Affordable way to get to Russia from the US as American citizen

[AnnJacks 6]

57 minutes ago, Lynxyonok said:

One more: https://www.flightradar24.com/airport/svo/arrivals - substitute Sheremet'evo with your airport - you can see who's actively landing from overseas.

 

Do realize this: Russian airlines do not post tickets more than a couple months out ---> it looks like there's no competition ---> foreign airlines jack up prices.

 

If you could share the exact itinerary, I can help more.

Thanks! Unfortunately no route and dates in mind. I didn’t even sign up for my vacation at work because I have no idea how to get to RU yet. 

[Lynxyonok 316]

5 minutes ago, AnnJacks said:

Thanks! Unfortunately no route and dates in mind. I didn’t even sign up for my vacation at work because I have no idea how to get to RU yet. 

No worries/no pressure.

 

There are ways to get to Russia: that said, if you can wait a bit, more venues will open up.

[AnnJacks 6]

13 minutes ago, Lynxyonok said:

No worries/no pressure.

 

There are ways to get to Russia: that said, if you can wait a bit, more venues will open up.

I hope so! At least I got US passport this fall which helps alot  

[JayFromTexas 60]

We just bought a ticket the other way, Moscow to Dallas and back, for 1/1/23-1/12/23. We spent a little more to buy more convenient flights with shorter layovers, but we could have bought the ticket for $1700-1900, with longer layovers.

 

For Dallas - Moscow trips, it is cheapest through Istanbul, based on our experience. You can normally find a good deal to get to and from Istanbul, but getting from Istanbul to Moscow can cost more than Dallas to Istanbul, depending on the flight chosen. When I traveled to Moscow back in July, I bought Turkish Air flights to IST and back and then Azerbaijan Air through Baku for the IST-Moscow part.

 

Like someone else mentioned, try buying the 2 legs (US-Turkey and Turkey-Russia) separately. If you do that, you'll have to clear customs in Istanbul, but it could save you several hundred dollars.

 

Good luck. There are alternatives out there.

[Lynxyonok 316]

6 hours ago, JayFromTexas said:

Like someone else mentioned, try buying the 2 legs (US-Turkey and Turkey-Russia) separately. If you do that, you'll have to clear customs in Istanbul, but it could save you several hundred dollars.

It's a sound strategy if not facing short layovers and travelling with carry-on only.

[JayFromTexas 60]

11 minutes ago, Lynxyonok said:

It's a sound strategy if not facing short layovers and travelling with carry-on only.

I did it with 2 checked bags. I needed 3 hours layover, but 4 would provide extra cushion. 

[Simplytex 387]

4 hours ago, JayFromTexas said:

I did it with 2 checked bags. I needed 3 hours layover, but 4 would provide extra cushion. 

IST can be either very smooth or extremely hectic. I've been checked in and through security in <20min, and another time it took my wife close to an hour to get through the security line alone. Definitely agreed, this is the 'you've got time, so can save money' approach.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,079]

On 12/9/2022 at 8:06 AM, JayFromTexas said:

We just bought a ticket the other way, Moscow to Dallas and back, for 1/1/23-1/12/23. We spent a little more to buy more convenient flights with shorter layovers, but we could have bought the ticket for $1700-1900, with longer layovers.

... but that's still crazy; back when I visited Anastasia in Russia in 2018 I had a direct flight from SVO to LAX and back for less than $1000, and when she came here in early 2019 one-way from SVO to LAX was less than $700 on a flex ticket (so refundable and included two bags).

 

I've been trying to figure the best way for us to visit Anastasia's family next summer (not really super enthusiastic about going to Russia right now, but my wife hasn't seen her family in person since coming here in early 2019, they've never seen our son in person, and she has some living grandparents still), though, and came to pretty much the same conclusions about lowest-cost way to get to Moscow from San Diego or LA (adding another connection vs two or three hours in an Uber or a shuttle with a small child as I'm not driving home from LAX after a transatlantic flight) as you did from Dallas (getting anywhere closer to Anastasia's hometown from outside Russia isn't really possible; Kazan's closer than Moscow but the only way to go the rest of the way from there is by bus and if the Allegro isn't working then flying to Helsinki, taking the train to St. Petersburg, and then flying from there to Anastasia's hometown doesn't work).

 

On 12/9/2022 at 8:06 AM, JayFromTexas said:

 

For Dallas - Moscow trips, it is cheapest through Istanbul, based on our experience. You can normally find a good deal to get to and from Istanbul, but getting from Istanbul to Moscow can cost more than Dallas to Istanbul, depending on the flight chosen. When I traveled to Moscow back in July, I bought Turkish Air flights to IST and back and then Azerbaijan Air through Baku for the IST-Moscow part.

 

Like someone else mentioned, try buying the 2 legs (US-Turkey and Turkey-Russia) separately. If you do that, you'll have to clear customs in Istanbul, but it could save you several hundred dollars.

