I was a bit nervous about flying during a pandemic but I really missed my friends and family, so I decided to go to London.

I know that a lot of people are considering taking international flights for the same reason, so I thought I would share my experience flying from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) to London with British Airways (BA).

Pre-flight actions

screenshot of the tracing form on the uk government website

Before flying to the UK, the UK government requires you to complete an online contact tracing form. You cannot enter the UK if you have not filled in this form.

48 hours before flying, we also took the covid-19 test and thankfully our results came back negative. Testing is not required by the UK government to enter the country. However, we felt it was our social duty to make sure we would not endanger others passengers on our long haul flight.

Entering the airport

There is a socially distanced queue outside the airport and one travel group is allowed in at a time. Upon entry to the terminal, your temperature will be checked. If it is too high, I presume that you are not allowed to enter the airport.

Check-in

Check-in took longer than usual as there were only two British Airways check-in counters open for all travel classes. For safety, the counters now have screens between you and the staff.

While we were at the counter, the area was being sanitised. Furthermore, everyone inside the airport was wearing a mask, so I felt really safe being there.

Security and immigration

Security was very fast as there were not many people in the airport. First class and priority security lanes were shut.

Immigration surprisingly took a really long time despite the airport being less busy. This was because immigration staff were more thorough than usual.

Duty Free

Duty free was open, though very empty. The lounges and food court were shut but the Starbucks was open. When we got past security we went directly to the gate as there was nowhere else to sit at the airport. There were less staff throughout the airport to provide assistance.

At the gate

covid-19 protection packet provided at the boarding gate by british airways

Boarding was called row by row to ensure the safety of passengers. I travelled with a wheelchair passenger so we had priority boarding. I am unsure if we would have got priority as first class passengers, under covid-19 protocol.

After your boarding pass has been scanned, all passengers are given a packet from BA which contain a couple of masks, a face shield/visor and a couple of sanitising wipes. You are then asked to wait in a boarding waiting room.

Further boarding precautions

Before boarding the plane, you are placed in a waiting room to manage boarding traffic. This waiting room is past the gate entrance but before you get on the plane. When queuing to enter the plane, there are markings on the boarding bridge to help maintain distance from others.

You have to put a mask and visor on before boarding the flight in the boarding waiting room, this is mandatory for all passengers. You are then advised to keep both on for the duration of the flight, even when sleeping. However, this is not heavily enforced and even the flight attendants removed their visors during the flight.

In-flight dining

I was on the 1.55am flight from Mumbai to London so the meals provided were dinner and breakfast. As all meals are in boxes now, there are no set serving times for meals, you can request to eat your meals at any time.

Dinner was a vegetarian cold meal (sandwiches), there wasn’t a non-veg option. Breakfast was a hot meal in a tray and the options were an Indian breakfast (vegetarian) or a Full English breakfast (non-veg). All cutlery provided in first/business class is now disposable, even the glasses/cups. Snacks are still available in business/first class.

Arrival

Immigration took an incredibly long time because the immigration officers had to check the UK contact tracing forms. For this reason, the e-passport gates were not operational.

What I wish I knew before flying

There was no special preference for first and business class at the airport like there usually is, and the airport processes took longer than usual. Because of this, it is advisable to arrive at the airport with a little extra time to spare.

If you are worried about social distancing on the plane, the emptiest cabin on our flight was business class. First class was half full and Economy was the busiest, where no empty seats were kept for social distancing purposes.

We brought visors/face shields with us on our journey as we did not know that the airline would provide them for the flight. If you would like to wear a shield in the airport before boarding, then it is still advisable to bring your own shield.

It is important that you keep a copy of your uk contact tracing form on your person for UK immigration. Immigration officers may ask to see the form on entry to the UK and this process might take longer if you do not have the completed form ready.

Have more questions about traveling during the pandemic? Feel free to ask in the comments below.