You're reading: Customers slam Ukraine International Airlines for prices, delays, service

The borderline monopoly position of Ukraine International Airlines in the nation has led to predictable results – high prices, flight delays and lousy food – say many customers who think Ukraine badly needs more competition in air travel.

Jane Hyatt, a former customer of
billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky’s Ukraine International Airlines, said the service
is reminiscent of the Soviet system, “when you walk in and someone says:
‘What do you want?’” Although she did not encounter problems with flight
delays, Hyatt believes UIA’s aircraft is old and outdated.

It’s hard to say what irritates
customers the most, however. The airline comes up bad in many categories.

According to FlightStats, a leading
company in flight data services, Ukrainian International Airline ranked 22 out
of the 32 airlines it evaluated for on-time flight performance in Europe during
the month of July. To compare, KLM takes third place whereas Air France is 15th
and British Airways is 30th.

Unhappy customers even formed a
group on Facebook called “Ukraine International Airlines Sucks,” now
with more than 1,000 members, a forum for complaining about high prices, flight
delays, poor service — and poor food.

Roman Puchko, a customer, said that
“selling poor food for a lot of money” gives the airlines a “low-costish”
reputation. “Kind of like a budget airline behavior,” he said. “It influences
the perception badly if you have to pay 3 euros for some poor sandwich.”

Evgeniya Satska, the airline’s
corporate press secretary, said that Ukraine International Airlines considers
itself to be a low-rate airline and introduced the “Buy on Board” concept back
in 2013 “following European trends and numerous
passenger requests to provide them with an opportunity to chose and pay for
additional services.”

This, according to
Satska, allows for a substantial decrease in ticket prices — something a lot
of customers would dispute.

Most
passengers welcomed the new concept and seized the opportunity to lower their
ticket costs and pay for additional services, if necessary,” Satska said.

Puchko uses the airline to fly to
the Netherlands since the Ukraine-Amsterdam route only provides for KLM-UIA
service. One doesn’t have the option to choose between KLM or Ukraine
International Airlines for the specific route even though the prices are the same,
he says. “What happens is that you fly to Amsterdam with KLM and then you fly
back with UIA.”

Although the prices are similar,
Puchko finds a stark difference between the two airlines.

“When you have KLM, you have some
nice attitude, good food with dessert and unlimited drinks, that’s really high
service for the money you pay,” Puchko says. “In the case of UIA – it’s
completely different. You have to pay extra with everything and they are always
disturbing you with all kinds of lottery prizes.”

The UIA service reminds him of
low-budget airlines like Irish Ryanair. “If they were priced liked Ryanair I
would understand this and it would be fine.”

But not all is bad with the airline.

Andriy Guck, an aviation specialist lawyer who provides services to various
airlines companies, says that there is some progress in the service.

While it is “not as good as it
can be,” Guck said the airline is trying to improve in different areas,
including introducing lower prices for some routes.

Robert Bensh, another customer,
appreciates the airlines’ service.

“I’ve always liked UIA,” Bensh says,
except the food, which he agrees is “terrible.”

Puchko finds some positives as well.
“I would say that their staff is polite,” he said.

But Puchko is sure that service
would improve if Ukrainian customers had more choices in the market.

“We are waiting for that,” Puchko
says. “There must be room for new companies and hopefully these state barriers
will be brought down.”

“Competition is always the answer,”
Guck agreed. “The price will be changed and additional services will be
provided.”

Guck said that such factors as the
arrival of Open Skies with the European Union and the sanctions against Russian
airlines will change the dynamics of Ukraine’s skies by decreasing Ukraine
International Airlines’ dominance and allowing more competition.

Puchko sees progress on the horizon.

When the airline operates in a more
competitive market, “then we can expect some good service, some more service
from them for the same amount,” Puchko said.

Kyiv Post staff writer Ilya
Timtchenko can be reached at
[email protected]