Options for Brisbane to Kiev (Ukraine) late August

[Baysider]

My partner and 2 companions are looking at travelling from Brisbane to Kiev return for 2-3 weeks from mid August 2013. They would like to keep fares to a minimum but without excessively long transit stops. Any suggestions?

 

[NM]

Royal Jordanian may be the best bet. They have fares to IEV (not to KBP) using CX or QF to HKG then RJ via AMM to IEV, or using MH to KUL and RJ from there via AMM to IEV.

MH has a slightly lower fare, but routes via London and uses BA back to IEV, so a longer routing.

 

[shearsense]

My partner and 2 companions are looking at travelling from Brisbane to Kiev return for 2-3 weeks from mid August 2013. They would like to keep fares to a minimum but without excessively long transit stops. Any suggestions?

S7 have tended to be cheap out of Oz (with Oneworld codeshares) to a range of CIS cities, but it requires a transit through Moscow which is not for the faint hearted for first-time CIS travellers. For the same reason, I would avoid Aeroflot, despite their dirt-cheap codeshares out of Oz.

Despite the longer routing, I have always found BA to be a good option and quite reasonably priced, with good connections out of LHR (good connections for LHR, that is) and the LHR-KBP sector is well-priced if it is on the same ticket. They also commonly have a later LHR-KBP flight in case of missed connections. Avoid separate tickets with any carrier combination for the last sector into KBP. They are obscenely expensive with the near-demise of Aerosvit and their code-shares into Kiev from the western-hubs. The cheap exception is Wizzair into Kiev. This carrier would be classed as extreme adventure tourism, though....

LH have the widest ranges of options because they fly from several cities into KBP, so because of that you may be lucky to find a cheap fare amongst the generally high LH fares. They use various code-share partners out of Oz, such as Thai and Singapore Airlines, to their asian hubs. I find MUC a reasonably pleasant place to transit.

In then end I would go for BA or LH, depending on which alliance you have a preference for.

 

[shearsense]

Royal Jordanian may be the best bet. They have fares to IEV (not to KBP) using CX or QF to HKG then RJ via AMM to IEV, or using MH to KUL and RJ from there via AMM to IEV..

Odd - they were flying into KBP last time I was there for work. I suspect they use IEV to mean "all Kiev airports" and it is likely to be KBP anyway.

In any case, IEV proper is closer to the city centre so is not a bad option (although KBP is bigger and more modern).

Never tried MH or RJ, but I have heard good things in general.

 

[Baysider]

Royal Jordanian may be the best bet. They have fares to IEV (not to KBP) using CX or QF to HKG then RJ via AMM to IEV, or using MH to KUL and RJ from there via AMM to IEV.

MH has a slightly lower fare, but routes via London and uses BA back to IEV, so a longer routing.

So do you book the BNE-HKG leg separately? The RJ website doesn't appear to offer anything ex Australia.

 

[NM]

Odd - they were flying into KBP last time I was there for work. I suspect they use IEV to mean "all Kiev airports" and it is likely to be KBP anyway.

In any case, IEV proper is closer to the city centre so is not a bad option (although KBP is bigger and more modern).

Never tried MH or RJ, but I have heard good things in general.

Yep, that may be the case. I have only ever used KBP, but its almost 10 years since my last trip to Kiev. Wonderful place - if you can look past the airport itself.

 

[NM]

So do you book the BNE-HKG leg separately? The RJ website doesn't appear to offer anything ex Australia.

RJ has a fare that is valid for the routing ex-Aus. You may need to engage a good TA to book it. May not be bookable on-line.

 

[shearsense]

Yep, that may be the case. I have only ever used KBP, but its almost 10 years since my last trip to Kiev. Wonderful place - if you can look past the airport itself.

Agreed. The airport is almost entirely new since the European Cup. But the customer service ethos hasn't changed there.

 

[Bjet]

Maybe you can check with Turkish Airlines. It's also a good airlines and best Y inflight meals

 

[DrAndyC]

Maybe you can check with Turkish Airlines. It's also a good airlines and best Y inflight meals

I am flying this route next weekend. Etihad to Istanbul (via Abu Dhabi of course)...on virgin points (if you have enough), with a seperate sector flown with Turkish airlines. Overnighting in Istanbul, so I can arrive in Kiev mid morning the next day, fresh and ready.

 

[Isochronous]

Do Finnair go to Kiev?

 

[DrAndyC]

Do Finnair go to Kiev?

No, I think they dropped it a year ago. UIA flies it though.

 

[support]

As per the rules for threads in this forum, this thread is now closed.