Aeroflot Reviews

Original Review: Aug. 28, 2019

I don't even know where to begin. I have never flown with Aeroflot until June 2019. There were 2 reservations with 3 people on each. My husband and inlaws on one and I am with kids on the other one. Upgraded 2 tickets to a better class for my inlaws and somehow they changed the booking code without telling us. Going to Russia was OK but coming back I couldn't check in my inlaws but could my husband. No explanation.

Now as per this review. My mother travels to Los Angeles twice a year and usually no problem but this time we had to pay for extra check in luggage. Couldn't do it online and when called the customer service they informed me it will be $100. When we arrived to the airport to OUR SURPRISE IT WAS 100 EUROS. Paid it and asked for receipt. Didn't give any prove. Checked their official website and it clearly says 80 EUROS. So please be aware of all the fees. Calling IRS on them tomorrow. Aeroflot is a joke and don't even know how they are number one airline in Europe.

Now I gather all documents, receipts for compensation. Aeroflot doesn’t want scanned copies, they accept only originals by post or through an Aeroflot agent. As I don’t have an agent in Montreal, I had to pay for express postal service to have send that package to Moscow. The express package with signature required arrived in Moscow in 2 days but from there took almost one week (but this is another story..) to arrive to their claim office. As per my tracking information, it has arrived July 25th. After that I contacted Aeroflot bag claim to make sure they have the package and they are working on the file.

After many attempts (emailing) they answered on August 8 that they don’t have the package yet. I answered and sent a proof of delivery. Since then NO ANSWER. What the hell should I do now? Is this a society we live in? How is possible to be treated like this. I lost my bags, gifts for my family and friends, my vacation was ruined and I continue to be ignored. Please email me if you had similar situation with AEROFLOT or suggestion for my case. Thanks much.

However, the ordeal was far from over – the airline officials at Prague Airport informed me that my Moscow to Delhi leg was now being postponed to 15:05 hours on July 29,2019 (a delay of more than 24 hours from the original itinerary). The officials there refused to help me around with this new unpleasant, uninformed and reckless error by the airlines. After making a few calls to MakeMyTrip – the company informed me that this decision was entirely on the airlines and MakeMyTrip had nothing to do with the change in schedule.

At the Moscow airport, the travel transfer lady initially refused to provide me any seat in my original planned flight stating that the flight was full (please note that I was travelling with a broken foot and with a friend who was sharing the same flight with me). Also, please note that the airline officials lied about the flight being full considering they were still showing seats in the same flight online. After persistence for about half an hour and refusing to stay 24 hours and insisting on talking to the manager, the lady at the travel transfer desk finally made a few calls and arranged for tickets in the same original flight. This came out as a huge surprise, considering the flight was full and no seats were available. The lady also offered us 2000 RBL vouchers each for food for the inconvenience caused by the airline – hardly a compensation for the trauma the airlines put me through.

Additionally, the 7-8 hours halt damaged my already broken foot to a point where I was completely unable to walk once I landed in New Delhi – Had to go through immigration at the special assistance counter and rush to a doctor immediately after checking out from the airport (my prescription is attached for reference). Would also like to now mention that my luggage was obviously not delivered to me through this flight’s baggage counter.

This is the worst airline experience I have ever had with any international airlines so far. The staff was rude, crude and not to mention manipulative move by the airlines to reserve the extra legroom seats till the last and refuse seats to passengers already booked on the flight. I would like to take this complaint forward to higher authorities in the airlines and want compensation for my waste of time, energy, money, peace of mind and the aggravated condition of my foot due to these long delays. Regards, Dissatisfied Passenger Pranati ** Email id: **.

