Ukraine International

✅ Trip Verified | Kiev to Geneva. Our flight from Kiev was delayed for more than 2 hours. Ground and cabin staff did not even apologize and were rude. Moreover all the passengers including those with children had to wait first at the airport gate which had no heating at all, then in the bus outside for about 30 min with all doors opened in a very cold weather and then in the aircraft! During all this time no information was provided about the reasons of delay and expected time of departure. Absolutely disrespectful to passengers, captain did not apologize, like this is something very normal to them. I strongly do not recommend to fly with UIA and I'm very surprised this company is still allowed to fly in EU.

✅ Trip Verified | Cairo to Kiev via Madrid. Worst ever. My first flight was delayed which caused me not to catch my second flight. This was the case for many other passengers. Instead of solving the problem by issuing us new tickets on other airlines, the forced us to wait in the airport for 10 hours to take their own flight the next day. Very bad treatment by their agents at the airport. I also got to know that this is a very frequent case that happens on daily basis. I discourage you to book through this airline.

✅ Trip Verified | Minsk to Dubai via Kiev. Had to purchase a last minute ticket and this was the most time convenient flight. Other carriers had a huge layover and Aeroflot for Minsk transit being considered a domestic flight, requires a transit visa which I didn't have. The counter check-in and gate boarding is quite fast and orderly. Everything smooth. Planes are not the latest ones. There's no in flight entertainment and hand luggage is strictly monitored and I can easily understand this while the plane is not a wide body and my flights were packed. I brought my own iPad stocked with movies with my sound reducing headphones, so it wasn't an issue for me. No charging sockets. On board crew was very professional and extremely nice and courteous. Probably the best crew that I have experienced so far. The Business class is not a business class but rater equivalent to an upgraded economy with the middle of the three seats that acts as an arm rest. There is no foot rest. Seats are the same as economy but with little more space between rows and inclination is same as economy. Food was pretty decent. Can be ordered 36 hours prior to departure (which I hadn't) but on board they had two alternatives for appetizer and main course. There's only one selection of white or red wine and of course other soft drinks. Good and timely service. Repeat once more, the crew staff has been outstanding in all flights. The front row was empty so moved and this has improved the comfort but unfortunately it is not even comparable with good standard premium economy. But given the budget and probably the difficulties in managing tough sky competition I believe they are trying hard and I felt that I needed to consider this. Would I fly with them again? Given the route and the budget I probably would.

Not Verified | Dnipro to Istanbul via Kiev. The service from Dnipro crew was good and they were very respectful and kind to me. They checked-in my luggage and everything was pretty smooth. During the transit however the airline seems to have changed the rules for my carry-on however. I was charged 68 Euros for being 2kg over the weight that they had previously accepted as okay and allowable. It just seems that the rules were being changed, however i did noticed some bias which further infuriated me. In short, this is not an airline I would recommend. Although once boarded I understood the scam. The flight was nearly 60% empty and I would assume that they were trying to recover their margins. It's just not the right way to do business.

Not Verified | Flew Lviv to Kiev. Read some horror stories about Ukraine International, but was pleasantly surprised. Good communication from UIA before departure. I checked in online, but dropped my case off at the desk in Lviv, no problems with anything at al. The counter and gate staff were polite and friendly. The aircraft was clean and fresh, seat comfortable and crew friendly. Arrived and left on time. I will definitely fly with them again next time I go to Ukraine.

✅ Trip Verified | Gatwick to Kiev Borispol. Absolutely fantastic. Booking process and checking in online was swift. The airline was on time and very professional. Cabin crew were very smart and friendly. It’s the first airline I’ve been on that actually served a pint size beer (don’t get wrong that’s no the bee all and end all). Best short haul airline I’ve used. I would highly recommend and would definitely fly with them short or long haul again.

✅ Trip Verified | Gatwick to Stockholm via Kiev. Worst customer service ever, customer protection laws don't work. I was flying from London to Stockholm via Kiev with UIA flights. I checked in London at UIA counter as both flights were with UIA. My cabin luggage was weighed at 7.4kg. I also checked in a bag of 23 kg. As it was warm inside the airport I took off the light coat and a sweater that I used while traveling at night and placed it into the cabin luggage. When boarding the plane traveling to Stockholm I handed my passport and boarding pass to the agent of UIA airlines. After opening my passport, shortly before the departure the UIA agent started to question the size of my cabin luggage. After it became clear that the cabin luggage was within the allowed standard she started to question the weight, measured and informed me that it was 8.4 kg. I objected and informed her that I just arrived from London where my hand luggage was checked by the same airline but I agreed to pay and I noted to her that the plane was departing shortly. Instead she informed me that the bus for the plane was just leaving and she denied entrance onboard the plane. It is noteworthy that meanwhile other passengers that had the same amount of cabin luggage were allowed on the plane. The agent demanded and forced other employees sign the protocol while they objected at the beginning. I have never encountered such unethical, discriminatory and unprofessional behavior and violation of customer rights. Please note that rescheduling the flight for any other day with them was more costly than direct British airways flight the same day. I had to purchase the tickets with another airline (Polish LOT) and traveled to Stockholm through Warsaw the same day at the cost of 200 USD. Note there were absolutely no issues with my hand luggage with LOT airlines. I filed a complaint the next day and after so many months there was nothing but only acknowledgement of the receipt of the complaint. Such approach towards customers is shaming the country and negatively impacts the image of the country. Do not have an illusion that its a budget airline, it is not and their unprofessionalism is exceptional.

