Got my ticket!

[jake61 0]

It is set in stone now! I have talked to the travel agent and paid for my ticket. The total is 1,153 dollars round trip to Odessa. I paid a little more because I do not have more than 2 hours between flights (layovers) coming or going. And I am flying into Odessa where she wanted to meet me. It was only 50 dollars more for Odessa rather than Kiev. It is United out of Iowa and LOT to Poland and Odessa.

I am staying one month. Leaving Nov 7 and returning Dec 6. I have heard that the high taxes and fees are due to health insurance coverage, etc if anything happens to you in the country. Can anyone verify that?

I started off this ticket search with a local agent. I booked with a travel agent because I wanted to keep the busness local. The cheapest airfare was with cheaptickets.com. But it seems they bait and switch. last night I was once again playing with the flight search and noticed the difference between days. So I kept playing with it until I got the best fare. It was 963 dollars round trip to Odessa on the cheapest days. Then I called the agent back and she returned my call this afternoon with 100 dollars higher. I decided to go with cheaptickets.com but when I went to order the ticket I got that it was no longer available. It suggested another flight at 1,173 dollars. So I went back and started over and it gave me 1,483 dollars. It sounded like a scam so I ate another 100 dollars and booked with the agent. It is the exact same flights I was going to take on cheaptickets.com.

So much for online airline tickets.

Edited October 29, 2009 by jake61

[Mike&Luda 0]

It is set in stone now! I have talked to the travel agent and paid for my ticket. The total is 1,153 dollars round trip to Odessa. I paid a little more because I do not have more than 2 hours between flights (layovers) coming or going. And I am flying into Odessa where she wanted to meet me. It was only 50 dollars more for Odessa rather than Kiev. It is United out of Iowa and LOT to Poland and Odessa.

I am staying one month. Leaving Nov 7 and returning Dec 6. I have heard that the high taxes and fees are due to health insurance coverage, etc if anything happens to you in the country. Can anyone verify that?

I started off this ticket search with a local agent. I booked with a travel agent because I wanted to keep the busness local. The cheapest airfare was with cheaptickets.com. But it seems they bait and switch. last night I was once again playing with the flight search and noticed the difference between days. So I kept playing with it until I got the best fare. It was 963 dollars round trip to Odessa on the cheapest days. Then I called the agent back and she returned my call this afternoon with 100 dollars higher. I decided to go with cheaptickets.com but when I went to order the ticket I got that it was no longer available. It suggested another flight at 1,173 dollars. So I went back and started over and it gave me 1,483 dollars. It sounded like a scam so I ate another 100 dollars and booked with the agent. It is the exact same flights I was going to take on cheaptickets.com.

So much for online airline tickets.

Good Luck on your trip. You must be a fellow Iowan? I'd advise you to be careful of LOT. They aren't the most organized of airlines... schedules are only a suggestion to them. Good food though. Best wishes for a great trip.

Edited October 29, 2009 by Mike&Luda

[AKguy 1]

It is set in stone now! I have talked to the travel agent and paid for my ticket. The total is 1,153 dollars round trip to Odessa. I paid a little more because I do not have more than 2 hours between flights (layovers) coming or going. And I am flying into Odessa where she wanted to meet me. It was only 50 dollars more for Odessa rather than Kiev. It is United out of Iowa and LOT to Poland and Odessa.

I am staying one month. Leaving Nov 7 and returning Dec 6. I have heard that the high taxes and fees are due to health insurance coverage, etc if anything happens to you in the country. Can anyone verify that?

I started off this ticket search with a local agent. I booked with a travel agent because I wanted to keep the busness local. The cheapest airfare was with cheaptickets.com. But it seems they bait and switch. last night I was once again playing with the flight search and noticed the difference between days. So I kept playing with it until I got the best fare. It was 963 dollars round trip to Odessa on the cheapest days. Then I called the agent back and she returned my call this afternoon with 100 dollars higher. I decided to go with cheaptickets.com but when I went to order the ticket I got that it was no longer available. It suggested another flight at 1,173 dollars. So I went back and started over and it gave me 1,483 dollars. It sounded like a scam so I ate another 100 dollars and booked with the agent. It is the exact same flights I was going to take on cheaptickets.com.

So much for online airline tickets.

