My experience traveling long haul during a pandemic

Last Updated on July 29, 2020 by snaphappytravel

Just last week, myself and my husband flew from Queenstown, New Zealand to Cork, Ireland in the midst of the COVID-19 health pandemic. That’s a whopping 40 hours spent flying/ in-transit. I was very nervous before the journey despite being a very experienced traveler. So, I thought I would put all the information I’ve learned from this experience here, in the hopes it will help ease your worries about flying long haul during COVID-19.

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Why did we decide to fly long haul during COVID-19?

I am currently 31 weeks pregnant and we made the decision to re-locate to my home country of Ireland due to visa restrictions and lack of jobs in Queenstown. FYI – I work in the tourism sector – a sector that has been gravely affected in Queenstown. It wasn’t an easy decision to make but we felt it was the best decision for us and our unborn child. I 100% recommend not flying long-haul during COVID-19 unless absolutely necessary, let me explain why below.

Who did we fly with?

There aren’t many airlines flying the route from New Zealand to Ireland. Currently, as far as I’m aware the airlines flying this route are Emirates via Dubai; Qatar via Doha & London; Air New Zealand via Los Angeles and finally, Singapore Airlines via Singapore & London. After four cancelled flights, we decided on Singapore Airlines and luckily this went ahead without any changes/ cancellations. The experience flying with Singapore Airlines was completely different to normal, as we expected.

The first leg of the journey (Queenstown to Auckland)

This first leg with Air New Zealand was as normal – face masks weren’t mandatory, no social distancing on board and airline crew had no masks but were wearing disposable gloves. The flight was busy but we were lucky to have an empty seat on our row to spread out. Despite it being an internal flght within New Zealand where COVID-19 has pretty much been eliminated, we still sanitized our seat area with alcohol wipes. We were served tea/coffee and a complimentary snack during the flight.

The second leg of the journey (Auckland to Singapore)

Auckland International Airport was definitely quieter than normal – as there was only two other flights departing that afternoon. We weren’t temperature checked upon entry to the airport, and queuing to check-in for our flight wasn’t socially distanced. Check-in was pretty simple and thankfully they weren’t fussed with our baggage being a few kilos over. Also, thankfully there is no restriction on cabin baggage with Singapore Airlines, you are able to bring a 7kg bag on board as well as a laptop bag/ handbag. They didn’t weigh our hand luggage at any stage.

After checking in we headed straight for security which was a lot quieter than usual. Same as normal here – you still need to separate all electrical items and all liquids need to be in a clear bag. There weren’t many food options available after security – there was a juice shop selling some pre-packaged juices and snacks and a bar selling a small selection of hot food as well as alcohol and soft drinks. You do need to sign in upon entering the bar and it is order at the bar only, no table service. There is also a newsagents and a duty free store open.

On board the flight…

You need to enter a special waiting area before you board your flight, here you are temperature tested by an airport staff member. You are called to board the plane in accordance with your row number. All passengers were given a little sanitizing kit upon boarding which included hand sanitizer and a face mask. There wasn’t any social distancing on board the plane. We thought that perhaps every second row would be free or there would be two people to a row of three. This wasn’t the case as all travelers were from New Zealand and so the risk was low.

Cabin crew wore face masks and gloves at all times, but no additional PPE. We were served two meals as normal, alcohol was served with meals only. They didn’t seem too keen to offer alcohol outside meal times. They also ran out of red wine halfway through the flight, so, I felt like they didn’t overly stock up on alcohol. Bathrooms were clean but not overly so, so definitely bring your hand sanitizer & alcohol gel to the bathroom. Cabin crew walked through the cabin every so often to tell any passengers who didn’t have their masks on to put them on immediately.

On landing you were to stay seated until your final destination was called. For example for us – we waited until they called for passengers to London and we slowly exited the plane with several other passengers.

The third leg of the journey (Singapore to London Heathrow)

We had a 90-minute layover in Singapore and we were led to a special waiting area with other passengers proceeding on to Europe. Here, we were mixed with passengers going to Barcelona & Copenhagen. We had to go through security to access the waiting area, there were toilets and vending machines in the waiting area.