He called me an hour prior to arriving to my house to inform me that he is on his way and someone has to be present at the house in order to receive it. Mind you the day prior to this the guy from lost and found informed me that bags are still in Moscow and not in NY. Moreover, JFK to Mays Landing is a 3 hour drive and he calls me an hour prior to arriving? He is calling me, talks to me like I am his friend, being totally disrespectful, hangs up the phone at the end. On questions like, "What is your name?" He is telling me that he doesn't have a name nor a last name. He asks me to sign a paper once he arrived to drop a bag off on which I answered, "May I take a quick look at the bag to make sure it is mine and it is my stuff inside?" on which he aggressively grabbed a bag out of me, threw it in a car, closed a door and tried to drive away.

Long story short I agreed to sign a paper just to get my bag before he tries to skedaddle with it and dump somewhere because he is psychopath. If he will have a chance he would run me over and not even stop. He threw my bag on a ground and drove away. This is the customer service you provide to people who paid $1000 for their tickets? Shame on you. You lost me as a client. Never would I ever fly with your company again. You lost me as a client. I'll be sure to share my story with all my friends. His license plate number is ** (NEW YORK STATE LICENSE PLATE). He drew a Chrysler minivan beige/tan color. The phone number he called me from is **. He delivered my bag on June 14, 2019 at 2:15-2:21 PM at the parking lot that has a recording camera. So, all this was on a camera. Your company has 4-star airline rating but you deserve even a 1 star with the amount of stress and problems I had to deal with.

When finally arriving in New York, again, no luggage to be found. I guess I have to wait two days to get my toothbrush, all my clothes, my house keys, and everything else that I use every single day of my life. Aeroflot is totally unprofessional and in total brain lock. Their food was awful. Their service was awful. And I found it to be no coincidence that only other people with similar problems as me were all American! No Russians had these problems.

Unfortunately, few other flights had just landed at around the same time and overcrowded arriving terminal was a hard place to make a quick way to a passport control, which yet had to be reached by a shuttle train. I barely squeezed in the train car, waited in custom check line for over 15 minutes to pass. To mention, at 67 y.o. I was running nonstop all the way from arriving into the terminal, catching the shuttle, to a passport control, to a new security check to board next flight. Here I was rejected by an airport representative to even PASS through that point, young woman just whispered "You are not making it, go over there," and waved her hand in some direction. Totally cold hearted unprofessional behavior based on being 100% careless of the job they do.

It was 18.00 by then and all I had to do is pass the security check and make my 10 minutes way to a departing gate. Now, remind you the ticket my daughter bought was for CONNECTING flight with 1,5 hours in between, which was SUPPOSE to be enough, but with all poor airport organization, was not. When I asked an Aeroflot rep to help me catch next flight, I was told to buy another ticket. I didn't have enough money, except 100$ my daughter I luckily gave me in Rome. After talking to Aeroflot cashier I was offered the cheapest option for about 50$ departing in 9 (!!!!!!) hours. I started to have panic attack as I was exhausted and hopeless to get any Aeroflot representatives attention to help me.

I was up from 6 am Rome time, long flight to Moscow and now faced all that situation. Other passengers passing by seeing me crying were asking what has happened. Not one Aeroflot rep did anything close. Long story short - at 2.50 am, spent 9 hours in the airport without rest or food, I boarded the flight to my town. I am filing a court case against Aeroflot, who repeatedly mentioned - "we have nothing to do with airport staff" and "you HAD to make it to your initial flight on time". Terrible, coldhearted, unprofessional, inattentive company. Zero customer orientation.

The total was around 1000$ which was a very good deal for me. So I confirmed with him that my daughter will have a seat on her own, and I asked if I can select seats and I also asked about the seats distribution sequence in the plane. He said that it’s 2, 4, 2 and I can choose the Seats for me and my daughter before 24 hours from the trip departure. I then received an email for booking information and the number of seats were not mentioned (they put under the seat column no additional information) since I have already spoken to the agent and got his confirmation about seats It was ok! In January 2019 I received an email informing me that there was a slight change in timings of the trip so I entered to check it and I was shocked that my daughter has no seat (infant with no seat). I was frustrated. I called and called and spoke with a lot of agents and all of them said ”we can’t do anything,” and, “Yeah we understand but we can’t help you!”

