You're reading: World Traveler: Winter travel blues – staying overnight in snowbound airports is misery

Here’s a tip for winter traveling: Don’t do it, especially during the Christmas-New Year’s holidays. If you must, go south or be prepared for blizzards, crowds and delays.

Here’s a tip for winter traveling: Don’t do it, especially during the Christmas-New Year’s holidays. If you must, go south or be prepared for blizzards, crowds and delays.

I wasn’t and became a statistic – one of thousands of winter travelers stranded at airports in Europe and America. I have only now recovered enough from the trauma to write about it.

Because I hadn’t been home to America for Christmas since 2007, I decided to make the trip from Kyiv on Dec. 17. Never again.

It’s not that I don’t like seeing everyone “back home,” but everyone else is traveling during the holidays – so really, it’s not that enjoyable. Many of my friends and relatives were stressed out or were extremely busy anyway.

Also, as the traveling world found out, sometimes you just can’t get from here to there.

My flight was scheduled to leave Boryspil Airport at 6:25 a.m. I worked late the night before and decided to stay up overnight, rather than catch only a few hours of sleep. I went to the terminal B and wondered where everyone was, then realized they were at the new terminal F – the first time I had flown out of there. So I walked my bags the extra 100 meters or so.

The troubles were just beginning. My work permit had expired. The immigration control officer demanded that I trudge to terminal C, pay the Hr 700 fine and get an official receipt, before she would let me out of the country. “But my plane leaves in an hour,” I pleaded unsuccessfully. I ran there and back, boarded the plane and then … sat for a few hours with everyone else as the snow fell with gusto.

Finally, they told us to get off the plane because bad weather had blocked travel to Amsterdam. After milling around Boryspil until early afternoon, we were allowed back on the plane again … only to wait some more.

Hundreds of people gather around information stands at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, which was paralyzed by bad weather on Dec. 28. Snowstorms disrupted travel over the holidays in many cities of Europe and America, causing delays for thousands of people. Exasperated passengers criticized airports and airlines for bad planning. (AFP)

Finally, we took off and landed … in Brussels, Belgium, not Amsterdam because its Schiphol Airport had all but closed due to inclement weather.

After two or three pointless hours in the Brussels airport, where no one could tell us what was happening or how long we would be stuck there, the passengers of this ill-fated flight were tired and testy. But we also started to get to know each other and exchange business cards.

Finally, we got the clearance for Amsterdam, but it was a rough flight in white-out conditions because of snow. I was so relieved to land. By now, it was already dark, past 7 p.m. or so, and I was nowhere near my destination.

We deplaned and were greeted by a single airline employee who – no matter how much we harangued her – could not help us. No flights were going out and few were coming in. All the transfer desks were closed for the night. The hotels were full.

I would have to spend the night at the airport. Then I got the unhappy piece of news that most of the cafes, restaurants and kiosks closed at 9 p.m., so I couldn’t even eat and drink the night away.

It would be a very long and chaotic night. Thousands formed lines and slept on the floor in front of the transfer desks, waiting for them to open at 7 a.m. I couldn’t even find the end of some lines, so I decided that this wasn’t the way to get re-booked.

When stuck overnight at an airport, it helps to have money, credit cards and a laptop computer with a decent amount on your Skype account

Dazed and sleepless for more than 24 hours, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I decided, however, to keep moving all night and stay awake, walking throughout the airport with my carry-on bag.

If you are in this position, two things are a must – money and a credit card; a third is very handy – a laptop. I had all three, but still it wasn’t enough.

As the night wore on, I lucked out and found an enterprising group of travelers at the Internet café. Together, we called airlines repeatedly on Skype in a bid to get through. At 3 a.m., I managed to finally get an answer from Delta Airlines and a rebooking – a flight to my destination exactly 24 hours after the original one. Now I just had to kill time until the 2 p.m. takeoff.

My record was 0-1 in missing snowstorms on this trip.

I arrived in New York, while my baggage took another four days to catch up with me. I left the Big Apple just before a snowstorm paralyzed the city for days. With my record at missing snowstorms improving to 1-1, I felt my luck turning.

But I still had my northern home state of Minnesota – or Minnesnowta, as it is known – to contend with. Fortunately, Mother Nature took pity. I returned to Kyiv on Jan. 2 with no problems whatsoever, even spending an enjoyable morning layover at the Amsterdam airport. This time, the first airport transfer desk I saw had five employees waiting on a single customer.

Next Christmas? I plan to listen to Dean Martin’s rendition of “Let It Snow” and other classics – hopefully from somewhere on a tropical island.

Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected]