Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland. 26th May, 2022.
The day to leave Europe! After a wonderful, 25-day trip that covered five countries. Always a day with mixed feelings. As we checked out of room no. 218 of Hotel Holiday Inn Express Frankfurt airport, Raunheim, we were riding a wave of emotions - on the crests of happiness at returning home after a long absence; on the troughs of sadness at leaving our favourite continent and country!
As always, Urmila got busy talking in broken German to a lady on duty at the reception. At breakfast, we met an Indian family. On conversing with it, we came to know that the family hailed from Pune, but the young daughter and her husband were working in Amsterdam and the parents had joined them from India, on a tour of Europe. How exciting!
Ahmed's taxi (the same that we had used from Raunheim railway station to the hotel on the night of the 24th) arrived before time and we were off to the airport. The driver, from Pakistan, freely chatted with us in Hindi - on people, politics and government. Reached Frankfurt Flughafen(airport) in twelve minutes or so. As we had already completed our web check-in, we dropped off our bags at the Lufthansa counter in Hall A of the huge airport, generating the baggage tags on our own. Completed the security, immigration easily - our few German phrases helped! Made our way along the glittering and inviting duty-free shops and plonked ourselves at Gate B43, after purchasing a few chocolates. It was approximately a quarter past eleven then. The boarding time was 12:35. Plenty of time to relax, or so we thought!
A small incident that happened before this - after dropping off our bags and moving towards Security check, we encountered a small turnstile manned by a tall, dark and hefty female officer. We had to scan our boarding passes to pass through the turnstile and onward to the security check. As we had mobile boarding passes, I first scanned mine and the turnstile opened wide enough to allow both of us to pass through. I asked Urmila to quickly follow me, without bothering to scan the other pass! No sooner had she done so when a continuous beep started - the alarm! Immediately, the security officer called us over! Urmila started her German buttering and the effect on the officer was immediate! She softened and just asked me to show the other boarding pass, on my TAB. Urmila further complimented her on her convoluted hair style and this opened up a floodgate of conversation, that included Bollywood! Other passengers waiting to enter were watching in amazement!
Well, let us come back to Gate B43. After approximately a quarter of an hour of sitting there, watching people, exchanging pleasantries with fellow passengers, I, on a hunch, got up and went to a security officer to confirm that the gate for the Mumbai flight was indeed B43. My worst fears were confirmed when she said that the gate had changed to B48! Incredible! We had not heard any announcement to that effect! But then, it was not really incredible, because Lufthansa had twice changed the gate for our Warsaw-Frankfurt flight two days ago! I was suspicious of their ways and hence the hunch! I returned hurriedly to where Urmila was waiting and made her get up urgently. You should have seen the look on her face when I told her about the change of gates! (The lack of an Indian crowd at the gate, for a 350 passenger capacity aircraft to Mumbai, had also aroused my suspicions of a gate change.) Fortunately, gate B48 was not too far off. A large crowd - mostly Indian - confirmed that we were now at the right gate! Further, we spotted our aircraft - a huge 747 - on the tarmac, just outside the window.
A few security personnel at the three or four counters outside gate B48 were examining documents of the passengers who had queued up at each. We wondered what documents they could be and assumed that they might be related to RT-PCR tests or proof of vaccination. We weren't worried, as we had both on my TAB; and joined a queue. This was just another formality to be completed before boarding! Or so we thought!
When came our turn at the counter, the smiling young security officer - a sweet girl - asked to see our passports. "What the heck ! Here they are," thought I, as I casually handed them over. She returned them to us and with the same smile on her face, said, " Show me your 'Air Suvidha' completed document on line! " We were stumped! Clean bowled! Our scoreline at that moment would have read, "caught Frankfurt security, bowled Govt. of India!" We had completely forgotten about this nasty requirement! Our travel agent had arranged it for us on our Dubai trip last November, but with Covid on the wane, this was completely forgotten! A lapse on our part! For the first time since entering the airport, we were on the defensive! I said to the girl, " We do not have the certificate. However, we both are fully vaccinated and our RT-PCR tests before leaving India were negative." The girl's smile broadened and she said, "Okay, you may fill the Air Suvidha form online now!" Shit! We had expected her to say, "Fine, you may go!" What now?
