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Flying during coronavirus is scary, and there are some different rules.
In my last post, I discussed what you need to do before air travel during COVID-19. In this post, I will be discussing flying internationally during COVID-19 and what to expect in the airport in 2021.
I have taken three flights during this pandemic. I have seen how the procedures in the airports have changed.
Departures:
First, let's talk about the flight departure, I flew out of Vancouver airport on 17th January 2021, and I can definitely say it was different.
There are not as many flights, many airports are putting their domestic and their international flights at the same check-in. This can be super confusing, especially if the airport doesn't put signs up. For example, I walked into the Vancouver international check-in, and it was empty. I was already quite nervous about flying, and it freaked me out. Then I found someone and asked about it. They told me that I have to go to the domestic check in.
All of the airport staff were wearing masks and gloves. This made me feel a lot safer. They also have dots on the floor at the check-in counter to show people where to stand. This makes sure they are six feet apart.
Even if you do check-in online, you still have to go to the desk to see one of the stewards. Because they need to check your COVID test results. (Just a quick reminder please make sure that you print off your COVID test result before going to the airport. If you show the test result on the phone, they won't accept it.)
They will ask you a few questions. The questions they asked me were:
Have you had any COVID symptoms in the last 14 days?
Have you been in contact with anyone who had the symptoms of COVID-19?
Have you been out of the country in the last 14 days?
They then let me through. They also print off the boarding passes and weighed the luggage.
My next point is, they are still very strict on the baggage weight. I was 1kg over on one of my baggage and 1kg under on the other. They still made me move things from one bag to another. So just because these flights are empty, it doesn't mean that you can go overweight without being charged.
I noticed that many shops and restaurants in the duty-free wouldn't open, which sucked me because I wanted to walk around the shops. But I completely get it. It's for everyone's safety. My flight was quite late. It was at six o'clock. It was the last flight. I am not sure if the shops were open during the day.
The other thing is that they have stopped letting people use the water fountains, which means you need to buy water in the airport. And that's expensive. I paid five dollars for a normal size bottle of water.
The last thing you need to know about airports is that they still call people in different groups. They expect people to keep social distance when queueing.
After Arrival:
Now let's talk about the arrivals process. I arrived on 18th January 2021 in London Heathrow.
Even though our flight was empty, there were still a few flights coming in at the same time.
The plane is the same. The only difference is that it's super empty. You will notice things that you have never noticed.
They have hand sanitising stations everywhere.
Once you walk the miles that you have to walk to get to passport control, you are greeted by the same two lines you would normally get. The main difference in this section is they are no longer using electronic passport control. They need to do this because they have to check your quarantine plans and COVID test results.
I mentioned in my previous post that you need to make sure that you have quarantine plans before you get to the country. As well as asking for your quarantine plans, they also ask you a few questions like:
Do you have a sufficient quarantine plan?
Will you be able to isolate yourself from the other people in the household?
Is there anyone in the household who is at risk?
If you have to go into a hotel quarantine, they don't ask you these questions.
The other thing that they have in England is a tracking app. You have to fill out your details before you get to passport control. Please check if the country you're going to has this and make sure that you fill out the form before getting to the country.
In Heathrow, at the border control, they do have the dots to tell you to stay six feet apart. The other thing I noticed was that the staff all wore protective headgear, including the mask and a face shield and gloves.
One word of warning, though, just because the dots are on the floor does not mean that people will abide by them. I was unlucky, and the guy behind me in my queue was very close to me the whole time. Even after I told him, he was not maintaining distance.
The last thing about border control is that you have to make sure you're keeping your mask on. They don't let you take it off. The only time you take it off is when they ask you to show your face for identification.
The last thing that you do is get your luggage. Now pretty much everything else after border control is the same. The only major difference is people are keeping six feet distance from each other.
When you leave to meet whoever is coming to pick you up or go to your quarantine hotel, the arrivals will probably be much less empty than you expect.
So this is all you need to know before flying internationally during COVID-19. If you enjoyed this post, you could subscribe to my newsletter. I share travel tips that will make your travel much easier.
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