my air india experience - during pandemic

 hi all,

welcome to my blog, In this blog, I will be sharing my travel experience during August 5th from San Francisco to India.

Today is August 12th, 2020. It is almost a week and we are in home quarantine. Let me share you my experience, if you ever wish to travel, check the following.

Table of contents:

1. Forms to be filled.

2. San Francisco International Airport.

3. flight travel.

4.Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi.

5. Holiday Inn, Delhi Airport.

6. Madurai Airport.

7. Home quarantine.

1. Forms to be filled:

Repatriation form::  As we planned to travel, the first thing we did was to book the Repatriation flight. Then, we filled the repatriation forms, got the confirmation number. This has to be filled for every passenger, even if it is a baby. Everybody's passport number has to be entered and a confirmation code will be generated for every passenger.

Undertaking form::  This has to be filled in the airport before you check-in your luggages, this form has questions about the flight number you are going to travel and the passport number. This also has to be filled for every single passenger.

Self-Declaration forms:: This form has to be filled in the flight, for every single passenger, this form will have questions like whether you suffer from any cold, cough, breathing issues? and it also has questions about your other health issues. 

quarantine forms:: This form has to be filled in Delhi, asking for your permission to pay yourself for quarantine.

Quarantine exemption certificate:: There are 4 exemptions where you can quarantine at your home. I had kids under age 10, one is 8 and the other is 4. So, we filled the quarantine exemption certificate and we were allowed to travel to our destination place, Madurai.

e-pass: Madurai is in TamilNadu, in order to enter TamilNadu, we have to enter e-pass. TN e-pass forms has to be filled, which asks details about the place from where you travel and the place where you have to go.

2. San Francisco International Airport.

Social distancing: 6feet distance between passengers were maintained. Everyone once they leave their home have to wear their masks all the time. 

Undertaking forms has to be submitted at the departure place and there are few other procedures to be followed according to the rules to the place where you travel.

3. flight travel: During travel, all the food packages and water were kept in the seat. we have to eat that food during our entire travel, or else you can pack your own food from home. No entertainment during the entire travel, you can use your own i-pad or tablet, but with mask on and face shields on it will be difficult to talk with others and watch the movies. So, it was a time for me to practice concentration by focusing on breathe and meditation.

4.Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi:

Once we landed in Delhi, we were asked to board off the planes in batches. Those who had connecting flights immediately boarded off earlier, others waited and after that, in order to complete immigration, we were splitted into groups. Each group had 30 members. I was in group W and we got numbers 9, 10, and 11.

During the waiting time we were given quarantine forms, it had exemptions mentioned and we came under the category "traveling under age 10 ". After that we were taken to immigration officers and completed the immigration procedures. From there we went to claim our baggage and then we submitted our passports. Then in the final stage we were sent to Doctors, where our Home Quarantine is Approved. 

5. Holiday Inn, Delhi Airport:

we stayed in Holiday Inn Delhi, as our next flight was on the next day morning. It was a decent place. We were given complimentary dinner and breakfast. We were asked to fill in our self- declaration forms and the flight tickets for the next flight were asked to confirm that we were traveling the next day.

6. Madurai Airport:

 The next day we boarded the domestic flight from Delhi to Madurai. During the travel, all the passengers were requested to wear face shields and masks throughout their journey. Only water bottles were given to passengers. No unnecessary roaming inside the flight. Everyone were quiet during the journey.

We landed Madurai, and there we underwent thermal check and corona swap test. All the passengers were requested to do this test. Samples collected from everyone and their phone number details were attatched to the sample. The results were shared through SMS and we all tested negative. Thanks to God.

7. Home quarantine:

We quarantined ourselves in our home. Its been a week now. The travel experience was good. And everyone behaved very well. Thanks to all of them who made this successful.

Thanks to the Indian Government, Thanks to Air-India crew, 

Thanks to Prime Minister shri. Narendra Modi ji, Thanks to the Aviation ministry board, and thanks to every one. 

Thanks to the Almighty, and finally thanks to all the readers..