Airport formalities

According to the international standards passengers are to arrive at the airport two hours before departure time on inter­national flights and one hour on domestic flights. The reason is that passengers should have enough time to complete all nec­essary airport formalities.

At the airport passengers should check the time of the flight to make sure that it is not delayed, cancelled, or altered. This information is available on the flight information display or at the inquiry office.

Passengers are to fill in customs declarations in one of in­ternational languages or in the language of the country they depart from. They go to the Customs for an examination of their luggage. In some cases the Customs officer may ask you to open your bags and suitcases for inspection. This is one in order to prevent smuggling. After you are through with all Customs for­malities the Customs officer puts a stamp on your Customs dec­laration, or on each piece of luggage, or chalks it off. The par­ticular procedure depends on the country of departure.

Then passengers proceed to the check-in area. There they are to register their tickets, to weigh in and to check-in their lug­gage.

Most airlines have at least two classes of travel: first or busi­ness class and economy or tourist class. Business class is more expensive, while economy class is cheaper. Each passenger above two years of age has a free luggage allowance. As a rule, this limit is 20 kg for economy class passengers and 30 kg for business class passengers. Excess luggage must be paid for, but for some arti­cles that can be carried free of charge, such as baby's food, ar­ticles of baby's care, baby's prams, wheelchairs of disabled pas­sengers, and some personal effects.

Each passenger is given a boarding pass with his or her seat number. Passengers are asked if they want to sit by the window, and in the smoking or non-smoking area. A boarding pass is to

be shown at the departure gate and to the hostess when board­ing the plane.

Finally, passengers proceed to the passport control area. Pass­port control offices will check your passport and visa and put a stamp on them.

Customs, checking-in and passport formalities are more or less the same in all countries.