Not Bad for a Military Airline! 1-Hour Flight with Full Meal Service, No Wonder the Load Factor is So High

Oct. 3, 2025, 8:27 a.m. Travel

Russia Airlines' first, and the first 359 for the CIS, was on March 6th, flown by Moscow SVO to St. Petersburg. Unable to make the first flight on this day, it was subsequently switched to the next day, March 7th, an early SU10 flight at 8:10-9:40, the model was 359, essentially a sincere effort to experience SU's first 359. Bought the ticket just a day before departure plus the weekend is a peak travel time for both cities, the one-way ticket price was over 400 RMB, domestic economy class! If you buy tickets in advance, it will be a little cheaper.

Beautiful St. Petersburg skyline

Dimitrovgrad Cathedral

Took a car

Arrived early online to check in, printed the boarding pass, and the boarding pass printed out with Chinese characters. When selecting seats online, it was indeed a 3+3+3 359 model, no window seat was available, so I chose the middle seat of the near window. SU's N cabin can accumulate 50% MU miles, 75% SU miles, so I chose MU, departing at 6:30 AM, when Moscow doesn't have traffic, it only takes half an hour to reach the B terminal at SVO. Originally wanted to print the boarding pass again, but the self-service check-in could not print, thinking this must be a mechanical or technical failure. Just about to go through security, I noticed a passenger had left a file bag containing a passport and other items. After waiting for a few minutes, I saw no one looking for it, so I quickly handed it over to the Russian Airlines service window, hoping to recover it as soon as possible.

As a major hub for the Sky Alliance, SVO-B has seen significant improvements in various aspects. The Sky Alliance's true convenience is truly realized. From the Sky Alliance's dedicated check-in area to the dedicated security check, it's very convenient.

After passing security, the boarding pass had changed from 114 to 102. I was a little puzzled, 359 didn't fly international flights, why did the boarding pass change to a shuttle flight. When boarding, I realized my boarding pass had indeed changed, and no one asked why. I sat down comfortably on the shuttle, which was completely different from going from B to C around SVO. It took about two minutes to finally reach F floor. Along the way, I also saw some passengers filming the whole journey, presumably because some aviation enthusiasts specifically chose this 359 flight. It turned out that the shuttle was stable in letting passengers off, and it was a surprise that it wasn't a 359, but a 332. Looking out, there was no trace of the 359. That's when I realized that the self-service check-in had an error, the boarding pass was changed, and I was reassigned a seat, all because the 359 was replaced by a 332, deliberately to experience Russian Airlines' 359, but it turned out to be a mistake. 'Come with, go with,' so I decided to take the 332 to St. Petersburg.

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Eyeballing other aviation enthusiasts

Chance to see colorful paintings

Almost full 332, unknown how many passengers came specifically for the 359. There were also passengers who booked super-jumps, because this 332 didn't offer super-jumps. My seat was the last row with 2+3+2 layout, originally wanted to take pictures of the wing with a more curved angle, switched to the 332 last row. The PTV had many audio-visual entertainment resources, and I was the first time to observe that there were USB and internet ports on the seats. It was really rare to see a wired internet interface, which was probably when in-flight WiFi was not prevalent, so I could connect to the internal network via a wired interface.

Russian Airlines' safety instructions are beautiful

An hour and a bit of flight, a full 332, also provided meal service, basically finishing the meal and immediately collecting the tableware, waiting to finish collecting the tableware, it was obvious that it was declining. The captain also began to broadcast that we were about to arrive in St. Petersburg. A small snack and tea and coffee were provided.

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St. Petersburg airport's transfer design is reasonably well-designed, with clear indications upon arrival, the Rossiya and SU dedicated transfer desks are very convenient.

St. Petersburg airport's building design is quite distinctive, the interior is clean and bright, worthy of the title 'Russian gateway to Europe', there are 39 bus lines from the airport to the Moscow metro station, about half an hour, very convenient. As a city that is 'Russian Europe', St. Petersburg is not only luxurious, but also a heroic city. From Leningrad to St. Petersburg, this city is like various versions of European cities, but it's not like Moscow, without the propaganda of Stalin and the red culture. The air in Petersburg flows more freely.