[saket77]

Originally Posted by vigsom

I first checked in without seat selection and the final message I got on the screen was that Web Check-in was done and my boarding passes with auto allocated seats would be sent to me 6 hours before flight departure.

After a few minutes, I again logged in, and selected 26D as my seat for both my flights and paid INR 300. The boarding passes then came to my email in 10 minutes.

That is nice to know. I see that you flew Indigo. I booked on GoAir and didn’t have the option to get through the mandatory web check in without seat selection.

Regards.

[Cyborg]

Thank you Vigsom for a detailed insight on air travel these days. Pray a solution is found soonest and we can get back to normal living.

One suggestion here, I feel it would be nice to carry a few extra masks and change to a new one every three hours or as per convenience for a fresh feeling.

I find it helps to just dab a little (just a touch) Vicks Vaporub on both ends of the mask near the bands (not on the nose/mouth area) for a refreshing feel/aroma while wearing a mask.

Safe travels folks.

Cheers

[ant_vas]

A coworker has traveled several times between Gulbarga and Bangalore taking the star airlines flight. He says its completely safe. Wearing mask and face shield is mandatory. He uses gloves for extra safety.

As a family , we are planning a holiday in Goa in a couple weeks and the discussions did begin at home about a Drive (10
Hours ) Vs Fly ( spend More time at Goa ).

I just got back from Goa. Had driven from Bangalore with couple of my friends. It took a whole of 14 hours (with lots of breaks on the way).

Goa is already getting crowded as people have started to visit the holiday state. saw a lot of people from Karnataka/Telangana/Andhra and Maharashtra drive in their personal vehicles. The resort we had booked called a day ahead to check if we need a airport pickup indicating that a lot many people are flying in as well.

The road from Hubli to Goa via Anumod is tricky as they are laying concrete roads after Ramnagar and only buses/ trucks with no load can ply on those mars craters. We went a KM or so in Honda city, scraped several times and were forced to take a U turn and opt for a small route with heavy loaded truck traffic till Anumod.

On the way back we decided to take the chorla-Belgaum route, but stupidly follwed google maps and ended taking the route which goes via goa-mumbai highway and that road is really is in poor condition.

Good thing is the roads on karnatak side are super nice on both the routes.

[pratik1992]

Originally Posted by saket77

In my experience, the price ranges from 150-700 INR and it is over the price that you pay for the tickets. So, point 3 quoted above is only in theory and not practically possible as of now. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Originally Posted by SoumenD

P.S: Web checkin is mandatory which means u have to pay for seats now. 99 for middle seats and 150-350 for window/aisle seats.

Originally Posted by vigsom

I first checked in without seat selection and the final message I got on the screen was that Web Check-in was done and my boarding passes with auto allocated seats would be sent to me 6 hours before flight departure.

After a few minutes, I again logged in, and selected 26D as my seat for both my flights and paid INR 300. The boarding passes then came to my email in 10 minutes.

The prices remind me of Indigo. So I'll share my experience. You CAN check-in online without selecting a seat on Indigo (not sure of other airlines), just like vigsom mentioned in his first sentence. I just did that last week. The airline will auto-select the seat 12-6 hours prior to your departure and send the boarding passes at that time. And that's free. In my case two of us were travelling, and we got the seats 2E and 14D assigned to us (not an issue for me), about 10 hours prior. It might be inconvenient to get the boarding pass printed in rush if you're travelling from a smaller airport with no kiosks. I used the reprint kiosk outside departures at Bengaluru airport. And then when dropping off my bag, at the counter, I checked with the agent to see if she can get us seats next to each other, if available, and she changed us to 29A and 29B. Didn't pay any extras, anywhere.

[mmxylorider]

Not a personal experience, but my nephew flew JFK-BOM on AI last week. Considering the situation, it was a pleasant flight with 30% load so he and most of other PAX got an entire row to themselves. Service was practically non-existent except for senior citizens or infants. A boxed meal was adequate for the duration although he carried home made food. A good option is to carry instant noodles since hot water is available on demand. Pre flight process was straightforward with typical US precautions - not to the level that the OP detailed. Post flight immigration was quick and customs practically non-existent. There was no scanning being done for Green Channel.

[Jude300]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

To other BHPians - any visibility how the other airlines are playing their part (e.g. Air India)? I have an upcoming Air India flight next weekend, hence the question.

My mother in law flew Chennai to Delhi on Vistara and it was a pleasant experience. The thing that surprised me was that there was no additional charge for seat selection. Opted for an aisle seat that had the window seat already blocked expecting no one would want to voluntarily take the middle seat and she was lucky that no one did.