Good deal on you going to visit! I can't say I'm familiar with your personal story, so I will simply say I hope the trip is a great experience.

I myself will be heading to Chelyabinsk on December 28th for 3 weeks. 2nd trip. I've used Cheaptickets.com for my previous trip and ended up spending 1,600 (coming from Alaska). I too ran into what you deemed "bait and switch", which after looking for a few weeks came to what I concluded at being too slow to book them. I'm pretty sure Orbitz.com either owns or is closely affiliated with Cheaptickets.com, and baiting & switching would be the last thing Orbitz would want to be associated with. IMHO anyway. For this trip I went the extra mile to be cheap (and proud of it!), I used Orbitz to get me to Moscow and then Aeroflot to get me to Ekaterinburg, which is a 4 hour drive to Chel. I could have flown staight to Chel from Moscow, but it was a little more expensive. I ended up paying around 1,380.

Anyway, still sounds like you got a decent deal. Have fun on your trip!

[amberdima 6]

have a safe trip! i hope the month flies by...meaning- a great experience!

[payxibka 10,045]

It is set in stone now! I have talked to the travel agent and paid for my ticket. The total is 1,153 dollars round trip to Odessa. I paid a little more because I do not have more than 2 hours between flights (layovers) coming or going. And I am flying into Odessa where she wanted to meet me. It was only 50 dollars more for Odessa rather than Kiev. It is United out of Iowa and LOT to Poland and Odessa.

I am staying one month. Leaving Nov 7 and returning Dec 6. I have heard that the high taxes and fees are due to health insurance coverage, etc if anything happens to you in the country. Can anyone verify that?

I started off this ticket search with a local agent. I booked with a travel agent because I wanted to keep the busness local. The cheapest airfare was with cheaptickets.com. But it seems they bait and switch. last night I was once again playing with the flight search and noticed the difference between days. So I kept playing with it until I got the best fare. It was 963 dollars round trip to Odessa on the cheapest days. Then I called the agent back and she returned my call this afternoon with 100 dollars higher. I decided to go with cheaptickets.com but when I went to order the ticket I got that it was no longer available. It suggested another flight at 1,173 dollars. So I went back and started over and it gave me 1,483 dollars. It sounded like a scam so I ate another 100 dollars and booked with the agent. It is the exact same flights I was going to take on cheaptickets.com.

So much for online airline tickets.

I have flown a similiar itinerary several times (MSP vs. Iowa). LOT is not the most on-time airline and the evening flight out of Chicago is not the most on-time flight.... your connection time in Warsaw to the Odessa flight is fairly tight (even tighter on the return) and if you miss it you are not going until the next day as they only have a once daily flight to ODS....good luck....

[Dave-n-Oksana 49]

It is set in stone now! I have talked to the travel agent and paid for my ticket. The total is 1,153 dollars round trip to Odessa. I paid a little more because I do not have more than 2 hours between flights (layovers) coming or going. And I am flying into Odessa where she wanted to meet me. It was only 50 dollars more for Odessa rather than Kiev. It is United out of Iowa and LOT to Poland and Odessa.

I am staying one month. Leaving Nov 7 and returning Dec 6. I have heard that the high taxes and fees are due to health insurance coverage, etc if anything happens to you in the country. Can anyone verify that?

I started off this ticket search with a local agent. I booked with a travel agent because I wanted to keep the busness local. The cheapest airfare was with cheaptickets.com. But it seems they bait and switch. last night I was once again playing with the flight search and noticed the difference between days. So I kept playing with it until I got the best fare. It was 963 dollars round trip to Odessa on the cheapest days. Then I called the agent back and she returned my call this afternoon with 100 dollars higher. I decided to go with cheaptickets.com but when I went to order the ticket I got that it was no longer available. It suggested another flight at 1,173 dollars. So I went back and started over and it gave me 1,483 dollars. It sounded like a scam so I ate another 100 dollars and booked with the agent. It is the exact same flights I was going to take on cheaptickets.com.

So much for online airline tickets.

Jake enjoy your trip. The taxes have nothing to do with insurance while you are there. If you check the embassy website they recommend getting traveler insurance for medical emergencies as the Ukraine hospitals are a cash and carry system and will only provide medical care. Food is your responsibility. The travelers insurance will also cover any cost if you need a medical evacuation. I used AIG when I went, but I am sure that there other's out there that can provide this service.

