UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS  Passenger Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports

UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS customer review :  10 November 2009 by R Blackburn   (UK)

If you book your flight in Tashkent, you get what you pay for - basic service that will get you from A to B with no frills. However, if you book your flight outside of Uzbekistan the flight prices are ridiculous. I regularly fly LHR-TAS-LHR. If I have my ticket booked in Tashkent it costs approx $350 return - if booked in London, costs me about £550 from the airline. I take great issue with the check in at Heathrow. There are 3 check in desks to check in about 300 people. Many of those 300 speak little or no English which makes the process more prolonged and agonising. There is a screen that says "Tashkent- Business class check in". This isn't used for Business class only and even those paying a premium price can expect to wait up to 2 hours to check in. Boarding is as expected - everyone pushes but my experience has been that everyone sits in their allocated seats. Inflight entertainment is poor, seats are comfortable and cleanliness is acceptable. Staff vary from helpful to uncooperative. A bribe can be paid ($50-$100) to cabin crew to sit in business class.

UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS customer review :  5 November 2009 by James Miller   (UK)

Tashkent - Istanbul - Tashkent. Outbound flight went to plan - satisfactory and no more: a small miracle for this outfit! Then turned up at 12:45 this past Sunday for the return flight, only to see nothing listed on the departure board! The Uzbek Air desk at the airport was unmanned and the airport information desk said there was no flight - as printed on my ticket - it did not exist! After wasting the day at the airport, turned up at my hotel again and eventually found the city office for the airline on Tuesday - an obscure office tucked away in a dark and dingy building. They photocopied my ticket and said it would be sent to Tashkent for "investigation." How much of an investigation is there for a ticket printed for a flight that does not exist? Phoned them back yesterday (Friday) as they had not called me back as promised! I can indeed fly - but for a fee of 25 Euro! In their view, it was my error not to turn up to their office on Monday, given that I arrived "late" on the Tuesday. I had not contacted them "immediately". Never mind that nobody was at their airport desk and that airport information tried hard to reach them. Worse, the flight that I should have been on - has my ticket been printed correctly- has been cancelled anyway. So either way, I would have been inconvenienced! This is an airline that hides behind its books at every corner, where customer service is an inside joke. The airline is a microcosm of its country itself.

UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS customer review :  4 November 2009 by K Fridlington   (UK)

LHR-Tashkent-LHR. Check in staff at Heathrow explained as the flight was not full we could have a row to ourselves. Food service okay - lots of it but low quality. Wine was local. Seats okay. IFE very poor. On return the flight was filled with those transferring from Dehli so the plane was full.

UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS customer review :  6 October 2009 by Amit Shah   (UK)

LHR-TAS-LHR economy. When checking in at LHR, I was informed that the flight would be making an unscheduled stopover at Paris CDG. The rumour had it that it was to pick up the UZB president's daughter. All this meant the flight to TAS would take 9hrs long, 2 hrs longer than normal. Some people confirmed such unscheduled stopovers were quite commonplace. I was not impressed. Inflight service is pretty bad. So bad that when you call the stewardess, they do not turn up. Even when they turn up, they are so unhappy to be serving you, so rude, it is quite unbelievable. I did not eat the food that was served, so can not comment on that. On the way back I paid the head stewardess $100 to sit in business class. Seats are good, not flat bed, but of large size.

UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS customer review : 18 September 2009 by Colin Pay

Customer Rating : 3/5

LHR-TAS return and UGC-TAS. International flight operated by B757. Legroom poor by scheduled flight standard, more like charter. Plane only half full both ways so room to spread out. Food and drinks service okay. Both flights on time. Internal flight by Ilyshin 114,no problems. No food but 2 drinks on 1hr 45min leg. My concern is security at Uzbeck airports - people allowed through security with all manner of liquids, sealed and open. Security appears second to form filling and stamping.

UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS customer review : 27 July 2009 by Iain Williamson

Customer Rating : 4/5

Riga to Tashkent then on to Lahore and back. This airline's routes are excellent. Food excellent with copious amounts. Service fine and nice to get different tasting beers than the usual. FAs fine once they trust you are not going to be another difficult passenger. Uzbekistan Airways suffers from poor ground operations and officialdom at their airports, which means that by the time people board the craft they are not always at their best. This is taxing on cabin crew who respond with professionalism even if they are not the greatest smilers. I understand Uzbekistan Airways are joining Skyteam. They are easily in the class of some other members of Skyteam now, so hopefully this will mean more good connections in an area of the world they serve well.

UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS customer review : 24 June 2009 by P Novotny

Customer Rating : 2/5

Two stars is an average of 3 stars for international a 1 star for national flights. I experienced Frankfurt-Tashkent-Frankfurt, Tashkent-Chiva-Tashkent and Tashkent-Bukhara- Tashkent. Airplanes on international flights are mainly Boeings 757, quite new ones, national manly Tupolevs 155M, probably from 80´s. Space in planes is comparable to any other airlines, service is quite pure. Local people do not look for right seats very carefully, so the staff ask you to sit anywhere at the end of boarding. You also have to know that there are two separate buildings at the airport – national and international. The business lounge at Tashkent airport has improved a lot – if you travel in business or with gold cards, look for business check-in counter, which is located in the corridor next to main hall.

Uzbekistan Airways - by Davron Mirsagatov

10 June 2009  Customer Trip Rating :

TAS-JFK. As usually when I was flying with Uzbekistan Airways, I was not expecting too much. I bought economy class ticket, and when I entered the economy class I saw how full it was and saw how seats are close to each other, so I decided to bribe crew to be upgraded to business class. Bribe cost me 50 USD which I thought was worth for transatlantic flight. Surprisingly I even saw Americans and Europeans bribing crew, apparently they were aware of rules at Uzbek Air. Seats were cosy and comfortable, however no personal screen and even TV screen in mid of cabin was not working and crew said that we will have to stick to small screen at the front of the cabin. I think it was worst my business class flight experience due to fact that no personal screens nor any flight entertainment were offer at 15 hour flight. I was feeling sorry for people who had to pay actual business class price for this horrible service. Flights to JFK stop in Riga and crew changes and all passengers have to go through security check in Riga Airport. The new crew at board start asking me for another bribe telling em that I didnt have my pass for business and so on. Even thou I made deal with crew from TAS that my 50 is for whole flight to NYC. I refused to change my seat so I still remained in business and flight attendant could not do nothing. Be aware that Uzbekistan Airways is old planes without any entertainment for long flights.

Uzbekistan Airways - by James Miller

31 December 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Took two flights with this outfit, a return TAS-ALA-TAS. The outbound flight went well, booked it online via Opodo and was given an E-ticket. The aircraft was a Boeing 757. The return was a different matter and it all went wrong from here! I was not able to get the return flight I wanted, but was advised to go to the airport in Almaty before the flight, as they usually hold a couple of seats for every plane. My girlfriend is Russian and spoke to the staff on our behalf. We were informed that we could have two seats - but we would have to pay a bribe on top on the standard seat charges! I took exception at first, but then worked out that it would be cheaper than paying an additional day for accommodation. However, it then transpired that the staff were in-fact refusing seats to another couple, telling them that check-in had closed for them, when in reality there was 30 minutes left for check-in. Clearly, they were being denied boarding so that the airline staff could collect my bribe! I felt terrible but did not have to cancel my deal with the staff as the couple being denied boarding work out that they would need to bribe the staff too! They did so and where allowed to proceed to check-in, my girlfriend was then told the seats were not available after-all! She also informed me that they ground staff were really very rude indeed to this couple, having threatened them with “trouble” if they complained about the flight being closed early! We went to a travel agent and book a normal ticket on a later flight without any bribes! That flight to Tashkent was then not on a nice 757 but on a Russian Tupolev 155 aircraft. While it is quite special in a way to have the full Soviet Union flying experience, it is not comfortable, quite or smooth! With no turbulence, this thing rockets up and down like a fighter jet; the noise is such that you may as well be sitting on the wing! While we took off on-time, we were met with fog in Tashkent and diverted to Sarmankand, only landing in Tashkent some hours late. As such I missed my Aeroflot connection to Moscow and spent hours killing time in the airport. The funny thing was the only bar in the departure lounge does not take the national currency – just Russian Rubles and dollars! The cherry on the cake was again the ground staff coming back for bribes! I was well overweight for my Moscow connecting Aeroflot flight, but $50.00 was exchanged and the matter resolved! In London the extra weight had cost me $300, which Aeroflot lost on my return thanks to the Uzbek business culture. Corruption has two sides, it can be very disruptive and also very convenient, but on the whole, I can do without it in future.

