Wizzair to Kiev - advice needed

billchapman

I wonder if anyone can help me. I am planning to travel to Odessa in August and I am very excited about the fact that Wizzair now fly from Luton to Kiev. The only problem is that the bookings only go up to June (and this has been the cut off for a couple of months now). Is this because Wizzair are likely to pull the service ? I have sent an email to Wizzair but, apparently they are notorious for not replying.

Any guidance would be much appreciated because, if Wizzair is not an option, the airfares for the three of us goes from around £400 to £1000 and I need to budget for that.

Many thanks,

Bill

zik013

dont think they will pull the service, it is that some routes are not finalized for the later dates... thats the case here...
that was the case with other WizzAir routes from Kyiv, than now are updated for the later dates....

omelette451

billchapman wrote: »

Any guidance would be much appreciated because, if Wizzair is not an option, the airfares for the three of us goes from around £400 to £1000 and I need to budget for that.

I agree with the above that it's unlikely they'll withdraw the Kiev route. However, if it happens there's no need to pay the ridiculous money you quoted above. Get a flight to anywhere in southern or eastern Poland and get the train or bus across to Ukraine. Warsaw to Kiev by train is probably the easiest for this (though it's also the most expensive); Katowice/Krakow/Rzeszow are also decent options. It's simple enough to do, and on the southern route getting tickets won't be a problem.

Incidentally, last time I was there a direct train ran from Berlin and Warsaw to Odessa. I dread to think how high the fares are on it, but I presume it still runs.

PolishBigSpender

Omelette451, while your suggestion of flying into Katowice/Krakow/Rzeszow and taking a train or bus from there is interesting, it's really not an option. The direct TLK train takes over 20 hours, and I wouldn't want to take a Ukrainian bus - Przemysl to L'wow is tolerable, but beyond that, it's a horrible journey. Ukraine is a large country, and to get from Odessa from L'wow is going to be a significantly huge journey.

Might it not be worth flying into somewhere in Romania? Odessa isn't far from the Romanian border at all.

omelette451

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Przemysl to L'wow is tolerable, but beyond that, it's a horrible journey. Ukraine is a large country, and to get from Odessa from L'wow is going to be a significantly huge journey.

Might it not be worth flying into somewhere in Romania? Odessa isn't far from the Romanian border at all.

Przemysl to Lviv is not bad all at really - I've done it before and I'd happily do it again. The local bus gets priority at the border too which is nice. I agree about Ukraine though, which is why I would then get the overnight train from Lviv to Odessa. If timings work out well it need not even take any more time (or money) off the holiday, since of course the night on the train is a night for which you wouldn't need a hotel.

On the same logic, however, I'd say that Romania is not really an option. There's no airport sufficiently close to the border with flights to the UK (Constanta is best, but it has no direct flights to the UK, and Bucharest is quite far away), plus there aren't really many low-cost options for Romania anyway. In addition to that, the border with Ukraine is quite small and there aren't many options for crossing it - most of the commonly used ones go via Moldova and Transnistria, which are in no way suitable for 'ordinary' travellers, and the ones that bypass them are infrequent and unreliable to say the least. So it's possible, but I wouldn't recommend it in the same way I would the Przemysl route, for example.

Beaker99

If you're based in Luton, you could get the direct train down to London Gatwick and fly on Ukraine International PS502 direct into Kiev.

reduceditem

The best thing to do, if Wizzair are not flying there, is to take Ryanair to RIGA in Latvia then use airbaltic (www.airbaltic.com) for your hop to Odessa. You can book Riga-Odessa returns with them for about £85 (return) for dates in August just now.

I know this part of the world well....I strongly advise NOT to try to overland from Poland to Odessa, unless you want a very long, hot adventure.)) You could go to Bucharest (Wizzair), then a train to Chishinau (Moldova), then train/coach to Odessa....but you have to pass through Transdneistria (Moldova's unofficial Russian breakaway republic)).....which you can do without a visa, but I would advise against it (unless you like adventures))). It is also possible to cross into Ukraine near Braila in Romania (by bridge or barge), but you would need a car to drive along the interesting delta route to Odessa.

Even if Wizzair are going to fly to Odessa in August, it might well work out cheapest to go to Riga and then use airbaltic. Check it out. Have fun.

Smit1970

Bill,

Seek advice from people who travel to Ukraine often. May I recommend this forum: Russian Ukraine Information Forum.

Lehman

I had the worst experience with Wizzair during this ash chaos and was precisely flying from Cologne to Kiev. Got stuck and they still refuse to pay for the 4 night extra hotel and food that I am claiming. Communication is very poor.

Incapuppy

Lehman wrote: »

I had the worst experience with Wizzair during this ash chaos and was precisely flying from Cologne to Kiev. Got stuck and they still refuse to pay for the 4 night extra hotel and food that I am claiming. Communication is very poor.

I'm not sure what relevance this has to this year old thread?

Lehman

Incapuppy wrote: »

I'm not sure what relevance this has to this year old thread?

I was supporting the statement in the beginning, i.e. "I have sent an email to Wizzair but, apparently they are notorious for not replying."

I confirm that Wizzair have poor communication. Do you need further explanation.