Review of Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk in Economy

Intro

Following a productive flight onboard the Aeroflot A320 from Kazan, it was time to embark on my next mission over to Siberia, Russia. Now, I've always had a couple of things on my bucket list (by a couple, I mean 1700 😅), but one of them has always been Siberia. So, when the opportunity came up to spend a day in the "second capital" of Siberia, I snatched it up. Why not?

Unfortunately, there was no petting bears like Instagram shows you… What a shame 😭

Routing

How I Booked (Recap)

Getting from Kazan to Krasnojarsk can either be straightforward or a bit of a pain in the arse. Nordwind operates 2x weekly direct flights, while Nordstar offers the occasional 1x weekly flight. However, considering I had to be there for a very specific flight (the Aeroflot A350), I decided not to chance it and play it safe by flying there the day before, in case of any delays.

Booking 3 days prior to departure, I conjured up an economy fare from Kazan to Moscow, and over to Krasnojarsk, all for 431 USD. Just like with all of my other flights in Russia, I booked through Wego, and within a matter of minutes, my tickets were issued.

Boarding

Finishing up the first portion of my essay due that evening, and my review of Rossiya on the Sukhoi Superjet to St Petersburg, it was soon time to head over to gate 101 for the scheduled boarding time of 9:10 am. Yes, gate 101, the dreadful bus gates 😭. Yes, they even deplane a 744 from bus gates here, routinely…

By the time I had arrived, boarding had pretty much wrapped up, and it was straight on board one of the buses. Ufff, 5 hours in economy, how will I survive at 23 years old (I'm joking). 😅

With the sun beaming down onto the apron and sweating through my skin (never thought I would say that about Russia), it was a bit of a wait before the bus departed. We were the last bus over to our A321 today, which meant there was no comrade left behind. 🫡

On the way, we encountered a scrapped A320. Now this is common, and I'll explain a little more in a moment.

By 9:45 am, after about a 10-minute drive, we pulled up to this 9-year-old A321 that had arrived 2 hours prior from Nizhnevartovsk (don't ask me to pronounce that 🥴).

Taking a look back as we waited, I encountered a variety of jets. See, Aeroflot has a very interesting fleet, with a mix of Boeing and Airbus aircraft, and as far as over 80 Sukhois operated by Rossiya.

But the interesting part to me is how they are maintained. Not in a bad way, the airline needs to do what they do to survive. While there are third-party parts available, SU will also cannibalize certain Airbus or Boeing aircraft to allow most of its fleet to be airworthy.

Which brings me to my next point: people often say Aeroflot is dangerous, but it isn't. People claimed that Aeroflot was flying without brakes, but that's not entirely true. It had to do solely with landings in wet conditions, and was attained to in less than 11 days after the public knew about it. Having flown some of the sketchiest airlines in the world, and almost dying in Sydney in a plane crash (will share that stort eventually but was supposed to be on the seaplane that went down), it's bad for business if a jet goes down. 

Finally getting up the steps, I was warmly greeted by a lovely FA for today's flight. I have to say, Aeroflot has the best service outside of Garuda and Thai Airways, but we'll save that for the business class review (next). 

The Seat/Cabin

I touched on this in the last report, but I’ll go over a brief recap of what to expect onboard the Aeroflot A321, in both business and economy.

Turning right, I came face to face with the 5 rows of business class laid out in a 2-2 configuration. While everything looked the same, it was interesting to see that Aeroflot stocked business class with heaps of amenities. Talking about a blanket, pillow, slippers, an amenity kit, and more. For a domestic narrowbody route, this is practically unheard of… 

Not bad amenities huh???

But moving back to my class (the class that doesn't pay astronomical fees as SU charges crazy amounts), it was time to settle back into my economy seat. Seats are laid out in a 3-3 configuration, featuring decent legroom, universal power ports, and overhead vents. The only thing missing would be a seatback IFE screen, but can’t win 'em all. 

It's not a bad product…

Unfortunately, the only seat left, which wasn’t a middle happened to be in the back of the middle section, right next to the lavatory. I didn’t find it too bothersome, but keep in mind, I think my sinuses were blocked due to the sheer amount of Beluga vodka consumed. I’d like to say I was kidnapped and force-fed vodka, but it’s so delicious that I did this all on my own 😅.

Departure

Settling into my window seat, you could not contain my excitement. We are talking about Siberia. Yes, Siberia. The home of the bears and the land of the vodka.

Anyways, due to my slow bottom and a few others, we ended up pushing back about 6 minutes later from our remote stand. Pushback is a stretch, as we sort of just started moving 😅. 

Review coming of the EY 789 out of SVO and the Malovich Lounge in a few reports time…

Spot the special livery!

Anyways, with the safety stuff being announced and all of the blah blah blah, we were wheels up a few minutes behind schedule at 10:10 am local time. Ahh, what a beautiful day… to write an essay 😂

IFE+WIFI

Alright, let’s bring out the big guns, as I had been avoiding it for the past two reports. Once we hit 10,000 feet, I decided that I might as well check out the IFE for review's sake. Aye, bruh, I had stuff to do, ya know. 🥺

While SU does not offer Wifi on their narrowbody fleet, I was pleased to find that economy passengers were treated to a selection of TV shows, movies, games, and even language courses.

But, back to the coolest part: language courses. Education? Not sure that’s in the American-English vocabulary (I’m joking), but it made me realize what a neat invention this was. To learn a few phrases in Arabic or Mandarin before landing is one of the smartest things an airline has done in the past 30 years.

