Ukraine International

London to Kiev Simferopol London. Overall a pretty good experience. Flights were on time. The aircraft were in good condition with a decent amount of leg room. Food was OK on the way out but rather limited on the way back. I would have given 4 stars if they had not left the fasten seatbelt sign on for most of the outward flight for no good reason - the FA's enforced the regulation very strictly.

Brussels-Kiev-Brussels Business Class: no delay seats OK friendly FA's. Better pass on the food and get a gin and tonic as local champagne is warm (FA explained the bottle is too large to get in the fridge) and wines are of canteen level. Management is clearly not interested in offering a little extra to business class passengers but you will sit in a lonely peace.

SPL-KBP vv operated in code share with KLM done it some 20+ times and in terms of on-time performance and luggage arrival UIA is notably better than KLM. It also has a tastier breakfast but on afternoon flights the food is meat product in grey sauce and best to be avoided. Instead ask for a refill of whatever you are drinking. Polite FA's.

Kiev-Vienna. Check in was slow but after that all good. Plane was new looking clean. Crew were cheery good English skills. Food average. Seats were comfortable pilot constantly gave us updates on arrival time and it was an overall nice experience.

VIE-ODS Business class. B737-500 either leased or bought from an Iberian line judging by the language of the various notices. Consequently seating was the usual 3x3. No different to BA or LH business class around Europe. As there were only 3 of us in business class staff attention was good. Food was good considering that it was only a 2-hour flight.

LGW-KBP-LGW in economy in May 2007. Plane was a very dated 737-300 with the smallest seat pitch I've seen so far. Crew very polite passengers rather chaotic - mobile phones ringing during take-off etc. Will have to take BA next time on this route

Two domestic flights between Kiev and Lviv last week - I had no trouble at all. Manual check-in swift. Planes old 737 but clean and well kept. Both flights on time. Crews polite. Breakfast served on both flights was edible (sandwich out of Kiev and 3 chocolate bars out of Lviv). Nothing impressive but given the price paid (USD45 return) it is a superb value for money. Their schedule is very convenient. Their website looks shabby but is very simple to book tickets and works fast. I will not hesitate to recommend them and will use them again.

I had a good flight from London to Kiev with Ukraine International Airlines in Nov/Dec 2006. Checking in was very fast much quicker than my experiences with BA and the times of the flights both to Kiev and returning which better than other direct flights. Had to hang around a bit on the transfer bus at Kiev airport which was a bit of a pain and I couldn't hear the announcements on the aircraft but apart from that I was very happy with the flight.

Kiev - London (Gatwick) in business class (in April). Having flown with UIA so many times I was expecting that in line with other European carriers my own one will make some upgrades and improvements to their (at least) business class service. Well I should have thought twice! Not that their service is bad. it's just very plain and basic. I do not know for how long do they think their old (sometimes) broken seats will pass as business class seats and for how long they'll put up with the Boryspil catering company's offer for premium food (do they try it themselves?). Flight attendants try to do their best to please the customers but with not much to offer it is really hard to do anything. I believe getting nicer wines and other spirits (at least different from those offered in coach) would not hurt and certainly would not send the company bankrupt when they charge so much for their business class service. What's even more upsetting is that their customer relations is non-existent and that no suggestions are ever taken into account. They just are not interested in what you think about them and if you tell them that you'll fly with other carriers they just tell you to do so... To sum up I would like to express a pity that UIA is sliding more and more into less than average carrier with no intention to purchase new aircraft or improve service! They try to preserve the level of service they started with but what they don't understand is that to attract customers airlines should constantly develop their product.

Several flights - KBP to AMS (3 times one way) LGW (r/t) ZRH (twice one-way) TXL-KBP. Mixed experience. Have been yelled at once (tried to correct the agent's pronunciation of Phoenix which was my final destination on that day) - the other time they misplaced my onward ZRH- LAX tickets (I was with wife and two kids then). The agent thought she gave them to someone else by mistake and ran looking for them even though I tried explaining to her that she must have placed them somewhere on her desk (so it was in fact). The guys tried to make it up by giving us passes to the KBP business class lounge but we simply did not have time to go there - had to run straight to the gate after that delay. Otherwise average service have some newer planes now even started smiling.