Airlines are frequently the face of the tourist business, especially national carriers like UIA, and what I encountered will only help to promote a beautiful country full of beautiful people.
Last year we flew from Kyiv to Odesa on Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). It was a simple, short flight without much to comment on one way or another. Polite helpful staff, something we noticed was pretty much the rule where ever we went in Ukraine. Ukraine is a beautiful country with fiercely proud and beautiful people. We enjoyed the trip so much that we are returning in January for Christmas.
This time the flights are a bit more complicated. Budapest to Kyiv to Lviv to Kyiv to Budapest. To compound the matter my son decided to join us after everything was booked, except he files home from Kyiv instead of returning to Budapest.
So why the post? Well, when booking the flights somehow I put the wrong name on two of the flights. I called UIA (in Kyiv) and discussed the problem. The gentleman that assisted was patient and helpful despite some very minor communication issues (understanding my pronunciation of the flight booking code; did you say “C” or “Z”). He was a gentleman and a pleasure to work with. A few emails later and I had my corrected tickets.
Then when booking my son’s flights I realized that I hadn’t gotten seat assignments on one of my flights. The UIA website isn’t advanced enough to handle that so back to the email, and again, the kindest and most helpful responses and resolution.
UIA's prices are competitive with Wizzair and Ryan, but try and get the same level of service from them. Impossible.
Never received better service from any airline and I wanted to post this as a way to say thank you to UIA.