Aeroflot LHR to BKK

[T-T-T]

I haven't flown with them, but some mates of me has done that. The planes are ok and are Airbus on international flights. The problem was for my friend that they had to wait 5 hours in Moscow for the connection flight to BKK. And Moscow airport is crap they told me. So i guess if you have to wait long time before connection flight i would choose an another company.

5 Hours they where lucky. When we flew with them it was about 20 hours we where stuck in Moscow airport. I will give you the full report this happened in xmas 2002 So it may of improved.

 

It started in heathrow when the plane was delayed I asked the Staff to make sure we wouldn't miss our connection in Moscow to Bangkok. NO NO NO they said , it wont leave without you, great hop on the london moscow route, plane will wait. We arrive in moscow at about 5pm local time only to find the plane had been delayed till 11. ok not to bad bar to pass the time. then it dawns on me 11 means 11am otherwise it would say 23:00. Fuck me, we go to customer service to find out what is going on and there is a crowd gathering now guess what, all of a sudden nobody in customer services speaks english. We had been told in london the plane was waiting???

 

We eventually find out our plane is still in thailand and had'ent made it back. So now we are stranded no planes back to london and no plane to thailand

 

They just say 11am you have to wait, gave us some food vouchers and closed the shutters and went home could not beleive it.

 

Ok options oh well night out in moscow then, you think, free room in hotel laid on by airline, some russian women maybe NO CHANCE!!!!!!. we where not allowed to leave the airport. THey have 1 floor in a hotel which is guarded both ends once that is full you have to stay in the airport.( no visa to enter russia) We were given some food vouchers as we coundn't chance any money and they wouldn't except dollars or British pound in the shops. go figure we thought they would snap up dollars but no (I always carry a few dollars for this sort of occassion)

 

I shit you not, we handed in the food vouchers and all They brought us a huge bowl of boiled eggs and some kind of bread hard as hell. that was it. So quite a few brits where there as the Hong kong flight was delayed as well, so we eat together and we start to put some chairs together to make beds in the restuarant it was gettng quite late now. There were familys with kids so obviuosly the kids came first they got the chairs we used the floor where it was carpeted. next thing we know the security staff are telling us " this not bedroom this resturant move" Now there is only us there, normally I would tell them to fuck off but the these russian guys where not small (look like ex kgb enforcers) with batons and guns did fancy my chances. Then they start poking the kids with there batons on the chairs shouting now "move". this is where it all nearly kicked off all the blokes start on them telling to leave the kids alone or they will get a kicking and next thing batons are raised and a gun drawn by one. they where seriously going to batter us with those batons and if that didn't work well who the fuck knows. It eventually calmed down when you realise the is no win here. You have to take this treatment on the chin. fuckin tossers

 

So we eneded up sitting in plastic airport chairs you know the ones with armrest so you cannot lie down or you could lie down on a tiled floor. -15 or more outside and most had come dressed for thailand to say it was a long night is an understatement.

Breakfast was more boiled eggs and eventually hope of the flight. Then fuck me they delayed the flight again till 1pm (13:00) We eventually said farwell to the brits going to Hong kong( they had another 5 hour delay) I really felt for the family there they had small kids it must have been so long for them and absolute hell. Time goes a lot slower when your a kid. Nobody came prepared for that kind of delay.

 

eventually got on the plane and landed about 6am I think, no movies nothing, more shit food even ,more crap customer service and when the plane landed the middle section under the over head cabinets fell on some passengers head. God I was so glad to get off that plane.

 

It was so bad I refused to fly back with them and bought a new ticket instead of using my return with them.

 

That return flight was the first time I flew with eva and have used them and thaiair ever since. Eva the best for comfort and entertainment Thai best return time for me, comforty and entertainment if you get one of ther new airbus planes 330 I think.

Never wont to get delayed in a foriegn country again. Direct flights always now.

 

So thats my experience of aeroflot and moscow airport. The staff just did fuck all to make the delay more easy,They lied to us in london, If I had known our plane was still in thailand I would never had boarded, in fact they just didn't give a shit and where quite threating at times, when we tried to sleep somewhere half comfortable.

 

They may have improved in the last 7-8 years but I wouldn't risk it again just to save a few quid.

Edited March 3, 2010 by T-T-T

[Breeze]

What's the worst?

The flight back.

 

I wrote this message a couple of days ago, but couldn't send it because my internet went down.

 

The description from princeofwales pretty much reflects some of my experience from that period, except mine was worse.... Maybe they have improved since, but no way would I chance it.

 

Delayed/flight or cancelled/overbooked (who knows) on the way out. Meaning a delay of 24 Hours (mayhem trying to find out what the hell was going on), issued new tickets for the next day flight which only had about 12 people on board. Battered plane. People laying down accross seats on take off. Rude, ugly, grumpy staff. Salmon served for every leg, unless you were Russian.

 

People clapped in relief when the plane landed.

 

Then we check our tickets the day before our return flight to LHR only to discover they had changed the stop over from 5 hours in Moscow to 22 hours. In a panic we go to Aeroflot Office DM (BKK airport) to complain that the staff at Heathrow had altertered our original flight, explaining we didn't have a VISA for Moscow. They didn't care and told us a VISA wasn't necessary. Tried to change flights, but could only get later, not earlier.

 

Of course we get to Moscow and needed VISAs. We had 2 options, either sit in the airport for 22 Hours or pay USD 100 each for an Airport hotel room.

 

We were escorted by 3 KGB-esque guys to the hotel which looked rather nice. In house club, bar and restaurant etc. We thought we would have a shower and make the most of it, but oh no.... We were taken to a locked door, which was opened to reveal a lift, go up to another floor, lift door opens to reveal another locked door, now we are on a secure floor with dedicated guard monitoring CCTV. We were led to hotel rooma nd locked in until our flight the next day.

 

I've only covered the half of it. The behaviour and the attitude of the staff was outragious. Unbelieveable. They did not care and didn't even bother to pretend they did. There was a whole lot more that happened which still makes me angry thinking about it.

 

On top of that, the turbulance from BKK to Moscow as truly, truly bad, in fact virtually everyone threw up apart from me and my 2 mates. All the toilets at the back of the plane was slimed with puke.

 

The Moscow - LHR flight was OK, so that's one out of four..