Negative rating of airlines and high-profile scandals with tourists. Who is often late and ruins the vacation

Author

Diana Polunina

Recently, Ukraine was shocked by the news that almost 180 Ukrainians were "stuck" in Tanzania, as the plane of the SkyUp airline that was supposed to take tourists to Ukraine broke down. The air carrier solved the problem only in three days, and in order to save the country's tourists from unexpected troubles, publishes a negative rating of the most unreliable airlines and reminds of the high-profile scandals with them and with tour operators.

Airline companies’ punctuality negative rating

At the end of 2020, there is not much data on the airline companies’ punctuality. For example, the Boryspil airport did not make statistics, its press service told the Page. The reason is obvious—the pandemic and the related problems in the airline industry: border closures, a large number of flight cancellations through no fault of airlines, and so on. At the same time, on the website of the Ministry of Infrastructure, there are ratings of punctuality of air carriers only for a few months of the last year—before the pandemic limited the freedom of movement of people between countries. However, according to these data, it is already possible to draw some conclusions regarding which airlines should not be used.

Punctuality of Ukrainian airlines in January 2020:

Motor Sich—93.4% of flights were performed on time;
UIA—91%;
Windrose—88.4%;
YanAir—80%;
Jonika Airlines—77.8%;
Azur Air Ukraine—73%;
SkyUp—72.3%;
Bravo Airways—66.7%.

Punctuality of foreign airlines in Ukraine in January 2020:

The most punctual are Alitalia (100%), Georgian Airways (100%), Scandinavian Airlines (100%), Aegan Airlines (100%), Swiss International Airlines (94.4%);
The most unpunctual are Israir Airlines (0%), Ernest S.p.A. (14.3%), Air Malta (50%), Air Serbia (66.7%), Laudamotion (70.8%).

Punctuality of Ukrainian airlines in February 2020:

Windrose—92,7%;
UIA—91,6%;
Motor Sich—90,4%;
Jonika Airlines—84,6%;
SkyUp—81,9%;
Azur Air Ukraine—79%;
Bravo Airways—50%.

Punctuality of foreign airlines in Ukraine in February 2020:

The most punctual are Onur Air (100%), Alitalia (100%), Scandinavian Airlines (100%), Qatar Airlines (96.6%), Azirbaijan Airlines (96.4%).
The most unpunctual are Pegasus Airlines (60%), Air Serbia (62.5%), El Al Israel Airlines (74%), Laudamotion (73.3%), KLM (78.6%).

Scandals with air carriers and tour operators

In addition to the latest scandal with SkyUp, it is worth mentioning many others that well-known airlines and travel operators managed to get into.

So, the same SkyUp in 2019 "became famous" for the fact that the passengers of the airline "got stuck" at the Sharm El Sheikh International Airport, since their flight was postponed many times. At that time SkyUp provided a hotel for tourists where the conditions "leave much to be desired," the aggrieved people wrote.

Another scandal with the airline's flight delay occurred in April 2020, but not through the fault of SkyUp itself. Then the company complained about the many hours delay at the Boryspil airport of the special flight PQ 907 Kyiv-Frankfurt due to the fact that the plane was not allowed to depart from Ukraine, reports awianews.

"For reasons not clear to the airline, the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine does not give a permit for this flight and does not provide an official reason for the delay in giving a permit," the company stated at the time.

However, not only SkyUp gets into scandals. It is also worth remembering the story with Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) in May 2020, when Ukrainians were "stuck" at Bangkok airport due to a flight delay. As the agency RBC-Ukraine wrote, among the 300 passengers there were many small children who were not even given water.

Another scandal with UIA is related to animals. Thus, in June last year, the airline's plane transported animals on a Kyiv-Toronto flight. Unfortunately, upon arrival, it turned out that 38 out of 500 dogs died. In connection with the incident, both the Kyiv and Canadian police opened criminal proceedings, and UIA itself imposed an embargo on the transportation of animals by B767 aircraft and removed the Head of the Cargo and Logistics Directorate.

Among the scandals of airline companies, it is worth mentioning the tour operator Join Up owning the SkyUp carrier. Thus, travelers often complain about it. For example, at the end of 2020, the Ukrainian said that "every time he has problems with the airline," reports RBC-Ukraine. According to him, the tour operator "stiffed" him on the money several times—first for $100, "sneaking" a counterfeit bill, and the second time—forcing him to pay extra 60 euros for the room.

"Good luck, Join Up. I hope our destinies will never cross again," the man summed up.

It is also worth recalling that earlier the tour operator was fined several times—first by 68,000 UAH for false advertising about market leadership, and then by 1.5 million UAH for the fact that Join Up offered its potential customers the services of UIA and Windrose, with whom it had no agreements. It was proved by the appeals of the aggrieved citizens, because the guarantee of a flight by these carriers was the main point for them in choosing a tour operator for vacation in Egypt and Turkey.