The issues (regarding weather) of the passengers, who arrive in Armenia, are various and numerous. And these issues originate not only because of time but also make the passengers nervous. Many people in other cities and countries, who want to arrive in Yerevan waste hours and days.
These kinds of specific situations show the level of quality of the local service and the humanity of employees, who provide that service. At present the service works very intensively and hard. The airplanes, arriving from foreign countries, land either in Gyumri or Tbilisi. Although some airlines offer their passengers to land in Tashkent (by realizing that the passengers would not agree to land in Baku), however many of those passengers prefer to land in Tbilisi, which is closer to Yerevan. The well-known airlines, which are well-known, comfortably transport the passengers from Tbilisi to Yerevan by saving their time and nerves.
For example, the passengers (who landed in Tbilisi) of the “British Airways” London-Yerevan flight were offered hot drinks and sandwiches and were escorted to the bus. Early at 6 a.m., the representatives of “British Airways” were asking the passengers with smiles and good English whether any of the passengers needed any medical help. And after that, within 10 minutes, the baggages of passengers were moved to the bus. While crossing through the territory of Georgia the bus was in close attention of the Georgian branch of the “British Airways”. The bus has successfully reached Armenia. The passengers’ issues originated only when the bus reached the border of Armenia. After transporting the passengers to Armenia safely the British-Georgian escort returned to Tbilisi.
None of the passengers realized why the bus had been held at the border for 5 hours and why the customs officers demanded the Armenian citizens to fill out declarations. The Americans (the flight started in Los Angeles) and the British have realized late enough that the reasons for delay are very prosaic. The Armenian tactics were clear enough: “Let’s make them wait long so that the people get bored and finally give us money”. And many of the passengers were paying. Each of the American passengers had to pay $60 for the visa. However they wouldn’t have to pay that money if they reached Armenia by air.
The Way in is Either Money or a Gift
By using the occasion of the bad weather and flight delays, the customs officers try to get as much use of it as possible. They have little time. As soon as the fog disperses in Yerevan the number of passengers traveling by bus to cross the border will obviously decrease. A certain “bet” is defined, according to which every single bus that gets to Armenia has to pay $200. The passengers, of course, tired of that hassle, gather that money in order not to be in comfortable (with toilets) buses for hours. And the kind Georgian driver didn’t want to interfere in the “Armenian affairs”. He was just grinning at all this and maintaining diplomatic neutrality. The customs officers, who were searching the suitcases, did not care about the feelings of their compatriots, who wanted to get home as soon as possible and the international passengers who wanted to see Yerevan. They were only interested in one thing – use the opportunity to “grab” as much money as possible by taking advantage of the Yerevan fog. “Are you taking many gifts home?”, asked one of the customers to a young women with a 2-year old child, who was traveling from the US. “I should open your suitcases and check your stuff”. These words implied threats. “Look, you will have to wait long. You know exactly what you should do to make it go faster”. The process of thorough search of suitcases took longer because the woman did not have any wish to give a present to the customs officer. “Do you have more new clothes or worn?”, the customs officer didn’t want to miss his chance of getting a gift. After the woman’s “no” answer the officer got mad. “What are you going to do with all these new clothes?” The conversation was proceeding in the customs tent, where suitcases were moved for a better search. The struggle of the woman and the customs officers ceased only when a familiar person showed up. After the person’s mediation the quarrel, which lasted over 30 minutes, had stopped.
Due to the fog the passengers, who just got off the planes and were taken to the border by bus, have become a source of income for the customs officers. “And if there is a chance to make money today why shall we leave it for tomorrow?”, this is the mentality of our compatriots. The Georgian customs officers did not even think to stop the bus for baggage survey. The Georgians are proud of their service and the image of a kind Caucasian is more important for them than quick money making. The almost ruined airport of Gyumri gives way to the big and comfortable “Zvartnots” airport of Yerevan as much as the Armenian service compared to the Georgian one. “We are ready to do everything to make sure that you don’t stay too long in our country and get to your destination very fast”, said one of the employees of Tbilisi airport named Sandro, for whom the image of his country is more valuable than any amount of money. One of the Armenian passengers asked him whether, in his opinion, the Armenians would treat the Georgians the same way if there was fog in Tbilisi. Sandro was silent for a second pondering over the answer and finally he answered, “There is no fog in Tbilisi”. But everything is covered in fog in our country.