While the A350 has been around for a few years now, there are several major airlines taking delivery of their first A350 over the coming months. In many cases the introduction of the A350 also means the introduction of a new premium cabin product. For example, this is the case with Air France, British Airways, China Southern, Virgin Atlantic, and several more.
Another airline that will soon take delivery of their first A350 is Aeroflot. Aeroflot has 15 Airbus A350-900s on order, which they’ll take delivery of between 2020 and 2023.
Fun fact: when Aeroflot first announced their intentions to order the A350 in 2007, their order included some A350-800s. That model never ended up being developed, though Airbus still made renderings of the A350-800. Cool, eh?
Anyway, eagle-eyed @AirlineFlyer notes that Aeroflot has now scheduled some flights with their A350, which will join their fleet early next year.
Specifically, the Aeroflot A350 will fly to the following destinations from Moscow:
- New York JFK as of March 29, 2020
- Beijing as of May 1, 2020
- Seoul as of June 1, 2020
- Miami as of June 2, 2020
While Aeroflot hasn’t formally made any product announcements regarding their A350 (at least as far as I know), they have loaded the seatmap for the new plane.
It reveals that Aeroflot will introduce an all new business class product on their A350. They’ll have 28 business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, meaning it will be their first plane with direct aisle access from every business class seat.
Currently Aeroflot’s best business class seats are rather outdated B/E Aerospace Diamond seats, which are fully flat and in a 2-2-2 configuration.
As far as the rest of the plane goes, the A350 looks roughly like what I’d expect. Premium economy consists of 24 seats, in a 2-4-2 configuration. Meanwhile economy has nine abreast seating.
While I don’t believe Aeroflot has formally announced exactly which seats they’ll select, it’s my understanding they’ve contracted with B/E Aerospace for their A350 cabins, which means that it’s highly likely that they’ll install B/E Aerospace Super Diamond reverse herringbone seats, similar to what you’ll find on many other airlines.
B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seats on Aeroflot
Aeroflot is an airline with a shockingly good onboard product. I had low expectations when I flew them, but found their 777 soft product to be excellent.
Aeroflot’s 777 business class
Furthermore, they offer actual premium seats in business class on regional flights, unlike most other European airlines.
Aeroflot’s 737 business class
Bottom line
It’s great to see that Aeroflot will finally be introducing a new business class hard product, which should nicely complement their excellent soft product.
We’ll have to wait and see exactly what cabins they’ll choose on the A350, though it sure seems to me like they’ll be going with reverse herringbone seats, based on what we know so far.
There is only one product, which is great on SU, it's short haul business class. Real business class seat and usually better meal than European competitors. Other products are mediocre at best (Y and long haul C) but customer service and especially IRROPS handling are completely unacceptable. SU refused to reroute me to final destination after IRROP in HEL because for some reason agent did not see last segment on her computer and did not...
There is only one product, which is great on SU, it's short haul business class. Real business class seat and usually better meal than European competitors. Other products are mediocre at best (Y and long haul C) but customer service and especially IRROPS handling are completely unacceptable. SU refused to reroute me to final destination after IRROP in HEL because for some reason agent did not see last segment on her computer and did not make any effort to investigate. After multiple phone calls to Russian call center the error was admitted , but call center / supervisors were not authorized to fix it, because ticket changed were restricted to HEL. Have not seen such nonsense on any reputable airline. Had to wait until next day in HEL, go to ticket office in peeson and wait long time before agent was able to fix it. Also since 2018 I am hearing many reports of SU refusing rebooking of missed connections in SVO that are due to airport inefficiency, just search flyertalk, YouTube and SkyTrax. Business on long hault flights is getting out dates , especially A330 without full flat seats. Food quality in J dropped significantly since 2017 and in my experience now it's way below AF, TK or LX on comparable USA routes. Add to it recent fiasco with baggage handlers in SVO in June when people were waiting baggage for hours or weeks (issue was covered in Russian press). There is really nothing to like besides intra-European J class.
I think Ben you are too optimistic for this Russian airline (Aerofłot). How many times did you check them? Once, twice? Remember what you said about Skytrax yesterday - people use not good airlines once, then vote and we have strange list of the „best airlines”, what is not true. So, coming back to my point about Aerofłot: I have flown with them several times and I cant say that their soft and hard products...
I think Ben you are too optimistic for this Russian airline (Aerofłot). How many times did you check them? Once, twice? Remember what you said about Skytrax yesterday - people use not good airlines once, then vote and we have strange list of the „best airlines”, what is not true. So, coming back to my point about Aerofłot: I have flown with them several times and I cant say that their soft and hard products are so good as you mentioned. Probably, as always, everything depends on the crew. You were lucky to be in good hands. My experience was much worse.
@JW B/E -> Rockwell Collins -> (Collins Aerospace part of a new division at United Technology) -> Raytheon = a very annoyed Boeing.
