Lviv International Airport - Does this just happen to people i know?

[stepanstas]

Whenever my family and friends travel, and we depart/arrive from Lviv, they allways want some money for whatever purpose. Am i the only one who notices this?


Anyone else care to comment.

[JG]

A mate of mine had to pay 10 bucks to keep his digital camera when leaving Odessa once.

I have had no problems with several trips via Kiev Borispol. They did once ask me how much money I had and lost interest when I replied 17.37 USD.
I try to make a point of not carrying much cash and just get money out at ATMs as and when I need it. I imagine that officials would have a few problems in accepting credit card payments for their bribes.... :-)

[stepanstas]

I hate saying bad things about Ukraine, but it must come out.

Anywhere you go that should be regulated by the government, there is a banda there. (i guess you can translate that to mafia)

The Airport just gets me mad because you pay a lot of money for that.

I know a person who had a lot of watches with him. They told him to pay. When he said he was gonna break each one of them in front of them and then leave them their they decided to let him go.

And another thing. I know their are weight limits on the airlines, but in America (My family uses LOT Polish) they just put heavy lift on baggage. All the Polish people have like 2x the regular bag. In Ukraine, my mom was gonna have to pay $100 on the way back to America. Everything in the bag didn't even add up to that, so she decided to leave it with friends.

Look at worst airports, Kiev, Ukraine is there. Great rep.
Best and Worst airport as rated by the Budget Traveller's Guide to Sleeping in Airports

Finally, the border patrols, but that's another story.
Its either you pay $20 to go through or you wait for hour(s)

[Aussieuke]

OK!!!. I'm trvelling to both cities mentioned and I have to read your posts!
I might be able to speak some Ukrainian and understand enough to get by but it sounds like I'll have trouble if I stick to being a tourist and speaking Australian only. So, how does one travel into the Ukraine without being ripped off?? as a local or a tourist? Do I bother in making the effort or save my money for the rest of Europe?

[wrigglymaggot]

Originally Posted by stepanstas

Whenever my family and friends travel, and we depart/arrive from Lviv, they allways want some money for whatever purpose. Am i the only one who notices this?


Anyone else care to comment.

I hope they don't give it to them. I have had that happen to me a few times, and I ask if they would like to repeat that to my employers, the British Embassy while giving them the most evil stare. Funny when they start to say 'sorry, we thought you were bringing too much money over'. Yeah right!

[stepanstas]

i cant wait till i travel by myself

They wont rip me off

(Ill tell them to write it down, sign it, take pictures)

Too bad my family doesnt do that (i'm the starter of this topic)

[Bobster]

its like that in most European countries, you should try some Greece cities, its the taxi drivers at the airports that really get my goat, they follow you and insist that you use them, it was funny once there where 2 drivers at Kiev Boryspol I arrived at the international lounge, walked through the gates and pow they all descended on me, 2 actually insisted I wanted a taxi even though I had to walk through to the internal departure lounge which is about 200 yards away from the International part. they followed me insisting still, I got into the cue for Simferopol (I was in the cue for about 20 mins) and they where still there waiting for me, I had such a smirk on my face when I walked through to the gate and they looked so annoyed.