The Private Traveller

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Roaming the Skies: Exploring the New Flying Regime Post-Covid

The Private Traveller

The last international flight we took was back in February, returning from LAX having visited Palm Springs and Las Vegas. March through July seemed to have passed in a blur, and here we are in August returning to the skies but with a very different service. Here is a bit of a snapshot as to what has changed. This blog has ended up being longer than I anticipated (as is often the case once I get started!); so if you really just want a quick synopsis head to Instagram and check out the great guy Conor McCully (@conormccully) - one of his recent feed posts (the one with the mask) has a much more succinct summary.

Today we are flying British Airways domestic to London Heathrow, staying overnight at one of my favourites (the London Heathrow Sofitel) then off tomorrow, again with BA, to Dubrovnik in Croatia. You can find out our full travel itinerary here and my latest review of the Sofitel Suite will be up soon (AV geeks check it out as the suite was a dream for viewing the adjacent runway).

Flight 1: Edinburgh to London Heathrow

The Airport

The first sign of a change was the hand-sanitiser station as you leave the car park/taxi drop-off area - very high tech, three socially distanced automatic dispensers. In the terminal itself, apart from being incredibly quiet in the check-in concourse (in the main area only two check-in desks were in operation) there were no obvious signs of changes, that said despite all the 2m signage on the floors! The other was clearly the wearing of masks (I’d gone out of my way to import Casetify masks from the US to wear, but very quickly we realised how uncomfortably hot these were and within about 10 minutes we had both changed to a disposable M&S mask I’d bought as a pack - a fraction of the cost and no import duty!). 

At the BA check-in area, despite there being signage for a special premium check-in queue there actually wasn’t one and it merged into only one. It didn’t take too long though to get our bags checked-in, but annoyingly the baggage system is still being changed over so you get your bag tagged then have to take it to a different area of the airport to actually hand it over.

At security, we were advised the FastTrack area was not in operation and we should use the Family Lane instead - didn’t take too long to get through, but it was difficult trying to find an area to re-pack your hand-luggage once it had been through the scanners. Every second packing station had been taken out of action to allow for social distancing, but it did seem as if they were introducing perspex screens round each area to allow for all to be used in the future.

In the terminal itself, the BA lounge was open and we weren’t given access to the two partner lounges that were (where you would use if flying OneWorld airlines like Iberia or Qatar). Many of the shops remained closed as did restaurants, there was the ubiquitous duty-free, WH Smith’s and a small selection of others. Restaurant wise the only options were the coffee places - Costa and Café Nero; we’d hoped for at least Yo Sushi! with not getting access to the lounge, but this wasn’t to be.

Boarding

Boarding was about half an hour late, we later found out this was because the crew transport from their hotel hadn’t been arranged. Boarding was in reverse order, so no priority boarding but boarding from the rear, five rows at a time. We eventually were called for rows 1-5, only to then find beyond the boarding pass scan there was a non-socially distanced queue in the air bridge tunnel.

On-Board

We hadn’t expected the same Club Europe service, but the first thing we were given was a small personal protection pack - this consisted of a sachet of hand sanitiser and an anti-bacterial wipe. I couldn’t help but feel very Naomi Campbell-like wiping down the seat armrests and tray table with this (‘Mrs’ ThePrivateTraveller and I had secured row 1, so thankfully no one in front of us and the middle seat is always empty).

After take-off, there was the choice of a vegetarian Do&Co bag (cheese and pickle sandwich, chocolate mousse and a small bottle of water) or non-vegetarian (the same, save for a chicken sandwich instead). The crew then came round with drinks - full choice of soft drinks, spirits and tea/coffee. Thankfully ice has been restored to the service so I had my usual G&T (Tanqueray by choice, only a single though a double was offered).

Overall Experience

It’s funny how something that had been such a commonplace occurrence for us then becomes so unusual, but it was great to experience a take-off again and once in the sky I realised how much I had missed that view and the experience.

