Post-Soviet air travel

By Jack Krayenhoff

Now this was back in 1995, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and no doubt things have improved a lot since then.

We knew we were heading for the unexpected in Russia when a friend who had just come back from there told us of an Israeli official who was conducting business in Siberia. While there, he received a call from his embassy and was told he had to be back in Tel Aviv in 24 hours. His problem now was that though he could catch the plane from Siberia to Moscow all right, and it was due to land there just fifteen minutes before the El Al plane for Tel Aviv was supposed to leave - that this plane would leave from a different airport. Absolutely no way to make the connection. But our Israeli boarded his Siberian Aeroflot plane anyway, hoping some solution would emerge en route.

It did. He walked to the cockpit and asked the pilot if it would be possible to land first at the airport where the El Al plane was standing, and let him off there, before proceeding to the official airport. Of course he realized there would be extra expense, but he would be glad to pay that. The captain asked him to step out of the cockpit for a moment so he could confer with his crew; and after a few minutes motioned him back: $2,000 would make the extra service possible. Problem resolved. The plane landed as negotiated, on time, actually right beside the El Al plane.

After we had arrived in Russia we spoke to a Russian pilot who confirmed how very informal things were in Aeroflot. He recalled how one plane had to make an emergency landing at an airport because some part was defective. Not a big thing, he explained to the passengers, but still it would be safer to replace it before they went on to Moscow. It was available at the airport here, but the trouble was, he did not have enough money, and it would be a bureaucratic nightmare to get it from headquarters. But if every passenger contributed, it would be only $23 a person, and they could be on our way in half an hour. The hat was passed, the part bought & installed, and on their way they were.

But listen to this, he said. Often pilots had to fly long days, too long, and they would begin to feel the stress. And you know what they did? They would take drugs - hard drugs! Imagine, taking drugs while you were responsible for all these lives.

 He himself - he would not dream of taking drugs. When the stress really got to him, he would just have some vodka. But never more than four drinks - that was his limit!

Stories like these... well, they made us thoughtful, let us say. But in the end we decided we would place our confidence in the overwhelming preference for staying alive that most Russians shared with the rest of mankind. So we flew Aeroflot along with the rest of them.

Besides, it was not as if travel hazards started only when we boarded the airplanes. Getting there had surprising aspects, too. We arrived at a Moscow airport by KLM, but now we had to find our way to an airport on the other side of Moscow, to catch the plane for a city in South Russia. We had made arrangements for one Oleg, an English speaker, to fetch us, and he would drive us there with his own car, at half the price of a taxi. He was a little late but he found us, loaded us into his Lada and started out on a busy road that ran straight through Moscow.

Heavy wet snow was coming down and it stuck to the windshield.  The Lada windshield wipers were not strong enough to clear it and the vision of the road quickly began to disappear. We asked Oleg if he didn't think it would be better to stop the car and wipe them clear by hand, but he explained he could not stop very well on this busy road and anyway, if he opened the left front window and stuck his head out he could see a fair bit. But other than that, Oleg was a pretty careful driver.

Our flight out of Russia also had a flavour of adventure. We had booked with a brand-new company whose fleet consisted of one plane. We had met the owner in person at his company's office in town and he had welcomed us most cordially there when he found out that we were actually going to buy tickets for this flight, for so far it looked dubious if there would be enough passengers to break even.

When we arrived at the airport we were glad to see him there also - it gave us the feeling that he stood behind his product and that we could be sure the plane would actually go.  OK, so now where was the counter for foreign travel where we could check in? There, at the far end of the hall. But we couldn't see any counters there. No, that was alright, go there anyway, and we would be be taken care of. We did, and indeed, after a while a lady appeared there lugging a huge suitcase - trunk was the word, really. She opened it and took out a mechanical typewriter, some paper, stamps and other requirements, and a folding chair. Then she closed the lid, placed the typewriter on top, sat down on her chair and here was the foreign travel check-in counter. We were getting close!

As the plane lifted off, we experienced a lovely sense of lightness. The relief was enhanced by the sight of a plane parked on the airfield below us, with black smoke billowing out of it. Good place to quit!