India is under the nationwide lockdown and no scheduled passenger flights (domestic and international), buses or trains are allowed to operate, with an exception of government operated evacuation flights - The Vande Bharat Mission, to bring back stranded Indian nationals back home from other countries.
Indian government has opened up bookings for the (very limited and costly) outgoing flights that would otherwise travel empty for Vande Bharat Mission. These flights can be booked from the AirIndia website: http://www.airindia.in/Flight-Notice.htm
Booking the flight:
On Thursday, May 14, 2020, we decided to book the flight in phase 2 of Vande Bharat Mission. Based on the schedule published for phase 2 flights, we planned to book the flight from DEL to SFO for Friday, May 22, 2020, which was scheduled to depart from DEL at 3:30 AM IST and land in SFO at 7:00 AM PST.
As per the notice on the AirIndia website, the booking was scheduled to open at 6 PM IST on Thursday, May 14, 2020. But, at around 5 PM IST, we found out (through WhatsApp/Telegram groups for people in similar situation as us who wanted to travel to USA) that the booking was already open and a lot of the seats were already booked. With that information, we opened the AirIndia website and to our surprise, found out that the booking was open and tickets were available.
After multiple attempts, we were unable to book the flight for Friday, May 22, 2020. In each attempt, we were able to find availability and proceed with booking, but after seat selection page we were redirected to the home page with an error message saying that the seats were not available.
Multiple people reported that they were able to go through with booking by not pre-selecting the seats (Although, we did not try this by ourselves).
After multiple unsuccessful attempts at booking the flight for Friday, May 22, 2020, we almost gave up, before trying to see the availability for other dates and found that Monday, May 18, 2020 was also open. We proceeded with booking the seats for Monday, May 18, 2020 and were able to land on payments page (even with pre-selected seats).
Multiple people on the WhatsApp/Telegram group reported that their payment was declined when trying to pay with international credit card (including but not limited to Chase, Amex etc.). So, we proceeded with the Internet Banking option for the payment and were able to successfully book the flight.
The cost for flight tickets were not same for every attempt, they kept on increasing with time. When we finally booked out tickets, the cost for a single ticket was around 1.5 lakh rupees (including the seat selection, which was an additional cost).
While trying to check-in online, we kept getting an error. On contacting the customer service, we found out that the online check-in for these special flights were disabled.
Booking the cab:
Once the flight tickets were booked, we needed to book a cab and apply for a e-pass for the travel from Indore to Delhi as there were no public transport options available due to lockdown.
We contacted a Madhya Pradesh state tourist officer, who was very helpful in arranging a cab for our travel from Indore to Delhi along with the e-pass for the travel.
The total cost for the cab was Rs. 30,300 which included toll taxes for the trip and was for the round trip from Indore to Delhi and back. So, someone can accompany you for the travel and return back home in the same cab for that cost.
Drive from Indore to Delhi:
The flight was scheduled to depart from the Terminal 3 of Delhi International Airport, which is around 850 km (~530 miles) from Indore. The flight departure time from DEL was 3:30 AM IST. So, we planned to reach at the airport by 10 PM IST, allowing 5.5 hours for check-in, security and immigration.
Due to the lockdown state and the fact that we would need to cross 3 state borders, we decided to start from Indore on Sunday, May 17, 2020 at 12:00 AM IST (So, 27.5 hours before the flight departure time).
The drive was fairly smooth with few delays on toll booths due to long queue and some checkpoints where police on-duty had multiple questions for our driver like, where are you coming from? where are you going? do you have a pass? why don't you have masks on? (once in a while when the driver takes off the face mask) etc.
We encountered some traffic on the road and crossed a lot of migrants traveling in trucks, on foot, in loading rickshaws etc. and some even sleeping on the AB road (Old NH3) itself.
At Delhi International Airport:
We reached Delhi International Airport by 3:30 PM on Sunday, May 17, 2020 (12 hours before flight departure time).
The airport security did not allow us to enter the airport, and asked us to come at 9:30 PM (6 hours before flight departure time).
We had 6 hours to kill at the airport parking, but unfortunately the airport parking was also closed. So, we found a parking spot next to the airport police station and took some rest.
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At 9:00 PM IST, we again went to the airport gate and found a bunch of other passengers gathered for our the same flight. We all formed a queue and waited for the security to start allowing us in. At around 9:30 PM IST they started verifying the documents and allowed entry through Gate 4.
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Here, we were also provided with 3 forms to be filled and submitted at immigration (they were first attested at check-in). Thermal screening was performed at the gate itself.
The airport staff constantly reminded of social distancing for the people standing in queue while entering the airport and while check-in. But, after the check-in, people did not follow social distancing at security or while waiting for the boarding.
Multiple immigration counters were open which helped with faster immigration experience. We were able to complete immigration in 10-15 minutes.
My immigration officer asked 'Why are you traveling?' I replied with 'for job', to which he gave a confused look. I though maybe he is looking at my B1 visa, so I clarified that I am traveling on H1B visa and I have a Job in USA. So, he understood and found my H1B stamp as well.
For my wife, the immigration officer did not ask anything, simply asked to remove the mask for the photo.
Before boarding, for some reason, they did make people go back and form another queue to go through the security again (within the Gate 1) which took more than 2 hours and completed right before the boarding time.
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Here, just after the security check, the boarding passes were re-validated and they handed over a small bag with face covers, face mask and few packets of hand sanitizers.
For the cabin luggage, these flights allowed food and water bottles. We had a bag with 6 water bottles and 2 packets of home made food that we took with cabin bag through security. Also, multiple bottles of hand sanitizers were allowed in the cabin luggage.
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It was mandatory to wear the face masks (one you already have, if not, the one provided by the airline) and the face cover in order to board the flight.
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Flight from Delhi to San Francisco:
Once we got to our seats, we noticed that every seat had a white bag and a transparent bag. The white bag had two boxes for food (different based on your meal selection), two 500ml water bottles and another bag for trash, while the transparent bag had some snacks (same for everyone).
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These flights did not provide any services and the in-flight entertainment system was also disabled. So, the entire flight, air hostesses did not provide any services and hence were not walking around the flight. The flight crew was dressed as follows:
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This flight did not follow any social distancing (like alternate seat booking or any other measure whatsoever).
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Flight from San Francisco to Seattle:
We landed in San Francisco on time. The airport was pretty empty but multiple immigration counters were open which again helped with faster immigration.
There was no thermal screening performed at SFO. In flight we were provided with 2 identical forms for self-declaration (regarding health and travel history) in addition to the regular immigration form which we submitted to the immigration officer.
We had booked the 11 AM PST flight from SFO to SEA operated by Alaska Airlines, but unfortunately the flight was rescheduled to 3:15 and a stop in Portland was added.
Both our Alaska Airlines flights (SFO to PDX and PDX to SEA) followed strict social distancing measures (for instance, they were only booking 2 seats for each row) and made face masks mandatory (providing masks if you don't have one).
Both our Alaska Airlines flights (SFO to PDX and PDX to SEA) followed strict social distancing measures (for instance, they were only booking 2 seats for each row) and made face masks mandatory (providing masks if you don't have one).
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The security at SFO airport did not allow water bottles, but they did allow hand sanitizers upto 12 oz.