I booked her a Thursday noon flight hoping occupancy would be less and it was so and that helped too.

Since she is elderly, I asked her to only carry some important documents and a dress with her. I had already couriered the other dresses and things she wanted to carry earlier in the week as this will help her avoid checked-in baggage. The parcel reached my brother in law's place in New Delhi a day before the travel. Paid just ₹600 for that but made her journey more comfortable and secure (no waiting for baggage drop and collection).

[audioholic]

Since this thread has come up and is informative about travel in the post covid Era, I would like to share my experience here, of an international flight.

I had to travel to Germany for work and since my presence in Germany was very essential for business needs as well as an event which involved the press my company had made travel arrangements along with a fresh visa which was obtained through direct communication with the German consulate since they had not yet opened up appointments for any type of work/business visa except for student visa in September. The visa also needed a letter of necessity written by my parent company who would be hosting me explaining the reasons why the travel is necessary and can't be postponed. All in all I got the D category visa five working days which is a record for me compared to my earlier applications.

I had initially booked in Lufthansa direct from Bangalore to Frankfurt but due to the stupid move by the babus in DGCA my flight was canceled, and I ended up with an Air France flight to Paris followed by a connection to Frankfurt.

I was initially apprehensive of the various new measures and was not at all confident even though I've traveled more than a dozen times so far. I am a forgetful person and was worried about missing some document or some process prior to the flight. I had checked in to the flight online as usual and thinking that there will be a long list of things to do, I reached airport pretty early around 3.5hrs prior to the flight which was at 1AM. There was no queue near the CISF personnel and they did the normal ID check but this time with a PDA. Since boarding passes were not issued, I printed them at the kiosk inside the terminal and headed to the counter to drop baggage. They provide an airline specific declaration there and that only needed to be filled for passengers entering Paris. But there was no crowding and I was able to drop the baggage very quickly and headed towards immigration.

What was a bustling place earlier at midnight was now like a deserted hall with only four or so immigration officials and hardly any people. The formalities were completed in no time and I was thinking if the immigration officials would have any further questions on the need of traveling at such a time. As soon as that was done, I headed to the security check and again, it was such a breeze, compared to earlier where we had to squeeze in the trays to send it to the X-ray machine.

And within 30mins of entering the terminal, I was done with everything and at the gate of my departing flight and I was greeted by this view:


For a moment I felt bad seeing the state of the airport, shops closed, hardly any people. There is only one operational restaurant in the international side. As I had to catch dinner, I was delighted to find the Lounge in a better state as compared to my previous visit. However, it is nothing compared to the earlier Plaza Premium. Currently no buffet food but they have an ordering system where they have five or so prepared meals of different cusine and once you order they will bring it to your table. This was excellent IMO and you get a well equipped and a large sized box which contains the dishes(multiple dishes per option you choose) cutlery and also water. And you can order a second box of a different choice too This was a savior for me.

After my meal and drink I spent some time and headed towards the gate since it was almost boarding time. The flight was an A330 and I believe was just half full. Boarding was done sequentially and zone wise as usual but people did maintain distance. Masks and face shield was offered for those who wanted it. I was prepared with my own mask, nitrile gloves, tissue wipes and sanitizer.

The flight was pleasant, and the service was excellent and no corners cut anywhere. I was thinking of limited service since my colleague who had taken a Vande Bharat flight dreaded the food and service in Air India. But it was overall excellent and the only difference was they insist you wear a mask at all times except while eating of course.

Upon landing people were calmer than before but not completely settled. Paris airport was quite normal and maybe not as crowded as before. I took my second flight and landed in Frankfurt. Since I had a covid negative certificate which I got tested just a day before the flight, they did not insist on another covid test on arrival. However I had to undergo a second covid test one week after my arrival due to company requirements since I work in a sensitive place and an infection can have massive consequences.

Overall it was a pleasant journey and I don't see a major risk in traveling as long as we take some precautions. I followed a no touching policy and whichever contact surfaces I had to inevitably touch, like the seat handles, etc I wiped it with the disinfectant tissue and was fully covered during the journey. Luckily I had got an emergency exit row which was spacious in front of me and it was a 2-4-2 seating which meant I only had one another person beside.

Looking forward to my return journey which will happen this month end and now I am rebooked on Lufthansa since Air France cancelled my return flight.

If there are any questions, they are welcome.

