at 1640. Once the chaos was over we got our boarding pass for SVO-LHR stamped at the transfer desk and then proceeded through passport control and security, which was yet again quick and painless.
LOT E190
Aeroflot A333 VQ-BCQ in Skyteam livery, I was hoping to get on this aircraft on one of the flights, but sadly not to be.
We went over to gate 19 where our A320 was being prepped for the flight to London. The aircraft was VP-BZO.
IL-96 just after pushback
Aeroflot A321 parked at gate 20
Donavia A319 over at a remote stand
To fill in the time we looked around the shops and I bought a Russian shot glass and a bottle of Absolut Vodka, which was very cheap! When in Russia...
We then just sat around gate 19 for our 1855 departure
Monday 17th September 2012
SU263
Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO/UUEE) – London Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL)
Departure time (she/act) – 1855/1855
Arrival time (she/act) – 1955/2010
Duration – 4 hours 15 minutes
Aircraft – Airbus A320-214 / VP-BZO / Built in 2008 – Delivered to Aeroflot on 12th August 2008
Seat – 13D
Boarding was completed quite fast and we pushed back on time and taxied to runway 25L for our flight back to London. The flight overall was uneventful and I couldn’t take any photos due to be having an aisle seat. I actually just slept most of the flight. Around 45 minutes after takeoff the drinks and meal service started. The choices were once again, chicken or fish and I went with the chicken. The meal was possibly the worst of all we had experienced on Aeroflot and I did not finish the main meal. It was served with a BBQ chicken salad again and chocolate pralines.
We descended into LHR just as the sun was setting and arrived on runway 27R. We had a long taxi over to Terminal 4 passing two QF A388’s, an SQ A388 and B77W and an EK A388 on the way. We also had to hold for a bit at runway 27L while a BA B772 departed.
We arrived at T4 next to a Jet Airways B77W that had just arrived from Delhi. The bags came through fairly quickly and we were through arrivals by 2040. I said my goodbyes to my friend who was getting the tube into London to stay with family before catching a train at 0540. I was staying at the Ibis London Heathrow for the night before catching a train back up to Newcastle at 1130 from London Kings Cross.
OVERALL
Overall I found Aeroflot to be a perfectly good airline to fly with, especially for the price that we had paid for the tickets. All of the aircraft we flew on were clean and in good condition. I think overall the cabin crew could do with a little more customer service training and the pilots should introduce themselves and give some flight information. The biggest thing they need to improve on was the food! The transfer at SVO was very easy aswell.
However, after all this, I think that I would definitely fly them again if they had any cheap fares, for £250 return to Japan you really can’t go wrong!
Thanks for reading, comments welcome!
We have clearance, Clarence. Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?
ba319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 8263 posts, RR: 56 Reply 3, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 7398 times:
Hi Lap747,
Nice report and pictures, we don't see many longhaul SU TR's here, this will be the first of a few me thinks
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): The dates were selected and we booked up for a total of £250 each for a return fare! The routing was to be CDG-SVO-NRT-SVO-LHR with Aeroflot
- G-EZUN is an A320, is the U a typo for an I or E?
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): On the boarding pass the flight was just stated as CDG-NRT with no mention of the transfer in SVO so I enquired whether we would receive the boarding passes for the SVO-NRT leg which the check in agent replied abruptly ‘No, you get them in Moscow.’ I also asked whether she could book our seats for the SVO-NRT flight to which she responded ‘They are the same seats, you do not change aircraft in Moscow.’ I corrected her saying that there was in fact a change of aircraft in Moscow but she wouldn’t accept that I was correct. She obviously didn’t know her stuff!
- Don't you love it when we know more than the staff?!
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): The beef was a sort of casserole served with rice and carrots with a smoked salmon salad with a bread roll, half a slice of brown bread which was quite stale and chocolate pralines for dessert.
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): the crew did not come around during the whole night portion of the flight offering any drinks of anything which I didn’t think was very good. They did respond though when I rang the call bell asking for some water.
- Not a good show, on the flip side, at least they came when you rang your call button, on many an airline this is ignored.
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): We made our way to flight connections again where there were scenes of utter chaos. A flight bound for Yerevan was on last call and some passengers from our plane from Tokyo were booked on that flight. It meant that they were fasttracked to the front of the queue for the transfer desk, passport control and security. To be honest, I don’t know how they were expecting to make the flight had we landed on time at 1710, because the flight to Yerevan was scheduled to depart at 1720, meaning they were only leaving a 10 minute connection!
- That's crazy, 10 minute connection time, it's just asking for trouble!
All in all SU look pretty ok, catering needs work by the looks of it.
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6082 posts, RR: 56 Reply 4, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 7158 times:
Hi !
Thanks for a great report on Aeroflot!
Looks like they have improved a lot since I flew them 11 years ago.
No surprise that the meal from SVO on the return was bad; my meal from SVO to PEK was very bad as well.
