What it’s like flying during the pandemic

The UK and Italy have agreed to allow travel without the need for quarantining, provided you haven’t travelled to any other countries 14 days prior to your trip. A friend and I decided to travel to Italy — what used to be the epicentre of the pandemic in Europe. Despite the fear factor, our experience was surprisingly relaxed and enjoyable.

First things first — the pandemic is no joke. Please follow the guidance that’s in place local to you. This trip was done fully in line with government guidance. We flew Lufthansa from London Heathrow airport to Naples, Italy, with a layover in Frankfurt.

Here’s some things we’d like to share about flying during the pandemic:

Do your reading and stay informed

Check your airline policies. Check your government’s guidance. Check yourself. Check again and again, even if you think you know everything there is to know. In the days leading up to our trip, quarantine rules were changed several times, we found out we would have to check in our carry on bags for some flights, we read everything there was to know about what was expected of us. It still wasn’t enough.

The truth is, you may be following along what your situation will look like, but airlines don’t necessarily follow things as quickly as you do. Our flights were stress free until it was time to land in Italy and we were handed forms written in indecipherable legalese asking us to justify our travel and where we would be self-isolating for 14 days. This was extremely stressful, but upon landing we were told that this was no longer needed.

The bottom line is you need to obey the airline rules that are in place, they’re doing the best job they can at staying up to date — but don’t freak out if they are behind. They will be, there’s too much to keep track of.

Empty airports and flights

Heathrow was pretty much empty and our flight was 1/3 full. Everyone sat a seat-width apart on our first flight, and then fully packed on our second. That was a bit confusing, as there was no rhyme or reason to it, but everyone was wearing masks at all time and the flight was fine.

Naples was also pretty empty and hassle free. It was different in that we had to walk through a disinfecting station — which no one really told us about, so we can only assume that’s what it was.

No food on board

One thing thats vastly different from flying pre-pandemic is the onboard service. You won’t be offered food, you won’t even be offered a drink to choose from. We were given a closed bottle of water. We can only guess that the reason for this was so that people would leave their masks on, though no explanation was given.

Bringing food on board may be a way out, but it’s not clear from the 4 flights we took if food was even allowed to be eaten on board at all.

Forms, forms, and more forms

Flying to and from Italy was a firestorm of forms. Different boxes to tick for layovers, different forms to fill out depending on where you’re traveling from, and an overload of information. It was confusing and stressful when the information provided was obviously out of date. Your best bet to handle any confusion is to ask for clarification, fill out everything that’s asked of you, but also take it with a grain of salt.

Chances are, if you‘ve read the government guidance and aren’t overstepping any lines, you’ll be fine. It seems staying up to date is confusing for everyone at this time, with so many local rule changes taking place. Work with your flight attendants and airport staff, and you will be fine.

Be prepared for all-round confusion and trust that it’s just a sign of the times

All in all, our flights were confusing, the steps involved were at times unpredictable, but at least we were all confused together. Airport and airline staffed explained what we needed to do and when, and it’s obvious that everyone was trying their best to make flying a hassle free experience. Hassle free it definitely wasn’t, but hey, at least you can travel again! If you need a mantra to help you get through it, make it: stay safe, stay sane (or at least try to).