social status and the re-structuring of everyday life (Dalakoglou and Agelopoulos, 2018). While I am trapped in my car, I realize that the returnees of that afternoon, people who have registered to the IOM AVR program, are probably in a similar situation. I imagine their exasperation and I think of them carrying oversized luggage with appliances, gifts and commodities collected after years of living and working in Greece, and the others who only carry a small backpack and are about to return after a few months in the country and an unsuccessful attempt to reach “Europe”; western and northern European countries. I picture their family and friends waiting at the airports of Casablanca, Dhaka, Kabul, Nairobi and Tehran or in the bus station of a small town. I am wondering about the booking arrangements that the IOM needs to make with Egypt Air, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Gulf Air and the other airline companies the organization cooperates with in implementing its AVR programs. Waiting in the airport in vain I am thinking of the detained returnees who take part in IOM AVR program who will have to return to the horrific Petrou Ralli preremoval detention center of Athens where they are only allowed one-hour yard time and no cell phones. I reflect on the little if any information they will be given on the reasons their return is being postponed. I can only imagine their uncertainty about what will happen next. Finally, I visualise the anger and the inconvenience of the police officers who escort these men, and the IOM airport team who will be waiting in the airport in vain. I am aware of the fundamental temporal principles of airport and air travel mobilities. The rules are inflexible: anybody who does not make it to the appointment on time will not travel today. The strict adherence to the time schedule is an essential element of the airport modalities. In front of me the X95 Athens Airport Bus (transferring people from the center of Athens) also stands still. After half an hour of waiting, a few fearless passengers decide to exit the bus and walk the 10 kilometers to the airport dragging their suitcases behind them. I am wondering if any of them are returning “home” with the IOM on that day, but I detect none of the white plastic bags with the IOM logo.