The Russian Nightmare

I have used Aeroflot in the past since they have a nonstop flight from LAX to Moscow and their rates are very low. The previous time everything was fine, but yesterday, on a flight SU321 Moscow-Los Angeles things went terribly wrong.

PILOTS

Although the pilots on the international flights by Aeroflot are top-notch and execute smooth takeoffs and landings, as you can see later I would never recommend anybody Aeroflot.

PRICE

The round-trip coach-class ticket cost me $770. A good price for a non-stop flight from LAX to Moscow. Flight numbers are SU322 for LAX-SVO and SU321 for SVO-LAX.

AIRCRAFT

Aeroflot operates international and domestic flights in Russia and they use aircraft ranging from B-777 and B-767 to Russian IL-86 and Tu-154. The Russian airplanes by themselves are OK, but usually they are old, which is scary. On our flight the B-767 was supposed to be used.

SERVICE

The service on the flight is OK – flight attendants are not too friendly, yet they know what they are doing. However, their English is terrible: all announcements were made in Russian and then repeated in English; but the speaker would get confused in the middle of the sentence and some words were distorted beyond recognition.


And Now – Our Feature Presentation:

I was returning from my 3-week vacation (Moscow, Poland, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy). 3 weeks ago the 12-hour flight (SU322) from LAX to SVO (Moscow, Sheremetyevo-2) was uneventful. But when I got to the airport to go back to LA, the surprise was awaiting me.

10/07/2002 9AM Moscow Time

The display said that the flight SU321 was cancelled. That didn’t look promising, especially considering the fact that I had to be at work the next day and that I got tired of Russian cold weather, rudeness and chaos.

The lady at the information desk told me to go and register to the flight SU323 Moscow-Seattle-SFO. No explanation was given why my flight was cancelled.

It is the way things are in Russia – you never get an explanation, you just have to try to cope with the situation by following orders and hoping that people who are leading you know what they are doing. But they never do.

The line was long to the Terminal 5 where the check-in from SU323 was conducted. Russian people in general don’t like to form single-file lines – everything gets chaotic and people always try to cut in front of you. There are no spaces between people because they are afraid that somebody will squeeze in between. Plus some of them could use some water, soap and antiperspirant.

So everything was a mess – people were sent from one window to another one and the chaos-line (that resembles an irregularly-shaped gathering of people) was getting worried.

People in Russia also like to argue, even if it is not going to help them. Customers usually argue and the people who are supposed to provide service to them try to show their power by telling them to shut up and displaying the utter lack of concern.

After I got to the window, I was sent to another window, where the people from the cancelled flight SU321 were handled. There, 4 people were arguing with the airport personnel for 15 minutes until were told to shut up and make up their mind first.

When I got to the window, I was told that instead of the direct flight to LAX (arriving at 2pm), I have to get to the flight Moscow-Seattle-San Francisco and then get to American flight AA1947 SFO-LAX that arrives to LAX at 11pm.

By that time I was happy to get the hell out of this messed-up country. I was told that my flight from SFO to LAX will be AA1947 and other people from the cancelled flight 321 will be put on the 3 AA flights (1947, 1943 and another one). Nobody cared that people thought they would get to LAX at 2ppm and had connecting flights to New Mexico, Alaska and Las Vegas.

Then they told me that my ticket from Moscow to SFO was annulled somehow and they cannot even find me in their computer. I started to suspect that Russia in general and Aeroflot in particular suck no less that they used to, despite opinions that the things there got better.

After putting me back in their computer, I proceeded through the passport control and hung out with some Americans by the boarding gate.

The plane we boarded on was a B-777, which fits 292 people and it was packed. Because of the chaos caused by the merging of the two flights, the boarding lasted 1.5 hours more than expected and we were already late. People were nervous and knew they would not make their connecting flights.

Then things got worse. When the plane was on the runway and the crew started warming engines up, somebody screamed “Help, call the doctor”. An older Russian woman 5 seats from me was pale and wasn’t moving and her neighbor got up and tried to get help. The engines were revving at the time when the flight attendants got to her and produced an oxygen mask and a metal case with medications.

I am happy that we haven’t started taking off by that time, because then the things would get even worse. If things could, indeed, get worse.

The plane was brought back to the terminal and the doctor arrived. By that time, despite the requests from the flight attendants for people not to stand in the isles, several Russians were standing there and staring at the woman. Some were trying to give flight attendants stupid advice. People in Russia like to give other people advice, which is not asked for.