Cheaptickets is a strange beast and depending on the day and time you are looking for tickets will determine what they offer. Generally those rules are given by the carrier to the discount houses like Cheaptickets and Orbitz. Just an FYI for your future travels.

Dave

Edited October 29, 2009 by Dave-n-Oksana

[BluesTraveler 0]

I'm pretty sure Orbitz.com either owns or is closely affiliated with Cheaptickets.com, and baiting & switching would be the last thing Orbitz would want to be associated with.

Oribitz and CheapTickets use the same booking engine software from ITA Software

http://www.itasoftware.com/about_us/customers.html

ITA software doesn't hold the inventory it does a scrape and therefore can be out of sync with the currently available tickets. If Sabre is holding the inventory and a few tickets are sold by company xyz, ITA prints out what it "thinks" the price will be. It isn't until you go into the pricing phase that you get the "real" price.

Sometimes the really cheap fares are the last 2 or 3 tickets available at that price. Also if you wait a day or two the price can jump up a bit.

So is the life of pricing airline tickets.

[AKguy 1]

Ah, thanks for the info.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

It is set in stone now! I have talked to the travel agent and paid for my ticket. The total is 1,153 dollars round trip to Odessa. I paid a little more because I do not have more than 2 hours between flights (layovers) coming or going. And I am flying into Odessa where she wanted to meet me. It was only 50 dollars more for Odessa rather than Kiev. It is United out of Iowa and LOT to Poland and Odessa.

I am staying one month. Leaving Nov 7 and returning Dec 6. I have heard that the high taxes and fees are due to health insurance coverage, etc if anything happens to you in the country. Can anyone verify that?

I started off this ticket search with a local agent. I booked with a travel agent because I wanted to keep the busness local. The cheapest airfare was with cheaptickets.com. But it seems they bait and switch. last night I was once again playing with the flight search and noticed the difference between days. So I kept playing with it until I got the best fare. It was 963 dollars round trip to Odessa on the cheapest days. Then I called the agent back and she returned my call this afternoon with 100 dollars higher. I decided to go with cheaptickets.com but when I went to order the ticket I got that it was no longer available. It suggested another flight at 1,173 dollars. So I went back and started over and it gave me 1,483 dollars. It sounded like a scam so I ate another 100 dollars and booked with the agent. It is the exact same flights I was going to take on cheaptickets.com.

So much for online airline tickets.

Good Luck on your trip. You must be a fellow Iowan? I'd advise you to be careful of LOT. They aren't the most organized of airlines... schedules are only a suggestion to them. Good food though. Best wishes for a great trip.

This can be the case traveling beyond Kiev, in Ukraine, so leave yourself a day on the return in case you miss a connection, it has happened to me when flying out of Odessa or Donetsk. I do not know what taxes you are referring to. Keep your medical cards with you and you may want to check coverage. I advise you not to get sick in Ukraine. In Odessa, like most of Ukraine, water should be boiled before drinking.

Also notify your credit cards and bank ahead of time, sometimes credit and debit cards will not work in Ukraine or Russia if you do not tell them. Best way to get cash is to use a debit card and withdraw it from an ATM, they give you the best exchange rate. Many places now will take credit or debit cards for payments, particularly at malls and upscale shops in dowtown Odessa. Outside of that it will be cash only. Get SMALL bills. They tend to give you 50, 100, 200 and 500 hryvnia notes. No good for cab rides, bus fare, etc. And those guys "never" have change. I usually get a pocket full of 1 and two hryvnia notes for the bus, trolley, subway, etc. Bus and trolley conductors hate it when you had them a 20 for a 1 hryvnia bus ride!

Odessa is a great city, I love it! (I may be biased) Alla does not, she says it is too "touristy" and "doesn't trust" anyone there. LOL But really it is a great place and very reasonably priced IMHO (Alla says "expensive") Not compared to Kiev.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

It is set in stone now! I have talked to the travel agent and paid for my ticket. The total is 1,153 dollars round trip to Odessa. I paid a little more because I do not have more than 2 hours between flights (layovers) coming or going. And I am flying into Odessa where she wanted to meet me. It was only 50 dollars more for Odessa rather than Kiev. It is United out of Iowa and LOT to Poland and Odessa.

