Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

So I can finally add SVO (Moscow-Shermetyevo) to my list of airports I've been to. The trip ATL-SVO is a pretty good one, by the way, being the only non-Aeroflot option to go nonstop from the US to Russia. It was on a 767, rather than a 777, but wasn't a bad flight. Be sure to use seatguru.com to find a decent seat, though.

SVO is a strange airport. It's bascially two airports that share a set of runways. SVO terminal 1 is the domestic airport, on the north side of the airport property. SVO-2 is the international terminal, on the south side of the property, with no way to get easily from one terminal to the other. I was only in terminal 2. It was nothing to write home about. In fact, very old and outdated. It's the old European airport model, organized more like a train station. Big central lobby with a big sign board that tells you what gate your flight will use, but only announces it 2 hrs before the flight. So you mill around until the board announces your gate and then you cram through to the ticketing desk, passport control, and security. Then the gates have 2-3 flights leaving out of each one, and it's very confusing as to which flight is boarding (especially when you only speak a little Russian, like me). And also - no jet bridges. It's all walking down stairs and out on the tarmac to a bus, which drives you out to a remote stand (they're all remote stands) and you walk up stairs onto the plane.

Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

Welcome back. I guess this explains your extended absence.