We went to the side and sat. I tried to fiddle around with the Air Suvidha portal. Landed at one where I quickly filled up my details. The online form asked for the date of landing in India. I keyed in '27th May' and the response was, "The landing date should be four days later." 'Eh? What was this, now? Was the portal going to decide when I should land at Mumbai? 'Air Duvidha' seemed a more appropriate name! Well, in a hurry to fill out the forms for both of us and board the waiting 747 seemingly grinning at us and saying, "board me if you can!"; I had landed at the wrong portal where I ended up paying US$ 65/- online !! I had wasted both time and money, when the boarding time was drawing nearer and nearer! My palms were moist though I had been nowhere near a water source!
Fortunately, I found the right portal and heaved a sigh of relief as I could key in the relevant information quickly. Till I came to, 'Upload your passport', followed by 'upload your vaccination certificate.' I had both on my TAB but failed to upload either, as both - the file format and size were wrong ! Now sweat broke on my forehead! To make matters worse, the boarding had commenced! We scampered back to the smiling girl and told her our problem. The smile did not leave her face, as she casually said, " I have already checked you, you are okay!" O wow! Wasn't that nice? We confidently joined the boarding queue, wondering why we had wasted time and money on the portal! When our turn came, we confidently showed our passports to the tall and thin blue-eyed young lad who seemed anything but friendly. He checked the passports and returned them to us. I was opening my TAB, anticipating his next question, "Show me your boarding passes." His next question came quickly enough, but it wasn't the one we were expecting! His blue eyes boring into us, he barked, "Where is the Air Suvidha compliance sticker on your passports?" What was that, now? Our hearts sank again! We told him that the girl had cleared us without the online Air Suvidha compliance; and that we would fill it out at Mumbai immigration, after landing. "No, without Air Suvidha, you cannot board" was his triumphant proclamation. Next to us, the boarding was in process! Happy passengers, who had crossed the Air Suvidha hurdle, were moving towards the aircraft.
Back to that girl! Complained to her that the security was not allowing us to board! That smile again! "I cannot do anything, he is my superior," said she, pointing to Mr. Unfriendly; the smile not leaving her face for a moment! She then indicated another security personnel standing close by and suggested, "You try talking to him." This guy was of medium height, bespectacled; with a constipated expression on his face'! This guy looked more unfriendly than the tall one! How would he help us? However, we had no choice! The crowd at gate B48 was slowly thinning, like the hairline of a middle-aged man. Panic now set in ! For once, Urmila also seemed to have lost her composure.
Mr. Unfriendly no. 2 proved to be just that and even after explaining him the whole situation and assuring him that we would complete the formalities at Mumbai immigration, he responded with "No way. You cannot board. If we allow you to go without Air Suvidha, they (Mumbai immigration) will send you back to Germany!" The thought was not entirely an unwelcome one, the gravity of the situation notwithstanding! We both pleaded with him a number of times but he wouldn't budge. (For once, Urmila's German buttering did not help!) The time was now something like 13:10 and the scheduled departure was at 13:20! Thoughts of missing the flight and staying back at Frankfurt for a day or two (not entirely unpleasant, as our visas were valid till 30th May!) started entering our minds now. Mr. Unfriendly must have sensed our mood, because he suggested that we take the help of some passenger to fill out the form online, as there was still time for departure. Germans are sticklers for rules, even at the cost of being labelled stubborn and impractical. We were at the receiving end of German bureaucracy at its best!
A young girl passenger waiting to board agreed to help; and tried. She got stuck at uploading the passport and vaccination certificates in pdf form, on her phone! (It then struck me that she could not have uploaded them in any form, as she did not have them on her phone!) How logic deserts one in a panic situation! I tried to transfer the certificates to her phone, but couldn't. To transfer, I needed her WA number in my contacts or get blue-tooth working! "I use I-phone, so blue-tooth won't work!", she helpfully informed! All our hopes of boarding the flight were dashed!
