Important Travel Notice

[mendeleyev]

Traveling to Ukraine soon?

Due to security reasons, flights to three major Ukrainian airports have been closed at least temporarily, but until further notice.

The cities impacted are:

- Kharkiv

- Dnepropetrovsk

- Zaporozhye

Previously it was only Aeroflot flights that were banned but that has apparently changed. At this moment it is unclear how long the closure will last.

News reports say that the Ukrainian State Aviation Administration announced the closure based on their intelligence sources.

Russian site: РИА Новости http://ria.ru/world/20141213/1038015229.html#ixzz3LliYnlSU

Ukrainian site: http://m.nvua.net/business/markets/vlasti-zapretili-polety-v-harkov-dnepropetrovsk-i-zaporozhe-24923.html

[mendeleyev]

Avianews is reporting that these airports will reopen by Monday.

[LAman]

I have also heard some flights to Odesa have problems and delayed  from time to time from Moscow.

Recently I noticed flight MOS-HRK were cancelled.( a week or 2 ago)

Aeroflot at moment has the lowest fare by far ( from my city) to Russia/Ukraine

[iceshaft07]

I've been getting good deals to Odessa on Expedia if you book carefully. I fly though Istanbul to avoid flying near the warzone.

But be careful, I recently read on kyivpost.com that a bomb exploded on the train tracks for a freight train. I went on Nov 28th, and everything was fine. But iif you go, do be careful. Keep your personal belongings on an inside pocket.

[ML]

Keep your personal belongings on an inside pocket.

Held by a safety pin, velcro or what ?

[AkMike]

I've had more pickpocket problems in New Orleans and Chicago than I've had in 11 years worth of UA. 

 Not that it can't happen it just hasn't.

[iceshaft07]

I actually used duct tape ;-)

Naw, it was my first time to Odessa. I was warned by a friend from Kiev to be careful of pick pocketers in Ukraine.

I don't know how bad it actually, but the advice didn't hurt. When I met Olga, she was equally paranoid about my belongings.

I'm someone who will casually put my phone on a restaurant table and not pay attention. Olga yelled at me when I did it in Odessa.

Food for thought :-)

[Chicagoguy]

In many visits to Moscow the only trouble I ever had was with an Indian man and his wife. Said they couldn't understand $$. Politely asked what a 20 looked like. Asked to see it closer and before I was aware of anything wrong my good friend from Omsk who was with me grabbed  his hand and sure enough he had palmed my 20.

Then my friend told him he was a Russian police Capt. [ he was ] and he should disappear quickly.

Couple being from India and spoke perfect English threw me off my guard.

[Taz]

Somewhat relevant to travel at least to Kyiv Borispol airport. You might want to allow extra time when arriving for the early morning flights. They are now security scanning all luggage and bags as you enter the main doors to the airport before you even get to registration. It took me 30 minutes to get through this first security check.


In addition you might want to confirm your ticket before flying back as well. I've had 2 issues lately. One was on KLM the other Air France where there was an issue with my ticket. Last trip I wasn't able to make my flight due to no fault of my own and after I missed my flight I was told I'd need to pay $2,000 to get another flight back later that week.

[jone]

Somewhat relevant to travel at least to Kyiv Borispol airport. You might want to allow extra time when arriving for the early morning flights. They are now security scanning all luggage and bags as you enter the main doors to the airport before you even get to registration. It took me 30 minutes to get through this first security check.


In addition you might want to confirm your ticket before flying back as well. I've had 2 issues lately. One was on KLM the other Air France where there was an issue with my ticket. Last trip I wasn't able to make my flight due to no fault of my own and after I missed my flight I was told I'd need to pay $2,000 to get another flight back later that week.

Those Bastids!

[calmissile]

Somewhat relevant to travel at least to Kyiv Borispol airport. You might want to allow extra time when arriving for the early morning flights. They are now security scanning all luggage and bags as you enter the main doors to the airport before you even get to registration. It took me 30 minutes to get through this first security check.


In addition you might want to confirm your ticket before flying back as well. I've had 2 issues lately. One was on KLM the other Air France where there was an issue with my ticket. Last trip I wasn't able to make my flight due to no fault of my own and after I missed my flight I was told I'd need to pay $2,000 to get another flight back later that week.

I got the same screwing a couple years ago when I had to extend my stay and wait for my luggage to catch up that inadvertently got sent to Moscow.   Excuse was that no seats at my original price were available for the next few weeks.  About $2000 was the only option to get home soon.  I would have lost more than that in lost revenue if I had waited.

[Anotherkiwi]

Somewhat relevant to travel at least to Kyiv Borispol airport. You might want to allow extra time when arriving for the early morning flights. They are now security scanning all luggage and bags as you enter the main doors to the airport before you even get to registration. It took me 30 minutes to get through this first security check.

This is actually more common than you realise.  I had this at Sheremetyevo domestic even on my first trip to Russia in 2006, and again in 2010, although not at Domodedovo, and also in India in 2007.  I've heard of it happening at Pulkovo (St Petersburg) as well, although I didn't see it myself.  So long as you allow for the possibility of it happening, by allowing an extra hour (?) for any trip, you should be OK.  Simplest way to check is probably by looking at the Departure doors of the terminal when you leave (assuming that Arrivals and Departures are reasonably close to each other).

[ML]

In addition you might want to confirm your ticket before flying back as well.

This is standard procedure in USA.  However . . . I have NEVER been able to accomplish it when leaving FSU.

When I or friends call for me, the rude answer always has been . . . JUST SHOW UP WHEN YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO.