Spouse name

 

We also carried wet wipes to wipe our seats as an extra precaution. All in all our flight was quite comfortable and event-free.Travelling to India during the Covid pandemic is not easy. We researched a lot about exemption from Institutional Quarantine on landing in India, Covid tests with guaranteed turnaround time etc. in London, and the flying experience from London to Delhi in 2020 before planning our trip. But we only found half-baked information and no clear facts! So we thought we would share our experience of flying from London, UK to Delhi, India right now.

Oh how we missed these sights 🙂

 

Step 1  – Getting a covid test in UK

First things first, according to instructions for overseas visitors flying to India from UK, you must get an RT-PCR test 72 hours prior to boarding your flight. Each test ranges from £150-£300 depending on where you get it done from. We suggest researching before choosing a practice so you are sure you’ll get results in time.

We got our tests done at Top Health Clinic at Tottenham Court Road for our trip in October 2020. We paid £165 per Covid test (exorbitant I know but that is the standard rate!) A nurse takes swabs from the back of your throat as well as from your nose. Try not to sneeze 🙂 Their service was good but we would suggest you to research and visit a practice or clinic most convenient to you. We arranged for our test to be conducted 94 hours prior to our flight and we were promised the results within 48 hours (although we got the reports within 30 hours). For our trip in March 2021, we got our tests done from JSBiomedical who charged £150 per person but they came home to collect the sample and the results were delivered within 12 hours.

 

Step 2 – Fill Self Declaration Form online

All travelers bound for India must complete a Self-Declaration form on Air Suvidha website/app within 72 hours before their flight departure. Airlines will not let you board without this completed form. You also have to upload your negative RT-PCR test report along with the Self Declaration Form.

 

Step 3 Airport and flights during Covid pandemic

Travel is seamless these days as flights aren’t very crowded and airports have much fewer passengers than usual. So that is a comfortable process – we saw many elderly people and families with kids on our flight. All precautions are taken by airport and flight staff – including use of complete PPE kit by flight crew. Our temperatures were checked before we were allowed on to the aircraft.

A snack box, mask, sanitizer, and hot meal were all provided to us on the flight. However this varies from airline to airline, so we would recommend carrying your own masks, sanitizer, headphones, and snacks too.