... in response to Fly Kiev to Simferopol in Oct -- Airlin..., posted by Burt on Sep 7, 2002Burt,
I've had some dealings with Unipress Travel in Odesa in the past, and have been satisfied with their service and advice. Perhaps they can help. I now wished that I had listened to them for this last trip.
I had a ticket on Aerosvit for a flight from Kiev (Borispol) to Simferopol at 6:00pm on August 17. I had arrived at Borispol around 11:00am that morning on an Uzbekistan Airways flight from New York. I hung out at the Airport hotel for several hours (I had reserved a room, 118 Hrv), and went up to Terminal A about 4:00pm to check in. Lo and behold, my flight was not listed on the departures monitor. I had a ticket, purchased a month earlier at a travel agent in Feodosiya (by my Mother-in-law), and the published timetable in my hotel room also listed the flight.
Puzzled, I walked to the information window, but the two ladies there indicated that they were closed. I went over to terminal B, through the security check, and to that information Kiosk in the center of the lobbby. The lady was helpful, but there was no flight. Not a cancellation, just no flight scheduled, ever! I went to the Aeroswit counter, waited about 15 minutes for the attendent to return from her break. She spoke a little English, and my Russian is definitely not conversational. She said that there must have been a mistake in issuing the ticket, and the best she could do was put me on an 8:00pm flight the next day. Now, my wife and father-in-law were already on their way to Simferopol to meet me at 7:15pm. I only had a week in Ukraine, my family had already been here several weeks, as you can imagine I wasn't enthusiastic about waiting another 27 hours. I went back to the information kiosk, and inquired about available flights to Simferopol from Juliany (spellling). She indicated that there was a 7:30pm flight, but couldn't tell me if any seats were available. It was now about 4:45pm.
I got a taxi, explained that I was in a hurry, and made it to Juliany in 30 minutes. I recalled from previous trips that 45 minutes was the usual, we were really flying! I was able to purchase a ticket (only business class was available), for 492 Hrv. This included VIP service. I used that telephone office near the airport to contact my son and mother-in-law in Feodosiya, figuring that once I did not show up in Simferopol on time, Marina would call home to see if I had left any messages. At least I now had time for a bowl of plum borcht at the cafe next to the Telephone office. I have been there before, and the plum borcht is excellent. VIP service at the airport was nice, with two lounges, and a bar. A separate van took me and a few others out to the plane, an AN-24. The airline was "ARP-410 Airlines", which stood for "Kiev Aircraft Repair Plant #410". I got a chuckle over that one, and just hoped that they were good at their jobs! The flight was smooth, with a huge party going on in the rear cabin. Once in Simferopol, it took two attempts by the plane's crew to find my one piece of luggage (I saw it loaded onto the plane). Marina and her father had gotten my message, and were waiting at the airport.
Of course, we complained the next Monday to the Travel Agent in Feodosiya, and requested a refund. They were shocked, and after 3 days managed to come up with the money. Our Ukrainian friends in general said "well, that's life in Ukraine", but they were surprised that we got a refund!
Anyway, if I recall correctly, Unipress tried to get me to fly out of Juliany in the first place, but we thought that we were smarter than they were, wrong! Marina did have a successful flight from Borispol to Simferopol on July 29, and our return to Borispol on August 24 went off as scheduled.
Perhaps the moral of the story here is that good information on travel within Ukraine is difficult to learn while outside of the country, and it is also can be troublesome within the country! Just be prepared to be flexible, just in case plans have to change.
Dan
