Has the Coronavirus Affected Your Travel Plans?

[msmoby]

[this post was nothing to do with the coronavirus in relation to travel plans]

 

[Contrarian]

I think a blood bath is coming to the USA 10 times bigger than Europe.. best get ready, get fit and healthy and prepare for war..

America is prepared for war. We bought hotels and supplies but the hotels and hospitals aren't full. We've taken action that Italy and other Euro nations haven't taken and earlier action so I doubt we'll see a bloodbath. This virus China lost control of will hurt all our economies for years to come because our governments won't take the kind of action that is required by enacting a total lockdown for at least a month to defeat the virus. We will also have to close our borders for years because the virus can sneak back in.

Hopefully Trump will order the USA to make our own pharmaceuticals instead of relying on a Communist country like China.

[Olga_Mouse]

Been through 7 airports (DME, Minsk-1, KBP no priority - then SVO, CDG, FRA, and AMS with Sky Priority) in March.

Seen some measures - and, to tell the truth, RU / BY / UA airports & airlines looked much more prepared that FR / DE / NL.

Can write more shall someone be interested.

[Olga_Mouse]

Better Hurry, Schiphol airport is shutting down terminals already because no plane flies anymore.

Schiphol would better learn:

a) put max. 15-20 passengers in one transfer bus, instead of packing all the passengers from one flight (even if it was just an Embrayer) into one bus;

b) to have some hand sanitiser available! Walked though the whole airport - found just one, at the reception of Lounge 41... and!!!  it was not contactless, and at 20:45 it was already empty;

c) to remove the metal pincers (that everybody grabs) from the buffet, and encourage the guests to use their fork & knive to put some vegetables or bread on their plates.

[Manny]

Can write more shall someone be interested.

Yes please, nice to see you here. 

[AvHdB]

Olga, Interesting observations, Thank You

In the for what it is worth all department vacation for my ex in the North of England is cancelled from November onwards. I guess the public does not quite understand the difference between physical distancing and social distancing.

[Olga_Mouse]

Yes please, nice to see you here. 

I guess there are many "old-timers" here now, bored to death during "self-isolation"...

March 6
AIRLINE: B2

Moscow / DME
Check-in: haven’t experienced (did online check-in)
Security Check: business as usual; staff wearing not just gloves, but also facial masks. !! There are separate containers for the shoes, but I did not use it (am usually traveling wearing snickers, they don’t beep).
Passport control officers: facial masks.
WC: relatively clean, smell of sanitizer.
Boarding: by bus (BelAvia gets the most remote parking slot on the field - I guess they just don't pay enough for ground-handling to get a jetbridge).
On board: crowded.
Cabin crew: no masks, no gloves until collecting the rests of the meals.

Minsk / MSQ
Disembarking: bus
Poster about temperature of arriving passengers being measured (in RU / EN / CN) – but nobody with thermometers in sight.
WC in the arrival area: additional hand sanitizing gel on the wall.
Security check: as usual, I presume. Staff: gloves, masks.
Passport control: staff – masks.
WC in the departure area: crispy clean, smells of sanitizer.
Boarding: jetbridge
On board: crowded
Cabin crew: no masks, no gloves.

Kiev / KBP
Passenger check: fever check by thermal imager when exiting the jetbridge
Passport control: officers wearing masks.

March 8
Airline: B2

Kiev / KBP
Check-in: haven’t experienced
Security check: no extra checks. Was asked to sit down and take my sport shoes off. Then the female security officer put them into container, slipped through the scanner, and gave them back to me. Officer was wearing gloves and a mask. Speaking Ukrainian.
Passport control: as usual, I presume. Mask.
WC near gate D2: crispy clean, smells of sanitizer.
* In the waiting area – plastic dispensers with hand sanitizer on the walls, every 20-30 meters.
Boarding: jetbridge.
On board: crowded.
Cabin crew: no masks, no gloves.

Minsk / MSQ
Passport control: wearing facial mask.
Security check: as usual.
WC near gate 13: crispy clean, hand sanitizer dispenser on the wall.
•   Sanitizers in Moscow and Minsk airports smell the same. However the sanitizer in Kiev \ Borispol smells like the one used in trams in Moscow!
On board: crowded.
Cabin crew: no masks, no gloves for most of the flight.

Moscow / DME
Disembarking: bus, quite crowded.
Passport control: Separately for RU /BY and all other nationals. An unhappy female officer with facial mask saw German border stamps and asked: “You have visited Germany?”. I answered: “Yes, but look at the date – it was more than 3 weeks ago, and I don’t have any sickness symptoms”.

(part 2 will follow).

[Olga_Mouse]

March 13
AIRLINE: AF

Moscow / SVO-E

Check-in: as usual. No masks, no gloves, no recommendations not to leave Russia.
Passport control officers: no masks, no gloves.
Security Check: business as usual; staff wearing just gloves, but no masks. !! There are separate containers for the shoes, but I did not use them. Straight after security check – a contactless hand sanitizer on the wall.
“Space” lounge: absolutely empty, 8-10 passengers max. Smaller choice of meals & starters from the buffet than usual. Taking meals from the buffet: with big metal pincers, but passengers are encourage to wrap its handles with paper serviette and to dispose the serviette afterwards.
Boarding: airbridge.
On board: + wet serviettes in the small basket straight upon entering the aircraft. Empty aircraft, approx. 3 seats per passenger. 
Cabin crew: - no masks, no gloves until collecting the rests of the meals.

Paris / CDG
2E
Disembarking: airbridge.
Security check: gloves, no masks.
Transfer staff: gloves, no masks.
2G
Passport control: no masks, no gloves.
Business-lounge: clean, not crowded – but decently full. Everybody takes meals from the buffet with their own forks.
WC: clean. No additional sanitizer in the hand wash area, but sanitisers in every cabin (presumably to clean the toilet seat; I've sprayed it on the paper and cleaned the handle of my suitcase).
Boarding: by feet (Hop! always boards that way at 2G…)
On board: relatively empty (less than 1 PAX on 2 seats…)
Cabin crew: no masks, no gloves.

(here I will omit a long story about being rebooked first from AF to KL, then from KL to SU – it belongs rather to Frequent Flyer or ProPassenger forums…)

March 21
Airline: KL / SU

Frankfurt / FRA, Terminal 2

Check-in: Lines and marks on the floor asking passengers to keep distance. Some comply with it, some don’t. Check-in staff: no masks, no gloves.
Security check: FRA has introduced a new screening protocol to avoid passengers lining up for security check. Now, after a PAX presses the boarding card to the scanner, the number of the security check point lights up. For me the #5 blinked – I went there – the male employee told me that for the next 20 minutes they do not have a female colleague at that position, thus can not check female passengers. OK, I went to #11. The “help the idiots with liquids” guy asked me if I prefer speaking German or English. I said “Deutsch, English, français, español, русский» - he surprisingly switched to Russian. Then he said that, according to the new rules, everybody must take the shoes off. I asked for plastic socks. The guy called one of his colleagues for help – after a while that other guy brought the plastic socks (I was wondering: were all other passengers walking these 4 meters bare-feet?). Then… he offered me to put my shoes in the standard scanning container!!! In RU / BY / UA airports the hand luggage containers are flat, grey and bigger – while shoes containers are higher, black and smaller. But not in Germany! It means that my scarf, my passport, my handy, my netbook were put in the container into which, most likely, some passengers before me have put their shoes!!! OK, I understand that they couldn’t order and receive such containers overnight; but they could, however, buy a coloured tape and mark the sides of the existing containers (for example, green – hand luggage, red – shoes).

Next minus point: an angry Turkish-looking female security employee, who – after seeing some red stains on the display at the areas corresponding to my ass, started literally screaming at me, to go back and take EVERYTHING (including paper banknotes) out of the pockets. Before it was solved easily, by palpation. Now the security staff at FRA airport is not allowed to touch passengers (presumably to avoid any contact) – so the flyers must literally strip before going via human scanner. Of course, the angry Turkish lady was wearing no facial mask to protect me (and other passengers) from her human aerosols while screaming… And the question is: if they do have a "no touch policy" now, why couldn't I undergo the security check at the checkpoint #5?

Needless to say, that there was no hand sanitizer on the wall after security. Needed to use my own antibacterial wet wipe to clean my hands after touching their durty containers...

SkyTeam lounge: closed. Duty free, normal coffee point – closed. Only coffee machines were available – with a sticker that passengers can pay with contactless cards. Fine – but has someone sterilized the drink choice buttons there? I doubt!

Boarding: by bus. One of the employees already seen at check-in was scanning the boarding passes; another went down and controlled the departure of buses. They do have a new rule now – no more than 15 passengers per bus. So at least one plus point to FRAPORT (after the previous 3 big fat minus points).

(part 3 will follow)

[AvHdB]

(part 3 will follow)

Amazing ~ Thank you!

PLEASE CONTINUE

[Olga_Mouse]

KLM

On board: after the first 15 passengers (mainly from the tail rows) entered the aircraft, I heard “boarding completed” announcement – and the steward started to ask the passengers to move to front seats. It was quite funny, because KLM charges 12 EUR for front seat choice, 14 EUR for emergency row, and 10 EUR for any other seat choice. I said “Are you aware that there will be 2 more buses?” – “No, not for this flight”. Hm...

However I stayed on my seat – and, of course, some 3-5 minutes later the second bus with more passengers came. Then one more bus. So “tail” passengers that have been moved by the steward had to go back to assigned seats.

I have witnessed the same situation in FRA a few months ago, while traveling with Hop! – and was wondering if the cabin crew receives passenger list only after the boarding is completed? They don’t have any radio / walkie-talkie connection to flight supervisor \ representative, to get an information about the expected number of passengers in advance? Hm…

Cabin crew: no masks, but gloves.
Meals: I do not know how KLM usual short-haul meal package looks like; we got  paper “baskets” with an individually packed micro-sandwich, individually packed bisquit, individually packed serviette (dry, unfortunately – though a wet serviette, like the ones of Air France, would be more practical now) and a sip of water in a yoghurt-like sealed cup. A contactless garbage collection afterwards: the steward just walked along the aisle, carrying a huge plastic garbage bag, and the passengers were throwing their garbage themselves.

AMS

Disembarking: all passengers were tamped in 1 bus (social distancing? No, haven’t heard of it…) Minus point #1 to AMS.
Transfer: huge and empty airport. Everything closed…
Passport control: no masks, no gloves.
Lounge #41: a hand sanitizer dispenser at the reception, NOT a contactless one - with a metal handle on top; and empty already… Minus point #2 to AMS.
Buffet: tea\ coffee corner at the end, near the toilet entrance, was closed. At the beginning of the “main” buffet counter there was a paper asking passengers to keep the distance. But how can it possibly help when everybody grabs the same metal pincers to put some bread, cheese or ham on their plate – hard for me to understand. Minus point #3 to AMS.
Boarding: airbridge. Saw that some passengers were stopped and had long discussions with ground handling staff; I presume it was due to the fact that as of March 21 Aeroflot was accepting either Russian citizens – or, if foreigners, then only for the transit via SVO to other countries.
SU, A321
On board: Had 9C, but due to families with screaming infants at 8ABC and on 8DEF, I have shown my gold card to the stewardess and moved my ass to 23A (“Space Plus”). The plane was max. 40% full (most passengers had 3 seats for themselves).
Cabin crew: facial masks and plastic gloves (instead of regular Aeroflot white textile gloves).
At take-off and landing one of the stewardesses was sitting in front of me. I asked her if we shall fill some papers (re. quarantine for 14 days) on board; she answered that a few days ago it was applicable only for passengers from China, South Korea, Iran and Italy, but not Netherlands.
I've also asked why Aeroflot has sent A321 (instead of A320 or even an A319, that consumes less fuel) to carry such a small amount of passengers; the stewardess answered they do it on purpose, so that passengers could be "spread" across all the cabin, and not sit next to each other.

After landing we were all kept on board for a while. A woman in white “moon landing” suit has checked the temperature of all passengers; then we all received, however, the forms to fill (departure country \ airport, flight number, seat number, passport number, date of birth, residential address, and the address planned for 14-days self-isolation).
Passport control: breath mask, divers’ glasses, and gloves. +1
Then the bureaucratic labyrinth – RosComNadzor employee in dark-red suit was putting one stamp, then one more employee was putting another stamp on the same form, then we were supposed to give these forms and our boarding passes to ladies in “moon landing” suits, and to receive a “do’s and don’ts” memos with phone numbers and website links in exchange. Only after all this bureaucracy – receiving the luggage. WC in luggage collecting area closed for passengers… So out I went.
Terminal F: there was some life, due to arrival of “plagey flights”. Walked to Terminal E – absolutely empty. WC: a contactless hand sanitizer on the wall. +1

[Olga_Mouse]

July we have a concert to go to in Estonia - I hope that is not going to be cancelled!!

What kind of concert it is, if I may ask? 

[Olga_Mouse]

Sounds like the  Russian visa centre in London will be quiet on Wednesday 

As far as I know, Russia has stopped issuing visas for foreigners from March 16.

[Steveboy]

July we have a concert to go to in Estonia - I hope that is not going to be cancelled!!

What kind of concert it is, if I may ask? 

I don't think it will be up your street..

[Steveboy]

Sounds like the  Russian visa centre in London will be quiet on Wednesday 

As far as I know, Russia has stopped issuing visas for foreigners from March 16.

They are still doing it for people with  family members in Russia.. but at the moment you will probably have to swim in from Finland some how..

[andrewfi]

Don't worry, mystic moby certainly has friends expert in the human trafficking game. He's probably have a laugh with them right now as they discuss importing people into Russia.

[msmoby]

Don't worry, mystic moby certainly has friends expert in the human trafficking game. He's probably have a laugh with them right now as they discuss importing people into Russia.

Yup, you've got too much time on your hands, Andrewfi

Some of us still have work to do ...   

[sparky114]

Sounds like the  Russian visa centre in London will be quiet on Wednesday 

As far as I know, Russia has stopped issuing visas for foreigners from March 16.

They are still doing it for people with  family members in Russia.. but at the moment you will probably have to swim in from Finland some how..

We went on the morning of the 18th March and London visa centre was not open for any visa's other than Diplomatic.

As Steve points out as of the 27th we are allowed to accompany our spouses again
 Unfortunately E was flying back at that point 18th March to be with MIL and Grand daughter so that was the last chance for us to go together..so i have no visa to enter ( but then the flights would be difficult to sort..and can i really be bothered ..no not really best to sit it out and pick up the game later.

[NS1]

Affected, I would say, not suppose to go anywhere unless work, grocery's or drug store.
Not aloud out of province without verifiable reasons, then have to self isolate for 14 days.

Affect travel, ya all plans are cancelled, no new plans in the works for the foreseeable future