Advice on a Flight from Moscow to Vladivostok

1. Flights to Irkutsk which is less than half way across Russia usually cost about 400 USD so this seem like a reasonable price to me. OTOH have you checked VladAvia.ru, S7 (formerly Siberian Airlines) and other Russian airlines? I often recommend looking at bilets.ru.

2. There are websites that tell you the on time rate for flights. Try searching for that or contact Aeroflot. Since you are planning to travel Aeroflot to Aeroflot they should be able to assist you if the first plane is delayed.

3. Hopefully you are not intending to travel straight through from Vlad to Moscow because if you are, you can't wait to try to book tickets. Check now and you will see that there are very few tickets for travel from Vlad to Moscow even in the dead of winter. If you are a little flexible, you should be able to get a ticket out of Vlad within a day or two. Hopefully you weren't planning on going straight from the airport to the train station and departing. Vlad is worth a day or two and the region considerably more time if you like nature.

Ruth

With the possible exception of the Baltic States, airline ticket prices are generally high within the ex-USSR because there just isn't enough demand in the service. The price you were quoted seems reasonable all things considered. If you find a cheaper price, it might be with an airline that I'm not sure I'd trust. In late 1990s Russia and China seemed to be in a contest to see which country could have the most unsafe domestic airline service in the world. One infamous Russian internal flight crashed because the pilot let his teenage son fly the plane. I think things are much better in both countries, but if I had a choice, I'd rather put my life in the hands of Aeroflot than any other airline in Russia.

Thank you, folks.

Answering to Ruth, I was planning to stay in Vlad a day or two before taking the train. I am also planning to make several stops on my way to Moscow, as suggested by most travelers (especially in the Lake Baikal area). Since I am going to be a solo traveler, I hope to find enough availability of train tckts from town to town. Since I have never traveled to this country, and I keep hearing "book your trans-siberian tckts in advance, since they sell out easily and quickly!", I am concerned that I will not find availability.

I will definitely try to book them in advance (after I have a more precise idea of the amounts of stops and time I want to stay in those places), but just wanted to ask if it's wise to book the flight now, even if I don't have the train tckts booked, yet.

There is NO reason to book your tickets in advance except for two circumstances, one, you can NOT be flexible about time and cost or two, you are traveling on a long weekend on a popular route.

If I recall correctly you plan to have a 90 day visa and thus should have some flexibility of time. The other issue is being flexible about the class of travel. As a solo traveler you might find that to take a certain train on a certain date, you might have to take a more expensive ticket.

Also if you plan to travel between Moscow and Petersburg during the summer on a weekend, it is best to have tickets purchased in advance. Otherwise, you should be fine.

It is quite likely on this trip that you will be unable to book many legs of travel in advance because you will be joining trains that are already underway. Generally speaking tickets for such trains have limited availability until 72 hours prior to departure.

Ruth

Edited by: everbrite

Thank you, Ruth. I really have to offer you a drink, someday. You're being very helpful.
:)