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TIME: Almanac 1993
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TIME Almanac 1993.iso
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041089
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04108900.021
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1992-09-23
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BUSINESS, Page 81FLIGHT NO. 30 CARRIES THE GOODIES
The scene looks like a department store's Christmas rush.
The floor is piled high with television sets, videocassette
recorders, audiocassette players and sewing machines. Nervous
energy and thick cigarette smoke swirl through the crowd. On a
Saturday evening, these giddy shoppers have converged in front
of a check-in counter at New York City's Kennedy Airport, where
they will board Pan Am's nonstop to Moscow, the famed Flight 30.
What the medieval silk-and-spice caravans were to Western
Europe, Flight 30 is to Soviet consumers today. The few who can
afford the 1,762-ruble ($2,800) round-trip ticket gain an
opportunity to outfit their homes with otherwise unavailable
dream goods. The Soviet government, which officially frowns on
such lavish spending of hard currency, limits how many rubles
its citizens can change into dollars for their trip (7 rubles,
or $11.20, a day). But they manage to raise the cash. A favored
scheme is to carry jewelry to sell in the U.S.
The jam-packed Flight 30 is no joyride for the crew. A
major headache is carry-on baggage; one man tried to board with
two VCRs. Says a flight attendant: "Some of them have so many
articles of clothing on, they look like Eskimos."