Aeroflot Review: Economy Class. Bucharest – Moscow – Delhi

To get to India I chose to fly with Aeroflot, the national airline of Russia. We chose to travel with them because:

• They were short flights
• Short layover, but enough to allow you to change the terminal without hurry
• Among the cheapest.

We booked the tickets through a dedicated airline website, but they did not give you much detail about what to do once you bought your tickets (or I did not find them). So we waited to see if everything was ok. And it was, we were informed by Aeroflot that the online check-in can be done 24 hours before take-off.

Luggage Aeroflot

Tickets include a hand luggage with the maximum size of 55x40x25 cm weighing a maximum of 10 kg. The check-in baggage must have the sides of the maximum of 158 cm and 23 kg. More details about luggage can be found on the company’s website: https://www.aeroflot.ru/xx-en/information/preparation/luggage

We only had hand baggage, being on a backpacking trip, and we fit perfectly into sizes. You can see our luggage here.

Aircrafts

The Bucharest-Moscow flight is operated by Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircrafts. They have a capacity of 87 seats, of which 12 at the business class.

The Moscow-Delhi flight is operated by Airbus A330-300 aircrafts. Their capacity varies depending on the version you get. There are three versions that are compartmentalized differently.

Aeroflot: Bucharest – Moscow

Because we checked in online and did not have baggage, we didn’t needed to go to the check-in desk. So we went straight to the boarding gate and waited. Everything went well until we arrived in turn and the staff carefully checked to have a visa from India. More details about the visa here.

Once near the plane, we realized it would be the smallest aircraft we had flown so far. It looks like a bigger toy, but it’s very nice.

The Economy Class is divided 3×2, and we stand alone. Although from the outside it looks very small, inside we did not feel like we were crowded. The chairs are comfortable and offer plenty of space to the feet. Insonorisation is also very well established, being a rather quiet and pleasant flight.

The food served on the plane was good. We had two choices, and as we are two, we chose both of them out of curiosity. Both were quite interesting and perfect if you are hungry.

The flight was without turbulents and before we landed we admired a very beautiful rainbow.

Although the airport in Moscow is bit, it is well marked so we had no problem changing terminals. The terminals were next to each other and we only had a few minutes to walk. Unfortunately, at the airport, they did not offer free internet (you had to make an account for which you needed a local phone number). So if you want to stay longer here, it would be ideal to go to restaurants or cafes that can offer internet.

Aeroflot: Moscow – Delhi

The gate opened at the scheduled time and had the same detailed control regarding the visa (we had some emotions).

If in the first flight we had the smallest plane we flew with, now had the biggest plane :D. We chose the window seats, although it was a night flight and you can not enjoy the scenery.

The food was interesting, prepared us a little for what we were going to eat for the next month in India. We had to choose between two meals, one with meat and one vegetarian. We can not say we were amazing, but it was good.

Besides these, we also received a blanket that was quite large and kept very warm. When we travel, we tend to wear something thick to keep us warm. So we had hoodies and trousers, and we didn’t used that much the blankets.

In order to enjoy the airplane’s multimedia system, we were offered headphones. Although the system was going extremely slow (you had to learn how to push it). But besides that, it had a fairly new selection of movies and documentaries, good enough, and they kept us  up almost all the flight.

This was our experience with Aeroflot’s economy class. The flight attendants were serious, hurried and friendly throughout the flight. The food offered was not premium, but let’s not forget that it is economy class and you can not have claims like that. It was a good meal, but it is perfect, especially when you are hungry. :))