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

Traveling from USA (or Canada) to Russia on a direct roundtrip flight to Moscow can cost a minimum of about $ 800. On the other hand, a roundtrip flight to Moscow with a layover in another European city can make it a little cheaper. In this post, I explain the different options available for flying from USA 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 USA and Russia has led to an increasing number of airlines offering direct flights between USA and Russia, particularly to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Most of direct flights operating between USA and Russia originate in major US cities: New York, Washington, Los Angeles, and Miami.

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 USA 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 USA and Russia

2.1. Direct flights between USA and Russia

There are two companies that offer direct flights from US cities to Moscow:

• Aeroflot. This is a Russian national airline and the biggest one in the country. They offer regular flights from Los Angeles, Washington, New York, and Miami to Moscow.
• Delta Airlines. American airline with direct flights are available to Moscow from New York.

2.2. Flights with layovers between USA 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 USA to Russia. Some examples:

• British Airways via London
• Swiss Air via Zurich
• KLM via Amsterdam
• Eurowings via Berlin
• Lufthansa via Frankfurt
• Air France via París
• Alitalia via Roma
• Turkish Airlines via Istanbul

This option is very interesting in the following cases:

• If a direct flight is too expensive
• If you live in a US 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 New York.

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

When you choose a flight from USA 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 (London, Amsterdam, Zurich, Warsaw, Paris, 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 USA to St. Petersburg and then for the return flight traveling from Moscow back to USA, 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 New York to Moscow and another back from St. Petersburg to New York, 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 USA to Moscow cost?

Next I am going to compare the price of traveling between the major airports in USA and Moscow. I am doing these searches with half a year in advance (February 2016), flying between July 20^th and 27^th, 2016 (high season).

• Flights New York – Moscow. A direct return ticket from New York to Moscow with Aeroflot costs $ 819.

• Flights Atalanta – Moscow. The cheapest way to fly from Atlanta to Moscow is via a round trip flight on Turkish Airlines with a stopover in Intanbul ($ 755).

• Flights Dallas – Moscow. The cheapest way to travel to Moscow from Dallas is a flight with two stopovers ($ 611).

5. Conclusions

To fly from USA 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 and Delta Airlines have direct flights to Moscow, with an average price of a round trip ticket at about $ 800.

If you do not care to make any stops, you can buy a flight with layovers with companies such as British Airways, Turkish Airlines, KLM, or Lufthansa and get a much better price (around $ 600-700 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 USA to Russia ? You can leave your comments below. Thanks for sharing