Yeah; logically, it makes no sense that the US-Turkey (or other middleman country) flight would be the cheaper one, but the airlines operating the route know you don't really have many options.

[JayFromTexas 60]

DaveandAnastasia- One other thing you should look at is Aeroflot from IST to Moscow and back. In the travel sites I use, they don't include Aeroflot flights. I've found them to generally be cheaper than Turkish Air, so be sure and check Aeroflot flights too.

 

Definitely not easy or cheap to travel to Russia right now. 😔

Edited December 12, 2022 by JayFromTexas

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,079]

28 minutes ago, JayFromTexas said:

DaveandAnastasia- One other thing you should look at is Aeroflot from IST to Moscow and back. In the travel sites I use, they don't include Aeroflot flights. I've found them to generally be cheaper than Turkish Air, so be sure and check Aeroflot flights too.

Eh, I don't trust flying on Russian airlines right now; flying western planes (or even Russian planes with western engines) operated by companies that can't legally get spare parts does not seem safe.

[Dashinka 23,382]

1 hour ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

 

I've been trying to figure the best way for us to visit Anastasia's family next summer (not really super enthusiastic about going to Russia right now, but my wife hasn't seen her family in person since coming here in early 2019, they've never seen our son in person, and she has some living grandparents still),

 

.

Yeah, my family there keeps asking me when I am coming to visit as I have not been there since 2019.  I probably should have gone with the wife in 2021, but work and Covid stopped that (I know, I could have figured it out).  Now, we discussed it and even though my wife is naturalized, she still has her Russian passport, so she went in September, but I stayed in the US.  She rarely left the flat the entire five weeks she was there.

 

As an aside, have you heard about the fires in shopping centers in Russia?  Moscow of course gets most of the news, but apparently there were two very recently in Krasnoyarsk as well (not sure about other cities).

[TBoneTX 43,433]

Good luck to everyone seeking travel arrangements to Russia.  I've been spoiled.  From Houston to Quito is 5 hours 20 minutes nonstop; from Houston to Guayaquil has one change in Panama.  Maximum time-zone difference is one hour, depending on Standard or Daylight Saving time.  Man.

[Simplytex 387]

2 hours ago, Dashinka said:

As an aside, have you heard about the fires in shopping centers in Russia?  Moscow of course gets most of the news, but apparently there were two very recently in Krasnoyarsk as well (not sure about other cities).

Yes, seen this stuff, but then again have to think that winter is when all the heating systems and electrical load is going to be highest, so even in the US/Europe this is when fire depts are busiest... Not to say a lack of manpower, equipment, or malice couldn't also play a part here, but just have to look at the broader context as well.

 

2 hours ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

Eh, I don't trust flying on Russian airlines right now; flying western planes (or even Russian planes with western engines) operated by companies that can't legally get spare parts does not seem safe.

Ditto to that. I've even told my wife that I'm not comfortable with her flying Russian airlines the longer the sanctions are in place. So far been able to book Air Serbia and Turkish Air/Pegasus reliably and relatively cheaply. 

 

3 hours ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

... but that's still crazy; back when I visited Anastasia in Russia in 2018 I had a direct flight from SVO to LAX and back for less than $1000, and when she came here in early 2019 one-way from SVO to LAX was less than $700 on a flex ticket (so refundable and included two bags).

 

I went last year three times, the roundtrip pricing was - July (last minute/day before) $1200 Aeroflot, Sept $1000 Aeroflot, Dec $750 Turkish... 

[mendeleev 68]

My wife flew Emirates, Chicago/Dubai in late summer.  Then overnight stay in Dubai (at quite reasonable cost, cheaper than many USA hotels) then Flydubai nonstop to Novosibirsk.  The layover was short or long depending on your perspective -- 8 to 10 hours if memory serves.  Just enough to lay ones head down to sleep in a comfortable hotel.

 

The Chicago/Dubai flight is long.  Avoid any but aisle seats.

 

The ability to get to Novosibirsk in two hops was quite unexpected.

 

The return was the opposite path but perhaps because the time was closer to the World Cup, the hotel price was higher.

 

This worked very well.  At the Dubai airport, one can buy a concierge service to meet the traveler at the gate, get bags, expedite passage through passport control -- the concierge doesn't need to wait in line -- and dropped her off at the taxi that I also reserved.  The reverse also worked.   Hospitality in Dubai for an unaccompanied woman was superb.

 

We note that Jazerra airlines -- a Kuwaiti airline -- starts service between Kuwait City and Moscow.  FlyDubai started Dubai/St Petersburg service in December.  It looks like Arab airlines, seeing a business opportunity, start moving into the vacuum created by European withdrawal.

[Lynxyonok 316]

11 hours ago, mendeleev said:

My wife flew Emirates, Chicago/Dubai in late summer.

 

Air Serbia is about to start Chicago - Belgrade - Moscow route (or in your case - Krasnodar or - Kazan, then using a local carrier). Aside from clumsy layover durations in Belgrade, it is a pleasant airline to take.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Lynxyonok