chartreuse
we were also in Chisinau (Kishinev). In May, 2002, we missed the only flight out on Austrian Air on a Wednesday, due to a schedule change. No credit cards accepted by Moldova Air International, but the bank that had an office there would give us a cash advance, but ONLY on Master Card! I started pulling $$ out of the ATM, but realized that I needed more than my daily limit to get two tickets. Luckily, our son, who was in the Peace Corps there, had enough cash to let us buy tickets for the next morning. I was thoroughly tired of post Soviet states by then and just wanted to get back to capitalism!
I must say, United refunded the cost of those tickets after we got home and mailed the correct documentation to them. Of course, they also took away the miles we that had posted for the *Alliance flight on Austrian Air that we never got to take...
Kate