Flight booking

The flight was booked on 07.11.2020 through the travel agency “Bobbys Travel” and it cost around 725 euros including rail and fly.

Flight Details

• Date of departure: 10.12.2020
• Date of arrival: 11.12.2020
• Airlines: Air India
• Departure: Frankfurt, Germany
• Arrival: Thiruvananthapuram, India
• Transit: Delhi airport
• Baggage transfer: Self-transfer

Air Suvidha – Self Declaration Form

I have filled the self-declaration form on 07.12.2020. It took approximately 15 minutes to fill for 2 persons. I had taken the printout of the same. I didn’t wait till I have done my corona test, because there is no relationship or there is no data necessary from corona test.

Covid test

I have taken my corona test on the date of travel. That means, my flight was at 20:30 and I took the corona test in the morning at 09:42. I have expected that my result may come while reaching Delhi. But luckily I have got my results in and in 6 hours 10 minutes.

I have got an email at 15:53 that my sample has been analyzed and the results can be viewed in Centogene portal. I have logged in to the Centogene the portal and saw the result. The result was negative.

Read my corona test (Covid test) experience and the detailed step by step process by clicking below.

Air Suvidha – Exemption Form

Since I haven’t done the corona test till the flight date, I haven’t filled the quarantine exception form till 10.12.2020.

I have received the corona results as mentioned above and then I have applied for the quarantine exception in the portal immediately from the airport. Since I have already registered Air Suvidha Self Reporting Form, I have given that number with the mobile number, passport number and the flight number. My personal details were fetched automatically to the exception form.

Uploading passport

It’s necessary to upload the passport copy in the portal. I have added my wife as a co-passenger in the self-declaration form. So, It was possible to add the passport of myself and my wife.

Uploading corona results

We can upload our corona result in the “Upload your Supporting Document” section. There was the possibility to add only one corona result document. So I have merged both the result documents and uploaded it in the portal.

Approval

I have received an email that my application for the exemption under the category RT PCR test report certificate was approved. I have received this email on 11.12.2020 at 07:08.

But this was not useful in any of the places in Delhi or at Thiruvananthapuram. No one had asked about this or about the registration in Air Suvidha portal.

E-Pass

Since my hometown is in Tamilnadu and my destination airport was Thiruvananthapuram, I have to apply for 2 e-pass.

Kerala E-Pass – International Entry

After receiving the corona result, I have applied for the Kerala E-Pass from the airport. It took approximately 3 to 5 minutes to complete. I have received the application number.

Tamilnadu E-Pass

I have tried to apply for the Tamilnadu E-pass but it was not possible to submit. I have tried for 3 times and then I just ignored filling this by taking some screenshots for the reference (safety purpose).

My recommendations

Fillings forms take an average of at least 30 minutes to 45 minutes. So do not wait till the end to fill the form. Do as soon as you have the necessary documents.

Aarogya Setu App

I have installed the Aarogya Setu app but didn’t log in. The installation of Aarogya Setu App was never checked at the Frankfurt, Delhi or Thiruvananthapuram airports.

Travel

Frankfurt Airport

Due to the corona test, I was sitting in the Frankfurt airport from the morning 10:00 with our 4 baggage. It was not boring for me because I have written and published my corona experience post form the airport. There were also a few small kids who had entertained me well.

Face mask

Apart from that, it is really important that you should wear a face mask. Police check it very often. In my opinion every one hour there is a check. There were too many police roaming around and informing the people to wear the mask. There is an exception only while eating or drinking.

Restaurants

Many fast-food restaurants and bakery are opened. So there will not be any issues to get the food.

Check-in

Our check-in was opened after approximately 16:45. There was a long queue. So I thought to stand in the queue after filling the above-mentioned form. Meanwhile, the number of passengers in the queue was increased drastically. We stood before the last person in the queue.

A person forms Air India has created a second queue for those who haven’t done the online check-in. Since I haven’t done my online check-in, I was standing in that queue. But luckily this queue was faster than the online check-in queue.

Temperature check

Temperature check was done in the hand with the infrared thermometer while dropping the bags at the Frankfurt airport.

Security Check

Since there are not too many flights, there was very less passenger. So we have finished our security check within 3 minutes without any issues.

