Russian citizens have been punished in various ways by countries in the West and their allies since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022. Recently, popular travel website Kiwi.com banned Russians along with citizens of a few other countries from a special travel offer.
Kiwi.com Travel Hackers
The offer, titled “World Travel Hackers,” was announced in the first week of May and members of Kiwi.com were notified of it via an email. The month-long offer would give every selected member and a friend €10,000 to visit their favorite destinations and then post about it on their social media, tagging Kiwi.com. The eligibility for the offer sounded quite simple and easy from the email:
- Have at least 500 followers on Instagram or TikTok and a public profile
- Be fluent in English
- Have a valid passport, and
- Be available to work.
Kiwi Offer Terms
But reading the terms of the offer on the relevant page on Kiwi.com, it is revealed that Russians are not allowed to apply for this offer along with citizens of Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria. Eligible applicants also need to have signed up for Kiwi.com Flight Crew and been approved.
The site does not offer any reason for excluding the citizens or Russia and the four other countries from participation in its World Travel Hackers offer. However, the site displays the Ukrainian national flag along with the message “Join us in supporting the people of Ukraine” at the top of its homepage. The link leads to another page where the site expressly states that it stands with Ukraine against “Russian aggression.”
No Contact Info
The site does not have a contact option for questions regarding the offer or general inquiries. The attempt of this reporter to reach Kiwi.com about the reason Russians and four other nationalities were excluded from its travel offer received the following message from Xeina N. on Sunday, May 5.
I cannot provide any false information. I tried to check our Kiwi.com website; however, based on the post jobs, it has already been deleted. Please be advised to send a reply to the email that you received. Also, you can use this link https://jobs.kiwi.com/faq/ there is a Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
There was no question posed about any job.
