Pobeda ticket sales for April. Why did users consider the ticket sale promotion unsuccessful? It's cheaper not to fly
On January 16, the low-cost carrier Pobeda stopped selling tickets for direct international flights from St. Petersburg for March and later dates. You can get to Milan, Cologne or Pisa from Pulkovo via Moscow, and to Tbilisi via Rostov-on-Don. But purchasing a ticket to London or Istanbul from St. Petersburg - even with a transfer - will not work. “360” tells what is happening with the only Russian low-cost airline.
Flight delays
A source familiar with the situation confirmed that the low-cost airline had indeed closed ticket sales. Earlier, one of the carrier’s employees said that the cessation of flights abroad was due to the actions of security forces delaying the departures of Pobeda aircraft. Another airline worker recalled the overly thorough pre-flight checks of airliners. At the time of publication of the material, the carrier’s press service did not provide a “360” comment confirming or refuting this information.
It's cheaper not to fly
Executive Director of the Airport agency Oleg Panteleev explained to 360 that flight delays, and the departure of 17 aircraft were delayed for a total of more than 15 hours, result in inconvenience not only for passengers, but also in lost profit for the carrier. Therefore, the company has stopped selling tickets for the spring for now. But if a compromise is found, sales could resume.
“If the situation is not resolved, then the carrier’s income on international flights, given the high probability of flight delays, appears to be estimated lower than income on alternative routes where the company could put its aircraft,” he said.
According to him, all companies flying to international destinations, without exception, undergo pre-flight checks. But for Pobeda this inspection is problematic, because the company’s key principle is to minimize aircraft downtime, which determines low ticket prices.
Threat of arrest
In turn, the press service of the regional border department of the FSB told the 78.ru TV channel that the check was carried out in compliance with all legal requirements. All airliners traveling on international routes are subject to a similar procedure. “Despite the legality of the demands made by the border guards, the aircraft commanders in each case ignored them and did not fulfill them in a timely manner, which resulted in a delay in the departure time due to the fault of the airline,” the department said.
Management employees sent an order to the company management that such actions by employees are unacceptable. In the near future, border guards will evaluate the actions of the crews. It is possible that some low-cost airline employees will receive up to 15 days of administrative arrest for disobedience to the demands of military personnel. After this, Pobeda announced that they were considering the possibility of abandoning international flights from Pulkovo.
“The airline has direct flights to a number of destinations from Moscow and Rostov. At the same time, it is possible to get to these cities from St. Petersburg. Therefore, the carrier still offers its passengers not the most convenient route, but at the same time leaves it on sale in order to offer at least something to the largest number of passengers,” Panteleev said.
In this case, the flight will last much longer than a direct flight, but the cost of tickets may be attractive for some categories of passengers.
Refusal to send
On December 29, Pobeda announced its intention to go to court due to multiple delays in flights to Vnukovo. Border guards refused to allow low-cost airline passengers onto buses until the ship crews arrived on board. However, current legislation does not impose any requirements on the presence of pilots on board when the aircraft is filled. A source from the airline news agency explained the situation by the carrier’s refusal to send a Benin citizen deported from Turkey to any country. Previously, the man flew from Moscow to Istanbul, but the Turkish border service turned him around. “At the same time, in violation of the international ICAO convention, the Vnukovo border service did not allow him back into the territory of the Russian Federation,” the interlocutor added.
» is preparing to start selling air tickets for spring-summer 2019. Sales of air tickets will open on January 28, 2019. The carrier will offer air tickets at a starting price for and.
During the opening of sales for spring and summer, tickets will be available for both regular year-round Pobeda flight routes and summer seasonal routes.
"Victory" ticket price
Avianiti warns that the number of cheap air tickets at 499 rubles is limited. If you plan to have time to buy such cheap Pobeda tickets, prepare for the booking in advance: prepare your passport and bank card details. Taking into account the experience of previous sales of the Russian low-cost airline, air tickets will appear in blocks according to destinations.
If you don’t have time to buy tickets for 499 rubles, then don’t be upset. Usually, there are no more than 3-5 such tickets per flight. You can buy tickets for 1,500 - 2,000 rubles - this will be more profitable than offers from other airlines.
Operation of the Pobeda website
It is worth noting that the Pobeda website may experience delays during sales, so please be patient. If the Pobeda website works slowly, you can check air ticket prices in the Avianity search and book a ticket with the agency, or immediately go to the payment page on the Pobeda website.
List of Pobeda destinations for spring and summer 2019
How much are air tickets to your destination and decide where you want to fly. When sales of cheap air tickets open, you will be able to make a purchasing decision faster.
The head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Igor Artemyev, proposed that the government privatize the Pobeda airline, part of the Aeroflot group. This is a response to Vladimir Putin’s instructions to monitor air ticket prices.
Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina / RBC
Sell "Victory"
The head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) Igor Artemyev proposed privatizing the low-cost carrier Pobeda (a subsidiary of Aeroflot) to develop domestic passenger transportation and competition in the market. This is stated in his letter dated July 18, sent to Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov and Minister of Transport Evgeniy Dietrich. RBC has a copy of the letter; its authenticity was confirmed by the FAS press service.