Money is on BA's seats with doors.
@Vanya "Not a lot experience with US airlines" I think that's the reason. Naturally AFL is no Singapore, no ANA, no Emirates. But compared to any US carrier it is in fact shockingly good in both Economy and Business. Business short-haul in Europe is also amazing - no other carrier compares (premium seats, genuinely premium service, excellent food). Economy class in Europe and within Russia is meh, but it's kinda difficult to make it not meh.
@Alex well, experiences differ.
I tend to find their ground services atrocious, their crews vary greatly from extremely polite and courteous to Soviet-style in service and appearance (and I get the latter bunch a lot more frequently lately).
On intra-European routes in economy their catering is just sad, even when compared to airlines like Austrian and Lufthansa. Like, Aeroflot gives you a cold sandwich on SVO-VIE, while Austrian gives you a hot pasta...
@Alex well, experiences differ.
I tend to find their ground services atrocious, their crews vary greatly from extremely polite and courteous to Soviet-style in service and appearance (and I get the latter bunch a lot more frequently lately).
On intra-European routes in economy their catering is just sad, even when compared to airlines like Austrian and Lufthansa. Like, Aeroflot gives you a cold sandwich on SVO-VIE, while Austrian gives you a hot pasta meal with a chocolate dessert. Same with Aeroflot vs Turkish comparison or even Aeroflot vs Atlasglobal.
I also enjoyed Aeroflot's Moscow-Havana route, where they give you a meal, then the whole crew disappears for 11 hours (and you can starve yourself in the meantime), and then they serve you a small breakfast an hour before landing. Combined with broken IFE it was just a delightful 13-hour flight.
Seating on some 737s is being atrocious in economy, I had bruises on my knees after one such flight (SVO-IST). The newer 737s are okay.
Also, Aeroflot's situation with onboard beers and wines in economy is just laughable (only select routes, only first meal, wines run out almost instantly).
I can keep going, but being Moscow-based, I would choose other airlines, especially since many other airlines are often cheaper for the same or better service.
Not a lot experience with US airlines, I admit (only Continental some time ago and United).
But Aeroflot is absolutely not "shockingly good", that sounds like a cheap ad for them. They are okay, but that's about it.
I flew on the WAW-SVO-ICN fare in april with Aeroflot abd everything with the airline was nice and smooth from check in at WAW, good lunch onboard, lounges at SVO and service to Seoul. Great airline!
@Vanya when comparing with most other airlines, especially anything based in the US, Aeroflot is absolutely fantastic in all classes and on routes of all lengths. The only major issue I can think of off the top of my head is that their economy breakfasts are often bad. Everything else - service, seats, IFE, all other food except what I mention above - is excellent. They’re not perfect by any means, but I very rarely...
@Vanya when comparing with most other airlines, especially anything based in the US, Aeroflot is absolutely fantastic in all classes and on routes of all lengths. The only major issue I can think of off the top of my head is that their economy breakfasts are often bad. Everything else - service, seats, IFE, all other food except what I mention above - is excellent. They’re not perfect by any means, but I very rarely find myself unhappy with the experience, and I’m saying this after hundreds of flights on SU, ranging from forty minutes to twelve hours.
"Shockingly good onboard product", lol. It's not. In business, maybe, but in general Aeroflot has nothing "shockingly good" about them.
Is it now impossible for Skymiles members to redeem Aeroflot?
I wonder the reverse of it. I am an Aeroflot Bonus member, is it still possible for me to ticket an award in a Delta (or Korean Airlines codeshare) flight?
Thanks
Those renderings have been the main image used on their site and a lot of their marketing since they were created, so probably 2007. I’ve been laughing at their use of a plane they didn’t have in their fleet for advertising for over a decade, and I’m really happy that they’re about to finally take delivery of it! Although I have to say I was hoping to see them change their livery, this one is...
Those renderings have been the main image used on their site and a lot of their marketing since they were created, so probably 2007. I’ve been laughing at their use of a plane they didn’t have in their fleet for advertising for over a decade, and I’m really happy that they’re about to finally take delivery of it! Although I have to say I was hoping to see them change their livery, this one is quite outdated at this point.
The New York inaugural is meant to be on my birthday...maybe I’ll finally find a way to redeem my massive reserve of Aeroflot Bonus miles for a Business Class sear JFK-SVO? Sounds like a fun idea...
Just a matter of factual accuracy, should it still be know as B/E Aerospace or Collins Aerospace, since Rockwell Collins actually owns the company now?
More importantly ... we’ll we ever be allowed to book Aeroflot with SkyMiles again? Delta and Aeroflot should be pressed for answers. How long has it been? A year?
On a side note, SU's livery looks pretty nice on the A350 frame (in contrast to AF's Eurowhite, etc.)
Great news!