Departure Gate

Right after the security check, we have reached our departure gate. There was a huge crowd for the flight. Yes, the flight was full.

PPE kit

Passangers who are siting in the middle seat have received the PPE kit.

Face mask, face shield & hand sanitizer

All the other passenger and also the passenger at the middle seat have received the kit which contains one face mask, one face shield & 5 small sachets of hand sanitisers.

Inside flight

There were few people who sat at the middle seat didn’t worn the PPE kit.

Unfortunately, I and my wife got 2 different seat numbers which side seat. So we thought to exchange the seat with lots of hesitation because we don’t have a PPE kit.

I have approached the air hostess to seek help. She said that it is also okay to sit without the PPE kit if the other passenger feels convenient. With acceptance from the other passenger, I and my wife travelled together without PPE kit but with a face mask and face shield.

Departure & foods

The departure was at the correct time as planned. The snacks and cool drinks were placed behind the seat prior to the passenger boarding. It is to avoid or to reduce the interaction between passengers and air hostess. The lunch was served after the flight take-off (as usual).

Delhi airport

We have reached the Delhi airport approximately 32 minutes prior to the actual arrival time. Therefore we had enough time for our transit.

Quarantine

There was a self-transfer for us, so we thought to go early as possible after the flight landing. But there was a long queue to get the quarantine related seal. The employees at the airport had segregated the domestic transfer passengers and lead us to bypass the queue and got a seal soon. In the seal, it was mentioned as “Quarantine. Ordered by….”.

Immigration

After that, we have done the immigration at the Delhi airport. It took approximately 3 minutes due to less number of passengers.

Self transfer & customs

Then we have picked up the baggage. There was a long queue in the customs. We have waited for approximately 15 minutes to finish the procedures.

Undertaking form

I have received an undertaking form. I have filled the personal details and other details related to the quarantine exemption.

3 stages of test report check

• At the first stage, a person has checked the undertaking form with the passport details and also checked the corona result.
• At the second stage, the previous boarding pass was checked and sealed the document.
• Third counter sealed again and kept the undertaking for by themselves. Got a seal in the first boarding pass (Frankfurt to Delhi) mentioning “RT-PCR covid negative” Self-monitor till (date month year).

Then there was a person to check the boarding pass whether there was an entry for self-quarantine and then allowed us to do the domestic transfer.

Corona test at Delhi airport

I have read some information related to the corona test at Delhi airport. On arrival in India, for taking domestic connecting flight it is mandatory to have RTPCR negative certificate. It is also possible to perform a corona test at the Delhi airport. You can find that place exactly right after getting the undertaking form.

It was quite a surprise for me that no one had checked the body temperature and there was not thermal scanning for us.

Before the security check, there were a group of people who got the travel information, email address, phone number and scanned the passport.

Arrival at the destination

Once again we got the PPE kit, face mask, face shield and hand sanitisers as I have mentioned while travelling form Frankfurt. We have reached the arrival airport at the correct time.

Thermal scanning

There was a thermal scanning right after getting out of the flight. It was mostly normal for many the co-passengers. We have waited for approximately 10 minutes.

Baggage

We have received our baggage at our destination airport, Thiruvananthapuram. I have noticed that the baggage was not handled well. Our baggage was damaged at many places, especially at the top 4 edges. But luckily we have wrapped our baggage with cling film (Plastic wrap) with extra protection at the 4 top corners. That’s why only those covers were heavily damaged but not the suitcase.

Baggage wrapping point at Frankfurt is also open but it is too costly while comparing with the self-packing.

E-pass

After the customs check, there was an E-pass check. They have just written the E-pass number and also the seat numbers. There was a long queue for this process. It took approximately 10 to 15 minutes. This is the last process and then I had left the airport.

Links

• Centogene
• Air Suvidha – Self Reporting Form
• Air Suvidha – Apply for Exemption
• Aarogya Setu App
• TN e-Registration (Tamilnadu E-Pass)
• Kerala E-Pass – International Entry

Note

This is my travel experience on the above-mentioned date. This experience is applicable only to the above-mentioned airlines from Frankfurt airport. The process and procedure for other airlines may differ. Kindly consider this post as the reference and refer to the official websites because the rules and regulation may change periodically.