We went back to Mr. Unfriendly no. 2 in low spirits and told him clearly that the online thing wasn't working out. He admonished us, saying, " Why did you not fill the Air Suvidha form online before leaving for the airport? This is the Indian Government's requirement, not ours. You should know your country's travel regulations, before you travel." We couldn't argue against that! Down in the dumps, we were resigning ourselves to spending at least one more night at Frankfurt(where the near-empty Hotel Holiday Inn would gleefully welcome us back!), when Mr. Unfriendly no. 2 relented a bit and said, "I can give you a hard copy of the form, you can fill it right now." Wow! This was music to our ears! His colleague ferreted out a form - a simple, insipid form designed as per the government of India's requirement - from a drawer, and gave it to me. "We want two," I said, grabbing it. "I am sorry, we have only one," was the blunt answer!
The departure time had passed but the aircraft was still there, with perhaps three more families remaining to board. In desperation, I filled that single form for both of us and ran to Mr. Unfriendly no. 2. He scanned it and said, "It is okay for one person, not two. You can go, she cannot board", pointing at Urmila! What the fuck was going on? Were these people playing with us or were they taking rules and regulations to a ridiculous extreme? The former proved to be the case, when Mr. Unfriendly No. 2 suddenly said, " I'll help you print another form. I'll give you a code, which you will key in the printer; and get the form printed." Great ! I thought, the tension suddenly ebbing ! "The printer is next to gate B20! ", was his next triumphant proclamation! He added, most helpfully, " You have time, you have five minutes, you can get the print out." How very nice! From 48 to 20; printing; and back, all in five minutes! "Hurry up," he said coldly, "I cannot guarantee that the aircraft will wait!" How charming! Did I detect a smirk as he said it? Smirk or not, that was all that was needed to make us run. Bathed in sweat and panting for breath, we arrived at Gate B20. "Where is the printer? This is urgent!" said I to an officer there. She pointed out the printer, just a few metres away. Boy! I was never more happy to see a printer ! I keyed in the code and the name of the document "Air Suvidha" appeared on the printer, as the next job for printing. Relief! I pressed the 'Print+delete' button on the printer. Nothing happened!! The beads of sweat returned to adorn my forehead! Urmila asked a passenger (Indian) whether he knew how to operate the machine. He smiled and said, "I don't know, but a lady just took four prints from here." I felt like slapping him! Of what use was that piece of information?
Urmila then requested a German passenger who was sitting there, watching everything, whether he could help. She requested in German; that helped. He got up form his seat, came to the printer, pressed the same button which I had; and the prints were in my hand !! Two copies, as in my anxiety, I had keyed in the code twice!
We ran like crazy back to B48, Urmila in front with the forms in one hand and pen in the other; I lagging behind, with the backpack on my shoulders and Urmila's heavy handbag in my hand! We must have made a pretty sight! Out of breath and perspiring, Urmila started filling in the form in Mr. Unfriendly No. 2's presence. The most heartening part was that the aircraft was still waiting! Just one more family remained to board. As Urmila was halfway through the form, Mr. Unfriendly no. 2 suddenly said, "It is okay, you both can board!"
WHAT A HUGE RELIEF!!
We went to the gate to board, where a lady asked us for our passports! We showed her. She asked us for our boarding passes next. We showed her these too (on my TAB). "Oh, you don't have prints?" was her dismal question! Now what? Were we going to be prevented from entering the aircraft because we did not have hard copies of the boarding passes? One cannot put anything past German bureaucracy! Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened! The lady spoke in a friendly tone, "No problem, I'll get them printed." She did so and finally, finally, the ordeal was over and we boarded the flight to Mumbai! The lady even complimented Urmila on her dress! Now, why was that, I wonder? Was it a genuine compliment? Or was it to steady our nerves? Or was it to cover up for their high-handed attitude? I mean, they could have offered us the option of the hard copy earlier and prevented creating so much tension, couldn't they?
It was close to 14:00 when we were finally seated and wiping off the sweat from our foreheads. As our breathing returned to normal, the captain made an announcement, " We will be delayed for take off by another fifteen minutes owing to the shortage of staff at the ATC (Air Traffic Controller)."
God bless the absent ATC staff; it is because of them we did not miss our flight!
Note: The picture of Frankfurt airport at the top and the sketch of the airport's interior above have been borrowed from the net; the others have been clicked by me.