We boarded the plane last along with the families/ elderly passengers as I’m 31 weeks pregnant. The plane was separated into sections, the first section of economy was for Singaporean passengers only and our section at the back of the plane was for passengers originating from Auckland and Sydney.

On board the flight…

It was a weird set-up however with the first and last 5 rows blocked off with tape and all passengers pretty much squashed into the middle rows. There was no social distancing and we had a lady next to us in our row of three, almost everyone else in the rows surrounding us had a “stranger” next to them. I did ask two separate cabin crew if I could use one of the free rows to lie down as I was heavily pregnant and was told “No, these rows are for quarantine or sick passengers”. I found this strange, but due to the language barrier the staff member was unable to explain further.

We were served two meals on board, and as on the previous flight alcohol was limited to with meal service only. All staff had face masks and gloves on at all times. We were unloaded as normal – first class and business class first and then all of economy were allowed to unload at the same time.

The fourth leg of the journey (London Heathrow to Cork)

Heathrow was by far the busiest airport of the lot. When we first landed at 5am we thought we were lucky as the airport was very quiet at this early hour. However, Heathrow did start to get quite busy with arriving and departing passengers from 7am. We had to fill out a Passenger Locator form before going to Border Control, even though we were only staying in Heathrow airport for a few hours. You complete this form on your phone (link here) and you will be emailed a PDF once completed. This PDF is what you will show to Border Control.

In Heathrow Terminal 2 there were just two restaurants open – a Cafe and a pub. We choose to eat at the pub and had to queue for about 20 minutes for a table. There was no social distancing in the queue or in the restaurant itself and the tables were quite close to one another. Funnily enough, most of the wait staff didn’t have their masks covering their mouths. If you prefer, you can get a lunch meal deal at Boots or WHSmith. There were quite a number of flights departing that day so the terminal was busy and the seating areas were all full.

On board the flight…

Our flight to Cork was called row by row for boarding, this was the only flight of ours that implemented social distancing. The row in front of and behind us was kept empty. The toilets were out of use for the short flight and cabin crew wore masks and gloves. On landing we were asked to remain seated until the person n the row in front if us had exited the plane. On landing in Ireland you are required to fill out a Passenger Locator Form, because the UK is not on the green list of countries we had to self-quarantine on arrival for two weeks.

Some interesting things about traveling long haul during COVID-19

• We weren’t tested at any time during our journey and none of our airlines (Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines & AerLingus) required us to have a certificate of being COVID-free

• The only times our temperatures were checked were before going into the waiting area for our flight from Auckland to Singapore and upon entering Terminal 2 at Heathrow airport

• Face masks were mandatory at every airport besides Auckland and Queenstown

• Heathrow was definitely where we felt most at risk as there didn’t seem to be many guidelines in place and it was also where we encountered the biggest crowds. Staff members weren’t wearing their masks proper – that was both airport staff and restaurant staff

What you should bring on a long haul flight during COVID-19

• A couple of disposable face masks, we changed ours regularly throughout our journey.

• Hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes. We used the wipes to wipe down the surfaces around our seat area on every flight and the hand sanitizer we used consistently throughout the journey

• Snacks – bring some on board as the meals are limited (we were only served two meals on a 13 hour flight) and the snacks available on-board were just some very small chocolate bars and a small bag of mixed nuts

• We also brought disposable gloves but didn’t end up using them

Flying long haul during COVID-19, a summary

Whew, and there you have it a very in depth insight into flying long haul during COVID-19. This is just our experience but we found it extremely strange and a little depressing to see deserted airports and facilities closed. As for the other travelers we encountered, it’s clear nobody wants to be traveling or is enjoying this ‘new normal’ in travel. Everybody we spoke with was either re-locating or going home due to a relatives illness or sadly death. My advice is the same as all the experts don’t fly long haul during COVID-19 unless absolutely necessary.

As always, if you have any questions please ask them in the comment section below & I will endeavor to get back to you ASAP.

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