A Well Oiled-Machine: Azerbaijan Airlines II

So the second phase of getting my ticket to Nakhcivan was no less fun than the first. I was told that tickets went on sale at 8 am for the flight, but I decided to play it safe and get there at 7. There was already a pretty big crowd of people around the door, but – amazingly – a guy in front of the office was taking people’s names down in the order they arrived. Now this, I thought, is organization. So I put my name down – number 63 – and sat waiting for the office to open, confident in the knowledge that I was on the list.

As it got closer to eight, though, people started to crowd closer to the door. Naively, I wondered ‘Why are people jostling so much? Surely they understand that there is a list and all of our names are on it!’ But just to be on the safe side, again, I joined the mob. When the doors opened at 8, it was a complete free-for-all – like trying to buy a Furby the day after Thanksgiving. People squeezed through the open door so violently that the door frame shook and I thought they might actually break it.

Inside, the scene was much like the one I described last time, except with twice the people and ten times the aggressiveness. I found a ticket lady and pushed into the crowd around her.

And who was the first person to emerge from the counter with a ticket? None other than the man keeping the list! He smiled at me and left, ticket in hand. I assume that this was some sort of diversionary tactic that the regular Nakhcivan fliers use to throw off those of us who are foolish enough to assume that some sort of order will actually be kept.

But in the end I got a ticket, and I’m here in Nakhcivan! More reports to come…

Comments

[Zuru]

Always wanted to get there!

Do keep us posted

Cheers

[Doug M.]

I've been just a few miles away on the Armenian side, and was intensely curious. Looking forward.

Doug M.

[carpetblogger]

People fighting to go to Naxchivan tells me all I need to know about Azerbaijan.

Good work, though.