"First, We Sat For Three Hours On The Airplane."
- 4.12.2025, 13:14
How Belarusians suffer due to regular closures of Vilnius airport.
In recent months, Vilnius airport has been periodically closed due to weather probes carrying smuggled cigarettes launched from Belarus. And this brings huge discomfort to everyone who flies on airplanes. Flights are canceled, delayed, rerouted. Belarusians are among those affected. BGmedia has collected the stories they shared in border chats.
How Belarusians cope with the regular closure of Vilnius airport
The most unlucky are those who were already preparing to take off at Vilnius airport, but it is closed at the last moment. For such people, the journey stretches for a long time.
The story of a Belarusian: "It was unbridled fun. My plane was supposed to leave at 19.10. But the airspace was closed at 18.55, but it was not immediately known. First we sat for three hours in the plane, then at 22.00 we were sent back to the terminal.
All flights were canceled, the chaos was complete. By about 1:00am, it became known that our flight had been rescheduled for the morning. Ryanair desks are crowded to get a hotel voucher. At first they said there were no rooms, then by 2am they started handing them out again. Anyway, at 03.00 we checked in, at 06.30 we got up for the flight, but still better than sleeping at the airport. Everyone got to know each other and made friends. The flight left at 10.30 in the end.
From Ryanair should come text messages, but they come sometimes not to everyone and partially. I don't know what it depends on, I didn't get half of the texts. The text says that money has arrived on your boarding pass to buy a drink and a meal. It was 4 euros at night, 13 euros in the morning. Maybe this info will help someone, just go up to the cafe in the terminal and let them scan your boarding pass, it will show how much money came in. This is in case anyone is in this situation. I think it was not the last time.
The situation is also difficult for those who were going to fly to Vilnius and from there take a bus to Belarus, but the airport was closed. Passengers sit for hours waiting for their flight. And they share the best ways to save money in such situations:
"My flight from Frankfurt to Vilnius was delayed for 4 hours, because Vilnius airport did not work again because of smuggled balloons. I originally timed the bus to be about 6 hours between arrival and bus. Don't forget that it's winter. Departing flights can be delayed due to snow and other weather conditions. It's best to make allowance for time."
"Sitting in Dublin airport. The flight to Vilnius has been delayed twice. In total it's now over three hours delayed. It's good that I didn't take a bus ticket."
Slightly luckier are those whose flights are transferred to Kaunas airport. Then the travel plan is not completely ruined. Especially since people are brought to this airport:
"Yesterday we were offered an alternative - they took us to Kaunas and the departure was eventually from there, instead of Ryanair it was Vienna Airlines. The night was hard because of the airport closure."
"We are already from Vilnius loading into a bus to Kaunas. From there we will fly to our destination. The airport organized everything."
But some people still have problems getting from Kaunas to Vilnius. The system of compensation is not perfect:
"I had such a situation, the compensation was a bus ticket to Vilnius for 7 euros. We looked for and caught tickets on "Ecolines" by ourselves, the ticket seemed to be 7 euros - and that's all they could compensate, not a cab!
The bus was not provided to us, referring to the fact that many flights landed in Riga, and, they say, there are no free buses. There was neither water nor food, but I was a pioneer, let's say, in October...
Plus a lost ticket Vilnius - Minsk, plus I bought a new one...but this is my problem, they only went to Vilnius, so they supposedly had to sit in Vilnius, this point is the final one, and only for the bus!".
Belarusians are now studying the weather forecast to assess the likelihood of closing Vilnius airport
According to reports in border chat rooms, Belarusians are actively interested in weather probes with contraband from Belarus. Some have even started to watch the weather forecast and pay attention to the direction and speed of the wind in order to assess the probability of the airport closure.
Some analyze the airport closure and assess the probability of when it will definitely work.
"One should also take into account that on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday they don't launch balloons, people have rest."
"I was not lazy and collected on the official website of the airport all the flights for the last 2 months, so that I could sleep well before traveling."
"Balloons fly from the evening, so the most likely windows for the airport closure are from 6 pm to 7 am."
"When something flies towards the airport, they close. Lately, even until 5 or 7 in the morning. But what about the cancelation - it's as luck would have it, if they close before the flight, then most likely, it will be canceled/postponed, if during the flight, they can send to Kaunas or Riga, and back to the place of departure".