[audioholic]

Forgot to add a picture of the food box that was served in the lounge. It has various details as well concerning the people who served it:

[Turbanator]

Sharing my own Arrival experience at Delhi Airport from Canada. All International passengers have to get a COVID-19 test at arrivals unless they already have a negative report in past 72 hours from origin or there is a compelling cause. Details are at the Airport website.

On arrival, they have set up counters before the immigration and will stamp your boarding pass- Quarantine in case there is no exemption/ negative Covid report. They grant exemption, usually in a few hours after uploading reports. But if one does not have the report ready at the time of boarding, you can still show this and get exemption.

You clear the immigration and customs as will usually do and when we come out, there are dedicated counters setup by Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan & UP. For states like Punjab, which don't have a setup, Delhi officials are handling and will ask you to get Covid Test done or opt for 7 days' institutional stay. I had pre-booked the Covid- Test, but they still ask you to fill a short form. They will do some paperwork and give you a chit and keep your passport. By chance, when I arrived there was no rush, and they did my test in less than 5 minutes. Plaza premium has set up a temporary setup where you will have to wait until they receive your reports. It usually takes around 5 hours from the time we gave our sample. They charge Rs 2400 for the tests and Rs 2600 for the lounge. Overall, the hygiene/ cleanliness in the makeshift area is top-notch, but the quality of food they serve is pretty bad. More like Train Thali. Even though prices of tests have reduced elsewhere, they are still charging Rs 2400 and the lounge charges are definitely too high for what's offered. You also get a water bottle and tea/ coffee supplies on demand. This may be little high for some people in my opinion and they could have done a better job on prices in my opinion.

When the report is received, they will give back your passport, and you are free to go. You are supposed to self-monitor (not Quarantine) your health for next 14 days, In the unlikely event, someone is diagnosed positive, he/ she is taken directly to the hospital.

I landed at 9Pm and could leave the Airport 3 Am.

[crazybiker46]

I flew in from Dubai to TRV last Saturday and I'm in home quarantine now.

I just followed the instructions in the Emirates.com and everything went smooth. Requirements for all EK destinations in India are detailed in the link

For travelling to Kerala, there is additional registration on Kerala Gov. covid portal required. 14 days quarantine is mandatory, however we can do pcr test after completing 7 days. If negative then next 7 days not mandatory. So even though i took RT-PCR test before flying, i was not asked for it at both locations

At DXB airport, the check-in staff validated Air Suvidha portal registration. Though i was not wearing face shield, at boarding gate, Emirates staff gave face shields for everyone and mandated all of us to wear it during the flight.

At TRV airport, I had to fill in an undertaking for quarantine(always keep a pen to avoid sharing), then at Airport terminal exit, Kerala Health department validated portal registration, address and contact number. They arranged taxi for me as well (Airport is just 5-6 kms from home). (private vehicles are also allowed, they will note down the vehicle details)

I have received 2 follow-up calls from Health department on my health status, if i have any difficulties, symptoms etc.

One thing i noticed, the ground staff are spraying disinfectants on luggage, it is better to wrap the luggage before journey, otherwise it will get wet (especially on cloth based ones)

[ninjatalli]

So here’s my flight experience of last weekend on Vistara from Mumbai to Chennai and return. Web-Check-in was done only at no extra charge (we picked seats that were free) for a window and middle seat.

The airport entry was easily done using mobile boarding pass and DigiLocker, no requirement to generate boarding pass outside at the counter. We saw several folks heading directly to security check with mobile boarding pass, we got the physical copy when we dropped our Check-in luggage.

The airline staff provided masks and face shield for every passenger (mandatory) and the middle seat passengers were given a type of ppe gown. Not exactly a full ppe kit though.

At Chennai airport, the deboarding was done in an orderly fashion - with rows of five being asked to deboard while the rest were asked to sit; and people followed this! The security guards at the airport exit gate were checking everyone for the E-pass copy, but just gave it a customary glance.

Return flight was even more uneventful, with the flight less than half filled. Contrary to the gate check at Chennai airport, there were absolutely no checks at Mumbai airport.

[akash_v12]

Adding my experience on flying with GoAir on 11/11 from BOM-CCU.