Uzbekistan Airways - by Davron Mirsagatov

2 July 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

TAS-FRA surprisingly was on time. Old A-310 was put for this flight with old seats and poor entertainment. Entertainment always a lack of Uzbekistan Service. Crew was ok, they were friendly enough but nothing extraordinary. For money they charge Uzbekistan Airways can be bit more concerned about their services.

Uzbekistan Airways - by Dave Stanley

30 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

London to Tashkent and back. Once again, the inflight experience was OK. Flights were on time both ways, despite the usual Heathrow problems. The aircraft interiors are getting a little scruffy, especially the seats. They have upgraded the IFE to a DVD system. According to their magazine, they have ordered 2 Dreamliners and 6 A320's so things could improve after a couple of years.

Uzbekistan Airways - by N Balsari

24 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Tashkent-Urgench-Tashkent. Staff try to get your money for everything, even if most of them knows me personally after 5 years of same destination - extra baggage, better seat, etc. When you want to reserve a seat, mostly you'll get a negative answer first. They will tell you that flight is full. What they do is reserve some seats for artificial names. That way, the flight seems full when you attempt a reservation. If you pay an under-the-counter fee, she will change the name on the reservation on your name, and you got your seat. Same during check-in : they will ask you to put your hand bag/computer/whatever, on to the scale. If you are somehow +20, they will start to make faces, and convince you that it will be too expensive if you pay official fee. They will ask you to pay half of the money that you'll pay officially directly to check in staff. I don't do that now, as the official fee is also is not that much. I simply ask them to write the extra weight, which I check each time, and go to pay to the counter. The officer in the counter is also surprised, as this is not very common. If you'll ask for a specific seat, they will make you understand that it is available against a small tip (2-3 USD). Don't, as usually, no one sits in accordance with the assigned seats, and it is almost impossible to convince the person who have sit to your place to move. In the past, you might also tip (20-50 USD) in the cabin and ask for a Business Class seat, but I do not know if this is still possible.

Uzbekistan Airways - by L Kenley

18 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I have flown Uzbek air extensively, including international, regional, and domestic flights. They are not a great airline by world standards but are great by regional standards. That said, if you want to fly to Uzbekistan or fly within Uzbekistan you probably won’t have much of a choice but to fly Uzbek Air. If Uzbekistan is not a destination then they are probably overpriced for the service and I would use another carrier unless your schedule requires a transit though Tashkent. For international I would give them a 3 star overall and a 2 star for domestic flights.

Uzbekistan Airways - by George Vrontos

11 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

ATH-TAS return. Both flights on time. The personnel were friendly enough and eager to help you. The food was good, only food presentation and trays were standard. There were two servings of drinks on each flight. The only complaint - inflight entertainment system was outdated (overhead screens with two outdated movies and some channels with music). The planes were old but clean. Overall a good experience with no troubles.

Uzbekistan Airways - by Dave Stanley

23 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-TAS. My experience with this airline has been OK. They seem to keep to the flight times reasonably well, at least out of Tashkent. There are some problems with the cabin crew - using mobile phones during take off being one example. A real issue I have with them is the chaotic check in at LHR. The last two times at LHR, the queue has filled one end of terminal 2 and takes 2-3 hours to get through. The flight is typically delayed by an hour because of this.