✅ Trip Verified | Paris CDG to Odessa via Kiev. This is the first time ever I am leaving a review anywhere but I feel compelled to share this story so as to hopefully save others from similar gross negligent handling of air travel that we experienced from Paris to Kiev with Ukrainian Airlines. My wife and I were departing CDG / Paris to Kiev where we were supposed to land in time to catch Ukrainian Airlines flight to Odessa. The pilot decided to wait over 1.5 hours for a handicapped / obese person who eventually never made the flight. This stupendous error in judgement cost us as well as our other passengers a significant delay that caused us to miss our flight to Odessa. The mathematical logic is inconceivable. Approximately 125 passengers aboard flight PS128 = 187.5 lost hours – all so 1 single person could be late for their flight? Those who fly often know that you don’t make the gate 10 minutes before departure – the plane leaves – that simple. So why did the pilot wait over 1.5 hours for 1 person? In addition to forcing us to miss our flight – we also had the displeasure of awaiting over an hour for our luggage. Then we were informed that no other flights would be departing Kiev until 9.21.18 which would cost us our only time for my wife to see her family. The only option would be to endure a 5 hour taxi ride from Kiev to Odessa – all at 23:00. The biggest insult, however, was found in the capricious - could care less - attitude witnessed when the any Ukrainian Airline Employee was approached with the situation by passengers looking for options of what could be done to correct this - and at such a late hour. They were simply void of any degree of empathy or interest to remedy the situation. At last resort, we were told to take a taxi for 5 hours and they assured us we would be reimbursed. Several months later, we received a message which denies all claims because a flight had been offered - 4 days later - at the end of our trip to Ukraine. Useless.

✅ Trip Verified | Krakow to New Delhi via Kiev. Tasty meals on board, no flights delay, no baggage lost. On time flights and no issues at all - service was excellent considering low price for the ticket.

✅ Trip Verified | New York to Yerevan via Kiev. When we booked, there was no USA phone number for UIA. I called Ukraine (international rates) several times to ask questions before and after booking. Some agents spoke poor English. I made a booking and purchased the tickets. I paid extra for selected seats, and was okay with this. I had more questions and had to call Ukraine each time. I learned that they obtained a USA phone number. However, those UIA agents would only handle new bookings and would not help with existing bookings. Very strange and disrespectful. I also used e-mail to contact UIA several times. The responses indicated that several agents did not carefully read or respond to my e-mails. At JFK, the agent changed our seats without asking or telling us why. I said that we wanted the original seats that we paid for, and she said it was too late without explanation. I said that we paid for them. She said that she had no information about that. I said that I wanted my money back, and she said that she couldn’t provide a refund. On one of the flights, we ordered food. I paid $22 USD. The prices were in Euros and I paid in USD. They charged me a higher than expected USD amount and they had no conversion rate. Whatever conversion rate the cabin crew used, it was out of line with the bank conversion rates. In the UIA booklet is the statement “Please ensure you receive a receipt for your purchases” in bold typeface. I asked the cabin crew for a receipt for the $22 USD we paid. They could not understand English. I showed them this sentence printed in their own UIA booklet. The cabin crew couldn’t read the airline’s own printed material that was in the aircraft cabin! I found a passenger who spoke both English and Ukrainian, and that person explained what the sentence in the UIA booklet meant. They then gave me a receipt that I am looking at, and it does not show $22 USD in any way, shape or form!? No conversion rate and no understandable receipt for what we paid. Bad business practices. The agent in Tbilisi tried to charge us for our third bag. Our tickets included two free 50-pound bags per person. The agent said that there was only one free bag per person and wanted to charge us more. I had to dig out my paperwork and prove her wrong. With electronic tickets, paperwork is not needed. However, when an employee wrongly charges extra fees, a first for me, the passenger must have everything in writing. It is not comfortable for my wife to walk long distances, so she asked for wheelchair rides to the gate. However my wife was able to stand and walk on, off and around the planes without difficulty, and the UIA staff saw that. However, because of the wheelchair request, the UIA staff would not let my wife have the window seats she paid for. This was ridiculous. I was a pilot for 39 years. My experience is that passengers who can walk on and off the plane can sit anywhere expect for emergency row seats. In fact, passengers with limited mobility were intentionally placed at windows so that they could not block other passengers. UIA does the opposite? My perception is that the UIA staff members at every level were very disorganized and poorly trained, and they provided poor customer service. In summary, we had a very bad set of experiences flying with UIA.