Can You Spell "Double"? Mar 14

The third and final trip started smoothly. Got up at 4 am. I had just five hours of sleep. Arrived in Atlanta about 30 minutes late, so an attendant asked those of us who did not have rushed connections to remain in our seats to let those in the back pass through first. That worked surprisingly well. When the aisles cleared, we got off and headed for the food court, then onto the gate. The gate was mostly filled with Russians this time, but there were a number of Americans. All the non-Russians had to have their passports checked at the gate counter. The agent thought something looked odd on our visas, but Ok'd us just the same.

When it was time to board, the same agent was checking passports and boarding passes at the door to the walkway. This time she decided they were not OK and sent us back to the counter. There a British gate agent puzzled over the visas as the departure time closed in on us. We called the travel agent in New York and told them of the problem and they assured us that the visas issued were double-entry visas. The gate agent then called someone who brought over a "cheat sheet" of what the Russian visa should look like and they didn't look like ours. It's now about 4:20, the flight is to leave Atlanta a 4:30 and everyone has boarded but us. Gayle suggested they have one of the Russian passengers read the visa to look for the word "double" and he left us there. He came back with the confirmation they wanted from a flight attendant. They told us they get charged $8000 if they let someone on with an incorrect visa. Better that we get it all checked in Atlanta, than have a problem at Passport Control in the Moscow airport!!