Need advice on flights to Ukraine

[Jeff]

My wife and I are kind of planning on going to visit her family in Odessa either late this fall or spring of next year.  I am really on a limited budget because work is slow over winter, and I would like advice on where to get the best rates and what the cheapest times of the year to fly are.  Also, does anyone know the best way to get from Kiev to Odessa?  When I was there I used a taxi to get there and a train to get back.  This really ate up a lot of my time and I would consider flying if it's not too expensive.  

Also, I wanted to say that my wife used the Masterbell phone card today, the one that is 8 cents a minute.  The quality was great she said and it didn't try to rip her off on the minutes.  Even the customer service is pretty good, they answer the phone right away.  The only bad thing is it seems like an Arabian company and they are a little hard to understand.

[michaels]

... in response to Need advice on flights to Ukraine, posted by Jeff on Jun 18, 2002

Jeff, I did all the possible shopping, this Spring, the best bet you have now days is Polish Airlines (LOT). My wife just went there(Odessa) two weeks ago and I am leaving tomorrow. The price still is reasonable and the low season for them starts around Sept.
If you book your trip on line you'll get a 5% disc. or you can call them too. I used to fly Austrian Air but their prices are almost doubled this year. LOT is a good airline and flies directly to Odessa. I've used them twice before never had any problems.

[snowwego]

... in response to Need advice on flights to Ukraine, posted by Jeff on Jun 18, 2002

you can fly right to odessa

[MarkInTx]

... in response to Need advice on flights to Ukraine, posted by Jeff on Jun 18, 2002

The only thing I found was that you definitely need to shop around.

Expedia got me the best fare, and it routed through London (from DFW). When I first called American Air to verify, they didn't have the flight Their computer only showed flights through Frankfurt, When I gave them all of the flight info, they found it: $50 cheaper, too!

It was also $200 off of what the brokers offered me

I'm not sure when the prices go up and down. Clearly we are in the peak season now though.

Can't help you on the trip to Odessa... though I was told that the over-night train was not so bad, and you can sleep on it, so you don't really lose any time (if you get the whole sleeper car to yourself, I hear it is even better...)

[snowwego]

... in response to Need advice on flights to Ukraine, posted by Jeff on Jun 18, 2002

I forgot to tell you that I fly from JFK in new york, rick

[snowwego]

... in response to Need advice on flights to Ukraine, posted by Jeff on Jun 18, 2002

I usally look through expedia or orbitz for tickets and I always fly into odessa. My first leg of my trips have taken me to warsaw, vienna and munich then to odessa. I have been playing with pricing the past few weeks and I have had them as low as 750 round trip. Rick

[Jeff]

... in response to Re: Need advice on flights to Ukraine, posted by snowwego on Jun 18, 2002

Is there any websites that will search for the cheapest days to fly?  I would like to plan the trip around the cheapest days to fly, but so far they always ask for specific dates, and the prices vary significantly depending on which days I enter.

[snowwego]

... in response to Re: Re: Need advice on flights to Ukrain..., posted by Jeff on Jun 18, 2002

You have to take the time to play with the dates and times I know it is a pain but think of the money you save.  I usally find that, if you travel during the week it is a little cheaper