Japan looks amazing as always and is one of my favorite countries to visit.
Looking forward to your next report!
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
Lap747 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2008, 45 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 6964 times:
Don't know why the bottom part of the first section of the report has been cut off, anyway the bit that's missing is the Aircraft. It was VQ-BPJ which was built in 2012 and delivered to Aeroflot on 17th July 2012.
Thanks for the reply, I have absolutely no idea why I typed G-EZUN, the aircraft I flew on was actually G-EZNC, obviously had A320's on the mind at the time!
I think booze is actually free on international SU flights, red and white wine is listed on the menu, not 100% though.
Thanks for the comments! Yes it seems as though Aeroflot are a lot better now than previously. Japan was an amazing place to visit, absolutely loved it!
We have clearance, Clarence. Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?
signol From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2007, 2948 posts, RR: 7 Reply 6, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 6705 times:
Thanks for the report , great that you got the chance to sample Asia at a bargain fare! The meals certainly seem hit and miss. And some nice shots of Japan too!
stipica From Croatia, joined Feb 2011, 398 posts, RR: 8 Reply 7, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 6567 times:
Hi Lap747 !
nice reading and thanks for sharing with us ... this is more than decent services for that price ... I didn't know that AF introduces new blue seats what about business class ... still orange ? ...
stipica
767747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1750 posts, RR: 26 Reply 8, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 6156 times:
Good report on Aeroflot! I like their livery a lot; it looks so stylish on each aircraft they have in their fleet!
I'd love to visit Japan - this is definitely on my short list!
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): The beef was a sort of casserole served with rice and carrots with a smoked salmon salad with a bread roll, half a slice of brown bread which was quite stale and chocolate pralines for dessert.
Looks okay! Definitely more than what we can expect on a 3 hour flight here in the US in Y!
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6190 posts, RR: 79 Reply 9, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 5811 times:
Hi Luke,
very nice report about your SU journey! Congratulations on being the first one to write a report about those cheap flights to/from NRT - more users will follow.
The food cannot impress me, but I hadn't expected it to be any better. The A330 cabins look nice.
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): We checked in and I was assigned seat 17A for the CDG-SVO leg. On the boarding pass the flight was just stated as CDG-NRT with no mention of the transfer in SVO so I enquired whether we would receive the boarding passes for the SVO-NRT leg which the check in agent replied abruptly ‘No, you get them in Moscow.’ I also asked whether she could book our seats for the SVO-NRT flight to which she responded ‘They are the same seats, you do not change aircraft in Moscow.’ I corrected her saying that there was in fact a change of aircraft in Moscow but she wouldn’t accept that I was correct. She obviously didn’t know her stuff! I decided to just leave it and just accept whatever seat I was given on SVO-NRT, I wasn’t too worried as the majority of the flight would be at night anyway.
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): I noticed however that my seat had been allocated as 17F which was in the middle section of the A330. I asked if it could be changed to a window but the agent said it couldn’t, so I just had to accept it. I wasn’t too worried though because the flight was mainly at night anyway.
That looks delicious - I still remember the excellent sushi I had in Japan.
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): It was served with rice and veg and came with a salad complete with sushi. Dessert was an orange sponge cake. This meal was actually a lot nicer than the one ex SVO.
celestar From Singapore, joined Jul 2001, 245 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 5750 times:
Thank you for a wonderful TR. One of the best I had seen.
You are so lucky to have that photo of Air France A380 taking off, that is once in a lifetime chance, only to have wished you had a good camera with a sharp image! Unbelievable!
MSS658 From Belgium, joined Oct 2010, 2212 posts, RR: 14 Reply 11, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 5589 times:
Hello
Great report, thanks for sharing.
SU's overall product looks very good. Meals and seating are pretty decent, especially on the Euro-legs.
Tokyo looks great as well, really want to see it one day.
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 13, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 5111 times:
Hi Lap747!
Nice report and nice to read about your trip to Tokyo! SU looks quite good on LH and you sure got yourself great a deal there!
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): This was going to be my first flight on an A330-300, my 11th A330 flight overall.
I've only flown A333's so far, no A332's. That will change now in October though!
Quoting Lap747 (Thread starter): It was served with rice and veg and came with a salad complete with sushi. Dessert was an orange sponge cake. This meal was actually a lot nicer than the one ex SVO. Obviously the catering that SU gets at NRT is better than at SVO!
nethkt From Thailand, joined Apr 2001, 985 posts, RR: 3 Reply 14, posted (7 months 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 5040 times:
Not a bad way to fly at all. At least you get even a bit more of the price you pay on Aeroflot.
SU will be my first choice if I run out of budget and want to fly real bad.
Thank you for sharing your hi-res pics from Japan and the report on SU.
Don't be annoyed knowing the passengers around you are non-revs and op-upgraders, be grateful for them. Life is beautifu
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