Flight 2: London Heathrow T5 to Dubrovnik, Croatia

The Airport

With staying overnight at the on-site Sofitel, it was an easy walk through the air-conditioned connected tunnel to get to the departures area. This looked significantly different to last night - much, much busier. There were copious hand-sanitiser stations and despite seeing evidence of temperature trial scanners they didn’t yet seem to be in operation. Throughout the airport there were also lots of other hand-sanitiser stations; these ones (like Edinburgh) were automatic, but seemed to give more of a spray as opposed to dispensing a measure of gel.

With our BA Gold Cards (OneWorld Emerald) we could use the First Wing, but this too was quite busy and as we approached they had to introduce a tensa-barrier queue outside the entrance as there was a build-up of customers. However, once inside the check-in area the queue moved quite quickly and we were soon through the private boarding pass check and into security.

The Lounge (BA Galleries First)

Despite the number of people in the FIrst Wing check-in area and passing through the designated security channels, the lounge surprisingly was actually quite quiet - normally, despite time of day, week or month this is usually very busy and often difficult to find seats. 

As we’d read from others that have travelled recently, on arrival there was a board announcing the system to order food and drinks, by scanning a QR code on the table you’re seated at, or by clicking on this link https://t5f.yourmenu.cloud/ (it will work outwith the lounge but you have to use a code word for the day to get access). By scanning the code on your table it populates the table number and you’re taken to the menu options.

The menus obviously vary throughout the day, for us (flight 8:30am) we were given breakfast and hot/soft/alcoholic beverage options. This has been done really well, for example there was a traditional full breakfast, vegetarian full, lighter options or you could self-select your own choices, which I did. I also chose a Bucks Fizz and a Green Tea, to which you could add the option of a pastry too. Once everything is chosen, you click to order, and our choices were delivered very quickly. This actually worked much better than the buffet style, and clearly much safer under current conditions.

Gone too was the champagne and drinks stations, the chiller in the lounge where they normally feature a guest alcohol brand was completely filled instead with mineral water bottles for you to help yourself to.

Departure

Leaving from B-Gates we left the lounge about an hour before the scheduled departure to make our way to the satellite building, by train. Getting to the train was fine, but clearly with volumes of people any form of social distancing was near impossible when on the short train hop to the gate.

Boarding

Boarding seemed less distanced than on the flight to London, this time they called rows in groups of ten; so rows 20-30, 10-30 then all passengers. The automated gates were out of action and there were four staff members checking everyone’s boarding pass and passport manually - although you have to wear a mask throughout the airport and during the flight, we had to remove it temporarily at check-in and again at boarding so they could verify your passport photo.

On Board

This was very similar to the domestic flight, only difference being that everyone was asked to take the mini personal protection pack as you boarded. Once airborne a meal box was served - the vegetarian choice was a cheese and cucumber croissant, fresh fruit and a strawberry yoghurt. All drink options were available, though too early in the morning for a G&T!

Arrival

British Airways had organised everything well on board, asking anyone who hadn’t replaced their mask after eating to do so; and then (on landing) making sure that everyone stayed seated until their row was called. I also heard the crew asking the Dubrovnik ground staff that they would be monitoring the bus control etc.

Once off the plane, any sort of social distancing went to pieces and everyone from the entire flight (save for I think for four passengers) were then all crammed onto one bus. Ironically the bus has signage about a 2m social distance, there was barely a 2cm distance. We were taken a short ride to the terminal building, only to have the bus wait for quite a while before we were allowed off. Once it did allow people off, we saw why there was a delay. Hundreds and hundreds of passengers were all being crammed into the arrivals entrance - it took some time (and distance) before people started to separate. It was probably only the last 30 feet or so before immigration that the crowd started to disperse and passengers began to keep a 2m distance as marked on the floor. This just seemed completely pointless after everyone had been crammed onto a bus together and no one was paying any sort of attention to distance when trying to get to the immigration hall first!

Dubrovnik

Thankfully once we were out of the airport and met by the driver arranged from Villa Dubrovnik order resumed, and on arrival at the hotel all safety Covid guidance was in play. You can read all about the hotel in my review here.

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