To make this part of the story short, she was taken off the plane and that probably saved her life, because otherwise she’d definitely have died had she experienced the rest of our ordeal. The habit of Russians to take the baggage on the plane as carry-on (to avoid having it stolen that happens there) saved us 2 hours, because she had no baggage checked-in and the plane didn’t have to wait 2 hours for her baggage to get extracted.

The plane took off 2.5 hours later than it was supposed to and landed 10.5 hours after the take-off in Seattle. Everybody had to go through the customs and passport control as well as through the security check. I had to remove my shoes and the security personnel was searching me and waving a blinking “magic wand” around me. Both after I got off the plane and before I got on the same plane to go to SFO.

We had to take the baggage and then recheck it even though we were proceeding on the same plane. The flight to SFO was 1.5 hours. I have to say that the pilots did a great job with smooth take-offs and landings.

The real nightmare started in SFO, where Aeroflot people had no idea what to do with us. Two from the three AA flights we were supposed to get on left already. I was supposed to fly on the AA1947, but the Aeroflot people told me that the lists got changed and I am not on the list of people to fly on this flight. In future, I will reference the original list as list #1 and the new list (from which I disappeared) as list #2.

The list #1 was given to one of the passengers in Moscow. He was told to give the list to the AA people, since it was our “group ticket”. I wonder if we live in the stone age and the list could not have been transmitted by fax, email or the other way.

The Aeroflot people immediately told us that they don’t know anything and not sure what to do. One of them told me he doesn’t care about anything since it is not his job. The Aeroflot worker started to compile a list of people who were not on the second list they received (list #2 - the list that didn’t have me). Are you confused yet? Russia is a very confusing country and this situation is only one of the manifestations.

It turns out she was confused too, because after she compiled this list she told us she has no idea what to do next. She also told us to be quiet and brought a cop to stop people from being noisy. Because noisy it was – there was no line of any kind – everything was Russian-style: chaotic and sad. People who get in front of everybody else without standing in line, cries that they have small children, late for work or connecting flight.

No response was given to any of the questions. We were waiting for the Aeroflot rep for about an hour. We were told that people on the list are flying on AA1947 and others go to hotel. I didn’t want to go to hotel – I had to be at work in 12 hours. Then it turned out that the newly created list was no good either.

One passenger started gathering names and addresses for a class-action lawsuit.

Then everybody went to AA check-in desk and created chaos there. Police were called to restore order – I saw 4 cops. People were crying and yelling. The Aeroflot people were speaking only Russian, which was no help for Americans on the flight. One of them got so upset that he started screaming that it is America and not Russia and they have to speak English and tell us what the hell is going on. They didn’t.

I wished the news crew were there then – unfortunately the Channel 7 ABC News cameraman got there somewhat late and witnessed the aftermath. Because after creating a few more useless lists and not knowing what to do with them, the Aeroflot people let American Airlines deal with the situation. By that time, after several hours of frustration and running from an AA check-in desk to the Aeroflot people who didn’t answer questions but compiled yet another useless list and back, people were completely desperate and some even bought AA tickets on the same flight for $165 apiece.

By that time, people were taking heart medications. When AA started dealing with the situation, they put everybody in a single-file line and let everybody check in on the flight somewhat efficiently. Aeroflot personnel looked at the way AA dealt with this situation they way the deer looks at the lights of the oncoming truck – with confusion, amazement and fear.

I think that to become an Aeroflot employee on the ground, one has to have IQ lower than 70 and have no training of any kind. Because the concept of a single-file line as well as being polite cannot be understood by them.

I got home at midnight instead of 3pm, taking 3 flights instead of 1, having being searched 4 times, having to remove my shoes 3 times, check-in my baggage 3 times and pick it up 3 times as well as having to wait 40 minutes for it to go through the explosives scanner.

2 Days After

A call to Aeroflot office in LA ((310) 281 5300) to see if they are willing to take any responsibility for what happened yielded no results other than phrases like "I am not supposed to listen to this" and "We can cancel flights and do whatever we want – it is written in your ticket"...

If you look at
http://www.goldengatebbb.org/common.html?location=/home/common/www/bindr/report.php&bureau=oak&compid=43296
you will see that they don't respond to compliants submitted through BBB. I submitted one anyway.

Conclusion

If you want to save money and don’t mind being treated like crap, if you don’t value your nerve cells, fly with Aeroflot. I will never do it again.


Recommended: No