I asked them to review the phone recordings on that day. They then said that I can file a claim and I will get help. I did that, and they were “all you booked an infant with no seat ticket!” Well that’s because of your unprofessional agent who told me to do that! It’s not my fault and am not going to lose my money just because of a stupid mistake that one of your agents did! I told them what happened in details and yet they still replied our sincere apologies! Oh really where can I refund your apologies! I can’t afford losing my money! I just need them to be fair! And really investigate this incident! I will never ever fly with them and I will tell everyone I know not to! I need my refund. Am very dissatisfied and upset customer! They don’t care for their client’s satisfaction!

At 19.40 we are waiting to a line of 30 people to ask about overnight accommodation. At 20.00 they informed us that we have to wait another 2.5 hours until 22.30 because they don't have information about accommodation. At 22.30 the line in the Aeroflot desk was more than 60 people. Around 23.00 they told us that there are not rooms for all the passengers that their flight was delayed and booked for tomorrow. (More than 130 people). They told us that only those that their flight was after 11:00 1/1/2019 will get accommodation. I asked your representatives for the criteria and they told me that they would consider also families and children. So they informed us around 23.30 (after 4 hours!) that we are not eligible for accommodation!

They had a list and they informed every passenger for eligibility accommodation. BUT I saw the list with my own eyes and I saw individual records where their flight was at 8.25 and 8.45!!! Before my flight!! No children, no families!!! At 00.30 after being treated disrespectfully for 5 hours they gave us a voucher for Sky Express room inside the airport! The check out time was at 6:00 and the boarding was at 8.25 in the morning. In case we stayed another hour they would charge us 68 euros extra minimum. So after 12 hours trip, 5 hours waiting during New Year's Eve we slept 4.30 hours and waited another 2 in the morning. I have attached all the appropriate evidence (boarding pass, vouchers, Aeroflot conversation, request number, photo and videos).

Last but not least, when we got into the plane for the morning flight in Athens I asked the cabin crew supervisor if we could sit in business seats. I explained her our situation and that we were exhausted and if there was any seat available to inform us. I also mentioned that we didn't need the business category services, just the seats. She told me that they could not. So I attached the photo of your business seats where all of them were empty!!!

Moreover, your flight delay resulted to the following things: Not attending New Year's Eve event (paid invitation). Prepaid reservation for taxi from ATH International Airport to my home. Affected my job as I had to work from home at 1/1/2019 in the morning. Health issues. Back pains and exhaustion!! We left on Sunday and we arrived Athens on Tuesday!!! Disrespectful and RACIST behavior from your employees at the Aeroflot desk.

For all the above: I demand full refund of my tickets and compensation of 1000 euros for all the reasons I provided. Also I would like to know how you let the transit flight to leave and not waiting your own customers? We traveled with Aeroflot from MIAMI to Moscow!! The only reason that this can happen, is only in overbooked flights. In case I don't have an official answer from you about meeting my inquiries, I will proceed and ask you about the number of checked in passengers of the flight SU 2112 31? 12/2018!! Also if your response about compensation is not acceptable I will contact with the official SkyTeam email. I also see that I can attach only one image so I'm looking forward to your response in order to send you all the documents.

We couldn't believe such atrocity! We just sat that entire time next to gate waiting to hear a boarding announcement & turns out they had already left & we didn't even know! We're regular world travelers & have NEVER had that happened to us before! EVER! An airline that doesn't announce that the plane is being boarded?! What kind of nonsense is that?! Why on earth would you set up your customers for failure like that?! Aeroflot's horrible customer service cost us A LOT of money on new plane tickets & it also cost us a whole day of our vacation trip! We had to waste an entire day of our trip sleeping in airports! This horrible experience RUINED my birthday trip! That was unacceptable customer service!!!

