Thread by @VMakszimov

A personal 🧵about my ongoing odyssey of getting out of #Russia. For more than 53 hours I have been trying to get from Siberia to Brussels. 1/

We left Bratsk, Irkutstaya oblast' (see map) on Sunday at 9:30. After a tight connection of getting from Domodedovo to @svoglobal through the entirety of #Moscow, we arrived with our @aeroflot Brussels flight still scheduled. 2/

Side note – I went to see my family whom I haven’t seen for 4 years for a week, arriving on the 19 Feb, Saturday, before the invasion. Why then? Because I have finally turned 27 the week before, meaning I have run out the clock on my mandatory military service. Except... 3/

On the 18 Feb Putin signs an ukaz declaring all those in reserve to be called up for military training in 2022... 4/

But luckily, I was successfully let out by a RU border guard who appeared half drunk & fell asleep at least 4 times while looking at my passport, we got on the flight, hoping we have made it... only to be turned back mid-air over Helsinki after the #EU shut its airspace 5/

Upon return to @svoglobal, we realised my traveling companion, a Hungarian citizen, who had a single entry visa that expired when we exited Russia was now stuck in limbo, unable to enter the transit zone without a new boarding pass and unable to cross the border. 6/

(As a side not here, endless gratitude to @NatashaFoote , @KiraTaylor15, @alex_owski and many many more friends whose twitter handle I don't know for being there in that desperate moment, frantically trying to find a solution) 7/

After 4 hours of waiting for lost Aeroflot staff who couldn't reach their own HQ, we got a flight for next morning to @igairport. But #Aeroflot has miscalculated how long it'd take to go around, and our flight was 1hr14min late, so we missed our connecting flight to #Brussels. 8/

Flight info for the same flight today (SU2130) confirm this keeps happening, the flight is predicted to land 1h24min late, which means Aeroflot keeps lying to people, promising they will make their flights in Istanbul. They will not. 9/

What happens when they miss their flights? #Aeroflot'll tell them that other carriers (eg.@TurkishAirlines) refuses to accept their booking application 4 other flights. Here's me literally behind the Aeroflot check-in desk trying to understand what's going on 10/

Meanwhile, @TurkishAirlines has denied ever receiving requests through the (@Sabre_Corp) system. Here’s Aeroflot "showing" their customers that it's all out of their hands. 11/

After nine hours of negotiations, they manage to change my flight to #Amsterdam, telling me I'll have to get to #BXL at my own cost. The flight leaves this evening ... but 12/

There're 18 other passengers who missed their flight to Brussels ystrd. Similar connections didn't happen to Paris, Frankfurt. Same thing is likely to happen today. Diplomatic sources in Moscow say at least 200 🇭🇺 citizens're now similarly stuck there. 13/

Last evening, I wasthe only one who managed to change their ticket so far. Everyone else will have to pay out of their own pocket with verbal promises Aeroflot will give them the money back (I wonder how with Russian banks rightfully sanctioned to hell). 14/

Bottom line: Aeroflot is lying to their passengers, telling them they will be able to reach Europe through Istanbul. They might eventually, but it will be a very long, expensive and painful journey. Unless their layovers are ridiculously long. 15/

Long 🧵 short: A journey that was meant to take 14 hours 20 minutes will now take at least (if all goes smoothly from here) 69 hours 25 minutes. As one EU diplomat told me, "Aeroflot" is Russian past tense for "flying". 16/END (maybe)

I can't...🤡 It wasn't the end after all, was just refused to board my #AMS flight because of this 👇 (saw the warning too late, was working on covering today's @Europarl_EN debate. I knew about the test requirement but ... 17/

https://twitter.com/ZacAlf/status/1498631268291989505?s=20&t=dJTokFrN6ps-FxJhTN0hJQ

thought we fall under one of following (see pic) exception categories. Apparently a) transiting with a train (we already had tickets for a night train from AMS to BXL) doesn't count and b) my flight being diverted back to Moscow, ... 18/

... me being diverted to IST and then being diverted to AMS instead of BXL does not count as being "a passenger diverted to a Dutch airport whose original destination is not the Netherlands." super clear instructions 19/

@KLM agreed to change our tickets to the same flight 24 hrs from now, so I guess I'm about to becoming much more acquainted with the Istanbul airport than I ever imagined... 20/tbc

The KLM boss in Istanbul gave me a name of a person who could 'help me' in the transit zone outside the main boarding area. In an ironic twist of fate, it was the same @HavasGH ground handling services representative (Aeroflot's partner) I already shouted at on Monday.... 21/

who demonstratively walked away from me at the end of her shift. After some hysterical laughs & a hunch the woman now thinks we're karmically linked (suggested by a bunch of inshallahs, disbelief & big sighs from her part), she sends me back across to border to Turkey ... 22/

after I speak on the phone w/ an Aeroflot representatives from ystrd, who says he'll handle another 24hrs stay @ the hotel, I just need to take a test & come to meet him. After the test comes back negative we go to the Aeroflot desk & find an empty booth w/no signs of life... 23/

Convinced we're screwed, left w/o accmm.& no way to reach anyone (because every person we've ever met at this place categorically refused to share contact details), I go to the hotel airport outside the check-in zone to see if they booked a place for us there. They haven't...24/

Now there's a spinoff -- I also realise I left my watch in one of the rooms of the hotel in the transit, which the same hotel's staff tells me they have found BUT cannot bring outside to give to me b/c "customs", whatever that means 25/

In the meantime the Aeroflot guy appears, & after some more waiting gives us our new boarding cards & says our hotel room is ready for us inside the check-in area, we just need to cross the border & we're all set... except ... 26/

when we get there, the hotel staff says there's no reservation and the hotel is fully booked, and they have no way to reach Aeroflot because their reservation team already went home and'll only come back at 8am (it's 00.30am at this point) 27/

At this point I recommend watching this ad for "Kafka airport" to understand how I feel: 28/

So I go back to @HavasGH in the transit zone, where I find a half-hysterical group of employees, surrounded by a bunch of angry Russians. Eventually, I earn some sympathy and they arrange for me to be let back to Turkish territory by cancelling my last exit stamp 29/

I come to the Aeroflot check-in desks, explain the situation and I'm promised in 20-30mins they'll sort this out. It takes about 1.5hrs. 30/

I go to the border but I'm told I have to print a new boarding pass (which only KLM/AirFrance can do b/c it's their flight) since the previous one was cancelled at the same time I crossed back into Turkey 31/

After getting my new boarding card printed, I cross the border convinced that this is either a Matrix-like sim or a special kind of hell, only to realise it's def the latter when from inside my hotel room in the transit zone I can see... the Aeroflot check-in desks outside 32/

It's now 4:57am, getting some sleep to see what this airport has in store tomorrow 33/

On the plane to #AMS. Remember how we were denied boarding yesterday b/c we didn't have a COVID test? Well, no one's, I repeat NO ONE's test was checked from those people in front of us. Congratulations @KLM 👏👏👏 34/

On the train from #AMS to #BXL. 92 hours and 42 minutes later, this thread is coming to an end. Getting out of #Russia took 1.06% of 2022. Small price to pay compared to all those who continue to suffer from the Kremlin's war.

35/END