The letter was sent to Akimov and Dietrich as part of the execution of the government’s instructions after the “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin”, held a year ago (June 7, 2018), at which air ticket prices were discussed. In the segment of air transportation of passengers on short- and medium-haul aircraft, patterns have been identified that can lead to the establishment of different prices on comparable routes,” Artemyev’s letter states. Thus, according to the FAS, income rates on Pobeda routes are on average 10% lower than on the market (calculated from the cost of a seat-kilometer, RASK). The presence of a low-cost airline on the route increases competition and reduces ticket prices for all carriers, Artemyev notes. But lately Pobeda has been actively developing international routes, the share of which the company has exceeded domestic flights, he notes. “At the same time, there are cases of cancellation or reduction of flights on domestic routes. We believe that such actions may be aimed at reducing competition, including with Aeroflot and Rossiya (like Pobeda, they are part of the Aeroflot group. - RBC),” writes Artemyev.
Artemyev considers it appropriate for the Ministry of Transport and Aeroflot, which occupies a “dominant position” in the market, when distributing international routes, to make a decision regarding the development strategy of Pobeda, “corresponding to the state objectives of ensuring transport accessibility of the population on domestic air routes,” stated in letter. Artemyev advocates the development of domestic transportation of Pobeda, rather than international routes. He also proposed “to make a decision on the privatization of Pobeda and its withdrawal from the Aeroflot group.”
“The presence of Pobeda Airlines on routes helps reduce ticket prices for all carriers, including competitors of the Aeroflot group.” The refusal of a low-cost airline to abandon the domestic route in favor of an international route is two steps back,” Alexander Redko, deputy head of the FAS, told RBC through the press service. “While remaining in the Aeroflot group, Pobeda must develop within the country or leave the Aeroflot group and compete with it,” he added.
“This is not a victory, this is a defeat,” this is how social media users commented on the failed sale of air tickets from a Russian low-cost airline. At 14:00 on August 12, Pobeda was supposed to put 200 thousand tickets on the website, costing from 499 rubles. The action was widely covered on social networks and the media. However, most of those wishing to purchase tickets at a discount were unable to do so.
Kommersant FM asked Pobeda clients what problems they had.
The Pobeda website began to work intermittently because at 2:15 p.m. some hackers attacked it from Chinese servers, said airline spokeswoman Elena Selivanova: “At 9:00 a.m. we had 25 thousand users on the site. Typically, the portal’s traffic at the same time is 1300-1500 people. But we were, of course, preparing for sales and expected that at least 50 thousand customers would come to our site, and at the same time everything had to work perfectly. At 14:00 we had 75 thousand users on the site. And at the same time, the site more or less worked, slowly, it froze somewhere, but it worked.
At 14:15 everything broke down after this attack.
We also had tickets abroad for 499 rubles. - this is our minimum tariff. But, of course, there were very few of them. On the most popular flights, if we are talking, for example, about the New Year or about some holidays, weekends, there could be one or two tickets per flight. In Russia, indeed, there were a lot of tickets for 500 rubles. More than 40 thousand of them have already been booked.”
The company that counters DDoS attacks, Qrator Labs, which services Pobeda, told RIA Novosti that it had not detected any attacks on the airline’s website. Last year, the airline organized the same sale, St. Petersburg resident Elizaveta told Kommersant FM. In 2018, she managed to buy four tickets at once for 499 rubles. - to Istanbul and Cologne. “Whatever date you find a flight for, book it. This requires constant monitoring and updating information in search engines. I had four devices for this - a computer, a laptop and two phones. About five or six times my operation failed at the time of payment. But 12 hours of price monitoring helped me buy these four tickets. My passport data was already entered in my personal account so as not to waste time on this. There was such a system that you could book a ticket for a day. People simply made a reservation under any name, and if after 24 hours they had not paid for it, then the offer was released into the public domain again. Many in the comments then wrote that they had booked such and such tickets for such and such dates, for example, at 10:47. And at 10:46 the next day I caught these tickets. This year, ticket reservations are paid, it costs 998 rubles, so I think everyone will buy them right away,” the girl shared.
» has started selling tickets for winter flight navigation, which is valid from October 27, 2019 to March 29, 2020. Sales are open for 40 destinations (there will be 85 in total). Russian and foreign routes are available for purchase.
Update: Since July 16, 2019, Pobeda has also released air tickets for the winter. Since the carrier does not offer tickets for all routes at once, but only in parts, Avianiti will monitor the sales of the low-cost airline. Among the Pobeda flight routes there are new flights:
Pobeda announced that it will soon open 45 more routes, among which there will be new flights both within Russia and abroad.
Flights
The average cost of plane tickets from Pobeda is 3,000 - 4,000 rubles, taking into account the transportation of small hand luggage; you need to pay extra for luggage.
You can find and book air tickets directly without commission on the official website www.pobeda.aero. It is worth noting that some air tickets are currently sold only through ticket agencies:, and. The main difference in booking with ticket agencies is free calls to the support team and the availability of additional discounts.
In the new summer season Pobeda has stopped selling tickets at minimum rates in and rubles. It is not yet clear whether air tickets will be offered at minimum fares for the winter. Despite the fact that the airline has a minimum fare of 499 rubles, so far no such cheap tickets have been noticed for 2019/2020.
According to aviation experts, You shouldn’t expect very cheap air tickets from Pobeda. Even with such efficient operation of the low-cost airline (flight load is more than 95%), the rise in fuel prices makes itself felt. The parent airline Aeroflot has already done so twice in 2019. In this and next seasons, the lowest prices for air tickets from the Russian low-cost airline start from 3,000 rubles.
For everyone who has decided on the direction of their flight, we recommend purchasing air tickets. Please note that we have already approved