Furthermore, we then went upstairs to talk to Aeroflot's customer service to see how they'd rectify the situation & they couldn't care LESS! They had a horrible "I don't care about your problem/deal with it" attitude; they had a very thick Russian accent which made things even harder, & they refused to help! They said we just had to buy new tickets & they refused to take any responsibility on the fact that we missed the flight not because we were late or negligent, but because THEY failed to announce the boarding flight through the speaker like any other normal airline! This was the WORST experience I've ever had flying anywhere! And I've flown A LOT! To all parts of the world! I couldn't believe their lack of empathy & how much they just simply didn't care AT ALL! HORRIBLE airline & HORRIBLE customer service! Will NEVER give them my business again & will caution friends & family against flying with these horrible people!

The whole process was just to run in circles and not address our concern and drag it out longer and longer so it wouldn’t happen. They made us fill out about 20 claims, wait months and made it impossible. Terrible company, terrible customer service. I fly a lot for work and have flown many different airlines and Aeroflot is by far the worst I have ever experienced. They are rude and lack professionalism as well as modern common customer courtesy. They don’t care about the customers and it’s obvious. Save yourself, your luggage and your possibly your life and don’t fly with Aeroflot. They don’t care about you or your belongings.

Together with us another family of 5 people (including two babies !!) has been bumped as well. They were already standing at the boarding gate when we approached. The man had a bunch of passports in his hand. He was vigorously arguing with Aeroflot employees. We thought it was something personal. However, soon I realized that we all are going to be bumped. When we asked Aeroflot reps about reasons, they said that we were too late and that the bus to the plane with passengers is gone. But it was JUST BEFORE 19h30!! (departure scheduled time: 19h 50).

There were neither announcements, nor invitations to the gate. We kept on arguing about the time issue, but all three Aeroflot women were astonishingly indifferent… Before they left they told us that we better go to search our luggage. When we asked if they are going to put us on another plane, they said that we should ask it in the Aeroflot office… Our arguments concerning children, babies, visa problems… all that as if wasn’t heard at all, and they just rushed away. Before they left, I made two pictures of them. At that moment it was just 19h 35. We couldn’t really believe that this nightmare was real: our plane was still on the ground, and we couldn’t get on it!!

Our stress reached its top when at the Aeroflot desk we were informed that there are no flights to Brussels before 24h00. After long and exhausting search for tickets to any European destination, we finally found ones. One can imagine what it means to run kilometers with two little children and a trolley full of luggage through such a huge airport like Sheremetyevo… Finally, we flew to Brussels via Riga (EU), with 7 hours waiting there in a cold and empty airport. And for those tickets we’ve paid about 1800 euro!! No need to mention, that the plane to Riga was from Aeroflot.

Now, after some investigations of this issue, we know that this is quite a usual practice in this company. A lot of people who suffered from their awful “service” left their complaints, disappointments and bad stories in the Internet. So will we do in order to make these airlines pay for their ugly service. To my opinion, they have cruelly violated our human rights by bumping a family with little children without offering any alternative, without showing any care, and shamelessly lying that we were late! Such attitude can be described only as inhuman, uncivilized and unprofessional, of course. Aeroflot does unfair business by profiting from clients’ troubles, which they cause themselves.

Consequences we faced during this trip: we arrived in Brussels with 10h 50min delay, my family was put under heavy stress, we all went through exhausting physical and moral troubles, our legal status defined by Russian visa limitations was jeopardized, we were forced to run into rather big and unexpected expenses. Aeroflot is entirely responsible for these consequences, and for outrageous human rights violation. We claimed our compensation through their site. We will continue with our complaints everywhere in the Internet and media until we are fully satisfied, although we know from many other similar experiences that AEROFLOT never answers on customers' complaints, and never pays compensations!

My mom, who accompanied my kids at airport had to pay 85 thousand rubles (around $1,500) for new tickets for kids. I believe that Aeroflot company supposed to reimburse the price of these tickets to our family, since the tickets were sold not valid at the first place. I sent several letters to Aeroflot administration asking to resolve the issue. My claim was denied. I am not sure how to return my money. If you have ideas, please advise.

