UK to Yerevan - flight help

[burns20]

I've never had to change planes before so hunting all over for the best deal.

I live in Machynlleth so Birmingham or Manchester would be ideal but London is doable, don't particular want an early start, before 0700 but don't want to arrive later than 2200

The most reasonable I have found so far for Saturday 9th August for £277

WizzAir
London Gatwick 0925
Rome Fiumicino 1300

WizzAir
Rome Fiumcino 1540
Yerevan Zvartnots 2135

Any other options you can think of?

 

[Stossgebet]

Only book a connecting flight, if it is on a single through booking. Be very aware of not booking a 'self transfer' unless you have allowed an awfully long time between the flights.
I missed a connecting flight pre covid booked on a single airline as a through journey, and they supplied dinner, a hotel, and put me on the next flight in the morning. I have taken many connecting flights without issue, even the one i missed wasn't an issue.
If however, your itinerary isn't on a single through ticket, and you miss your connection, you will be in Rome having to fund another flight, and possibly a hotel ect. I can't imagine that wizz fly to yerevan daily, so it may be a long wait to continue to Armenia. It's school holidays, so maybe the next flight will be sold out, and it could be days for the next available one.

Think of all the things that could go wrong at Gatwick to delay your first flight (late inbound aircraft, strike action from any number of different work forces involved, weather, power failure, aircraft maintenance ect), and remember if that delay is less than 3 hours, you could still miss your 2nd flight and not be entitled to any compensation.

If you have a connection of say 5 hours or more on a self transfer, then miss the connection due to a late first flight, then you may get compensation, but this may not cover your additional costs of new flights and hotel at the last minute in peak summer.

So for your journey, i would look to book something with a 'flag carrier' like Air France, KLM, Lufthansa ect who will look after you should you miss the connection.

 

[sh24]

I would not book the Wizzair flights as you have no protection in the (likely) event of a delay. Wizz are not that reliable IME

Your requirements are quite prescriptive, but if prepared to flex your arrival time to 3am there is a £256 fare with Aegean Airlines from Gatwick. They are one of the best European full service carriers and Athens is an easy transfer. That's what I would book.

 

[stadler]

I've never had to change planes before so hunting all over for the best deal.

I live in Machynlleth so Birmingham or Manchester would be ideal but London is doable, don't particular want an early start, before 0700 but don't want to arrive later than 2200

The most reasonable I have found so far for Saturday 9th August for £277

WizzAir
London Gatwick 0925
Rome Fiumicino 1300

WizzAir
Rome Fiumcino 1540
Yerevan Zvartnots 2135

Any other options you can think of?

You may or may not want to consider this but there are direct Easyjet flights from Luton to Tbilisi available. Looking now i can find prices of £106 for the 9th of August available. Once you get to Tbilisi there are frequent daytime coaches that cost around £16 for a single or an overnight train which costs around £28 for a single. It is a longer option but it may save you some money and avoid the issue of connecting flights so i thought i would mention it. But otherwise you will have to change flights somewhere as Yerevan gets no direct UK flights.

 

[Mojo]

I agree with the above poster, this is what I’m doing in the summer but with BA instead of Eazyjet.

The only real sensible option from the UK to get to Yerevan with a “protected” connection on a through ticket is with Polish Lot, Air France, Lufthansa or Austrian. I went with Lot to Baku last year connecting in Warsaw and found them to be very good with a toasted sandwich and snack basket on both flights.

 

[peterblue]

WizzAir is a gamble, and they won't help you when things go wrong (from experience!). In my opinion that is also quite a lot to pay, for the privilege of using WizzAir...

I agree with the above two posters, get a flight to Tbilisi then overnight train, or overnight in the city after a few hours sightseeing and get a connecting flight/coach the next day. That is what I would do.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 May 2025 ==

You may also want to consider other 2 day options. Find yourself a cheap easyJet / Ryanair / WizzAir flight on day1 to some European city, then day2 get another flight to Yerevan. That might be more economical than flying with a flag carrier, even with hotels included, while reducing all 'risk' involved with a self transfer connection.

 

[deltic]

There are a number of websites where you can check the punctuality of particular flights which will give you an idea of the risk of the Wizzair connection not being made.