Uzbekistan Airways - by T Olding

15 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-Tashkent return in C class, Tashkent-Urgench in Y class. Boarding chaotic and someone was sitting in my allocated seat when I eventually got on board. I was told to sit in the row behind which was fine until the person allocated that seat arrived. Safety checks by crew were minimal, safety video was run but that was it, the lady in front of me was talking on her mobile all through taxi and take off and the crew made no attempt to stop her. It is worth noting that rather than pay hotel costs, the cabin crew have to work both sectors whilst the cockpit crews change at LHR sleeping in the cabin for one leg and flying the plane the other. The flight itself was ok - cabin had 90s style seats with limited recline and food whilst plentiful was very ordinary. Only C class get breakfast. Arrival in Tashkent is similar to a lot of the CIS countries, bus to the terminal, long queues for immigration and customs, allow about 2-3 hours to clear if on a full B767. The return was on a B757 with equally dated cabin - service was willing but again the food was very ordinary. In short there are alternatives - only use Uzbekistan airlines if you are looking for a cheap flight. The domestic leg was operated by a Russian TU154 although seat numbers had been allocated it was free seating when you boarded the flight. The flight was delayed for technical reasons but after a lot of banging from the cockpit a man with a hammer in his hand descended the stairs, the doors were closed and off we went. Inflight snack of a cheese sandwich and a glass of orange juice was fine for the short 1 hour flight.

Uzbekistan Airways - by P Koutsenko

25 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Buying a ticket at the HY flagship sales office in Tashkent rated between an ordeal and a typical ticket-buying experience of the USSR days. The office is huge but staff inefficient, credit cards are reluctantly accepted. Check-in for my short flight to Almaty was quick and efficient, a request for window seat readily granted. Long wait to the immigration counter. Duty-free does not deserve a mention and the airport facilities are very basic. Nowhere to get a cup of coffee or a snack. Poor boarding information but fairly orderly boarding. The flight attendants seemed medium friendly and safety announcements were made in decent English. The snack was very basic but one can hardly expect more on a short-haul flight in Economy. After reading other passengers' comments I am realizing maybe I just got lucky.

Uzbekistan Airways - by Theodoros Petropoulos

23 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Athens - Tashkent in economy. We have travelled several times the so called direct Athens - Tashkent connection using Uzbekistan Airways. It is not uncommon for the company to reschedule the flights in the most unexpected way, showing no respect at all to the passengers. We rarely got what was on the ticket, either the times or the routes were usually changed. Long delays, last minute cancellations of the flights with no explanation given in any case and the best of all: you go unsuspected to the airport only to find out that your "direct" flight to Athens is actually going through Cairo first! To all this the staff remained un- bothered and indifferent in all cases. And a small detail: at their Athens so called headquarters they don't accept ANY credit card! All amounts must be paid cash! We have also used Uzbekistan Airways a couple of times in national flights to Samarkand and Bukhara. The airplanes are antiquated Antonovs and Tupolevs and I must admit we felt somewhat unsafe at times. There was no air-conditioning in the planes and while before take-off the heat was tremendous, during the flight we found ourselves shivering with cold. We have had enough of Uzbekistan Airways and next time we will have to travel to Tashkent we will certainly try hard to find any alternative.

Uzbekistan Airways - by Michael Rappo

20 April 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Frankfurt-Tashkent and Urgench-Tashkent-Frankfurt in Economy class. Long-distance flights were acceptable. First-generation A310 with old but clean interior. Seat-pitch was ok and one full meal in reasonable quality was served. Inflight entertainment was working, but quality of movies and headphones was just mediocre. Flight attendants were polite but did not smile too much. The domestic flight from Urgench to Tashkent was a different story. Hand-written boarding passes were issued and full chaos broke out while boarding. Most passengers got seat numbers in row 30 and up. But the plane had only 23 rows and everybody grapped a free seat. It seemed that everybody got a seat nevertheless. Plane was a more than 30 year old TU 154 with broken and outdated interior. Open bins for hand-luggage like in a bus and there were no oxygen masks at all. Noise was terrific and flying behaviour of the plane was different than with other planes I have flown. Take off with a very flat climbing angle so that you were not sure if this is normal or the beginning of a catastrophy. Flight attendants were very unprofessional and didn't contribute to the feeling of knowing what they were doing. English skills were marginal. Sandwich and softdrinks were served on the 1 hour flight. During landing, the engines roared up like hell just before touchdown. Was that normal? I don't know but I was really scared about it. Was happy when I got off that plane alive. The resumé? It might be a very basic airline, but not one I like to travel with again.