I am staying one month. Leaving Nov 7 and returning Dec 6. I have heard that the high taxes and fees are due to health insurance coverage, etc if anything happens to you in the country. Can anyone verify that?

I started off this ticket search with a local agent. I booked with a travel agent because I wanted to keep the busness local. The cheapest airfare was with cheaptickets.com. But it seems they bait and switch. last night I was once again playing with the flight search and noticed the difference between days. So I kept playing with it until I got the best fare. It was 963 dollars round trip to Odessa on the cheapest days. Then I called the agent back and she returned my call this afternoon with 100 dollars higher. I decided to go with cheaptickets.com but when I went to order the ticket I got that it was no longer available. It suggested another flight at 1,173 dollars. So I went back and started over and it gave me 1,483 dollars. It sounded like a scam so I ate another 100 dollars and booked with the agent. It is the exact same flights I was going to take on cheaptickets.com.

So much for online airline tickets.

We bought tickets on Aerosvit JFK to Kiev nonstop for $644 for December with January return. We will then see what kind of deal we can get on domestic airlines for Burlington to JFK or we will just drive, we will see. If JetBlue is having one of their $49 sales, we are flying! Invariably the cheapest to Kiev are from JFK and sometimes it is cheaper to get your own way to JFK than to buy a ticket from somewhere else to Kiev. Anyway, you are happy, so stop shopping, just for future reference it is sometimes possible to put together your own flight package. I also use the big ticket sellers to give me price ranges (Orbitz, etc.) and then go directly to the airline website and buy the ticket there. When Orbitz says "three seats left" that does not necessarily mean "three seats left" on the plane, it means at that price from Orbitz. When CheapTickets says that price ticket is sold out, you can often go direct to the airline and find the seat available at that price.

[1HappyGuy 45]

Jake, is this your first trip to Ukraine? If so, we have lots of tips and advice. You already heard about the water, most everyone drinks bottled water so plan on it. Be aware that you will stick out like a sore thumb as non-Ukrainian so watch out for scam artists, especially money exchangers. The hotels generally have poor exchange rates compared to the banks. Also, you will find many very small bank kiosks which display their exchange rates. They will vary in rates even in same areas. If you can, let your lady negotiate any transactions. Most are very aware of the proper pricing and will save you a lot of money.

You should also understand that there is a lot of walking done by everyone, so plan accordingly. Busses are usually pretty crowded with a trust system of pay. You send up your money to the driver and any change is sent back. This is not usually a problem. Again, small bills for this is best. The last I saw the exchange rate was 8 hrivna to 1 dollar but this is also subject to change at any time. I assume that the prices have been also adjusted for this higher exchange rate.

Restaurants have pretty good service and great food, but don't be like an American there. Take your time and enjoy the atmosphere. Dinners will go slow, but the food is served hot. Expect dinner to take well over an hour probably closer to two. You are there for the pleasure of eating out and that's how they look at it too.

Have a wonderful trip and enjoy the company of your lady. Spend a lot of time getting to know her and trying to improve your communications.

John

[Brad and Vika 129]

It is set in stone now! I have talked to the travel agent and paid for my ticket. The total is 1,153 dollars round trip to Odessa. I paid a little more because I do not have more than 2 hours between flights (layovers) coming or going. And I am flying into Odessa where she wanted to meet me. It was only 50 dollars more for Odessa rather than Kiev. It is United out of Iowa and LOT to Poland and Odessa.

I am staying one month. Leaving Nov 7 and returning Dec 6. I have heard that the high taxes and fees are due to health insurance coverage, etc if anything happens to you in the country. Can anyone verify that?

I started off this ticket search with a local agent. I booked with a travel agent because I wanted to keep the busness local. The cheapest airfare was with cheaptickets.com. But it seems they bait and switch. last night I was once again playing with the flight search and noticed the difference between days. So I kept playing with it until I got the best fare. It was 963 dollars round trip to Odessa on the cheapest days. Then I called the agent back and she returned my call this afternoon with 100 dollars higher. I decided to go with cheaptickets.com but when I went to order the ticket I got that it was no longer available. It suggested another flight at 1,173 dollars. So I went back and started over and it gave me 1,483 dollars. It sounded like a scam so I ate another 100 dollars and booked with the agent. It is the exact same flights I was going to take on cheaptickets.com.

