6 ms·

It would have been ironic if the flight was overbooked and they couldn't buy a ticket/board.

capableweb 5y ago
If you're associated with the Belarus KGB it's probably not too hard to have some passengers suddenly missing their flight for one or another reason. Probably they don't even need to buy a ticket, flash your badge at the airport and most guards/staff there lets you through.
- mcky 5y ago
  I'm not sure how kindly the Greek authorities would take having KGB operatives on their soil
- BBC-vs-neolibs 5y ago
  WHY would it work like that?
- jeltz 5y ago
  Seems like a great way to get detained by Greek airport security. I do not see why Greek airport staff would do anything other than call security when someone flashes a KGB badge.
  - disabled 5y ago
    LOL do you think they actually carry badges? That would be quite incriminating. Instead, it’s more like they are carrying fake passports issued by the Russian Federation. But, one likely would not get caught traveling on a fake passport issued by their country’s government’s spy service, unless they had already travelled on another (perhaps legit) passport abroad (Russia has internal passports too) that has fingerprint information in combination with a photo of the individual. This drastically reduces false negatives when things like this need to be flagged. My US passport only contains a photo as biometric information, while my European Union passport contains fingerprints and my photo as biometric information.
    - ummonk 5y ago
      Russia provides passports for Belarussian agents?
      - tgragnato 5y ago
        Yeah they apparently had Russian passports and the full support of the Russian state. Maria Zakharova even wrote that “It is shocking that the West calls the incident in Belarusian airspace ‘shocking,’”. She is the Director of the Press Department for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is famous for claiming things as ludicrous as this one… https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/konstantinbenyumov/maria-zakharokva-profile-russian-foreign-ministry https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/konstantinbenyumov/mari...
        ummonk 5y ago
        Thanks. I could swear like a decade ago it seemed like Belarus and Russia had had a falling out but I guess they patched things up since then (or the falling out didn’t impact cooperation like these passports).
      - lupire 5y ago
        Belarus is the last Soviet satellite.
- dgellow 5y ago
  > flash your badge at the airport and most guards/staff there lets you through. No? Why would that be the case?
kokx 5y ago
Within the EU, flights rarely get overbooked. Especially on cheap flights like with Ryanair, the reimbursement that the airline has to provide in case of overbooking can easily be more than 10x the ticket value.
- colejohnson66 5y ago
  The cultural difference between the US and Europe is very interesting. In the US, when a flight is overbooked, the airline is allowed to bump anyone if they provide good enough compensation. Usually what happens is the airline “auctions” being bumped where they keep upping the “benefit” for staying. Usually that’s just a voucher for the next flight out, a gift card for the future, and a nights stay in a hotel. “We’re sorry we got greedy, and made you miss your multi million dollar business deal, and it fell through. Here’s some money that you can only spend with us. We hope to see you soon!” At the extreme, if no one takes the offer, they’ll just bump some rando and you have to pray it’s not you. Of course, nothing is done about it because it doesn’t happen enough for enough people to complain. I also bet that the airline’s systems are programmed to never choose a powerful enough person for the rando being bumped. You wouldn’t want to bump a Congressperson, right? That’d be just rude!
  - beagle3 5y ago
    I’m sure they have a list of VIPs, but just “frequent flyer” seniority is a good proxy that sorts the powerful from the plebs.
    - Gorbzel 5y ago
      Just curious, but why wouldn’t one expect reliably repeat customers to be treated with increased consideration in these circumstances? Seems to me this is true in pretty much every industry, yet for some reason with flights, certain folks (likely not the FFers) get very upset to realize their price sensitivity/lack of airline stickiness moved them to the back of the line.
      - 5y ago
useryman 5y ago
It was a ryanair flight. They know exactly how many people are going on their planes, because every unsold seat could be another €20 and someone looking for a return ticket.

If you're associated with the Belarus KGB it's probably not too hard to have some passengers suddenly missing their flight for one or another reason. Probably they don't even need to buy a ticket, flash your badge at the airport and most guards/staff there lets you through.

mcky 5y ago
I'm not sure how kindly the Greek authorities would take having KGB operatives on their soil
BBC-vs-neolibs 5y ago
WHY would it work like that?
jeltz 5y ago
Seems like a great way to get detained by Greek airport security. I do not see why Greek airport staff would do anything other than call security when someone flashes a KGB badge.
- disabled 5y ago
  LOL do you think they actually carry badges? That would be quite incriminating. Instead, it’s more like they are carrying fake passports issued by the Russian Federation. But, one likely would not get caught traveling on a fake passport issued by their country’s government’s spy service, unless they had already travelled on another (perhaps legit) passport abroad (Russia has internal passports too) that has fingerprint information in combination with a photo of the individual. This drastically reduces false negatives when things like this need to be flagged. My US passport only contains a photo as biometric information, while my European Union passport contains fingerprints and my photo as biometric information.
  - ummonk 5y ago
    Russia provides passports for Belarussian agents?
    - tgragnato 5y ago
      Yeah they apparently had Russian passports and the full support of the Russian state. Maria Zakharova even wrote that “It is shocking that the West calls the incident in Belarusian airspace ‘shocking,’”. She is the Director of the Press Department for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is famous for claiming things as ludicrous as this one… https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/konstantinbenyumov/maria-zakharokva-profile-russian-foreign-ministry https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/konstantinbenyumov/mari...
      - ummonk 5y ago
        Thanks. I could swear like a decade ago it seemed like Belarus and Russia had had a falling out but I guess they patched things up since then (or the falling out didn’t impact cooperation like these passports).
    - lupire 5y ago
      Belarus is the last Soviet satellite.
dgellow 5y ago
> flash your badge at the airport and most guards/staff there lets you through. No? Why would that be the case?

kokx 5y ago

Within the EU, flights rarely get overbooked. Especially on cheap flights like with Ryanair, the reimbursement that the airline has to provide in case of overbooking can easily be more than 10x the ticket value.

colejohnson66 5y ago
The cultural difference between the US and Europe is very interesting. In the US, when a flight is overbooked, the airline is allowed to bump anyone if they provide good enough compensation. Usually what happens is the airline “auctions” being bumped where they keep upping the “benefit” for staying. Usually that’s just a voucher for the next flight out, a gift card for the future, and a nights stay in a hotel. “We’re sorry we got greedy, and made you miss your multi million dollar business deal, and it fell through. Here’s some money that you can only spend with us. We hope to see you soon!” At the extreme, if no one takes the offer, they’ll just bump some rando and you have to pray it’s not you. Of course, nothing is done about it because it doesn’t happen enough for enough people to complain. I also bet that the airline’s systems are programmed to never choose a powerful enough person for the rando being bumped. You wouldn’t want to bump a Congressperson, right? That’d be just rude!
- beagle3 5y ago
  I’m sure they have a list of VIPs, but just “frequent flyer” seniority is a good proxy that sorts the powerful from the plebs.
  - Gorbzel 5y ago
    Just curious, but why wouldn’t one expect reliably repeat customers to be treated with increased consideration in these circumstances? Seems to me this is true in pretty much every industry, yet for some reason with flights, certain folks (likely not the FFers) get very upset to realize their price sensitivity/lack of airline stickiness moved them to the back of the line.
    - 5y ago

useryman 5y ago

It was a ryanair flight. They know exactly how many people are going on their planes, because every unsold seat could be another €20 and someone looking for a return ticket.