Please empty your hotel safe before clearing immigration…

By Tom Mueller

BAKU, Azerbaijan – I breathed a sigh of relief as I sat down near my departure gate at the Baku airport, happy to be heading home after almost two weeks on the road. It had been a good trip, a productive trip, providing crisis response and media training for the communications and leadership teams there in Azerbaijan.

At the airport, I had cleared the security screening and customs and immigration gauntlet and was now happy to just relax. But I had time to spare before the flight departed, so I decided to snap a few pictures with my GoPro camera, which I store in a particular cubby in my backpack. But when I looked, the camera wasn’t there. Odd. Then I checked for my personal mobile phone – not in the bag either.  I thought about where I had last used them and, suddenly, it dawned on me that they were still in the hotel safe – as was the cash I had taken along on the trip, some Bluetooth headphones, and other gear.

Uh-oh. Not good. I decided on the spot to head back to the hotel to recover the goods; I’d have to find a later flight if I couldn’t get back in time.

I walked back through the stand of immigration kiosks where the border officers review and stamp your passport, and got back to the security screening area before security staff intercepted and stopped me. I explained my situation as best I could to the staff who spoke little English. But they told me in no uncertain terms that I would not be exiting the airport. Since I had already cleared immigration and had my passport stamped as departed, they considered me departed. And I could see no way to get to an arrivals area once again to clear immigration and reenter the country. I was stuck.

Because I had come back past the immigration check point, the security staff took my passport and left it with an immigration officer in one of the kiosks, since I was now hanging out outside the immigration desks (inside the country), but inside the secure screening area. (This was a pretty small area, to be honest, not like the US or Heathrow airport in London.)

What to do?

I sat down on a chair adjacent to the metal detectors in the security area. I had my company mobile phone so I tried to reach the hotel, but the calls wouldn’t go through. My company phone didn’t work there during my stay, so this was no surprise. It was, however, very frustrating. My flight departure time was rapidly approaching. If I left without my items, it seemed highly unlikely I could recover them from afar later on.

Meanwhile, all around me travelers and flight crews are clearing the metal detectors and luggage screening, and glancing curiously at me parked on that chair as they made their way to the immigration kiosks. The security screening people – mostly younger staff – were friendly as I explained my plight and they saw my quiet frustration as I tried to make a call on my phone. Eventually, one of the security officers loaned me his mobile phone and I was able to reach the hotel and explain my error – and my current predicament. The front desk passed me to hotel security, who dispatched someone to my hotel room to retrieve the goods.

The hotel staff at the J.W. Marriott Absheron were just fantastic as they went into problem solving mode on my behalf.  They said they would package up the items in an envelope and send them to the airport via courier. But I would have to pay for the courier. How to do this? Hotel staff said they still had my credit card on file from when I checked out earlier that morning, so they would add the charge to my card. And with that, the goods were ready to roll.

Now – how to tell the courier where to find me, and get the goods through security? I handed the phone back to the young security agent and indicated I wanted him to speak to the hotel staff. He did, and provided guidance on how the courier could get to this security screening area. After a few minutes of conversation, he gave his mobile number to the hotel, who then apparently passed it to the courier. Eventually the security guy closed his flip phone and nodded to me: the package was now rolling toward the airport.

This was an amazing display of good karma and human kindness from the security staff at the Baku airport, as well as the staff at the J.W. Marriott Absheron. I sat back in my chair next to the luggage screening kit and contemplated all the moving parts that were coming together on my behalf. After a while, things slowed down at this screening area, and the screeners wanted to practice English a bit, so as the departure clock ticked down, we chatted about America, my job, life in Baku, local companies where there might be good jobs available for young people, and other things.

After about 45 minutes, the young security officer’s mobile phone rang. He spoke for a minute and then gave me a thumbs up. The package was close. A few minutes later a courier approached the screening area and handed off the package to security, who ran it through the luggage screening kit, and then handed it to me. Everyone around me smiled as I let out a loud sigh of relief. This ordeal was done.

I thought about offering some reward cash or other gift to the security staff who had been so helpful, but the concept of me handing over cash – no matter how well earned – to airport security staff just seemed like a bad idea for a host of reasons. And I didn’t have any America souvenirs with me at that point. So I sufficed with a very heartfelt thanks and, with my goods in hand, went off to collect my passport from the immigration officer.

I made it back down to my departure gate with a few minutes to spare, and boarded my flight home. The remainder of the trip proved uneventful.  I am very grateful to everyone who made a special effort help this business traveler – especially the staff at the J.W. Marriott Absheron in Baku for their fantastic service. I sent a note to the hotel directly expressing my gratitude and recognizing the superior staff performance.

I’ve never forgotten to empty a hotel safe since that episode. Experience can be a powerful teacher, no?

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The author recently revisited Azerbaijan after a 20+ year absence and captured his impressions in word and image in this interesting photo essay published here on the Tales and Contrails website. Click here to have a look.