Belarus Mission Day 01

Belarus Mission

Day 1

By Peter Ruck

My flight was bound for Minsk, Belarus via Vienna. When landing at Vienna, we were told that the ground staff would transport us by bus to our connecting flight. I walked down the steps to the ground staff and was told I had to go on a bus with all the people terminating their flight here. I arrived at a terminal building, but, the attendant knew nothing about my Minsk connection.

She discovered that my flight had boarded and was about to take off. I was then sent to the Customer Service desk for re-booking, standing at the back of a long queue of frustrated passengers. I also became frustrated when told I had missed my flight to Minsk via Riga. I was then offered a flight to Minsk via Paris, which would arrive at 11.30 pm. I accepted, but it meant moving to a different Departure Gate.

After going through customs, I found my Departure Gate. As my flight was not boarding for sometime I went for a snack at a nearby café. I returned to find my flight had gone despite not receiving any notification. I returned to the Customer Service desk and was told there were no more flights to Minsk today, and was given a bag containing a toothbrush and a T-shirt.