Overall, not bad, and easy to connect to… 

Meal Service

Alright, I have avoided this for a little bit, but let’s jump into the meal service that SU offers on a 4.5-hour run.

About an hour into the flight, the FAs came around offering breakfast to passengers. There was a choice between three meals, one being egg-based, another being pancake-based, and some other fruit thing, I believe.

Well, after a little back and forth as the woman FA attempted to ask me in Russian 😅(and my Russian is as good as a Springbok), I finally settled on the pancakes. 

The chocolate! This chocolate and I have been through hell!

I’m not going to go out there and say this was the best meal I’ve had on a plane, but it was pretty sound overall. The texture and taste was good of the pancakes, and combined with the Aeroflot chocolate we got, it made for a filling meal on the 4.5-hour run.

Funny story, I was so happy to get the Aeroflot chocolate that I kept it for 2.5 months before it got damaged.

Why? Well, I was fighting a 350lb yellowfin and found it in my pocket. The only issue I got soaked, and the chocolate was ruined. 😭

Lavatories

While I happened to be seated in a window seat, towards the end of the flight, I decided to utilize the lavatories on board. Unlike the A320, there is an additional lavatory located in the midsection of the cabin, right behind where I was seated.

And yes, there was no Bulgari fragrance, but it was kept tidy throughout the flight.

I did notice that there were often lines for the toilet, and it became a common thing throughout my time on Russian airliners. Now, this could be due to the fact that I don’t fly economy out of the States much, but people seemed to take quite a long time in the lavatories here. 

Service

In my past two reports, I didn’t touch on service much, but seeing as this was a 4.5-hour flight, I figured I would. I have to say, Aeroflot offers extremely great service, no matter the cabin. Sure, it’s not going to be personalized in Y, but the crew were always smiling, and there was this lovely older FA who could not have been nicer. 

Arrival

After working nonstop and finishing my 3500-word essay, I looked out the window are realized that we were over Siberia.

Attempting to spot a bear drinking vodka, the captain came on to announce that we had begun our descent into Krasnojarsk, and that we should be touching down a little bit late due to headwinds. 

Take a look at these views! WOW!

Sure enough, with some gorgeous sunset views, we touched down 20 minutes behind schedule onto the solo runway at KJA. 

First time I have seen this airline around: Aurora

From there, it was smooth sailing: grab my bag from the overhead bin, give a smile to the crew on the way out, and straight in Yandex Go for the one-hour drive to downtown. 

Welcome to Siberia!

Krasnojarsk Photos

Krasnojarsk is pretty cool just for walking around. I stayed at the IBIS downtown and could walk everywhere.

And the late sunsets are exceptional. good thing it was summer as I am guessing winter is freeeeeeezing here!

I also went out barhopping, but find out what happened here…

A Barhopping Story…

During my one-night transit in Krasnojarsk to review the Aeroflot A350 in business class, I decided to head out to the local bars, seeing that it's a big college town, and I am a college student…

Well, something quite interesting happened, and after speaking to some friends, they informed me that this is common practice in remote regions where few tourists go. Was it an FSB agent? We shall never know, but I am not convinced after talking to many Russians on Instagram.

Let me share an interesting story…

After hopping around a few quieter bars and enjoying one too many shots of Vodka, I stumbled into the next bar that seemed more lively. Some people were singing karaoke, the bartender had a big smile on his face, and everything seemed like this was the spot to spend the rest of the night before my online class.

As I went to order my drinks, it became inherently clear that just like the rest of Krasnojarsk, no one spoke English (not saying this in a bad way, it's on me for coming into a country and not knowing the language). I mean, the word "Vodka" was understood 😅, but that's about it LOL. 

Moving on. Enjoying a few drinks for 30 minutes or so, a man walks in and sits down next to me. He orders a drink and immediately begins speaking to me in perfect English. We talk a little bit, and he ends up buying me some drinks. A nice man overall, no doubt about it.

However, after about 15 minutes of chatting, some weird questions start coming up. "What are you doing in Krasnojarsk?". "Do you support the war?". "What do Americans think about the war?". Etc., etc.

Now, I have no issues talking about the war, actually, as someone who has traveled immensely to almost every conflict zone. It's a simple thing for me with the response, "It's not my war". So for a while, I entertained this conversation as he did seem like a really nice man, just like everyone else I met in Russia…

Until after about an hour, he went to the restroom, and I slipped out after paying the bill. Just in case of any issues, I didn't want any issues in Krasnojarsk, and found it peculiar that the 1/2 people I met that spoke English, happened to sit down right next to me at the bar, and talk about the war…

This Is Somewhat Common

Contrary to popular belief, I don't see this as necessarily "bad", per se. An American walking into a bar in Siberia raises flags, as few people do. However, after speaking to a few of my Russian friends, they informed me that this is somewhat of a common practice.

He mentioned that they are not there to arrest you or anything, just to understand what on earth you are doing there. He also mentioned that since there are such few tourists, these contract agents for the FSB are somewhat bored and just check out foreigners that come into town.

But honestly, I don't see this as a bad thing. Security should be tighter across the world, and someone just coming to get to know you, to make sure you are not a threat to Russia, is completely fine. I wish this were something that occurred in the United States as an example, but it's not…

But at the end of the day, was it FSB, or was it just a curious Russian? Most likely, it was just a curious Russian, but even if it was the FSB, he bought me free drinks 😅.

Stay tuned for the A350 Business Class next report. Already written it and it's long. A 20 minute read with 115 pictures. Sorry!