Here I am stranded in Moscow, because not only did the flight from JFK leave late, the baggage claim was also delayed on Aeroflot's part, with a new boarding pass for a flight 3 hours later than I had anticipated and no compensation. This airline is incapable of even coordinating a transfer between their own flights! If something goes wrong, they will put the blame on you. Don't expect compensation for your lost time due to their mistakes, or any semblance of decent service on their part.

I was forced to pay a rebooking fee, even though it was entirely their fault that I didn't get onto my connecting flight. Their customer service didn't respond until I disputed the charge with my credit card. Then they ignored my complaint, and simply responded that there had been enough time between the time the JFK to Moscow plane touched down, and the Moscow to St. Petersburg flight took off, to have made the connection. Fortunately, after a long and aggravating battle, my credit card company credited me for the rebooking fee that Aeroflot had extorted from me. From all the other similar reports, it is obvious that Aeroflot has a policy in place to attempt to extort extra fees from travelers already en route. Avoid Aeroflot at all costs. They are criminals, and once you commit to flying with them, you are entirely at their mercy.

Trouble began from the time I entered the Aeroflot’s office in Moscow. I showed the doctor’s MRI reports, and sought help to reschedule flights. I was asked to pay $400.00 to reschedule the flights. I offered to pay for an upgrade to Business class, and was rudely told to “TRY on flight”. I requested to speak to an Officer at least to have the $400.00 waived - due to unexpected catastrophic health situation or apply the $400.00 towards an upgrade to Business class. Her rude response: “Officers are not here to do those things”.

To add insult to injury, our return flight on June 12 was delayed by six - YES, SIX - long hours. That caused my wife to sit in a wheelchair stuck at the boarding gate for six hours. Nobody even cared to ask whether she needs any help or a glass of water. They were fixing a mechanical problem of the plane, and finally when they couldn’t fix it, they arranged a different plane at the opposite end of the Airport, and all on wheelchairs were transported like cattle in a truck. On the plane, however, the attendants were kind and helpful. Later, after my wife recovered from brain surgery, I wrote to Aeroflot in Moscow explaining the terrible difficulties - pain, suffering and inconvenience - we had to go through, and requested a refund of $400.00. Also, because we paid full for those seats. No reply to date. That proved that Aeroflot staff is heartless, unsympathetic and inconsiderate. All they care about is money.

We had done the boarding and security check-in by 5.00 PM and were waiting for the gates to be open. Once the gates were open due to rush we had to wait in the lounge and we reached the gates when the attendant announced the final call. The attendant named Michael was doing something on the computer and was not letting us in saying that the bus has left the place. The bus was staying in front of us and he was not letting us in. He asked us to walk out and closed the gate saying that we are late by 1 minute.

We were asked to walk out through the exit door and were not told what to do next. We approached the Aeroflot office in the Airport and we faced very rude behaviour from the lady with black hair who was on duty on 18th June 2018 in between 20.00 pm – 22.00pm. This lady was also rude at the FIFA volunteers and even they have registered a complaint against her to their senior officials. We took the help of the FIFA volunteers and with their help, we had a talk with the deputy manager of the airport and received the baggage which was loaded in the aircraft, from there we came to know that our loaded baggage was offloaded from the aircraft and the aircraft departed after 19.30 PM.

We were asked to book another ticket and the reason provided for the same was that we were late by 1 Minute which was totally absurd as we were there at the boarding gates at the final call. We had connecting flights from Delhi and all the bookings were cancelled and we had to rebook another flight via Dubai to Cochin with a layover of 6 hours that too without the meal. I had to spend additional money for the lodging, ticket from Moscow to Cochin and from there to Bengaluru and even for the food, just because of the rough attitude and EGO of the gate attendant named Michael towards the foreigners.

I found an alternate flight and booked it via Orbitz. I went to the counter and told the Aeroflot representative that I had found the above flight. I said "to confirm if I book this flight, I will be reimbursed for the entire cost?" He said correct and I proceeded to book for 2,000 USD. I then received my Orbitz booking confirmation and another Aeroflot representative printed my KLM/Delta boarding passes. At this time, I asked her how I would go about being reimbursed for this flight and was told that I could email Aeroflot (which I did 1 hour later) or go to the New York Aeroflot office (which I also did).

