Transaero

Pros: Some western aircraft; western trained crew
Cons: Much western aircraft old; the same people with the same attitude.

Transaero, the internationally known Russian independent!


After the fall of the Soviet Union, Transaero were the first privately owned Russian airline to set up using Western aircraft and trying to offer a western standard of service....

Pros: They have a New York Office
Cons: They don't deliver on their promises and are not helpful in resolving issues.

I bought Transaero tickets from New York to Kazakhstan via Moscow. I called airline in New York that I needed to make sure that the my extra bag would be transferred in Moscow between the two airports Sheremetova I & II. The airline assured me that it would be all fine and the transfer systems would work well. They didn't. In Moscow I told Transaero airline that my bags needed to be put on the plane to Kazakhstan. When I got to the gate 3 hours early and confirmed everything, they said everything is fine. At 1 hour, the bags showed up and the airline said, "no room for your bags". It cost me $1000 to stay 2 more days and reschedule a flight on a different airline and pay again for my extra bag. Transaero refused to refund my pre-paid tickets.

Pros: Absolutely nothing.
Cons: Deceitful, inept, dreadful, unprofessional, etc. Still have not refunded our airfare.

Five non-Russian people (four adults, one child, four Americans, one Ukrainian) from four different families showed up at the gate in Moscow in March 2006 to take a flight to Astana and were told that our bags had been pulled from the plane and that we would not be allowed on the flight, of which there was only one every two days. No reason given, just the shrugged shoulder "I no speak English" routine. I missed my court hearing for my adoption and I am still livid three months later. I hear Lufthansa flies Frankfurt to Astana now, so there is no longer any reason to take Transaero. What a miserable airline.