81 reviews
Welcome back to part 2 of my winter travel series. This is the first report on Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft. Recently acquired, the Boeing 777s allowed UIA to expand their network, becoming a new competitor on the transatlantic routes. These aircraft were fully refurbished with UIA’s branding, after being delivered from Asiana Airlines.
UIA operates from Terminal 7 at JFK. Due to cost cutting measures, they changed all long haul departure times to midnight from both New York and Toronto. As a result, my entire booking had to be redone, an ordeal I intend to never experience again.
Only having booked this flight 3 weeks before, UIA offered the most convenient connecting times into my destination of choice.
Apart from British Airways and Iberia, UIA was the only other aircraft departing that night.
Checkin was relatively quick and seamless.
Madrid bound IB A333 and below a LHR bound BA 744.
T7 offered limited options in terms of food. I tried to access the Alaska Airlines lounge but unfortunately they had closed for the day.
The terminal seating areas quickly got congested as passengers huddled around the gate.
Aircraft: Boeing 777-28EER
Registration: UR-GOB
Age: 19.2 Years
Layout: C21 W16 Y328
Our aircraft was moved onto the gates from the remote stands some 10 hours after arriving from Kiev.
Boarding was less organised than expected. Soon enough however, we all made it on board.
A Ba 744 had just arrived from LHR as TAP's new A339 loaded in the background.
The seat layout was quite dense, the densest 777 I've flown on. The IFE was more or less average, offering a satisfactory amount of movies and music.
The lights on Long Island shown bright as we flew northeast towards Ukraine.
Due to the late departure, the meal service consisted of a Chicken sandwich and the usual beverages.
Sunrise over the North Atlantic.
The flight was completely full and most passengers were transiting either to Israel or India.
Captured the wing flex from the back door.
A couple hours out of Kiev, lunch was served. The burger was chicken, once more. The meal was average. Lunch views consisted of partly cloudy skies.
Nearing Kiev, a company flew past us for a destination in Western Europe.
40 minutes out we began a gradual descent into Kiev. At this point I was anxious to deboard as the tight seating configuration started to get
We had an onetime touch down on RWY 36R.
UR-GOA at the gate, having arrived from Toronto earlier. In the distance, Azur Ukraine prepped for departure to Punta Canada, D.R.
Our inbound aircraft remained at gate 2 until her departure for Toronto the next day.
Ukraine International was better than expected. Having read online reviews before my departure, I was somewhat skeptical on having a good time. Personally, the airline is just average. It gets you from point A to point B.
10 Comments
You booked only 3 weeks in advance and yet they managed to change all the schedules?
Didn't expect the flight to be so full but with the connections to Israel and Eastern Europe it explains why.
Catering doesn't seem too bad, reminds me a bit of LH.
Yes, the day after I booked UIA announced the cost cutting measures and a change of schedules. I had to go back and forth for a couple days to make sure I could make it to Tel Aviv before Christmas. In fact, many passengers only found out about their specific change of itineraries the day before leaving JFK!
The 777 may offer just an "average" experience, but it looks a hell of a lot better than the old 767s haha
Thanks for sharing!
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