Aeroflot

[NovaKart]

Anyone here flown with Aeroflot? I don't mean to ruffle any Russian feathers but is the safety that bad? My mother seems to think so but she's hystrionic that way. How's the service? I have to go from the US to Moscow and then on to Baku. What's Sheremetyevo airport like? I have a long layover but I don't think I can leave since I don't have a tourist visa and I think you have to get one in advance.

 

[Tee Kay]

I think you'll be fine.

 

[Lillefix]

You might want to check if the pilots are sober.

 

[really]

The leg from the US to Russia should be fine and on recent planes. The secOnd leg might not be as fancy.

Edit: looking at wikipedia they don't have many soviet era planes left, mostly Airbuses and some Boeings.

 

[Cheetah]

A "leg"? As in one non-stop flight of a multi-part flight?

one of the distinct sections of any course: the last leg of a trip.

Huh. Learning something new every day.

On topic: My grandparents didn't have the most comfortable flight when they went from Norway to Bulgaria in the 80's (with a stopover in East Berlin). But they arrived alright and no real safety problems.

And I don't think Aeroflot has a much higher accident rate than most other modern airlines.

I guess you'll be fine. But if there are some Westerners on the flight with a fear of flying, it could be fun to "notice" strange and scary things while in the air...

 

[red_elk]

Anyone here flown with Aeroflot? I don't mean to ruffle any Russian feathers but is the safety that bad? My mother seems to think so but she's hystrionic that way. How's the service? I have to go from the US to Moscow and then on to Baku. What's Sheremetyevo airport like? I have a long layover but I don't think I can leave since I don't have a tourist visa and I think you have to get one in advance.

I did once.
Service was ok, and I don't think you should worry about safety.
Sheremetyevo - the first and second terminals are crappy, Domodedovo is much better. But you will probably go to 3-rd terminal which was built just recently. I've never been there yet, but it supposed to be much better than first two.

Regarding safety, if I were you, I would worry about second part of your flight, Moscow-Baku. Don't use small air companies from ex-USSR states (including Russia), at least some of them have problems with safety, judging from history of air accidents of the last 20 years. From Russian air companies, Aeroflot and Transaero should be ok.

EDIT: 3-rd terminal is called "terminal D" now.

 

[bathsheba666]

Bring a spare elastic band, just in case...

 

[NovaKart]

Thanks everyone. I'm going on Aeroflot from Moscow to Baku. I read up on Aeroflot and it's supposed to be safer than it used to be. The big thing I'm worried about is that I have a 7 hour layover in Moscow and I can't enter the country. A transit visa would be kind of expensive for such a short journey and I would have to arrange it in advance. If the flight is delayed then I'll be stuck in the international terminal the whole time and if they don't have anything there then it's really going to be bad. Usually most of the restaurants and stores are outside of passport control.

I hope they at least have lots of good alcohol on the NY-Moscow journey. It will also be a long one.