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Bi-Lingual Help at JFK?
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Posted by: dougsalem

Anybody out there married to a Russian woman, or speaks Russian and lives near JFK Airport in New York?

My Russian in-laws have to change planes at JFK at 4:00 pm, Thursday, August 24, on their way to visit us in California. They speak no English, but will have to go through JFK’s Immigration and Customs, get from the International terminal to the domestic one, re-check their luggage, get to the right gate for their connecting flight.

They only have one hour and 25 minutes between the time their flight from Kiev is scheduled to land and their connecting flight to LAX is scheduled to take off. (I bought them with my frequent flyer miles, where beggars can’t be choosers.) If they miss the connection there is another flight to LA about three hours later.

Also, the same thing in reverse on their way back to Ukraine a month later on Monday, September 25th, coming through JFK at 4:00 pm again.

Naturally, my wife, Olga and I are worried about them having to navigate this. We are hoping to locate some kind souls to help them through. Or, in the absence of kind souls; we are willing to pay for “VIP services” to this effect.

You can contact me or Olga privately at:

dougsalem@yahoo.com
olgasalem1@yahoo.com

Doug & Olga Salem
www.goeastnow.com

Posted by: EasyTarget

Hello Doug: Welcome to the forum.
I would say that the chance of your in-laws making it through immigration control in less then 90 minutes is slim to none. And slim has left the building. Immigration will have someone who speaks Russian so I wouldn't be concerned about that part.

Also if I remember the layout of JFK's immigration control, unless someone has a ticket they are not allowed into the immigration and customs area.

Are they flying on Delta? If so I would contact the Delta customer service and ask them if there is any way that an airport rep can help them make their connecting flight.

Posted by: dougsalem

Hi Easy,

Thanks for the reply, and the welcome.

I guess I should introduce myself.

My name is Doug Salem. I'm 47 years old and a Californian. A semi-retired world traveler (surfer). I work as a proposal writer for engineering and construction firms; but I'm not an engineer or a constructor. I'm a writer/marketer. I've been married to a Russian women from Krivoy Rog, Ukraine for seven years now. She is Olga Salem, 28 years old. She owns the Yahoo Group "Ask Olga and Friends," and she runs a small Russian/English translation, interpreting (3-way phone calls) and flower & gift delivery business called "GoEastNow" (www.goeastnow.com). We have a little daughter, Lana; who is 18 months old. I have participated in a number of the Internet discussion groups on Russian women over the years. I've written and published articles on the subject. And I'm working on a book about my experiences finding and being married to Olga.

Again, thanks for the ideas with regards to my in-law. Here's some more background on their trip and the situation...

The airline is Delta. Their non-stop flight from Borispol Airport in Kiev to JFK is a new offering. Anybody out there taken it yet?

I redeemed frequent flyer miles I had with Northwest Airlines to get Mom & Pop's tickets. (More precisely, "World Perks" miles.) I have done this many times before - used Northwest frequent flyer miles to travel from LA to Kiev. The usual route is a Northwest flight from LAX to Amsterdam or Frankfurt, then a Lufthansa flight into Kiev. The Northwest agent I was working with on the phone could not get me two seats on any of those flights during Mom & Pop's window of opportunity. In searching for an alternate route, they discovered that they (Northwest) had recently entered into a frequent flyer "partnership" with Delta, and that Delta would be rolling out that new flight from Kiev. Hence the Delta flights from Borispol to JFK then JFK to LAX.

(We are in Northern California now, but I could not get them into SF, so I used my United frequent flyer miles to buy tickets for Olga to fly down to LA and meet them, then all fly up to Sacramento. That was a whole other exercise in frequent flyer mile logistics, I'll tell you ;-(

Now back to the problem at hand.

Of course we know that nobody can help Mom & Pop until they emerge from Immigration and Customs at JFK.

And of course we realize that the odds of them making the connection inside 90 minutes are bad. (They are due to arrive at 4:00 pm. The flight to LA is due to depart at 5:30 pm.) But that's the only way Northwest/Delta would book the trip. We talked to them on the phone about it and they insist 90 minutes is an "acceptable" connection time according to their Ts & Cs. They also assured us that Mom & Pop will get on a later, 8:45 pm flight if they don't make the original connection. (But they won't book them on that 8:45 flight instead, go figure.)

Our hands are tied. That's what you get with "frequent flyer" miles, which are getting harder and harder to use practically these days.

But once they do get on the ground and out into "Ameerika," Mom & Pop will need to trundle their huge, bulging bags...

... packed right up to the weight limit with cheap Russian/Chinese non-FDA approved toddler toys for our little girl (and witch-doctor voodoo Russian medicines and ointments that they will somehow either get through customs or get stopped for, also for the baby, and which I will confiscate later if JFK Customs doesn't)...

...over to a different terminal, find the Delta counter, check-in for and re-check their bags onto, the correct Delta flight to LA. (And most likely get their tickets changed to the 8:45 pm flight because they missed the first one, and get pointed through the Security Checkpoint and on to the correct gate.

In the absence of a kind Russian-speaking soul, I guess we will just arm them with a letter about who they are, where they are going, and what flights they are supposed to be on.

Let that and my other little story about frequent flyer miles logistics be a lesson to any newbies who might be out there. The hard work does not end after you've landed your beautiful Russian bride.

A true cross-cultural marriage is a life-long commitment to extra hassle and expense, and finding creative ways to mitigate them.

Our having a child last year really put pressure on me to step up visits either to or from the in-laws. And I'm not about to take such a hard-won infant over to the land of rampant health & safety violations so early in the game. Nor am I a bottomless American money pit. Babies are expensive enough without the foreign parents.

Try explaining to a Communist-era Baba and Dyadushka why they should put their hard-earned and scarce Hyrvnias into the 528 plan I opened up for the child instead of all those things in their suitcases I described that will most likely put the kid's life in danger, and which I will (to Olga's horror and my extreme guilt) try to surreptitiously migrate into the trash can once the in-laws have gone back to Ukraine. It's like talking to a brick wall (or iron curtain).

They think I'm nuts.

Doug

Posted by: Chrismc

Hi Doug

A great story, sorry I cannot help you being in the UK and speaking very little Russian is of no use to you whatsoever, however, you did touch on something, what about doing them some crib cards/notes written out in both English and Russian, something small that they could carry in a pocket and just hold up to show whoever is about what they want to do? (maybe Russian one side and English the other side)

You could work out what questions they may need to ask eg what terminal, what gate do we leave from, what time does flight XXXX leave etc etc then type them up in both languages and send them out to the in laws, or maybe text and a few pictures something like that.

Not ideal, but better than nothing.

Failing that, do you not know anyone in the JFK area you could hire for a few hours to go and meet them??

That is about all I can come up with I'm afraid.

Good luck
Chris

Posted by: dougsalem

Hi Chris,

Good idea. Olga and I are working on the "flash cards" now. (That's what we call them on this side of the pond.) They will be English on one side, Russian on the other.

Doug

Posted by: Chrismc

Quote:

Originally Posted by dougsalem

Hi Chris,

Good idea. Olga and I are working on the "flash cards" now. (That's what we call them on this side of the pond.) They will be English on one side, Russian on the other.

Doug

Flash cards, crib cards as long as they do the trick!! glad to help!