When the world was embracing for COVID-19 pandemic, the travel industry went off track & there were a lot of speculations on how the international air travel is going to look, once the man-made birds take us back to the skies. Well, for some people, the future arrived quite sooner. I am one of those few, who on-boarded “special flights” to go back to their “homes”. I think, I was among the 0.000007% of Indians who could do that (fly out of India to their adopted homes). I had to do a lot more than I thought & I wasn’t sure until the very last moment, when I had my boarding pass in my hand, that I could fly (my best chance was never more than 50%).
I am an Indian but living in the Netherlands for past few years now. I went to India on a pre-planned trip and then India went under a very strict lockdown & I couldn’t come back “home”. This is my experience, of how I managed to fly from Delhi to Amsterdam, when the entire country was still under a curfew and everybody super scared of flying on cramped airplanes.
I got to know quite late that I was supposed to register myself with Minbuza (Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken) that I am “stranded outside of NL & would like to go back home”. When I contacted them, the registration period was already over. To make up for it, I was told to reach out to the Dutch Consulate in Delhi. I did, & then they mentioned that they cannot do anything in this regard, I am an Indian & I should reach out to my own Government. I tried to reach out to Indian Consulate in Den Haag. They were worried about only sending Indians back home & not the reverse. I then contacted both the Embassies (Indian & Dutch) in NL & India. At first, they asked me to contact to the newly setup “COVID helpline” via email, whose response was not positive but then after 4-5 email exchanges, there came a ray of hope. Finally, I was told that if there are any flights (which Indian Gov allows to fly out of India), then I am eligible to board (being a long term resident here, that I will not be denied like tourists or non-essential travelers). However, they also mentioned that the final call will lie with the Airlines.
Then the next step started, finding who is operating flights for their stranded citizens. It turned out to be KLM. They already had two flights to evacuate Dutch nationals & Europeans and said that I am not eligible to fly. I called KLM every day for next few days to find if non-Europeans are allowed now (on both the previous flights, many Indians were denied boarding at the airport).
The flights were not shown on Web, they appeared only 5 days before the scheduled date on their App (I figured that out by seeing an Arrival at Schiphol, the Departure from Delhi was not yet visible). I called them & explained my situation. No decision on that so far but next day, they confirmed that they have some spots which they are selling (for the flight on 10th May). I gave them all my details (passport, visa etc.) and then they sent me a payment link (which did not work for one full hour & I had to get on to a VPN to make this payment). The tickets came via email a day later.
It was not over yet. India was under an extremely strict lockdown at that time & I had to apply for a pass for ground travel (to reach the airport). Firstly, I had to make several calls to find a taxi who was ready to ferry me to the airport (I live in a different state & had to go to Delhi, which was Zone Red and not everyone was willing to cross state borders). Finally, I got one. With taxi details, whereabouts of the driver, KLM tickets & my personal details, I applied for a pass online. They had a huge backlog & were not able to keep up with all requests while only a handful of people were working. I visited the District Commissioner’s office in person, stood in a long queue and finally, after an hour of convincing & reapplying with some more details, I got my pass.
Another round of arrangements was done to sanitize the taxi & we started for our travel. At IGI, it is advisable to report 3 hours in advance for outbound international travel, but due to extra measures, we had to be there 6 hours before the flying time (also, I wanted to make sure that I either get a boarding pass or be denied well in time to come back home). We were checked at 5 different police posts for our passes & distancing within the car. Airport security asked for passport & tickets, both. When we reached there, the airport gates were closed (they opened around 9:30 PM & the flight was scheduled for 3 AM).
Click here to see my experience, to continue reading, scroll down…..
Right from the beginning, I could see people wearing masks & maintaining distance (mandatory, there were marshals appointed to enforce this). A mandatory thermal check was done & we filled-in “self-declaration of health” forms. The queue was slow & the ground staff was also taking precautionary measures, like wearing masks & sanitizing their hands after dealing with each flyer. Inside the airport, we had to take our check-in bags for X-ray scanning by ourselves & then go to the Airlines desk for boarding passes. (Web check-in was possible, but they were not issuing boarding passes). After that, all usual things happened but with social distancing & proper sanitization.
When I entered the plane, there was a packet with soda, snacks & water on my seat. Later, KLM announced that there will be no crew service during the journey. They were in their own seating area or pantry may be, after the take-off & came back before landing. Everyone was wearing a mask, but the distancing thing was gone for a toss, the flight was full.
At Schiphol, the trolleys were pre-arranged with 2-meter distance at the belts. Transport & taxis were operating. Now we are at home (working) & so far so good. It has been 10 days when I am writing this, 5 more days to go, to make sure that we did not catch the virus. The main highlight of the journey was, wearing a mask for straight 16 hours, my ears were hurting so bad. It was therapeutic to take deep breathes at home, without a mask.
Some captures:
(1) At the airport (2) Food pack by KLM (3) Inside the plane (4) Queue at airport entrance (5) Trolley arrangement at baggage collection belt
Travelplore 