How to find the cheapest flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg

Traveling from UK to Russia on a direct roundtrip flight to Moscow can cost about £ 200. On the other hand, a roundtrip flight to Moscow with a layover in another European city can make it a little cheaper (about £ 150). In this post, I explain the different options available for flying from UK to Russia, as well as provide advice in order to find the most economical flight.

1. Introduction

The increase in tourism and trade relations between UK and Russia has led to an increasing number of airlines offering direct flights between UK and Russia, particularly to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Most of direct flights operating between UK and Russia originate in major cities: London, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool, Dublin, etc.

Moscow has three international airports (Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo), while St. Petersburg has the Pulkovo Airport. In this article I analyze the different companies flying from UK to these airports as well as how to find the lowest prices by comparing prices on flights through the excellent website Momondo.

2. Connecting flights between UK and Russia

2.1. Direct flights between UK and Russia

There are three companies that offer direct flights from UK cities to Moscow:

• Aeroflot. This is a Russian national airline and the biggest one in the country. They offer regular flights from London to Moscow.
• S7 Airlines. A Siberian company that offers some direct flights from UK to Russia.
• British Airways. They offer direct flights available to Moscow and St. Petersburg from London.

2.2. Flights with layovers between UK and Russia

Another interesting option, which is sometimes cheaper than a direct flight, is to take a flight to Moscow or St. Petersburg with stops in another European city. There are several connections with one stop that fly from UK to Russia. Some examples:

• Air Baltic via Riga.
• Swiss Air via Zurich
• KLM via Amsterdam
• Eurowings via Berlin
• Lufthansa via Frankfurt
• Air France via París
• Alitalia via Roma

This option is very interesting in the following cases:

• If a direct flight is too expensive
• If you live in a UK city with no direct flights to Russia
• And, regardless, if the layover is not very long and does not require a change of airport

2.3. Alternative routes: direct flights to Helsinki

If you are traveling to St. Petersburg, one option for some travelers is to take a flight to Helsinki or Tallinn, cities located 5 hours by train or car from St. Petersburg.

It is a good option if it is cheaper than flying to Russia directly or in the event that you want to visit Finland or Estonia. For example, Finnair has direct flights to Helsinki from London.

3. Recommendations for finding the best prices for flights to Moscow or St. Petersburg

When you choose a flight from UK to Russia and find the best price, it is important to follow some practical recommendations:

Recommendation 1: reserve a ticket at least 2-3 months in advance

The cheapest tickets are always reserved with more than 2 or 3 months of advance notice. If you end up waiting until the last minute, prices will increase up until the final weeks before a flight. I have never found a better price reserving a flight in the final days beforehand; on the contrary, they are much more expensive.

Recommendation 2: if you can, travel outside of high season and during the week

In general, during the high season prices are higher (July and August). If you travel outside of these months, you can find lower prices. Also prices are usually better when taking flights on a weekday or on a Saturday, since on Friday or Sunday flights are usually more in demand.

Recommendation 3: do not limit yourself to direct flights

Do not limit yourself to only direct flights from your origin city to Moscow or St. Petersburg, but rather also look for offers on flights to some other European city (Amsterdam, Zurich, Warsaw, Paris, Riga, etc.). It is also interesting to look at the connections from cities close to Russian territory such as Helsinki or Tallinn.

Recommendation 4: think about selecting a multi-destination option

Many airlines allow multi-destination options: if you want to visit Moscow as well as St. Petersburg on the same trip, there is the possibility of traveling from UK to St. Petersburg and then for the return flight traveling from Moscow back to UK, so that in this manner you just have to make a round trip between St. Petersburg and Moscow (which will save you money and time).

Recommendation 5: use a website that compares flights

To know what the lowest fare available is, the best option that I have found is to use a search engine called Momondo which finds flights better than other comparison sites like Skyscanner, Kayak or eDreams.

I recently used Momondo for several reasons:

• It makes comparisons not only between airlines but also between other flight search engines. This way, you always find the best price.
• It displays airfares without additional fees or commissions.
• It allows you to search for multiple destinations, which is very useful if you want to make a round trip, for example, from London to Moscow and another back from St. Petersburg to London, so that you avoid making two trips between St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Momondo is only a flight comparison tool, leaving the actual purchase of tickets to be done directly with the airline (Momondo gives you the link for the flight at no extra charge).

4. What does a flight from London to Moscow cost?

Next I am going to compare the price of traveling between London and Moscow. I am doing these searches with three months in advance (May 2016), flying between August 3^th and 10^th, 2016 (high season).

A direct return ticket from London to Moscow with Aeroflot costs £ 222.  However, the cheapest way to fly from London to Moscow is via a round trip flight on Air Baltic Airlines with a stopover in Riga (£ 148).

5. Conclusions

To fly from UK to Russia at lower prices, it is very important to book the flight more than 3 months in advance and use as a flight comparison website like Momondo to find the cheapest flight.

Aeroflot, S7 Airlines and British Airways have direct flights to Moscow, with an average price of a round trip ticket at about £ 220. If you do not care to make any stops, you can buy a flight with layovers with companies such as Air Baltic, Swiss Air, KLM, or Lufthansa and get a much better price (around £ 150 round trip ticket).

In short, the options vary depending on the needs of each person’s budget or the cities you are visiting. In any case, the flight comparison site Momondo is essential to finding the best and most economical flight.

What has been your experience flying from UK to Russia ? You can leave your comments below. Thanks for sharing