Imagine an airport where all three departing flights arrive at the same time, regardless of schedule for the morning, and passengers line up on the runway at the foot of a mobile stairway next to each plane. And unlike buses, there's no indication on the aircraft of their destinations. It's easy to join the wrong queue and I did. I'm referring to Kabul Airport in the mid-2000s. Maybe this was not a typical experience of flying out of Kabul with Ariana, the Afghan state airline. But I think maybe it was. The flight out of Kuwait was interesting too. All the passengers were herded into a waiting room miles from the main terminal, miles from the main airport even. Then just before the middle of the night departure time a door was opened and the passengers raced across the runway and up some steps at the back of plane. First up, first choice of seat. And from the coverings on those seats they had been salvaged from several different planes. I can't speak to the safety of the plane but I seem to remember that Ariana had been barred from European routes at the time. But I have no complaints, they got me to Kabul and back.