Am I taking my life in my hands flying Aeroflot?

[wickerwoman]

On an upcoming trip I have a choice between Alitalia and Aeroflot. Aeroflot is about $70 cheaper but I'd be flying on something called an "Ilyushin IL19 Turboprop". Is this as ass numbingly terrifying as it sounds?

Anyone have any experience flying Aeroflot or know anything about this plane?

[Fenris]

1. How far are you flying?

[wickerwoman]

2. That leg is twelve hours. Shanghai->Moscow.

n/t

[Fenris]

5. I'll just say that the extra $70 would be well spent.

[Swede]

3. When was the last death on Aeroflot compared to your local freeway?

It's statistics I know,but what else is there in a case like this.

[wickerwoman]

7. It's not just fear of death.

I'm not sure if I want to spend 12 hours on a pre-WWII plane full of goats and chickens flying through the Himalayas.

It's the "Turboprop" things that has me a little worried.

[donheld]

13. Aeroflot has some nice Boeing 767's and a nice new Boeing 777

They're not all old stuff you'll be fine. Here's the B777

[CanuckAmok]

17. C'mon.... the eggs will be fresher than Alitalia's

I'd go with the Aeroflot... but that's me.

It'll likely be flown by a crew with tens of thousands of hours of military and civilian time on that type, and it'll be maintained by the State, not by a corporation cutting corners and outsourcing everything it can.

[MuseRider]

4. When we went to Russia

we were told NOT to fly Aeroflot. That was about 8 years ago. Even the Russians had no confidence in them. Like I said, that was 8 years ago, I have no idea if they have changed.

[Kenneth ken]

6. NOPE

you're putting your life in soeone else's hands any time you fly, regardless of the airline, unless you're piloting the plane. :)

[flamingyouth]

8. I would fly Alitalia

I've flown with them before. My Russian friend doesn't fly Aeroflot - that's all I know about them...

[Fenris]

9. This, btw, is what an IL-18 looks like

The IL-19 is very similar.

[wickerwoman]

10. Alitalia it is then.

I've flown in puddle jumpers bigger than that.

:D

[CanuckAmok]

16. Wow, it looks just like the Lockheed Orion:

on edit: it's obviously larger than the Orion...

[da_chimperor]

11. I wouldn't worry about it.

Russian-built Ilyushin planes have a safety record comparable to Boeing planes. Supposedly a few Ilyushin models are actually safer than their Boeing or McDonnel-Douglas counterparts. I can't find a source for this, but I clearly remember reading this a while ago. I wouldn't worry myself, as my mom flew from Moscow to East Berlin in one back in the 'good old days' of the 1970's. She came back in one piece, thankfully. :D

[Momgonepostal]

12. Go Alitalia

I've never flown Aeroflot but had a professor who had fly to and throughout Russia many times who said Aeroflot was about the scariest experience he'd ever had. He used to dazzle us with stories about how bad it was.

I flew Alitalia once from Rome to Chicago and it was the nicest flight I've ever been on.

[burrowowl]

14. One of the funniest ever

apparently some sports car enthusists and their cars were flown in a Russian cargo plane to the next leg of a race and one of the fellows described the plane as: 144,000 rivets flying in formation!.
Hey when your number is up it is up, the U$ airlines are scrimping on maintenance, etc.

[regnaD kciN]

15. Probably not a safety issue...

As Patrick Smith, who writes the "Ask The Pilot" column at Salon, points out, Aeroflot has more of an accident record than most major airlines, but that's because it is (or was) much bigger -- bigger than all U.S. majors combined. As he also points out, there are so few accidents overall, that there's virtually no difference in "safety" between the airline with the best record and ones with fair-to-middling ones.

The big concern I would have would be, not safety, but comfort. That's an awfully long flight. A turboprop, like the Aeroflot plane, would not only transmit more noise and vibration, but also fly slower, thus making it a longer flight still. If it were just a short hop, like Moscow to St. Petersberg or Minsk, I'd think that the dollars saved might be worth it, but on a flight that long, I'd want to be on a jet!

[sphincter]

18. When I lived in Scandinavia

....as a kid we used to fly Aeroflot every time we visited my mothers relatives in Japan. Because of the cold war, Aeroflot was the only airline allowed to fly over Soviet air space, hence it was the quickest way to get to Japan. Food sucked, you had to pay for the beer but I never had any problems or "close calls". Quite charming, those Ilyushin's and Tupolev's.

Moscow airport was a hole with broken restroom doors and scary guards with AK-47's and the only things they sold in the duty free store were vodka, caviar and babushka dolls.

They are using Airbus for some of their international routes now, and the Moscow airport has changed in to pretty much a regular airport with bars and Nike stores. Have to admit that I liked the Soviet era airport better though. There was certain "charm" to it.

[MuseRider]

19. That is/was a very

scary airport to be sure. Gray and imposing. The train station was a little better.

[AntiCoup2K4]

20. At least you know the vodka will be good

Just drink heavily on the flight and don't worry about it :evilgrin:

[Floogeldy]

21. No. You're putting your life in Aeroflot's hands.

!