 

[superalbs]

There are a number of websites where you can check the punctuality of particular flights which will give you an idea of the risk of the Wizzair connection not being made.

None of which is going to protect you from a major incident causing widespread disruption on the day, which is very possible.

 

[burns20]

Thank you for all your help and suggestions, I've booked flights with Brussels Airlines, leaving Manchester at 1110 arriving at Yerevan at 2350 via Brussels

 

[TravelDream]

Much more sensible option.

Booking two separate tickets may work out cheaper with the headline price, but it means you're taking a big risk. If your first flight is delayed/ cancelled/ diverts, you're stuffed.

Flying on a single ticket (like you're doing) will protect your connection and makes the airline liable in terms of providing a new flight, hotels, meals and EU261/UK261 compensation if things go awry.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Good call on Brussels Airlines as well. If something goes wrong with the Brussels-Yerevan leg, then they should be able to rebook you via Vienna as Austrian Airlines is part of the Lufthansa Group. Generally speaking, the airlines do try and get you to your destination if you're on a through ticket, although it might end up being a weird routing to Yerevan.

None of which is going to protect you from a major incident causing widespread disruption on the day, which is very possible.

With Wizzair in particular, I'd fully expect all sorts of nonsense to happen. A friend got stuck in London recently for four days because of them, they refused to do anything and they've just lost yet another court case.

 

[TravelDream]

With Wizzair in particular, I'd fully expect all sorts of nonsense to happen. A friend got stuck in London recently for four days because of them, they refused to do anything and they've just lost yet another court case.

On a connection?
If so, he has no recourse.

If it's on a single flight, that's very different.
They are on the hook for hotels, taxis, meals etc. plus EU261/UK261 if applicable.

And the courts have been very generous in their interpretation of the regulations.
Book airport hotel. Taxi to hotel. Eat three meals at hotel restaurant.
That'll quickly add up and they are 100% on the hook for it.

It's not just Wizz who can be bad though. I had to send Qatar Airways (the self-proclaimed 'award-winning five star airline') a notice before action letter before they paid out.
Even then it wasn't everything claimed and I had to go back and fight them for the rest.

 

[Taunton]

The current mainstream operation to the ex-Soviet Republics (and Russia itself) has become Turkish Airlines, through Istanbul. They have multi-daily flights to many points, both UK and in the Caucasus, will do through tickets, and if the first leg is disrupted, will just move you to the next flight to your destination from Istanbul.

 

[TravelDream]

The current mainstream operation to the ex-Soviet Republics (and Russia itself) has become Turkish Airlines, through Istanbul. They have multi-daily flights to many points, both UK and in the Caucasus, will do through tickets, and if the first leg is disrupted, will just move you to the next flight to your destination from Istanbul.

Given Turkish Airlines doesn't fly to Yerevan, I think he'd struggle...

Not to get political, but Turkey and Armenia don't exactly have the best relationship and haven't for quite some time.

The best 'range' of flights from the UK there remains the Lufthansa Group.
Between them, Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels and Eurowings have the widest range of flights from Europe there.

 

[Taunton]

You're right, I'd not seen that Turkish Airlines had given up Yerevan; they seem at Istanbul to run to just about everywhere in the Caucasus. However another Turkish airline, Pegasus, do run daily from the other Istanbul airport to Yerevan, and with daily flights from multiple UK points as well. However this is a lesser-known operator, so using the mainstream ones quoted is likely better.

Does anyone get on with Armenia?

 

[burns20]

My next worry is the punctuality of the Yerevan to Batumi sleeper...I have a day to play with though

 

[TravelDream]

My next worry is the punctuality of the Yerevan to Batumi sleeper...I have a day to play with though

Not done it, but my experience of ex-USSR sleeper trains is they tend to have lots of redundancy built into the timetable. That doesn't stop multi-hour delays at times though.

You'll really enjoy Georgia (where I have been. Not been to Armenia yet). Adjara is a stunning region. Are you taking the KISS back to Tbilisi? It's a very pretty journey and Tbilisi is an incredible city. They are building lots of tunnels which will make the journey faster, but less beautiful obviously.