Flights from Russia to the US

[eekee 182]

I have 2 Amex Delta Sky Miles cards, one for business and one for home and both are tied to my sky miles account. We we manage two international round trips a year without paying. Good for flights on several airlines.

Most importantly Aeroflot. It costs twice as much to go through a European connection, and going through SVO isn't terrible at all because Aeroflot flights are in the same terminal now whether you're going domestic or international.

I don't use a special airmiles card though; I just have an AirFrance Flying Blue account and then transfer miles from American Express when needed.

[Captain Hammer 113]

Aeroflot flights are in the same terminal now whether you're going domestic or international.

Oh cool! When did that happen?

[eekee 182]

Oh cool! When did that happen?

I'm not sure; I flew in April.

[Captain Hammer 113]

I'm not sure; I flew in April.

Good to know. We're heading to Kyiv on Tuesday, seriously thinking about a side-trip to St. Petersburg while we're there. (got my visa just in case) Not sure if flights will be cheaper through Moscow or not, but not having to switch terminals is a plus if we need to connect through SVO.

Slight thread hijack: if anyone has suggestions on what to see in Pete, would love to hear. We're thinking the Hermitage of course, the Catherine Palace, and hoping the fountains will be on by now at Peterhof. Would like to see some of the lesser known sites too.

[eekee 182]

Good to know. We're heading to Kyiv on Tuesday, seriously thinking about a side-trip to St. Petersburg while we're there. (got my visa just in case) Not sure if flights will be cheaper through Moscow or not, but not having to switch terminals is a plus if we need to connect through SVO.

Slight thread hijack: if anyone has suggestions on what to see in Pete, would love to hear. We're thinking the Hermitage of course, the Catherine Palace, and hoping the fountains will be on by now at Peterhof. Would like to see some of the lesser known sites too.

I don't ever really go to tourist places, but what are you interested in?

[Captain Hammer 113]

I don't ever really go to tourist places, but what are you interested in?

We're kind of artsy-fartsy. Theater, ballet, museums, stuff like that. No interest in amusement parks. Supposedly there's some good shopping to be had on Nevsky Prospekt, which of course is of special interest to Victoria. I'm kind of an amateur military history buff too, and I've heard there's a great Naval museum that we'll check out. If we go, that is. We won't decide until we get to Kyiv and see how involved with family we'll need to be. We'll be abroad for a month, and if we can pull off a week in St. Pete that would be nifty.

[eekee 182]

There's a really good new mall next to Moskovskiy Vokzal. Most of the stores on Nevsky are the same as in the various malls, just spread out.

For art, there's also the Russian Museum, Manezh, the Center for Non-Conformist Art, Loft Project Etazhi, and there's a new museum focusing on contemporary Russian art that opened a few months ago acoss from the Vasileostrovskaya metro station. There's a Chagall exhibit right now at Perenniye (sp) ryadi, the green building next to Gostiny Dvor. For ballet or opera, go the Mariinsky, I guess. As for theater, I don't ever go so I don't really know, but there are advertisements all over the city for different plays so I guess you could go see what's interesting. If it's nice out, you may want to go to Krestovsky ostrov; it's kind of the only space in the city with a lot of nature and you can rollerblade, go horseback riding, or just sit by the water.

[Captain Hammer 113]

Spacebo eekee, we'll look more into these suggestions, they sound perfect! Thank you so much!

[Codeblue009 3]

We're kind of artsy-fartsy. Theater, ballet, museums, stuff like that. No interest in amusement parks. Supposedly there's some good shopping to be had on Nevsky Prospekt, which of course is of special interest to Victoria. I'm kind of an amateur military history buff too, and I've heard there's a great Naval museum that we'll check out. If we go, that is. We won't decide until we get to Kyiv and see how involved with family we'll need to be. We'll be abroad for a month, and if we can pull off a week in St. Pete that would be nifty.

If you have time go to Sevastopol and Balakava. The Russian Navy is stationed in Sevastopol and Balakava has the former nuclear submarine base there. I went to all those places in St. Petersburg you mentioned. It was awsome. Try to look for a direct flight from Borispol. maybe aerosvit or Aeroflot. Good luck and enjoy yourselves.

[Captain Hammer 113]

Thanks much Codeblue. Yup, been to Sevastopol, some great sites and museums. We'll look into those flights. Thanks again!

[Turboguy 6]

Try a lot of different websites and try for different days. Some websites will show the travel costs for a range of dates to give you an idea which are cheaper. My favorite sites are Kayak and BookingBuddy. Both check with a number of consolidators including Orbitz.

Your best fare will probably be though Aeroflot and they seem pretty good with prices on one way tickets. Some airlines are tough on that. You might also find it is a lot cheaper to book Omsk-JFK and book JFK seperately to Detroit.

My wife is flying to Barnaul RU on Wednesday. The price on Aeroflot Barnaul to Pittsburg was much much higer than booking Barnaul to JFK and Jet Blue seperately from JFK to Pittsburgh.

[slim 1,525]

I'm thinking slim or someone who's did the Russia thing more than a few times

I have been to Russia once. My wife flew here once.

My airfare experiences to/from Russia are limited to those plus helping her coordinate travel to/from the interview. We are looking into going back soon so this is a super relevant topic for me.

In the future, if you have an amex card, I recommend getting a frequent flyer membership with Delta or AirFrance. That's what I do, and I paid 241$ for SPb>Moscow>JFK roundtrip.

I have the Delta SkyMiles Amex card as well. Love it. Great for discounts on airfare and the really nice thing is if you're a skymiles member, you can get an actual English speaking (Atlanta area?) operator 24/7 who really is there to help you and you don't have to deal with someone in Mumbai who is trying to pay for college.

I had a situation a few years back when I was stuck in a Middle Eastern country due to a war breaking out in another Middle Eastern country. I called Delta and they had me a ticket that day. F'k Mastercard. That Delta Amex was PRICELESS.

Last I remember Aeroflot bonus was somehow connected to Delta. Don't know if they stil do that or not, but that's a decent program to be in as well.

And Air France? CDG may not be the best airport, but a layover in Paris is something everyone should do once in their life. For $8 or so you can catch the shuttle from the airport downtown and "waste" your layover at the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Arc d' Triumph, Notre Dame, shopping and eating a Royale with cheese.

I have 2 Amex Delta Sky Miles cards, one for business and one for home and both are tied to my sky miles account. We we manage two international round trips a year without paying. Good for flights on several airlines.

We're long overdue to use ours so I'm thinking this might be the year.

There's a companion certificate once a year too. It's a good program for those who don't know.

[Neonred 3,562]

We're long overdue to use ours so I'm thinking this might be the year.

There's a companion certificate once a year too. It's a good program for those who don't know.

I've got the miles, but it looks like no international travel for us this year. Two kids in professional school. Best I can do is use the free companion certificate and fly to Louisville to see my daughter at dental school, flying direct to CVG of course and driving down. One more year and she will be on her own (if she graduates on time)!

[Captain Hammer 113]

Thanks for the info Turboguy!

[eekee 182]

I use AirFrance to buy aeroflot and delta tickets. Aeroflot is half the cost of AirFrance, because you pay less in taxes. You can get LOT and KLM and a few others, so tons of options for airlines that fly to Russia.

If you have a platnium Amex, I'm pretty sure they'll airlift you out of places if war breaks out, etc.