The Last Time...

[Dan]

... in response to Fly LOT and see Europe? LOL , posted by Jack on Jan 7, 2003

When Natalya came to see us from the airport, she was tired - but she had enjoyed all the travels around Europe. Jetsetter for the week, she was. LOL

- Dan

[Dan]

... in response to Lot, posted by Jeff on Jan 6, 2003

Your wife *is* supposed to have permission to leave the country. More specifically - and assuming your wife travels with her greeen card - she is legally required (by Ukraine) to file papers with OVIR stating her official place of residence. When those papers identify her place of residence outside the borders of Ukraine, they place a stamp in her passport which  states that fact.

Since she holds a green card, the Ukrainian authorities know she resides in America and they also know that she *should* have that stamp authorizing her to reside abroad. Without that stamp, they are supposed to prevent her departure from Ukraine until she obtains it.

Ukraine being Ukraine - the fact that this is the law does not often prevent anyone from actually departing the country - though it occasionally results in some petty hassles and a small payment along the way.

Kuchma's government - if you consider anything they say as credible - has made comments that this law for foreign residence registration is likely to be abolished by 2005.

Odesa seems to be much more vigilant about checking these documents than Kyiv - which follows my experience in Odesa that the Passport/Customs authorities seem to be considerably more corrupt than their counterparts in Kyiv.

- Dan

[Apk1]

... in response to In Point of Fact, The Odesa Authorities ..., posted by Dan on Jan 7, 2003

Hello Dan,

I asked this same question a few days ago...

This stamp is referred to as the "vstat na uchot" and I was asking if it should be obtained from the Ukraine embassy in Wash D.C. "prior" to going back to Ukraine from USA while holding a green card.

We were hearing too many horror stories...and some stories contradicting the need for the stamp..

Thanks for clearing this up for us.

[anzo]

... in response to The Last Time..., posted by RfB on Jan 4, 2003

Love Finnair, but hate hate hate JFK. Now to St. Pete, I fly Air France from Dulles, connecting in Paris to another AF flight. Best thing about AF, other than the attendants (schweet!) and easily kidnapped little embossed AF glasses, is that the one time my flight was delayed and connection missed, they put me up at the Sofatiel at the airport. Nice hotel, great food. In fact I always spend the night at the Sofatiel on the way back from St. Petel. Oh yea, AF has a return flight leaving St. Pete at around 4 pm. No early mornings!!!!
Anzo

[RfB]

... in response to Re: The Last Time..., posted by anzo on Jan 5, 2003

I was flying on Air France with a codeshare on the Delta aircraft that time. Dec 30, with reservations at a fancy club for New Years the next night. I took the Delta B777 because it arrived 10 minutes earlier in CDG than the AF B747 flight, what a mistake that turned out to be. I was only interested in getting to St Pete, not seeing any other part of Europe. As it turned out, my (now) wife waited for 5 hours in the airport for me to arrive, then after no other flights were arriving, went home and called the hotel to cancel my reservation for that night. Just a little more things to make the visit memorable. I made it though and had a great visit until the return flight on the fully loaded AF flight back.

[Charles]

... in response to The Last Time..., posted by RfB on Jan 4, 2003

I'm really not sure it makes a great deal of difference which airline you choose in traveling to the FSU.  I have million-plus miles with Delta and never complained about a thing until I experienced their check-in nightmare at Sheremeteyevo where we almost missed the flight because they individually x-rayed every item piece-by-piece in my wife's bag through a machine that was manufactured shortly after Lenin's death.  Part of the "random" security search.  (Not bad, for a full flight they thoroughly checked two bags).  We had my wife's bags lost on Lufthansa and, like you, got very little help and had to wait several days for their retrieval,  we had a five hour delay on British Airways changing in Heathrow, etc.  Of course, that doesn't include various other international flight experiences on business with various airlines, but on those I rarely check a bag.  While my limited experience with Aeroflot has been generally positive, it is a limited one.  So it may not make a great deal of difference which airline you choose.  You just have to keep your fingers crossed and hope that the flight goes on time and your bags make it.

[wsbill]

... in response to Re: The Last Time..., posted by Charles on Jan 5, 2003

And just fly Northwest/KLM.  Those cheap fares add up in otherways.

[RfB]

... in response to Re: When you guys going to wake up, posted by wsbill on Jan 5, 2003

My wife went home last October on FinnAir, and we paid only $530 total for the ticket from JFK (local airport). They have the shortest time door to door of any of the airlines, and it's hard to get lost in Helsinki when the connecting flight is parked the next gate over, with about an hour layover.