Uzbekistan Airways - by H Kaur

4 April 2007

A very disappointing airline, which I regret travelling on and would hope not to travel on such a airline again. From Birmingham to Amritsar it should have taken about 10 hours with the stop over in Taskent. The plane was delayed for 1 hour from Birmingham due to heavy snow which is understandable. Once we reached Taskent we were told passengers that were travelling to Delhi could get off the plane and passengers flying to Amritsar were told to remain in our seats. This was due to the reason of the earlier delay in Birmingham. We sat in the plane for one hour with no further announcements. We were then told to get of the plane as the plane was now delayed for 3 hours, we were not told why. Passengers got off the plane and sat in the deplorable lounge of what is meant to be Taskent’s international airport. There was a clock in the lounge which had stopped working, when I asked the local workers “do you have the time”? she nodded her head which meant no. After 3 hours I went down to the main office and asked the lady how long before we can board the plane, I was then told that it could be a further 5 hours due to severe fog in Amritsar. At this point all passengers were frustrated. Due to being left in the dark several people went down to the office to ask what was going on, only at this point an announcement was made to all of the passengers. I felt sincere for the elderly and mothers of children. We had to buy tea which was like water for £1.00. Some passengers started to complain only then we were given food, only to realise that the food that was given was cold food from the night before and knowing that the majority of passengers were vegetation this was not acknowledged and people were handed meat, which was cold omelette and chicken breast. One young boy who was going to Amritsar to get married said that was unacceptable and demanded that the chef made fresh omelettes for the children. At first the chef agreed when the number of omelettes reached 20 he then refused and said he would make boiled eggs. Morning breakfast was served, which again was hard bread and watery tea. We were at Taskent airport for 12 hours and were treated like “dogs”. Why we travel on such airlines I can now understand for some it’s the cost, for others it is the convenience of the airline travelling direct to Amritsar. I have been reading similar articles and was pleased to know that some of us do voice out and not just forget. Airlines like this should not be allowed to mistreat passengers. Once I reached Amritsar I went to see the manager of Uzbekistan who told me he could not help me and I had to sort this problem out once I reached the UK.

Uzbekistan Airways - by Davron Mirsagatov

28 February 2007

From Tashkent to Frankfurt and back and several times flew Uzbekistan Airways in local flights. Can say only one thing not the friendliest stuff. Once I asked flight attendant to bring me a drink and she told me that I can go and get it in the kitchen myself. Flight attendants in local flights do not speak english well. Airport in Tashkent is fine but border officers are not very polite and you have to careful with baggage weight - UZAIRways are strict on that. Entertainment on the flights are poor!

Uzbekistan Airways - by Ryan Stait

5 February 2007

Birmingham-Tashkent-Amritsar return. Service was friendly enough, food good and as much water (or Uzbek Pilsner) as you wanted. Tashkent transit lounge a bit cramped and warm but I would fly with this airline again - especially as the price was £200 cheaper than Air India.

Uzbekistan Airways - by Bryan Hill

17 December 2006

London-Tashkent-Delhi and Tashkent-Birmingham. I've just used this carrier for the first time. For the four sectors taken I experienced delays of 2,6,5 & 46 hours respectively & arrived back into a different city from where I'd started - although a rail ticket was provided for our onward travel. Admittedly there were weather delays involved in Tashkent due to the foggy conditions, but generally speaking the situation wasn't handled very well, with little information offered and no alternatives for onward travel arranged. You would be misguided if you expected an automatic switch to another carrier in this situation - this is a small airline with seemingly no alliances, so it's just a matter of waiting for the next available flight that happens to be heading your way. On the few occasions that we actually did take to the air, the inflight service was pretty good with a decent meal served by a pleasant and efficient crew (although there were a few grumbles like no headphones for the in-flight movie and only one toilet available in economy for a 7 hour flight). Considering the price of my ticket wasn't particularly cheap, I certainly could have found something better , so I probably wouldn't consider using this airline again.

Uzbekistan Airways - by Andy Stone

3 December 2006

Tashkent to Bukhara return. I was quite impressed by the and efficiency of check in and helpfulness of staff. I flew on a tired Antonov 24 which had seen better days. The stewardess onboard was friendly - return journey similar, but I swear the plane was in worse condition. I would not recomend this route if you have any, even a slight fear of flying. I understand Uzbekistan Airways are getting rid of their ageing An-24's in favour of newer aircraft. So maybe it will be less white knuckle now. I would do the same trip again.