Pope’s visit keeps Finnair passengers out in the cold at Krakow Airport
Hundreds of foreign air passengers, including 161 people waiting for a flight of the Finnish airline Finnair were forced to stand outside in the rain at Krakow Airport in Poland on Sunday.
The special arrangements were caused by the visit to Krakow by Pope Benedict XVI, who celebrated a mass which brought a crowd of about 900,000 people to the city.
"I stood for seven hours in the cold rain on a meadow which was ankle-deep in water in places", says Professor Pekka Eskelinen, who had been in Krakow for a conference. Eskelinen estimates that about 2,000 departing passengers suffered as a result of the exceptional arrangements.
Anticipating traffic problems, Eskelinen took a taxi to the airport early in the afternoon, even though the plane’s scheduled departure was at 9:35 in the evening.
Police stopped the car more than one kilometre from the airport, and Eskelinen went the rest of the way on foot.
The real surprise came at the door of the terminal: security officials refused to let inside anyone who was not connected with the Pope’s visit. The rest had to stay out in the rain.
"
A Finnish man will spend a night standing in pouring rain if necessary 
, but there were babies in arms among those waiting, some of whom were less than a year old. They had very thin clothes and no protection against the cold. There were also old people in wheelchairs."
Eskelinen says that Polish officials did not offer any shelter, food, drink, or access to toilets.
(Anm. das tun sie doch sonst) Airport officials did not start letting people in until about nine in the evening, after the Pope had left.
"Finnair did what it could. Polish police and officials at Krakow Airport are the ones to blame. They failed completely in their task", Eskelinen complained.
Tuija Lindberg, a nurse from Kotka, sat on the edge of a road waiting for the terminal to open. She took pictures of the situation. In her view,
many Finns were angry and unloaded their frustration on the Poles. (Anm. mindestens einmal mit einem triftingen Grund) 
"On the other hand, landing in Poland at the same time as the Pope is a unique experience. In a person’s life. We could hear choirs sing inside the terminal", Lindberg says. The trip was made all the more memorable by the fact that on her way home she was able to see the fire at Porvoo Cathedral.
After all of the delays, the Finnair flight left Krakow at 11:15 PM, less than two hours late.
"Our personnel got the plane in the air in 20 minutes, even though all other airlines were getting passengers at the same time. I think that we can see it as a good achievement", Finnair spokesman Usko Määttä emphasises.
Finnair has had two weekly flights to Krakow since April.
