Anyone ever flown to Kiev

Ginger_Nuts_2

Dont suppose anyone has ever flown from Belfast to Kiev? Cant find any direct flights, in fact cant seem to find many routes even from the mainland Anyone any ideas on how to do it as cheaply as possible of course:cool:
Thanks

Paul_Varjak

Depending on your month of travel, you can fly from Belfast to Warsaw with WizzAir for as little as £40 return (including taxes and fees) then overnight on Kiev Express. At the Ukrainian frontier the train is jacked up (whilst you are still in it) to change its undercarriage from standard European gauge (4ft 8.5") to Russian gauge (5 ft).

I do not know of cheap flights from Warsaw to Kiev and I am not not sure about buses from Warsaw to Kiev, but they are probably cheaper than the train.

FlyLAL (Lithuanian airline) operate scheduled flights (maybe charter too) from the UK to Vilnius (Lithuania). And, like most Baltic states, train/bus prices may well be less than from Poland but you would need a Belarus transit visa. You can also fly at reasonable rates on FlyLAL from Vilnius to Kiev.

Flights at reasonable rates are also available to Kiev from Riga (Latvia) and from Pescara (Italy) but I don't think you can beat the flight and train/bus combination.

You may also try posing your question on www.waytorussia.net

Ginger_Nuts_2

Thanks for that, didnt realise that about the train being jacked up, sounds interesting. Dont suppose you would know which airports on the mainland would fly direct to Kiev, I am thinking of perhaps visiting the Ukraine and just toying with the idea, probably the cost will rule it out for me but nothing ventured eh?
Thanks for the reply

simonSE15

someone in the Travel board might know

Ginger_Nuts_2

Oops sorry, still new here and didnt think of posting in there, thanks for the prompt

losgiganteskid

You can get flights to Borispol Airport in Kiev (Ukraine) from Gatwick - they fly out several times a week. The cost will be circa £300 return

Paul_Varjak

Do you have an aversion to changing planes other than on the UK mainland? It really is cheaper (at the moment) to change planes elsewhere and use one of the few low cost routes to Kiev. In this case it is probably better to look out for low cost routes for the second stage of your journey (Eastern Europe - Kiev) - be it train/bus/plane - and then find low cost routes for the first stage of the journey (Belfast - Eastern Europe) - definitely plane.

Wizz Air introduced domestic Ukraine flights today and, if you can wait, look out for Wizz Air introducing international Ukraine flights (including Luton-Kiev) on 15 September this year. You can, of course, get cheap flights Belfast-Luton (but not on Wizz Air) for as little as £44 return (inc taxes and charges) - just use the MSE Flighchecker to find these: http://flightchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/. Once Wizz Air get regulatory approval for the Luton-Kiev flights expect these to be included in the MSE Flightchecker too.

Judging by Wizz Air's prices (Luton-Bucharest), the Luton-Kiev flights may be under £80 return (inc. taxes and charges), meaning return flights (Belfast-Kiev) could be had for around £120. That is, at best, a guesstimate since Ukraine is not in the EU (and won't be for another 9 years at least) but Romania is and, in general, the really cheap European routes have yet to cross the EU borders.

jetboy

Air Baltic connect from Riga to Kiev. It may be possible to get a cheap flight ex dublin with Ryanair (if you are lucky) to Riga but the cheapest fare showing on the Baltic website is about £170. You'd be lucky to achieve this for less than about £270 total. You can get an interline connection from BFS with Aer Lingus via Amsterdam for around the £300 mark. On this one I would be inclined to just pay for the interline connection rather than mess about. If you can wait for the Wizzair flight then it will be cheaper however I doubt it will come in as cheap as their other London services as their price on these is driven by stiff competition. The only airlines they will be competing with to Kiev are BA and Ukraine International. They won't have to try too hard to undercut those guys.

Ginger_Nuts_2

Thats fantastic people, thanks very much for taking the time to reply to my question, I am in no rush to fly there, and I have no problems changing flights on the mainland. I didnt realise wizz air were gonna start that route all being well either. Sounds like maybe the cost wont be as prohibitive as I imagined. Really appreciate the effort and thanks again for posting your ideas

Paul_Varjak

Here are cheapest return flights (inc. taxes and fees) I could find:

Belfast City - Liverpool (Ryanair): £10
Liverpool - Riga (RyanAir) £50
Riga - Kiev (Air Baltic) £106

But you will be lucky to get the flight times you need!

I am pretty sure the cheapest (at the moment) is Belfast-Warsaw (£44 return) then bus or train to Kiev. About £120 in total I reckon.