So much for online airline tickets.

I have flown a similiar itinerary several times (MSP vs. Iowa). LOT is not the most on-time airline and the evening flight out of Chicago is not the most on-time flight.... your connection time in Warsaw to the Odessa flight is fairly tight (even tighter on the return) and if you miss it you are not going until the next day as they only have a once daily flight to ODS....good luck....

Jake - I flew LOT to and from Odessa two weeks ago. The flights were late in Warsaw both directions because of the lack of coordination between the airline and airport security (one scanner, two security officers, 250 people and 40 minutes until the connection). They held the plane both times. The flight from Chicago was late leaving too. Don't sweat it, it usually works out. If you get caught in Warsaw you CAN get a room - no trouble walking out with an American passport. It will be a hassle, but I did it. Hrvna is still 8 to the dollar.

And I rest my case about the affordability of flights to Odessa this time of year. Good for you for checking.

Edited October 30, 2009 by Brad and Vika

[jake61 0]

I just finished my evening email session with her. She said they are starting to close schools for the flu in western Ukraine.

I asked her about it a month ago and she didn't know anything about it. And I thought our press kept things from us.

She became very worried about closing airports and me not being able to make the trip. I told I would make it any way I could. She wanted me to dig a tunnel if I had to. I think she wants me there now!

I have scheduled this trip to spend 1 month to the day with her.

When I called the state dept of health about any required shots and prescription letter I talked to a woman there that had worked in Ukraine for 3 years. She told me about the bottled water and that she had gotten the intestinal bug twice while there.

All of my flights are 1 hour or more between flights. One on each leg is 1 hour and 55 minutes. I believe it is the warsaw to chicago flight.

Originally my lady wanted me to come on a weekend so she could meet me at the airport. After much debate on flights and when to come, I am getting there on a weekend. She will meet me at the airport. I will make sure she has enough money to take care of everything until I can get to a bank.

Two hours for a meal?!? I will not be able to sit that long. That is a damn long time for food. I would not tolerate that here. There is other things to do.

I have noticed the general tone over there of what I would call lack of exactness. I will ask her about bus schedule times so we can make connections with the buses. She will say they are good on this or that day! I get the impression they are not as multitasking and tight scheduled as we are. And I have lived in some remote places!

But with her meeting me, I will rely on her to get us back to her place. I just can not imagine how I am going to survive the 3 hour bus ride sitting next to her! By the time we get to her place I am sure I will need a hot bath in which to soak.

I am not worried about anything and plan on just having fun with her. In and out of the apartment. It is really kind of funny. I can always tell when she is about to want to go to bed. We will email back and forth until about 1/2 hour before she wants to go to bed. At about that time she will start playing and throwing hints. Being coy and suggestive at the same time.

At the end, I was playing with her and told her she better back up all this talk. Of course she did not respond to that one.

The women reading this will play dumb, but you guys know what I am talking about.

She thinks it is funny that I keep track. But it has been 6 weeks and 2 days since we met online and we have 2,447 emails so far.

Jake

Edited October 30, 2009 by jake61

[baron555 934]

Remember, two showers a day. One before bed. And, don't forget to shave before bed

[jake61 0]

I had talked to my bank about using my ATM Visa Debit card over in the Ukraine. I know the bank president (not only is he a jerk but unprincipled and unethical as well) and he just called me telling me I was better off using my credit card over there. Not only do I think he is wrong because I have never had a problem with my debit card at an ATM, but have had to replace my credit card twice in the last three months because somebody at someplace I have used it tried to buy ####### with it.

He then proceeded to tell me about how I might get locked out if I try to use the internet overseas to transfer money from my checking to the credit card. All that tells me is they do not have a handle on all this technology yet.

But what I am wanting to rant about is his attitude about going overseas to see a woman.

I am sick of peoples attitudes toward going overseas to see a woman. It just ticks me off when they are so closed minded. You just want to say that kind of attidtude is exactly why there are not any good women available here. I just get so tired of closed mind opinionated small minded people. What is worse is it comes from people that are so jaded themselves they can not see right from wrong or anything but their own wants and needs. They are like a virus that spreads BS ruining everything for everybody.

Jake