Four months later, I am still dealing with this. I opened 2 claims in an attempt to be reimbursed for the money that they owe me but they keep being rejected with reasoning or request for additional information. Customer service repeatedly tells me there is nothing they can do. And that if the claim is rejected, it is a final decision by Aeroflot. I'm now out $2,000 and a wish that I will to choose Aeroflot for my future flights.

During our flight, I was aware of the delay and I asked the flight attendants if there was wifi so that I could check the other flight status that I was supposed to connect to and they flat out said that there wasn’t even though I later found out that there was. They were very rude and spoke only in Russian which I did not understand. They behaved in a very unprofessional manner. The pilot made an announcement that the passengers connecting to the other flight would be okay and that the plane would wait for them. Since the pilot said this, I like so many others believed him. When we finally landed I ran as fast as I could to catch the connecting flight as I knew it would be leaving shortly. I arrived at the check in desk at 8:50 am and I was told that the gate was closed. Our connecting plane was scheduled to leave at 9:05 and it left at 9:01.

Why would a plane leave before the scheduled take off time? Why would they not let me get on the plane if I was there before the plane left? I was not going on vacation. I was going to a funeral for a 20-year-old girl. Someone that I was very close to growing up. I preceded to beg the lady at the gate, I was hysterical, I fainted from the crying and it really surprised me just how much they didn’t care. The other passengers were comforting me, and they didn’t even bring a doctor to make sure I was okay. Had it been any other trip for me I would not care about the delay or the missed connection, but this broke me down and the thing that bothered me the most was the indifference that Aeroflot staff showed me. I had a break down in your airport in Russia and I also fainted, and they just did not care one bit.

The loss of the connecting flight made me late for the boat I was supposed to take in Athens and that caused me to lose my cousin’s funeral. This is something that your company can not give me back. I missed the funeral of someone that I considered to be like a sister to me. I had a breakdown and all your staff could do was to throw some rubles in my face and think that it’s okay. Well let me tell you that this is not okay. Your staff needs to treat people professionally and if they need to be compassionate according to the circumstances then they should. It is not okay to ignore the customer, and to treat degrade them and to treat them like garbage.

The plane was still there when we landed. There was no reason why I missed my cousin’s funeral. If they really wanted to, they could have helped me and put me on the flight. All I had was my carry on. I had no luggage or anything. You have caused me a lot of emotional distress. I will never be able to forget or forgive the fact that I was not at the funeral of my loved one. If you do not compensate me for the wrong doing, I intend to take legal action against the airlines for emotional distress and wrongful conduct on your part.

Arrived in Guangzhou. Of course my bag was not there. The Beijing-Guangzhou flight was operated by China Southern, to whom I left immediately a report (PIR) then waited, calling twice a day them, Aeroflot and finally Beijing airport before knowing after almost one week that my baggage was waiting for me at the Beijing customs and they could not release it because it would need my authorization. No one from Aeroflot and China Southern ever informed me about this or gave me a clue that they even were aware of it. Finally, I got my authorization delivered to Beijing customs and my bag collected by a colleague in Beijing. Meanwhile from Aeroflot and China Southern I was still hearing that my luggage was in the follow up search. Thank you, to my company's assistant GM and our colleague in Beijing.

I really don't understand what is the difference with my ticket as it was offered and booked with valid Aeroflot eticket number. Aeroflot India staff only insisted on paying additional rebooking fees and change my ticket to another date as there were no seats on that flight. And even for this, I have to take care of the accommodation. In addition to this, many times I have seen the staff opening the check-in counters very late even though the flight has been displayed. Usually check-in counters open 4 hours before flight departure. But sometimes, the counter is opened only 2 hours before. This is ultimate negligence of the staff at Delhi airport.