Flight Details:

Flight No. - 513
Dep. Time - 06:00

Arrived at the airport much earlier than was supposed to since we came from PNQ after SpiceJet decided to cancel the flight on 12th. Arrived at 2AM but there was no one at the check-in counters of GoAir. Not even one staff member! People started queuing up but we decided to sit down and wait. Check-in opened finally at 03:00, when asked why, their response was, “saar, our first flight is at 05:45”. The line grew long and by long, I mean so long that it took 45 minutes to check-in. Check-in was smooth, dropped off the bags and no boarding pass (it was digital). At this point, we were tired and the line at security was long, yet extremely quick and efficient. We had pre-booked the seats for ₹250 (window and aisle/each) and ₹99 (middle).

No touching and all officials wearing proper kit and accepting mobile boarding passes.

Then, we headed over to the GVK Lounge and had a very early breakfast. The good thing was, unlike other airports we had options to choose from and a waiter was plating up on order.

I’m not sure if this was an exclusion, but since we had 3 seats to ourselves, PPE was only an option. However, Face Shields & Masks are mandatory. These were provided at the boarding area.

The flight was jam-packed and here’s where there is a major problem - people don’t like to listen to what the attendants say. Many ignored constant warnings to wear face-shields. It was only when the attendants started coming to their seats and forcing them to wear that they did. Otherwise, it was a very uneventful flight overall.

Upon arrival, passengers were called in group of fives and number of people in the bus have also been reduced.
Social distancing is in no ways followed in the aircraft, check-in counter or in the baggage pick-up area. In other areas however, it was properly followed. Also, AAROGYA SETU is mandatory and funnily, there was not a single temperature check anywhere in the terminal in Kolkata or Mumbai(T2).

Airline Safety Rating: 7/10
Airport Safety Rating: 8/10

[ShankarG]

Hello everyone. Did anyone recently take a flight to Mumbai / Pune from Delhi / Rajasthan? Any idea if the recent guideline of having a Covid report if flying to MH is being checked at origination airport as well ? Also, the guideline mandates RT PCR test. Any idea if Antigen is also acceptable because RTPCR results may not come in 72 hours (again mandated by the recent rule).

Thanks in advance.

[KL01toKA03]

Originally Posted by vigsom

On arrival at my final destination, it was reception by buses, and once in the Terminal, it was the usual chaos at the baggage belt. No checks were done at the exit; so much for my E-Pass !!!

My experience at Trivandrum airport was different (in August). They checked the pass, asked if I needed a taxi, and noted the number of my car when I told that I did not need a taxi. They also ensured that the PPE kit and face shield used inside the flight was discarded before leaving the airport.


I am planning to travel to Delhi airport and then proceed to Ghaziabad by taxi. Would I need a negative test result to go to Ghaziabad by taxi from Delhi airport?

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Sharing my own Arrival experience at Delhi Airport from Canada. All International passengers have to get a COVID-19 test at arrivals unless they already have a negative report in past 72 hours from origin or there is a compelling cause. Details are at the Airport website.

On arrival, they have set up counters before the immigration and will stamp your boarding pass- Quarantine in case there is no exemption/ negative Covid report. They grant exemption, usually in a few hours after uploading reports. But if one does not have the report ready at the time of boarding, you can still show this and get exemption.

You clear the immigration and customs as will usually do and when we come out, there are dedicated counters setup by Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan & UP. For states like Punjab, which don't have a setup, Delhi officials are handling and will ask you to get Covid Test done or opt for 7 days' institutional stay. I had pre-booked the Covid- Test, but they still ask you to fill a short form. They will do some paperwork and give you a chit and keep your passport. By chance, when I arrived there was no rush, and they did my test in less than 5 minutes. Plaza premium has set up a temporary setup where you will have to wait until they receive your reports. It usually takes around 5 hours from the time we gave our sample. They charge Rs 2400 for the tests and Rs 2600 for the lounge. Overall, the hygiene/ cleanliness in the makeshift area is top-notch, but the quality of food they serve is pretty bad. More like Train Thali. Even though prices of tests have reduced elsewhere, they are still charging Rs 2400 and the lounge charges are definitely too high for what's offered. You also get a water bottle and tea/ coffee supplies on demand. This may be little high for some people in my opinion and they could have done a better job on prices in my opinion.

When the report is received, they will give back your passport, and you are free to go. You are supposed to self-monitor (not Quarantine) your health for next 14 days, In the unlikely event, someone is diagnosed positive, he/ she is taken directly to the hospital.

I landed at 9Pm and could leave the Airport 3 Am.

Getting a Covid test done in Canada and uploading the report on Air Suvidha portal would have been a lot more easier.

I had done this prior to boarding my flight from Melbourne to Delhi.
With institutional quarantine already in place, I landed at 9-15 Am and was out of the Airport at 10 Am on 1st November.