Ukraine International

Dubai to Kiev with Ukraine International. I reported a lost iPad, as I just left it in the seat pocket, no problems that is my fault. What I am talking of here is an airline that has little to do with the provision of sevice or having the courtesy to call one back. Essentially I went through around 12 rounds of deflection, lies, misdirection, and no one did their job.

Twice I've flown Ukraine International on the route Kharkiv to Amsterdam via Kiev, and two times they managed to have technical problems that resulted in cancellation of the flight. First off, they try to scam you by putting it down as delayed, probably to avoid compensation or something. We had to stay the night in a hotel, in order to make our replacing flight, but they did not provide us any form of compensation, aside from a horrible meal. Crew are not willing to provide information and try to send you off without actually trying to help you. The worst airline I flew with.

We returned from a weekend in Munich with Ukraine International. Everything was OK except the check-in, passport control and security procedures in Munich airport. Had to spend more than an hour in the queue to check-in point, and another 50 minutes to pass security - that seems too much even for the Christmas time. The flight was quite pleasant - a new and clean aircraft, nice and hospitable cabin crew. There are no free meals on board but we were aware of the fact and packed some food beforehand. You can buy sandwiches and drinks on board if you wish. Seats were quite comfortable. The flight left with some delay caused by all this mess in the airport, but arrived on time.

Amsterdam to Odessa via Kiev. I regularly fly Delta, American and United domestically, so that would be my standard of experience, and Ukraine International was cleaner and more efficient. There was no food on any of my flights, but it is the same in the United States. Flights were on-time and I enjoyed the experience. The lobby waiting areas were very poor, but so is Atlanta Hartsfield.

We had an okay experience with Ukraine International, from Dubai to Kiev and the flight was on time. Seats were comfy. They didn't serve any meals despite being on a six-hour flight. The biggest turnoff is not with UIA but in Kiev Airport (KBP). Transfer passengers had to wait for 30 minutes before the Transfer Desk opened despite the fact that we all arrived at 8.30am (and it's not an ungodly hour).

Could not use the online check in but the counter staff were quick (no queue) and friendly at Almaty. It has been a long time since I was offered a window or aisle seat by a check in agent. The legroom in the 737-900 is excellent - even if I slid down in my seat my knees did not touch the seat back in front. Breakfast was served and was acceptable. The crew were friendly. Quick transfer at Kyiv - the agent at the transfer desk issued my onward boarding pass with no issues even though there had been a problem printing it at check in in Almaty. Kyiv to London flight has a pay menu on board, with the best value I had seen on an airline - cheese salad baguette and soft drink for 3 Euro. Again a very friendly crew and informative pilots. No IFE but the service, legroom and the cheap fare made up for this. The disappointing part of the journey was Gatwick Airport itself.

I flew with my six year old from Tel Aviv to New York via Kiev. On the flight from Tel Aviv to Kiev they had a plane from some other Ukrainian airline, an A320 with a lot of legroom. Had to buy coffee etc which was fine by me. After landing at Kiev we had to run to the connection to JFK. Made it on time. This was a day flight so I had to keep my daughter busy all the time since it was a day flight. Inflight service was amazing on an old 767 yet maintained and well kept. Seating configuration is 2-4-2. Comfortable leg room. Two meals on the plane. They also give you two checked in pieces of luggage to the US when it's one piece on many other airlines. On the return the flight was only 40% full, and as a night flight we slept half the time. Again two tasty meals (we slept through one of them). Landed one hour early. On the 767 inflight entertainment is movies on overhead screens and several music channels. The return from Kiev to tel aviv is a cramped Boeing 737 without much leg room. Great value for money. All luggage arrived and no delays. Would fly again with them.

Tried to fly Ukraine International from Kiev to Barcelona at 24.10.15. Did online-checkin like they recommend on their homepage, printed boarding passes and were in time on airport. Passed security (boarding passes were scanned and valid), passport control and arrived at gate - and there the nightmare began! Handling agent (Aerohandling - its like a "exclusive daughter of UIA") told us - you checked out, your boarding passes are not valid! I stated I didn't check out, I didn't received any such an information by email and I have validated boarding tickets. He told that he wouldn't take care about this, cause his system shows that we would have checked out and that the flight would be overbooked. He took my boarding ticket, cutted it into pieces and tried to destroy it. My several requests to call a airline representative were ignored. Happened not only with me. Had 3 hours war with airline and handling agent at airport and after arriving with police UIA paid fully compensation of 1200 EUR and rebooked to later flights with KLM to Barcelona. Highly recommend not to trust their online check in and to think twice before using them. Unfortunately they have like monopoly from Ukraine, but I avoid them all the time I can.

Flying with UIA seems to be like playing roulette. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not. Check-In in Berlin took us about 45 minutes. The plane was ancient, they only had two warm meals available. Still, staff were pretty friendly and helpful and the plane was clean. On our way back, we had a brand new plane though. Okay, the flight was nearly one hour late, so our connecting flight was postponed and we returned home quite late. But again, staff was helpful - and I have had worse experiences with other airlines.

The checkin in Munich is awful and you may wait 1 hour. Flight was delayed 30 mins cause of delayed incoming flight, no information from airline. Boarding by bus. Plane was an Embraer 190 (remaining from insolvency of AeroSvit). Legspace okay even for 1.90m person. All drinks and food onboard are for sale, coffee 2EUR like Nescafe, however, sandwich "Caprese" for 3EUR surprisingly very tasty. Flight normal, flight information by captain in "suboptimal" English, no word about the delay. In Kiev again bus transfer - so, a lot of your flight you will spend in bus. If compared with Wizz from Memmingen - Wizz Air is the better choice.