Aeroflot has clarified the list of destinations where baggage-free fares will be available starting April 2. The carrier has also announced changes to its fare structure in connection with the introduction of baggage-free options, according to Travel.ru.
Rossiya Airlines' subsidiary airline, the first phase of baggage-free fares, only included routes from St. Petersburg. These routes do not include Moscow, Paris, Barcelona, or Tel Aviv. There are 44 “baggage-free” routes from Saint Petersburg: Kaliningrad, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Mineralnye Vody, Anapa, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Ufa, Perm, Tyumen, Orenburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Samara, Surgut, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Syktyvkar, Simferopol, Tashkent, Samarkand, Prague, Vienna, London, Larnaca, Tivat, Rimini, Rome, Milan, Venice, Naples, Verona, Bologna, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Hanover, Dresden (some German and Italian destinations are only available via Moscow with a transfer on Aeroflot). From Moscow, "baggage-free" flights are available only to German and Italian destinations (except Rimini), including those with a transfer in St. Petersburg.
Connecting flights from other cities (such as Samara, Moscow, and Rome) are excluded from the initial phase of baggage-free fares. However, in the near future, baggage-free fares will be extended to most scheduled Aeroflot Group flights (long-haul routes, for example, may be an exception).
The new baggage-free fare will be called "Light." It will replace the current "Budget" fare group. How the fares themselves will change is not yet known.
The cost of adding baggage to a baggage-free fare has not yet been published. However, it is known that adding baggage at the airport will cost more than adding it in advance on the company's website before checking in for the flight. It is obviously not possible to add baggage during or after online check-in (but you can cancel your previous online check-in, add baggage, and then check in again).
Baggage-free fares will be available for purchase on April 2nd for flights beginning on the same date. Members of Aeroflot Bonus elite tiers and other SkyTeam alliance loyalty programs will be able to carry one piece of checked baggage free of charge, even on baggage-free fares.
Aeroflot's free ski equipment allowance (and, on some routes, diving equipment) will likely not apply to baggage-free fares. At least, this is the typical solution for most airlines that offer baggage-free fares but also offer free ski and snowboard transportation.
Previously, all other major Russian and many foreign carriers had introduced baggage-free fares. This made it somewhat difficult for Aeroflot to compete on price, while including baggage in every ticket. When searching for tickets through agents or on aggregator websites, Aeroflot often appears at the bottom of the list, sorted by ticket price.
The innovation will allow Aeroflot to slightly reduce the minimum fare (by depriving it of included baggage) and thus better compete with other carriers in terms of price. At the same time, as the experience of almost any airline shows, the introduction of baggage-free fares inevitably leads to an increase in the price of the minimum baggage fare - and often such an increase turns out to be much more significant than the reduction of the minimum fare. In other words, on average, flying becomes noticeably more expensive (although cheaper for individual passengers).
Aeroflot's entry into the baggage-free fare race will significantly change the pricing situation on both domestic routes and some international routes. Among other things, at least on many domestic routes, there's a risk of a return to the cartel-like situation of approximately three to six years ago. Back then, as we recall, on most domestic routes, the minimum prices of almost all carriers were identical down to the ruble (and Aeroflot's pricing moves were immediately copied by all competitors). The situation changed three years ago, when Siberia Airlines, and subsequently many other airlines, began offering baggage-free fares. As a result, everyone's product went from being identical to the previous one, and their prices also diverged. Now that baggage-free fares will be available everywhere, there's a risk of a return to a similar situation of equally high fares that no longer include baggage.
Source: travel.ru
